Type of Institution: Vegetarian
Address: 49-51 Joo Chiat Place, Singapore 472223
Tel: +65 6345 0069 / 6222 2039
Website: http://www.justgreensfood.com/
Opening Hours: Daily 8am – 11pm
Overall: 6.5/10
I popped by Just Greens Vegetarian Food for a quick dinner as it was close to the Reiki Centre, where I was going for their free monthly informative talk. The Just Greens outlet in Joo Chiat is the main and only restaurant outlet; the other 5 Just Greens outlets occupy food stalls in food courts. A large part of the menu comprised of ala carte Chinese dishes (mostly within the price range of S$10-20), while a small chunk of it was comprised of Chinese and/or Singaporean one-dish meals (porridge, fried rice, noodles, etc.). Although the restaurant purports to offer healthier vegetarian food options to Singaporeans, I myself was not so convinced as most of the dishes featured mock meat and a conspicuous lack of whole grains.
Hor Fun with Gravy
I opted for the Hor Fun with Gravy, a dish I obsessively ate when I was a kid but eventually grew out of. The dish was served extremely fast (no doubt, everything was prepared beforehand) and came in an exceedingly large portion. The quality of the kway tiao (rice noodles) were rather average – they were of regular thickness and overcooked so they were slightly mushy and stuck together, like the typical Hor Fun you would find in a coffee shop. The kway tiao was topped with a smattering of carrot, mushroom, bai cai (bok choy), baby corn, green beans, soy mock meat, and parsley. The gravy, which was quite brothy and not thick and viscous as expected, tasted light yet flavourful and made of natural ingredients. This was a happy contrast to the typical Hor Fun gravy, which is oily and full of MSG. ($5)
Conclusion: Had a short and pleasant experience at Just Greens. I might go back to try their ala carte dishes if I’m in the area again, but I wouldn’t make a special trip down for the food.
I’ve been to Gokul many times for a quick fix whenever I needed some reliable Singaporean food, ever since I discovered it through 
The crispy papadum were made from lentil flour and weren’t too oily by Indian standards. They were perfectly complemented by the mint chutney, which was tangy, refreshing and slightly spicy. (Complimentary)
Gokul’s satay baffled me both times when I tried it at the Fortune Centre outlet as well as at the Little India outlet. It was highlighted in the menu as an “all time fave”, yet these 10 painfully dry, tough and flavourless soy meat skewers could be anything but. The unduly watery and dull peanut sauce and nondescript rice cakes didn’t do the dish any favours either. ($8)
I loved the perfect texture of the okra (ladies finger) in the Bhindi Masala – crunchy on the outside and tender on the inside, it reminded me of why okra is one of my top 3 favourite vegetables of all time. Unfortunately, though, the very bland masala gravy was unbefitting of the vegetable, and the sliced tomatoes lacked flavour as well. ($8)
This very substantial dish consisted of soft soy meat chunks cooked with a spicy, wet, Mysore-style curry gravy. I would have preferred the “mutton” chunks to be denser to more closely approximate the texture of real mutton. ($9)
Yet another item recommended as an “all time fave” on the menu, the Special Hokkien Mee was much less disappointing than the satay. Bee hoon, yellow mee, and kway teow were stir-fried with some greens, bean sprouts and soy prawn chunks. There was too much bee hoon compared to everything else but it wasn’t completely overwhelming. I was impressed by how the dish recalled some of the authentic, distinctive hokkien mee flavour, although prawns were obviously not used. Also, the dish wasn’t too oily and the chili on the side was decent. ($7.60)
The Kothu Prata set offered a huge portion of chewy torn-up prata pieces stir-fried and scrambled with soy chunks, tofu, and vegetables. This is served with a red curry sauce and a lovely yellow dal. ($7.50)
Although The Living Café is non-vegetarian, in line with its emphasis on natural, holistic, and wholesome living, a large part of the menu is dedicated to raw vegan cuisine. (Raw veganism excludes all food of animal origin, and all food cooked above 48 degrees Celsius, mainly for its purported health benefits (click 
The menu is available online 
The raw zucchini hummus was good but I didn’t really enjoy the flaxseed “chips”, which were each made up of a single layer of flaxseed. This made the “chips” rather unsatisfying. I was expecting something thicker and crunchier. Also, nothing seemed to have been added to enhance the flavour of the “chips” – the flavour of the dish derives solely from the zucchini hummus. Perhaps I’m being unfair, but I couldn’t help but benchmark it against the best flax chips I’ve tried – Saf London’s “Napoletana Pizza Crackers”, made with olives, sun-dried tomatoes, nuts, sunflower seeds, and various spices. ($6)
A fresh, simple and delicious carrot soup was given the right amount of creaminess with a raw alfredo sauce, topped with crunchy shredded beetroot and alfafa sprouts, and drizzled with raw alfredo sauce on top. This is recommended, but note that this was only available as the Soup of the Day. ($8)
The raw TLC burgers used to come in three flavours – Cheesy, Sweet Teriyaki and Spicy Curry. They’ve since discarded two of these sauces and kept my favourite one – Cheesy! I loved the dense patty made from mushrooms, walnuts, sunflower seeds and oats, topped with a rich cheese sauce and enveloped in a fresh lettuce “bun” along with a slice of tomato, shredded onion, carrot, and beetroot, and some alfafa sprouts. Served with a side of guacamole and thin slivers of daikon. This has always been a hit among my meat-eater friends. Highly recommended. ($15)
