自在斋 Zi Zai Vegetarian (Yishun)

This little eatery was found quite by chance. It just so happened years ago that the hubby found an injured pigeon while waiting for me. Being the kind to animal person he is, he brought it back and wanted to bring it to a vet. And it also happened that most vets don't do birds. So after a whole lot of googling and calling, we finally found one at Yishun who is trained with avians. So we brought the pigeon there. To cut a long story short, the poor bird didn't make it through its injury and died in the end. But the gist of this post is not the bird, but the place I found via HungryGoWhere for dinner.

So while we were in Yishun at the vet, I searched HungryGoWhere for a vegetarian place near Yishun. And saw Zi Zai Vegetarian with its pretty good ratings. And it was actually near where we were. So we drove over and had our dinner there. Hubby loved it, because he loves sambal kang kong, and really, not many places serve decent vegetarian versions of it.

And because we got a BTO in Yishun, we're now regulars at this little 小吃店. It's a corner unit below some HDB flats, and serves up good vegetarian zhi char. And another big attraction of this shop is its roti prata. Although the zhi char side comprises of almost entirely Malaysian chinese, the roti prata side is operated by Indians. In fact, I personally think the fat Indian uncle tosses the best prata. The prata here is crispy, fluffy and fragrant, which is already a plus. The second plus is the curry. I'm telling you, their curry beat many of the non-vegetarian ones. Its aromatic, thick, and oh so yummy. I love their prata so much that I usually order one on top of my dinner. And hubby's sister and brother-in-law love it too. They frequently ask us for dinner or breakfast there, since they stay relatively nearby at Sembawang.

The best roti prata - look how fluffy it is!

For dinner we sometimes order things from the ala carte menu, other times we order one-dish meals. For most part, I'll talk mainly about the ala carte menu since it's more 'colorful'. First up, the main reason why we keep coming back, at least as far as the hubs is concerned. The sambal kang kong. Theirs had a good balance of spicy and salty, and the seasoning is just right. And their kang kong are still crisp. I think the secret lies in that they had a good vegetarian sambal. Sambal by default contains dried shrimps, which is why most sambal kang kong aren't vegetarian. Many vegetarian places either use plain chilli, or some weird concoctions that resulted in a completely wrong flavor. Theirs is just right.

Sambal kang kong

Another dish that found its way to our favorites list is the hotplate tofu. Sizzling hotplate with a saucy mixture of tofu, capsicum, chilli and mock minced meat atop a bed of eggs cooked on the hotplate. Its sauce goes really well with rice. The other dish I really like is the preserved vegetables with eggplant. Another saucy dish that goes well with rice. The preserved vegetables lend a nice salty flavor to this dish, and the eggplant are cooked just nice - soft without being mushy. In fact, hubby eats this, even though he hates eggplants!

Hotplate tofu

Preserved vegetables with eggplant

Another dish that we occasionally order is the cereal oyster mushroom (although it says abalone mushroom on the menu). Crispy mushroom coated with cereal. It's nice to have once in a while, but usually gets quite sickening towards the end.

Cereal oyster mushrom

This place had formed a staple in our diet, because of the convenient location for us, and because hubby has a lot of choices here. And I really really really love the prata. Apparently the Tampines branch serves equally good prata too, cos hubby have a vegetarian aunt staying near there and she said so. My colleague staying in Bedok knows about that place too. So for those who go vegetarian occasionally, or just want a change from too much meat once in a while, or just want plain good prata, check out this place at Blk 236 Yishun Ring Road, #01-1000. Or its branch with the same name in Tampines.