a day of singapore makan

Thanks to the joys of Jetstar (don't do it), I spent a Monday in Singapore, and used this opportunity to hang out with the super awesome Ger and Em. We spent the day eating, and they distracted me from my Plane Delay Panic.

We distracted ourselves at Muji, before brunching on chee cheong fun (no picture) at the Jade Garden.



From there we headed on over to Real Food Cafe, which looks like a seriously delicious vegetarian cafe and I'm sorry we didn't get to eat there. I'm not sorry that we got to try the Brownice icecream, though, which was tasty and melted all over my hands. Since there was three of us, we picked three flavours: peppermint chocolate, peanut butter caramel, and the plain chocolate. It was all good. It's ice cream made from brown rice!



Next up was Hainan chicken rice at Pine Tree Cafe in the Fortune Centre. The Fortune Centre is so amazing, I can't believe I've spent so much time in Singapore and never been there. It's a shopping complex almost entirely filled with vegetarian restaurants and shops! So good.

This chicken rice was awesome. I know I spoke highly of the chicken rice I ate at Madame K's only a week later, but this was perfect. Nice little soup, sauce drizzled over the top, Singaporean and just the way I like it.



We followed this up with a visit to the Mustafa Centre (open 24 hours) and then a dosai at the Syed Alwi branch of Ananda Bhavan. This was my first dosai in about six months and I was very happy to be putting this in my mouth. Ananda Bhavan is a fast service place, a little self-service.

There was supposed to be a burger visit, too, but in my paranoia to get on my plan we gave it a miss and went early to the airport.

Go to Singapore! It's pretty great. As are Em and Ger.

Real Food Cafe
6 Eu Tong Sen Street,
#B1-52/53, The Central
Singapore 059817

Pine Tree Cafe
#02-09/13
Fortune Centre
190 Middle Road
Singapore

Ananda Bhavan
Syed Alwi Road
opposite Mustafa Centre
Singapore

madame k's vegetarian, fitzroy

Walking up Brunswick Street heading for Yongs, my eye was caught by a new restaurant fit-out and a nice blue sign announcing 'Madame K Vegetarian.' So of course we detoured!



We started with some awesome fresh juices, served in little bottles. My watermelon and apple juice was super delicious; Ju had orange and pineapple which she reported was also delicious (I elected not to sample her juice on the grounds that pineapple is my least favourite fruit).



I'm not usually a big entree person, but I couldn't resist trying the chicken and corn soup. This had an excellent corn flavour, and little stringy bits of mock chicken, and lots of spring onions. A perfect chicken and corn soup! And it was an excellent size - it could almost be a small meal.



Ju and I both struggled to select a main. I finally settled on the chicken rice; the rice was perfectly gingered, and the chicken tasted just as it should, with an accompanying soy+bean Thai sauce with an excellent chilli bite that set it all off excellently. Ju went for the laksa, which was a bit more red curry noodle than assam deliciousness, but was still a pretty good dish on its own.

Madame K's also has an excellent and tempting dessert menu, filled with an amazing-looking fruit salad, deep fried bananas, and other exciting things. We skipped this in favour of cocktails at Polly, but I look forward to a future, dessert-included visit!

Service here was good, and prompt. Vegan items are clearly labelled on the menu. A main costs about $15. I have been thinking about the menu for a couple of days now, and definitely will visit Madame K's again (though probably not until my triumphant return to Melbourne later this year).

Madame K's allegedly has a website, but it doesn't appear to yet be up and running.

No other reviews: despite living in Beijing, am I the first?!

Madame K's Vegetarian
367 Brunswick Street
Fitzroy

94156909

accessibility: step up to enter, tables are very close together and difficult to maneuver around. get there on the 112 tram (which is not an accessible tram).

vegan peking duck for cny

Just home from an amazing dinner at Baihe for CNY. Mandarins for starters (and finishes, and prosperity), then noodles, potatoes, gailan, pipa chicken, and the most amazing duck and pancakes:



Highly recommend, would eat again.