The raw pizza essentially comprised a pizza crust topped with sauces and a salad. The pizza crust was a thin, compact, rather hard and slightly chewy disc made from almonds and sunflower seeds. This was spread with a disappointing marinara sauce that lacked a richness in flavour and whose sweetness didn’t complement the nuttiness of the pizza crust, as well as some cheese sauce. A fresh salad sat on top of it all, made with baby spinach, rocket, yellow capsicum, cherry tomatoes, daikon slivers, and alfafa sprouts. ($12)
Thin zucchini sheets layered with fresh tomato slices and a light marinara sauce, topped with some beautiful sprouts. The zucchini used wasn’t sufficiently ripe, so the “lasagna” sheets were slightly too hard. But what struck me was the size of the portion – it was smaller than my hand. ($12)
This chocolaty almond cake had a nice texture, with fudgy layers alternating with denser chocolate-flavoured layers, topped with coconut flakes. But strangely enough, for a chocolate cake, there really wasn’t much chocolate – there was less cocoa than you would find in a Cadbury’s milk chocolate bar. I found this disappointing, although on the positive side you could easily finish the whole slice of cake without getting tired of it. Also, the cake tended to fall apart as the second layer kept sliding off the third. ($8.50)
The raw raspberry cheesecake had a pleasant raspberry flavour, but its consistency was like that of a pudding and it didn’t have any hint of a cheesecake flavour. I felt like I was eating a solidified smoothie. ($8.50)
Out of curiosity, I had a very interesting flat white made with Papa Palheta coffee beans and very distinctive and nutty hazelnut milk instead of the traditional soymilk option for vegans, sweetened with just a trace of agave nectar. I think it’s great that the Café doesn’t serve sugar – I’m all for natural sweeteners like date sugar and stevia. ($5.0)
(From left to right: Skin Be Beautiful, Great V8, Beet Blast)
Service was generally friendly and efficient, though I was misled into thinking one of the items was completely raw (most of it was). However, it would be nice to have more serving etiquette – a lot of the food came out all at once.
The extremely fresh mesclun greens and the light, sweet and tangy strawberry balsamic dressing were the understated highlights of this salad. Juicy orange slices, blueberries, dried cranberries, and crunchy curls of beetroot added sweetness while a few avocado slices provided a creamy, buttery contrast, with alfafa sprouts topping it all off. Recommended. ($10)
The best part about the tofu salad was the light yet still piquant wasabi dressing. It helped to inject much life into the dish, unlike the grilled teriyaki momen tofu, which had a great texture between that of silken tofu and firm tofu but whose mildly sweet flavour was underwhelming. The tofu was served with mesclun greens (similar to above), wakame seaweed, crunchy curls of beetroot and alfafa sprouts. ($10)
In contrast to the typical samosas we are used to – oily, crunchy, deep-fried affairs made from puff pastry – these large rice paper samosas were made with spiced herbs, carrot and tender crisp green peas in a creamy coconut chutney, all wrapped up beautifully in a very thin, translucent rice paper skin. My only complaint was that the coconut chutney lacked flavour. The samosas were served atop a tangy salad made with bean sprouts, carrot, cherry tomatoes, purple cabbage, sesame seeds and parsley. Recommended.
Zouni is essentially a Japanese soup containing mochi rice cakes, and is traditionally eaten by the Japanese on New Year’s Day, with its preparation varying widely depending on region. Green Room Café’s version was a simple and clear soup made from a flavourful konbu and shitake broth. I liked the addition of a shitake mushroom, fresh and silky spinach leaves, and the tender flower-shaped carrot slices, but I did not appreciate the strange, spongy texture of the fu (traditional Japanese wheat gluten). ($9)
The mushroom soup had a very light and brothy soy milk base, which was disappointingly not creamy and called for a richer mushroom flavour. This was garnished with small mushroom chunks and some alfafa sprouts, and topped with a slightly chewy grissini. All in all, the dish was pleasant but could have been much better. ($9)
Pepes jamur is a traditional Indonesian dish made by wrapping seasoned mushrooms in a banana leaf and then steaming or grilling it. Green Room Café’s version consisted of steamed bunashimeji mushrooms that were spicy and rich in flavour, but the mushrooms were rather overcooked and too soft for my liking. This was served with well-cooked, multi-coloured organic rice, a small side salad with bean sprouts, carrot, and purple cabbage and parsley, as well as sweet and crunchy fried cashews. There was also a serving of cold, sweet and spicy tomato sauce on the side, but this stuck out like a sore thumb to me. ($14)
The Raspberry Rhapsody was a square of nut-based cheesecake coupled with a scoop of strawberry sherbet, sprinkled with dried cranberries and what appeared to be lavender flowers. I don’t want to be sexist, but if there ever was a feminine dessert this would certainly qualify. Unfortunately, the cheesecake did not impress in terms of both flavour and texture, though the strawberry sherbet had a lovely, delicate flavour. ($13)
