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.

The Vines Seafood and Steak Restaurant

This hidden find near Novena MRT station was suggested by Lynn when I arranged for a dinner with her after visiting my Bapa in Dover Park Hospice months ago. It was surprisingly highly similar to Mariner's Corner in the deco, feel, and cuisine.

We ordered our favorite Escargots. Then we flipped through the menu, got thoroughly spoilt for choice with the mains, but settled for a Mixed Grill (which have everything), and a Oven-Roasted Pork Belly. Added the $3 plus for a set menu, and traded up the soup of the day for Lobster Bisque. These were exactly the type of order we would have placed in Mariner's Corner.

The escargots are of similar standard to Mariner's. Drowned in a garlic butter sauce with a generous sprinkling of crispy fried garlic. A touch of Tabasco completed the deliciously little morsel. These were served at the same time as the lobster bisque. Thick, rich soup full of that prawny lobster flavor, with chunks of lobster in every other mouth. And crusty garlic bread that we used not only to soak up the soup, but also the garlic butter sauce of the escargots.

Escargots

Lobster Bisque

Garlic bread

The pork belly was one of their signatures, and something I thought was special. It turned out to be 3 thick slabs of pork belly, roasted to crispiness. The skin really crackle when you bite into them, and the meat well flavored. The fatty portion does prick your conscience, so we were cutting it out. This was served on top a bed of vegetables, with caramelized onions on the side. The mixed grill is a massive platter of beef, lamb, chicken and prawn. Oh wait, is there fish in there too? I can't remember... The steak was pretty decent, the lamb had enough fats in them to make it aromatic without overpowering, the chicken and prawn normal. These were served alongside boiled vegetables that you have to turn frequently to prevent them from getting burnt on the hotplate, and a baked potato that we opened up quickly, so as to maximize the space for the sour cream, bacon bits and spring onions toppings that came soon after the platter was served.

Oven-Roasted Pork Belly

Mixed Grill

There was so much meat (and fats) that we almost couldn't finish our food. We were so so stuffed. And the set was completed with a dessert, and a coffee or tea. I liked it overall, and would have rated this as 'probably will be back'. We liked the comfortable atmosphere, and the comfort food the place provides.

In fact, I liked it enough that I actually brought my husband's family back here once. They were happy generally, especially FIL who absolutely raved over the escargots. MIL however, found the portion too huge, despite FIL's request for this as his birthday dinner location. She had ordered a spareribs, which is something that I can never ever finish, even with my appetite. But the vegetarian option here is quite limited. Only a vegetarian pasta, which the hubby said was horrible and he didn't finish. 

The manager told us the place will be closing down soon, as the entire stretch of shops had been sold en-bloc. Unfortunately MIL veto-ed the place as a celebration spot for FIL's upcoming birthday. I guess he'll never get to eat their escargots again... And this is also the reason why it's labelled probably not be back.

Shiu Yakiniku

My parents saw the advertisement for this restaurant on TV, and wanted to try it out. However, they weren't able to give me the restaurant name, just that it's a Japanese BBQ restaurant located at the former Crocodile Farm. A ton of googling later, I found the name. It's Shiu Yakiniku, located at The Village, opposite Jurong Bird Park, at the old Crocodile Farm site.

They boast of a smoke-free BBQ. I was initially doubtful, but made reservations nonetheless, because the parents said so. Turned out that it wasn't quite necessary on a Monday night. The place is so inaccessible by public transport, that there was only two other tables in the restaurant while we were there.

The buffet was going at $29++ for the basic menu, with options to top-up the price for more premium menus. Wagyu beef was at the premium menu, but I'm the only beef eater in the family, and they don't allow single person top-up. So I just went with the regular menu. First round we let them bring us a mixed selection of meats. These were arranged prettily in the shape of a palm tree, with chicken as the 'trunk', and thin slices of pork belly as the leaves. The ventilation vents are located at the side of the grill, the entire circumference of it. The result is smoke being vented off before it actually reached the table surface. And guess what? I didn't smell of BBQ at all. The hubby can vouch for me. His vegetarian nose usually dislike the BBQ smell I carry into the car after my dinners. He totally didn't detect any this time round.