On the way home I passed so many fireworks and firecrackers and one lonely red lantern, drifting slowly into the sky and out of sight. My camera's no good for capturing these sorts of things, but I leave you with this, from the driveway to our apartment complex:



恭喜发财！新年快乐！Reports of temple fair food tomorrow, after I've eaten it.

previous visit (includes Englishness, directions and accessibility details)

Baihe Vegetarian / Lily's Vegetarian / 百合素食
23 Caoyuan Hutong
off dongzhimen nei bei xiaojie
Dongcheng District
Beijing

东直门内北小街草原胡同甲23号

timezone 8 [798, beijing]

I really like 798, the art district of Beijing. I've been there twice now (photos), and the second time was even more fun than the first, I came home with all sorts of art and had a really great afternoon. It's not the sort of place you can visit just once and be done with it, it's always evolving and it's massive and it's tiring.

On this visit we wandered in to Timezone 8, a gallery, restaurant, bar and bookshop. There's a soy latte on the menu and vegetarian pasta that I could get without the cheese, and given I thought I was going to be in a vegan wasteland I was happy already.



The pasta (eggplant, tomato and mushroom) was okay. It wasn't spectacular (the eggplant was a little tough), and the coffee was average, but Emilly said her pasta was good (vego not vegan) and her juice was excellent. We were seated at the bar and they juiced the watermelon in front of her! Service was friendly and helpful. I plan to take several of my visitors over the next eight months to 798, so it's good to know there's somewhere I can get food with minimal hassle.

The menu is in Chinese and English, the waitstaff speak a little English.


Timezone 8
4 Jiuxianqiao Lu (opposite UCCA)
798

Get there on the 401 bus. Steps to enter, nice lighting (during the day).

revolutionary tofu

At my workplace we have some very traditional food coming out of the kitchen, traditional in the sense of since the Cultural Revolution. A lot of the dishes we eat at work became common during the CR because they're fast, simple and nutritious, making use of the ingredients to hand and the conditions available. I plan to make a whole blog post about the food that gets dished up in the work cafeteria, which has been integral to introducing me to a whole lot of Northern Chinese food that I'm just completely unfamiliar with (being familially from a Southern province; and worse, being more immediately South-East Asian).

I've become a bit obsessed with this tofu dish, which made an appearance on my first trip to the cafeteria. I eagerly look forward to each reappearance, and finally I gave it a go recently. It's so simple it doesn't need a recipe, though I found a reference to it in The Cultural Revolution Cookbook, a cookbook I would seriously consider buying except it's still got a whole lot of meat in it.



sesame tofu with spring onion
recipe helped by the cultural revolution cookbook

This makes a great side dish or salad to a flavoursome meal. I've been eating it in winter but look forward to serving it as a summer salad. I know it sounds plain and boring (and the picture doesn't help) but the sesame oil does something magical to the tofu that makes it very moreish. You may want to adjust the amount of sesame oil you use depending on your tastes, and you could also sprinkle some sesame seeds on the top.

ingredients
1 x 300g block of firm tofu
1 or 2 stems of spring onion
2 teaspoons sesame oil
salt

method: In the microwave, heat the tofu whole (and drained and rinsed) until it's pleasantly warm to the touch; should need no longer than a minute. Alternatively, soak the tofu in hot water for a minute or two. In the meantime, slice the spring onion small and on an angle, along the bias. Use the green and the white parts! Combine the sesame oil, spring onions and salt. Dice the tofu into chunks about half an inch across, and mix the oil through a little roughly - the tofu can break apart somewhat. Serve warm.

baihe vegetarian [百合素食] [dongcheng, beijing]

After a long exhausting day out in the outskirts of Beijing (1.5 hours on the subway south of the city), no lunch, and three hours of facilitating a large group of people all on my own, I was so hungry I could barely talk, so Emilly met me at Baihe Vegetarian, less than a ten minute walk away from my apartment. We sat down and started picking food quickly, so I could eat as soon as possible.



We ordered the satay noodles, the chicken curry, and the dry roast potatoes. These came out rapidly, delicious and warm. The dry roast potatoes, despite being neither dry nor roasted, were my favourite. They were served in a tasty, mild sauce, in a platter with a flame underneath to keep it bubbling away. The noodles and the chicken were nothing to scoff at, though the potatoes in the curry were a tad underdone. They all were delicious though, and exactly what I needed after a long day of no food.



