313. Happy Realm Vegetarian

Last Sunday, my bro had a sudden whim for a vegetarian meal so we decided to go to Happy Realm. We had wanted to go to another but could not find its address. Happy Realm is not a new place to us. We have been there a few times when I was still a child. I remembered vividly that business was brisk on the weekends. The place was like a Hong Kong style cha-can-teng with hot piping egg tarts and an array of vegetarian pastries like curry puffs, dao sa piah and etc. The sunday that I went was no longer like before.

That's fried potato strips! Sweet, spicy and it had a mild sourness taste. I think it makes a great beer snack.

Yam Ring @$15

Dad's favourite. Crispy on the exterior, finely smashed on the interior, it was a tasty yam ring. Ah...what's more important was the fried veggies cooked with gravy was tasty and made the yam ring not too dry.

Curry Vegetables @$4

My mum is a big curry fan. Mum did not like it. It was not very spicy. I find it a tad diluted.

Mushroom Fa-Choy Soup @$10

I only took the picture of a small bowl of the soup. For a better view, I decided that I need to scoop up what's in there, else what we will see would be just a mass of black 'hair-like'(Fa-choy) stuff. There were tiny mock meat strips, mushrooms and ginger slices. Very simple but also very bland. Dispensable dish.

Fried Bee Hoon @$6

The bee hoon had a nice sesame oil fragrance. Notice the colour contrast of the bee hoon. Some were darker and thus more moist in colour. I think the sesame oil was not evenly spread. Still, the bee hoon was nice.

Luo Han Chai @$7

Claypot Noodles @$4

Even though there wasn't any meat, the noodles was tasty with the tau kwa and greens. In fact, a group of elderly was there when we arrived. Each of them ordered the claypot noodles. Cheap and tasty.

Our bill cost about $56. Some of the dishes was cheap and some not. Mum felt the food was rather oily and so the idea of having vegetarian means eating healthy somehow didn't quite fit in this scenario. I personally felt that the food was just mediocre.

Happy Realm Vegetarian
100 Eu Tong Sen Street #03-16
Pearls Centre S059812
Tel: 62226141

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108. Realm Court Vegetarian Restaurant

I was invited to this vegetarian meal at Realm Court Vegetarian Restaurant. I have never eaten a full course vegetarian meal so it really interests me when I knew I was going to have one. Usually, the idea of vegetarian meal gives people the idea of eating the greens. Well, it may have been so a few decades ago but not now anymore. The vegetarian meal has grown to become an imitation of the non-vegetarian meals, in the sense that mock meat are being introduced to replace the meat and that's why you'll get to eat 'duck', 'chicken', 'prawn' and etc. The mock meat are made of flour and they are very much alike to the real meat.

Realm Court Vegetarian Restaurant has 2 other sister restaurants as seen above. Didn't know it is a halal restaurant until I saw the logo on the wet tissue wrapper. It's another great place for our muslim friends to join us for a vegetarian meal cooked the chinese way.

The first dish as usual, was the cold dish. Handmade longevity peaches were placed at the edge of the plate. It was smaller and the filling was made red bean paste instead of the usual lotus paste. There was the chicken karage, sotong balls, ham with mayonnaise, fried samosas and the marinated chicken gizzards. The cold dish was good. The marinated chicken gizzards was very good. The mock meat did wonders.
This is the most unpalatable dish of all. An imitation of the shark fins soup. Beancurd strips replaced the shark fins. Ham replaced the crab meat. Very bland and there were undissolved starch clots in the soup.

Mock duck with preserved vegetables (mui choy) and beancurd skin. Though mock meat was used and supposely to contain much lesser oil, it is unctuous. The fried beancurd skin was accountable for this. I like the mui choy laid underneath of the dish.

Sea cucumber with mixed vegetables. We were all instantly attracted to how would the sea cucumber taste like. We were all amazed at the art of turning flour and maybe gelatine into the artificial sea cucumber. The texture and taste of the artificial sea cucumber was almost identical to the real sea cucumber. It was tangy like a real one would be. Other than the momentary draw to the artificial sea cucumber, the dish was just so-so.

This is the lotus wrapped rice. It was a huge ball of rice. What was wrapped in the lotus wasn't glutinous rice. It was the normal type of rice we ate. Despite not using glutinous rice, the rice was still quite sticky and yet every grain of rice so succulent. Bits of mock meat were added. There weren't any other ingredients. I felt the topping of mixed peas destroyed the dish. It somehow made the lotus wrapped rice not so delectable.

The yam ring with 'kung bao pork'. I must comment on the yam ring. It was very good. Must-try! The exterior was fried crispy and the interior so scrumptious. The yam was very soft and rich.

I like the 'kung bao pork'. Slight sweet and sour and a tinge of spiciness from the dried chillies.

Another dish that surprised the table of people. Steamed mock fish, the teochew style. Ar har....see, the fish was without head and tail. Just a slab of fish like steamed ikan kurau. The mock fish meat's edge had seaweed which is like the fish's skin. It tasted a bit like fish cake.

Dessert was orh nee with pumkin added. It was good. Not too sweet but I didn't see any ginkos. Ginkos ain't a vegetarian food?

Since it was a treat, I have no idea how much does the meal cost. Overall, the food was pretty good and not oil-laden. It was quite a fulfilling meal. The mock meat were made of flour, too much of them will make one fat. This type of vegetarian meal ain't a good choice as diet meals. They are made so savoury. I will doubt the determination of the dieter. Haha.

Realm Court Vegetarian Restaurant

Orchard Shopping Centre

321 Orchard Road #05-00

Singapore 238806

Tel: 62352102