Smokeless BBQ pit

We liked the pork belly. They were marinated nicely, and the thinness resulted in chewy pieces of not overly tough meats. The chicken were marinated well too. The marinates were generally not to sweet. The squid was actually pretty fresh and sweet. However, I can't remember how the prawns were, so I shall not comment on it.

Palm shaped arrangement of meats, trunk already half gone

I actually liked their beef, even though it wasn't wagyu. They had two varieties on the menu. One of it was a pretty decently thick slab of meat, about 1cm thick. Which means if I'm careful with my timing, I can actually get it medium. And I did, and I was happy. The tenderloin was thinner, but still tender after being cooked through. The mutton were sliced thinly, but marinated well enough that you know it's mutton, but the muttony smell wasn't overpowering. This restaurant also brings out the meat only when you order, so I feel less inclined to think that they were surrounded by flies before I get them.

The beef

My mess of cooked meats

The side dishes had hits and misses. The sushi were terrible - they had a mushy feel and not-so-fresh taste to them. The kimchi soup was so so, the ginseng chicken soup (it was really only soup) was pretty nice. The kimchi were yummy (why is there these Korean dishes in a Japanese restaurants?), but the other cold side dishes weren't so good. The fried chicken was good, but fried fish absolutely bland.

Overall, I enjoyed myself. Mainly because of the beef I think. And the smoke-less-ness. I think I'll bring people back. But location is really sucky, because you either have to take a cab or drive. I think there's a bus going there, but you'll probably have to take MRT and change at Boon Lay.

Sun With Moon

It was A's birthday. We had celebrated her birthday at Sun With Moon last year and she really liked it, but haven't been there since. So this year, she requested the same place again.

We haven't met for the whole year, and started off with everyone exchanging random gifts each bought back from holidays the past few months (some even from last year). There were a few exclamations of 'oh, I forgot to bring the stuff I bought from xxx'. I just happily took everything given to me. Haven't had the luxury of traveling this year, save one cruise trip. Not much souvenir one can buy from there. I can only comfort myself that what I lacked in holiday going, I made up by gorging myself with good food. My food budget is definitely much expanded this year... :S

Back to food. We ordered a main dish each and some sides to share. A had the Aburi Chirashi Don, I think that's what she had last year too. A colorful mixed don with eggs and fish, it tastes as nice as it looks. L had the salmon sushi platter (can't remember the exact name on the menu). Eight pieces of sushi all with differently prepared salmon. She nearly couldn't finish it... Her appetite have always been quite small.

Aburi Chirashi Don

Salmon sushi platter

S had the Aburi Chirashi Don too, but with a set. That comes with a big bowl of soup, and a chawanmushi. Someone said the meal was too big and gave me her chawanmushi. Couldn't remember who, but the chawanmushi was warm and smooth, great for my hungry tummy. M had a salmon don set(again, don't remember the name). The portion of salmon sashimi that came with the don was generous.

Salmon something Don set

I didn't try their food, so I'm not quite in the position to critique them. So let's talk about mine. I ordered Beef with Foie Gras. Although the foie gras portion was pretty small, it was the melt-in-your-mouth, livery, yummy kind. What Lynn and me will call the 'blissful' kind. I was closing my eyes and doing a little hand wiggle thingy to express my happiness, and M went "look at her face... So happy...". The beef was done just right, so I was pretty happy with it. These were served alongside a small bundle of pasta, some fried potato, and a slice of caramelized apple. Overall it was a yummy and happy meal for me. Not very filling though, but I did help S finish up her don. Oh, so I did try her food after all. Haha...

Beef with Foie Gras (there's more beef than it appears, hidden behind the apple)

For sides we ordered a grilled unagi, and hotate, swordfish, and salmon sashimi. I liked the sashimi here. They were very fresh, and the hotate and swordfish were oh-so-sweet. I'm not an unagi fan so I didn't try it. But the girls said it was nice.