I really enjoyed Baihe and, with its close proximity to my house, is a place I plan to revisit for sure. Prices are moderate, about 130Y including fresh juices. Service is friendly and helpful.

Baihe Vegetarian / Lily's Vegetarian / 百合素食
23 Caoyuan Hutong
off dongzhimen nei bei xiaojie
Dongcheng District
Beijing

东直门内北小街草原胡同甲23号

Take line 2 to Dongzhimen station, exit D or B, walk directly West along Dongzhimen inner, at the first major intersection turn right. Caoyuan Hutong is the second alley on your left. The menu has English subtitles (and pictures!), access includes a step up and a step down and several ledges in the way. There is a toilet on the premises. Staff don't speak English.

veggie table ii [lama temple area, beijing]

After a massive NYE and needing to recover all day Sunday, we ventured out to nearby Veggie Table for a continuation of the recover process on Monday for lunch. I'd been hoping for the mushroom burger, all burgery and chips and mushroom is my hangover meal of choice, but alas it was not to be, for in the new year's rush they were all out of mushroom burgers.



So I went the pizza route instead (spurred on by Lainie and Alaine who had stayed in the entirety of the previous day, and ordered in two large pizzas they ate by themselves). The pizza at Veggie Table is eggplant, potato and onion, with the eggplant present in the form of baba ghanoush spread across the base, giving it a thick, moist underlayer underneath all that onion and potato. It was greasy and rich and delicious. I've never even considered such a thing before, baba ghanoush instead of tomato paste, and I would eat it again for sure, but maybe I will share it with someone. I had to go for a walk afterwards to work it off.



I supplemented it with a coconut milk latte. Served in a massive mug, this coffee has just a hint of coconut to it, beautifully supplementing the coffee, and it was exactly what I wanted.

previous visit (includes accessibility and english details)

veggie table
19 Wudaoying Hutong
Lama Temple Area
Dongcheng District
Beijing

grilled vegetable pasta

One thing I don't get a whole lot of in Beijing is pasta - vegan pasta is difficult to come by in restaurants (though Veggie Table has a couple on the menu that I'd like to sample), and it can be hard to purchase dried pasta. A lot of the really big supermarkets stock a little, though, if they have a 'foreign' section, and of course there are my semi-regular visits to April Gourmet (a Western supermarket near my Chinese school).

Craving pasta, I recently put together this from things mostly picked up at April Gourmet: spirals, a tin of tomatoes, and a small takeaway container of grilled vegetables. It's pricy for a home-cooked meal (about 17Y for the pack of pasta, 15Y for the tomatoes, and 22Y for the veggies), but it was exactly what I wanted. Sometimes a little pasta when you're far away from home is what you really want.




grilled vegetable pasta

Super simple! Set enough pasta for two people on to boil. Slice half a spanish onion, and fry in a little olive oil. When it's softened, add some dried oregano and a little dried chilli, a minced garlic clove, and quickly follow it up with a tin of tomatoes, and leave to simmer for five minutes. Then add all your grilled vegetables, heat through, stir through some nutritional yeast, mix it through with the pasta and serve it all up.

It was worth it to cart that packet of nutritional yeast flakes all the way from Melbourne.

japchae

Being a big fan of sweet potato, not only did I order (and love) the japchae at Saveurs de Coree, but when I saw sweet potato noodles in the shops a few days later I immediately purchased a packet. And I have no regrets. Sweet potato noodles take a little longer than wheat noodles to cook, and I went really light on the sauces because I didn't want to overwhelm the awesomeness of any sweet potato that might make its way through.

This recipe is not strictly japchae. I should have added some mushrooms or something, and I didn't add a sweetner. But it was so good, and I am looking forward to trying this again soon.



japchae
serves two people

ingredients
200g dried sweet potato noodles
1 clove garlic, minced
1 carrot, julienned
a little bit of broccoli
little bit of chinese cabbage (just the leaves, cut tiny to wilt fast)
a dash of light soy sauce (or gf tamari)
a small amount of sesame oil (about a teaspoon or so)
some sesame seeds

method
Boil the noodles until they are delightfully soft, about five minutes or just over. Drain and cut (or cut in the wok, just know they come long and you have to cut them).

