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SINGAPORE : Besides being greedy, I am also a steadfast carnivore who feels that no meal is complete without a nice side of red or dark meat.
So, you might imagine how tentatively it was that I entered the restaurant Naïve - in the full knowledge that it serves “a healthy Asian menu (made) from purely plant-based ingredients with no meat, no seafood, no eggs, no onions, no garlic and no MSG”.
Let’s just say that when making plans to lunch there one weekday afternoon, I also made contingency plans to dine at a neighbouring steakhouse, in case I emerged from Naïve with my belly chiding me for being, well, naïve (sorry, I just couldn’t resist it).
As it turns out, I had nothing to worry about. Naïve has done what the many chefs its owners approached in its planning stages said was impossible: It serves excellent, refined and beautifully-flavoured vegetarian food that even a dedicated carnivore like me absolutely adored.
To turn out such flavourful Asian dishes without the use of onions or garlic is genius in itself. Take for instance the Spice of Life (S$12.80) - monkeyhead mushrooms sautéed in a spicy, piquant kung pao sauce.
The mushrooms were so meaty that I had to ask our waiter if they were indeed mushrooms and not chicken breast. The flavours were robust and well-rounded, yet didn’t leave a deep haunting of garlic on the palate as a regular kung pao-based dish might.
Similarly, the Mega Mini Mushrooms (S$10.80) were so addictive I would have ordered a second helping were it not for the slightly hefty price tag. In this dish, chubby little shimeiji mushrooms were lightly battered and deep fried to a juicy crisp before being tossed in a Szechuan sauce with chopped chillies and squares of green pepper.
The bowl of tom yam soup (S$3.80) was just as satisfying, even if it lacked the flavour of seafood, which I so love. The proof, as many chefs will tell you, is in what’s left on the returning plate. In this case, our soup bowl went back to the kitchen lovingly emptied.
Another dish that sparkled on our palates was the tamarind tofu cake (S$13.80), and I say this as someone who isn’t particularly partial to tofu. The cakes didn’t have too strong a soy taste and were gorgeously salted so that it tasted meaty.
The gravy on which the tofu cakes sat was rich with a rempah made of tamarind and lemongrass. It was much like a thicker, richer assam pedas and I mopped it up with the mantou (steamed buns) that came with the Black and White (S$9.80) that I ordered.
Which brings me to the point that, in my opinion, it would be safer to stick to ordering spicier dishes from Naïve’s menu. The Black and White (a vegetarian version of kong bak pau, or soy braised pork belly) didn’t quite hit the spot.
That’s not to say it wasn’t good - as far as vegetarian dishes go, this one was wonderfully flavourful and boasted lovely textures, thanks to the tender mushrooms and toothsome gluten facsimile of lean pork. Rather, as my dining companion put it, sometimes there is just no good substitute for fatty pig.
NAÏVE
Where: 99 East Coast Road (opposite Katong Mall)
Telephone: 6348 0668
Opening Hours: 11.30am-10pm daily
- TODAY/il
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