Our sashimi

Grilled Unagi

Their service was pretty good. I brought a homemade cake, and actually deposited it at the restaurant at 5pm, went shopping, and returned for my reservation at 6. And I didn't have any disposable knives at home, so the restaurant very kindly gave us one. Though they did ask if we still need it when we asked them to help pack the remaining cake. I was more than happy to return it to them. The bill did shocked us a little, because we neglected to ask how much the 'seasonal price' unagi was. But that's our own fault of course. Overall, I did enjoy myself, and will probably come back for good sashimi and warm-the-tummy Japanese food.

Special Birthday Edition: Ruth Chris

It's Gracie's birthday! I announced that we are going to Ruth Chris for her early birthday dinner, and we both excitedly look forward to the BIG day. Reservations made at 7pm but we were delayed by Gracie's shoes disaster and reached at 8pm instead. They were nice to keep the table for us, its not too crowded on a Friday night and we had a small cosy corner to ourselves.

Complimentary Bread and salted whipped butter (It comes warm!)

After placing our orders, complimentary bread was served, the first mouth gives no surprise, however after a few more mouths, pairing with whipped butter , it actually became more and more enjoyable. We unanimously said "YES!" when asked if we wanted a 2nd serving. Carbo monsters indeed.

For appeitizers, we ordered Ruth's Chop Salad, Lobster bisque and Sizzling Blue Crab Cakes. Mains, we shared a 450g Ribeye (medium rare), recommended by our server.



Lobster Bisque

Lobster bisque has a nice prawny flavour with a creamy texture, different from the usual lobster bisque thats more soupy. It comes with fresh springy small chunks of lobster meat in it. Soup is enjoyable but no WOW effect, I prefer my lobster bisque to be more soupy and bursting with prawn flavour and a dash of cognac... hmmmmm!

Ruth's Chopped Salad

Ruth's chopped salad comes with Julienne iceberg lettuce, baby spinach and radicchio are tossed with red onions, mushrooms, green olives, bacon, eggs, hearts of palm, croutons, bleu cheese, lemon basil dressing, all chopped up and then topped with crispy onions. It an easy to eat salad cos its all chopped up so no need to mix it yourself, enjoyable and extra bliss when there's bleu cheese in that mouthful you take.



Sizzling Blue Crab Cakes

Sizzling crab cakes was amazing! It came sizzling hot and drizzled in lemon butter, perfect snack for those who likes crabs but do not wanna dabble with the shells. Although the crab cakes have robust flavours and happiness with every bite, it does not overpower and makes it easy for us to finish a piece each comfortably. I guess the lemon butter helps in giving it extra depth and a tinge of freshness.

Here comes the star of the night!! Our big juicy chunk of medium rare ribeye steak. It's absolute enjoyment of the 5 senses, we could smell the aroma, hear the sizzling sound, feel the goodness of the meat.. Super yummy! Did I mention it comes with sizzling butter on a 260 degrees sizzling hot white plate? We were sharing the meat so they gave us a hot white plate each, coated with butter. We almost wanted to clap in joy when we saw that, the world is just us and steak.

Steak Fries

Yes, there's no typo.. This IS steak fries, not wedges. It comes tossed with fresh rosemary, roasted garlic and sun-dried tomatoes. I can't detect the rosemary taste and the fries are too dry for my liking and I did not finish my share.

Complimentary Chocolate Sin cake for Gracie

Warm apple crumb tart

By dessert time, we were quite filled but decided to try their warm apple tart, hoping that the apples can help to refresh our tastebuds. Apples are baked in a flaky pastry topped with vanilla bean ice cream. Portions are big so we had to struggle through half of it before giving up. I find it a tad too sweet for my liking.

There's a nice complimentary chocolate espresso cake for Gracie. The coffee taste in the cake is quite strong, intially it tasted interesting but after a few mouthfuls, it reminds us of the old school coffee bean grinding machine.

We left Ruth Chris feeling pampered and content, with a happy stomach and a wide smile on our faces. Throughout the dinner we can't help but notice the similar menu that Mortons has. I'll say both places are on par for the great steaks they have but Mortons scored better for their appetitizers and desserts.