In a hot wok, add some cooking oil then throw in the garlic and the carrots. Fry about for a minute or two, then add some water and the broccoli and wombok, and put the lid on to steam. After the broccoli has gone beautiful and bright green, lower the heat and add the noodles, soy/tamari, and the sesame oil. Toss to combine, let them all cook together for a minute, and plate. Sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Delicious, fast, made from sweet potatoes. No regrets.

saveurs de coree [dongcheng, beijing]

The only reason I tried out Saveurs de Coree is because Happy Cow told me they knew what the word vegan meant. And this is sort of true!

I love the atmosphere of the Ju'Er location, though its poor lighting meant I was unable to get any nice photos. They have a lovely looking outdoor section that I look forward to trying when it's not -4C, and lots of fun Korean books inside, and an awesome water feature in the back room that I really enjoyed.

The menu is extensive, filled with all sorts of things, and a little leaf indicates things that can be made vegetarian or vegan. It says so, right there at the bottom of the menu! Sadly this is where things got a little complicated for me. The menu clearly states that things with leaves can be made vegetarian or vegan, however our waitperson (who spoke some English) clearly had no idea.



We ended up ordering a whole bunch of food, and it was all really delicious. We went for these gamja jeon (potato pancakes), and some japchae and ttekkdokki to share, and then a plate of mushroom rice each. These three dishes pictured were amazing. I was so excited by the japchae (sweet potato noodles fried with sesame oil and vegetables) that when I saw sweet potato noodles in the shops on Monday I purchased a pack immediately (more on that tomorrow). The ttekkdokki was delicious but spicy, as always.



Dessert was tofu chocolate mousse, good but a bit pricy and tiny (and all the pictures were blurry).

I'm mostly confident of the vegan-ness of the meal except for one factor: they don't use dairy at all, and there were no eggs in any of the dishes I ordered. However due to the waitperson's confusion, I'm not sure if they went to the kitchen and said 'these dishes need to be vegan' (which based on the menu I think they'd be clear on), or if they said 'these dishes can't have seafood'. If it was the former I'm all good; if it was the latter then maybe my kimchi was of the non-vegetarian variety.

The menu is available in English, Korean and Mandarin. There are some pictures. Cost is a bit high, this was the most expensive meal I've had since arriving in Beijing, but the service is attentive (when the waitperson stops texting) and they let us hang around even though we were clearly the last people to leave, and when we left one of the waitstaff had their coat on.

Saveurs de Coree
20 Ju Er Hutong
Dongcheng

There is a second location at 128-1, Xiang Er Hutong off Jiaodaokou, no more than ten minutes walk from the Ju'Er location, that specialises in 'fine Korean grill.'

A step up to enter, poor lighting. An obstacle course to get from the front (tiny) room to the rest of the restaurant. About 10-15 minutes walk from Beixinqiao Station (line 5, exit D). Some English spoken. Not sure about gluten free. Meals: 100-200Y (including dessert and alcohol).

christmas disaster

so even when you're celebrating a low-key christmas in china with five of your friends, and all the food has been cooked by someone else and you just have to pick it up, there is still room for a christmas day kitchen disaster:



merry christmas if that's your thing! and remember to put the lid on your pumpkin puree, even when you're only heating it up for five minutes. although who has pumpkin puree at christmas? i mean really.

shenton park cat haven (and the dog refuge, too)

Shenton Park Cat Haven is looking for forever homes for some adorable but homeless cats! They are seriously oversubscribed and though since that news article went up they've had a whole heap of cats adopted, the oversubscription continues.

If you can't give the gift of a home but are looking for a present for someone, you could also consider making a donation to the Cat Haven or to the Dog's Refuge (also in Shenton Park).

If you want to make a Victorian-based donation, there's The Lost Dogs' Home in North Melbourne or Edgar's Mission.

There is a possibility I have left my donation-presents until the last minute.

the first curry

My kitchen here is pretty limited, so I was a bit nervous about trying curry for the first time. I should not have worried, though: I don't think I've ever had a curry disaster, for I am a Curry Master. I made this one up as I went along, and had to use curry powder because I haven't been able to find turmeric, and red onions because I didn't have any shallots, and it still all came out okay.

