Green+on+Earth Cafe quietly opened its doors late last year in Upper Bukit Timah, serving up wholesome vegetarian dishes with a touch of class and at down-to-earth prices.
The food does not contain MSG, garlic or onions. The kitchen uses olive oil and seasonings such as organic soya sauce. The water used in cooking and to serve patrons is filtered, and there is a wide selection for those on a vegan diet.
The comfy air-conditioned cafe is a haven for vegetarians among the hawker stalls on the fourth floor of Beauty World Centre.
Ms Aggie Foo, who runs Green+on+Earth for her brother, said the dearth of good-quality, healthy vegetarian food in the vicinity prompted her to suggest that her brother buy over the premises to open the cafe.
'We're helping others to enjoy healthy food. We hope to convince people who like hawker food to come here,' she said.
By profession a property agent, the healthy-eating enthusiast devises and tests out recipes for the cafe, and ensures that the presentation is aesthetically pleasing. Her efforts are paying off as the outlet has drawn people who live or work nearby, including polytechnic and university lecturers.
You certainly don't have to be a vegetarian to find something to satisfy your hunger pangs as there is enough variety to suit most palates. My first visit to the cafe was with 14 members of my extended family, of whom I was the only vegetarian. Except for a niece who is avowedly carnivorous, the rest of my family members were satisfied with the lunch.
The Chinese herbal ramen ($6.50) was a hit, with three bowls landing on our long row of tables. The cafe does not take short cuts with the soup stock, which is simmered with vegetables such as carrots, white radish and burdock root.
We also ordered a salad of roasted pumpkin ($6.80), which was accompanied by other vegetables, a sprinkling of wolfberries and raisins, and a sweet dressing. We liked the pumpkin, but, overall, felt that the ensemble was too sweet.
We were happier with another salad of grilled vegetables - baby corn, bell pepper, eggplant, pumpkin and basil leaves.
Several items on the menu come with organic brown rice from Australia. A $6.50 set gets one the whole grain, a salad, sauteed vegetables and soup. Other brown rice meals come with pots of ma po tofu (spicy tofu), or vegetable curry and mock veal cooked in soya milk, among others. These are priced at $10.80 each.
Green+on+Earth also serves a variety of pasta and noodles, ranging from Thai tom yam brown rice bee hoon and kueh teow ($5.50) to creamy mushroom pasta ($8.80), cooked with soya milk and soya cheese.
There's also the tomato paste pasta ($6.50), made from fresh tomatoes. Other Italian fare includes the baked lasagna and several types of pizzas.
Ms Foo is constantly updating the menu. On a subsequent visit, she had the kitchen whip up a new dish - spinach pasta enlivened by a tasty sauce. Ms Foo revealed that its ingredients included her own chilli sauce with pumpkin.
Also making its debut that day was a soup made with four types of mushrooms. It came with a generous amount of the fungi. The regular soups on the menu include sweet corn chowder, pearl barley soup and beetroot and orange soup.
To wrap up the meal, you can choose from a range of cakes, which have eggless versions, or brownies with ice-cream.
Lunch is served from 11.30am to 2.30pm and dinner from 5.30pm to 9.30pm.
In between, a high tea set is available for $5. This will get you one item from the nibbles and munchies menu as well as an Earl Grey tea or black coffee.
The snacks, priced at $4 each if ordered on their own, include sandwiches, Thai tofu cakes with a mini vegetable salad and chilli dip, and eggplant on bruschetta with tomato salsa.
Bring your own notebook computer and you can tap into the free wireless Internet connection.
E-mail: sukilor@gmail.com
Green+on+Earth Cafe
144, Upper Bukit Timah Rd
#04-03, Beauty World Centre
Operating hours: 11am to 10pm daily
Tel: 6468-4748