Jumbo (Clarke Quay)

The boss was out of the country, and J had a $100 voucher at Jumbo's. So we thought it'll be fun for some of us to go for a long seafood lunch. I mean, there was a minimum spend of $200 in order to use the voucher. $200 sounded like a lot of food, but easily achieved by the 10 or so of us. Since Clarke Quay is the nearest branch, that's where we made the reservations. Over the phone, the lady told J that he could have additional 10% off because he's a Jumbo card member. Yay for us!

Cute Crab!

Now, 2 months later, I'm finally getting around to posting this. Photos taken with my phone tend to be forgotten and hence, joins the queue for blogging turn some what belatedly. Thank goodness for V's recommendation of the Evernote Food app, which I used to take down the names of the dishes! Looking at the number of photos I uploaded, I think back then we over-ordered quite a bit. But then again, there was what, 9 of us? And some of them boys have really good appetite.

After much browsing and discussion, we finally confirmed our choices. We ordered two appetizers. Roast Duck Mango Salad, and jellyfish. The jellyfish was pretty normal - just right amount of 'crunch' vs softness (how do one describe jelly fish??!!). The salad was something we all liked. The mango was juicy and sweet, and the small pieces of roast duck added an extra oomph. The duck was very nicely roasted, and a few of us were fighting over the skin, because of the nice charred flavor it had.

Jelly Fish

Roast Duck Mango Salad

In the meat department, we had Golden Phoenix Chicken, and Mocha Pork Ribs. I was thoroughly deceived by the chicken. The picture (both on the menu and mine) makes one imagine beautifully roasted chicken presented in an artful manner. It turned out to be fish paste (!!!!) under that chicken skin. So it was pretty much eating a piece of fish cake with a chicken skin on it. It was nice actually, but I felt so cheated. The pork ribs had a good balance of bitterness and sweet from the coffee, yet it was still savory. Yum.

Golden Phoenix Chicken

Mocha Pork Ribs

What's Jumbo without seafood? We had Cereal Prawns, Scallops in Yam Basket and Chilli Crab. Prawns were covered in a generous mountain of sweet and crunchy cereal. The prawns were fresh, and overall delicious. The scallops were ordered because I though they looked interesting. They were fresh and sweet, and the yam baskets were nicely mashed, not gooey at all. The presentation made them look like fried abalones. Cute!

Cereal Prawns

Scallops in Yam Basket (don't they look like abalones?)

Chilli crab was of course the star of the show. We were given disposable aprons to protect our clothes. I didn't use mine, because I thought that I wouldn't quite be so rough. But there were flying crab shells from around me because of random people trying to crack the hard pincers using the nut cracker (me included). Thankfully none of them hit me, so I was still chilli gravy free at the end of the meal. I liked their crab. Right balance of sweetness and spiciness. The crabs were quite meaty, not shrunken like some you get occasionally. They didn't ask if we wanted male or female crabs, so I think we were given males. I poked around and couldn't find any roe. :(

Chilli Crab

Disposable apron

To even out that carnivorous meal, we have to have something in the vegetable section. Spinach Tofu with Mushroom and Sambal Kang Kong came into the picture. The tofu was topped with mashed spinach and fried, then smothered in a gravy with a mushroom mixture. Already had tried this at many different big chain seafood restaurants. They usually taste roughly the same. Sambal Kang Kong was ok - the sambal was fragrant, and the dish not disgustingly oily. (Sambal Kang Kong is always oily, so I can only say it's not extremely oily... Haha...)

Spinach Tofu with Mushroom

Sambal Kang Kong

We also ordered a Seafood Fried Rice, mainly because a Chinese meal don't seem complete without rice. Haha... Theirs had a good portion of diced prawns in it. Would have liked the rice to be more evenly coated with eggs though. Haha... High standard...

Seafood Fried Rice

The bill did come up to more than we bargained for, because the staff said that the 10% discount cannot be used concurrently with the voucher. Although J was sure he was told differently, we didn't argue for it. After the voucher, we paid $30 or so each. J felt bad that he caused us to spend more than he expected. But hey, for such a sumptuous seafood lunch, none of us were complaining!