I served this on noodles, because I don't have any rice.



pumpkin curry

ingredients
quarter of a red onion, diced tiny
inch of ginger, minced or shredded
little bit of garlic, minced
1 large tomato, diced large
300g pumpkin, diced larger still
some curry powder
some chilli flakes
some cumin
little bit of extra water

method
in a little oil, fry the onion until it starts to colour, then add the garlic and the ginger. after a minute or two, add the curry powder, chilli flakes and cumin, and fry until they become fragrant, then toss in the tomato and the pumpkin. allow the tomato to soften, and ensure it's mixed a bit with the pumpkin, then add in some water, bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and cover, leaving to simmer for about half an hour. check on it every now and then, adding a little bit more water if it's soaked it all up. keep simmering and adding water until the pumpkin is nice and soft.

serve on rice or noodles or roti.

(i would pay a lot of money for roti right now)

the bookworm [sanlitun, beijing]

The Bookworm is an English-language lending library, bookstore, cafe and bar. I went there recently for Green Drinks after work, and I also dropped by for their booksale last weekend. Before perusing the books, however, I stopped for a mid morning meal.

The menu is not very vegan friendly, and they don't carry soy milk so no coffee for me. I was assured that this would be suitable - it's one of three items that can be modified or should be okay for vegans. My dining companions all loved their meals (brunches) -they were massive and filled with things they found exciting. This salad was okay. It was nothing exciting, and I dislike cold tofu puffs, which is personal preference. It was actually nice to have some lettuce, I haven't had any since I arrived in China.

I'm not 100% sure about the veganinity of the dressing.

Service is okay, there's usually someone who speaks English and the menu is in Chinese with English subtitles.




the bookworm
Courtyard 4, Gongti Beilu / Nansanlitun Road
Chaoyang District

get there on line 10 (gongtibeilu) or line 2 (dongsishitiao) and walk down Gong Ti Beilu. The Bookworm is not accessible for people with mobility issues, it is up a very steep flight of stairs with no elevator access. There are also internal stairs. Brightly lit during the day, poorly lit in the evening. Confusing double door for entry which is difficult to get the hang of.

朝阳区工体北路4号院

white nights / 白夜西餐 [dongzhimen, beijing]

My first ever visit to a Russian restaurant!

It surprises me how many people think they've never had Russian food, or don't know what Russian food entails. A number of my friends (not my housemate, whose family is Russian and was the one to suggest the restaurant) paged through the menu, unexpectedly discovering they actually knew many Russian dishes, such as stroganov, or Chicken Kiev.

Russian food is pretty cream and meat heavy, so I went for two things that V was pretty sure I could eat: pierogi, and vareniki, both filled with potato, and when I asked the waitstaff, they said there was no dairy so I went for it. The vareniki were fried and looked like curry puffs, and the pierogi were steamed, and they were all delicious. An entire meal of potato and pastry and I have no regrets.

The photos didn't turn out, little white things on little white plates in a dimly lit, smoke-filled restaurant, so here instead have a photo of our refreshments for the evening:



a bottle of vodka and some strawberry nectar, ordered from the menu. We were expected to drink the entire bottle, and we did, just five of us, and I desperately wish I'd brought Berocca to China with me when I woke up the next morning.

The meal was good, stodgy and filling on a very cold evening. Service was a bit average, but the prices were good (including vodka it came to about 60-70RMB each) and it's no more than a ten minute walk from my apartment. A definite revisit.

White Nights / 白夜西餐
13A Beizhong Jie
off Dongzhimennei Dajie, near the Russian Embassy
Dongcheng District

on PT: Take the subway to Dongzhimen Station, exit A, walk East along Dongzhimen Outer Street and take the second right. Stairs to get into the building, poor lighting, and the toilet is down some stairs and around a corner. Ordering and payment at the table. Menu is in English, Russian and Chinese with pictures. Waitstaff speak Mandarin.

Was it vegan rating: probably. I asked and was told what I ordered had no dairy, and I didn't get sick afterwards. I didn't ask about egg because V thought it was very unlikely.

东城区东直门内大街北中街甲13号