Guide to Singapore's Best Vegan Food: What To Eat and Where To Find It!
Looking for something delicious to munch on in Singapore? I've got you fully covered from groceries to nicecream!
Two years ago when I was helping organize the Bali Vegan Festival, I did a Singapore run to meet with some partners and promote the event in the vegan space of the futuristic city. I just got the opportunity to visit twice since and was there again last week for a meeting so now I have a pretty comprehensive guide on where/what to eat in Singapore and I'm going to share it with you!
What I found was that there is a long-time standing vegetarian scene within both Little India and China Town so you'll never go hungry even though Singapore is known not to produce very much produce. Most of the food is brought in from surrounding countries like Malaysia, India and China.
Typing in "vegetarian" on Google Maps will show you plenty of options located all over the city but as you'll see, they are mostly concentrated in a few areas.
Notes on eating in Singapore:
- Not everywhere accepts credit cards so, check ahead or have cash ready.
- A lot of places are vegetarian so don't forget to ask if you are vegan to make sure you know what you're ordering.
My favorite places to eat:
Fortune Center:
If you have cash, metro on over to the Fortune Center where you can meander around the vegetarian stalls and even try a little bit from each of the menus that catch your fancy (there is a lottt of options!) There's everything from Indian food to Chinese food to Sushi all in one super convenient strip mall. The price point varies but most stands do not take credit card so come with cash in hand (budget about $10SGD per meal.) You can also pick up some ingredients here from the veg shops!
They have a sign up in the window detailing what vegans "do not eat" therefore showing their understanding which is always reassuring. They also have great ratings on Happy Cow and Google Maps.
The staff at the counter told us we could show her what we wanted on the menu and she would make sure it was/could be made vegan for us.
We ended up having the "mutton masala" (first picture) and the "mushroom curry" with a side of basmati rice for each dish. It cost $24 and they only accepted cash.
The staff were super accommodating and the food was prepared relatively fast (within 10 minutes) considering it was really busy at lunch time.
Both dishes were extremely creamy and delicious. Two of us, hungry with big appetites were full though, I think we both would have loved to eat more because of the great taste.
In the same plaza is my all time favorite sushi place in the world, Herbivore. It's an all vegetarian Japanese restaurant that is so good, I thought about it for two years and recommended it to everyone asking me about Singapore that whole time.
What to try:
The menu now says (no dairy or dairy as a classifier of vegan vs vegetarian.) The staff are very helpful and friendly and will help you order if you're unsure. All of the non-dairy maki rolls are incredible. I just eat my way through them all over and over again.
The crispy floss rolls (first photo) are well, crispy which is a fun texture. I avoided the avocado rolls because there is avocado in the fake fish rolls and they are hot, delicious and so I go with them EVERY time!
If you want to explore outside the realms of sushi, I suggest the veg fish:
Veg skewers:
Potstickers.
This restaurant knows how to make incredible mock meat that is just super interesting to try. HOW do they do it? It's incredible!
A roll costs $14 here so for 2 people to have a meal you're looking at about $60+. Totally worth it though in my opinion. The chef has been doing vegetarian sushi forever and it shows!
Around town:
Walk into this restaurant off the Bugis Junction and find yourself a healthy little chain with delicious food.
They have daily menus where you can choose 1-2 "main items" and 1 "green" that comes with a soup and rice. I got the 2 piece, both vegan options were mushroom based that day and I loved them! You can get "beauty rice" which is really nice and healthy to go along with it. The greens I chose were a cabbage and mushroom mix that was based in a super sweet sauce that tasted great with the beauty rice!
The staff recommended their signature laksa so we got that as well and the spice/soup was incredible... the only problem for me was the noodles were made of wheat (gluten) so I just added some of my beauty rice in to soak up the yummy sauce! It had some of the most realistic seafood I have ever seen inside!
Price: About $9/per meal
I almost skipped this place because I thought it was going to be all soup. I'm super happy I decided to stop in anyway because it was one of my favorite places in Singapore!
Located in a little lane in China town area, you have a mouthwatering little all-vegan restaurant offering a range of different cuisines including smoothie bowls!
I got the Japanese curry, monkeyhead rice which was incredible! OK, I have to tell you... I ordered curry fries on the side (because, how can you not order curry fries when they're on the menu) and I did a thing... I poured them into my curry bowl and it was pretty much the best thing ever so I highly recommend this!
I also got the kung boa monkeyhead bento box after the server was so helpful to suggest it for me. It was incredible! I loved the spice and flavors! All of this came out super quick, we barely waited at all which surprised me but I wasn't about to complain since I was super hungry. It cost about $25 for everything.
This tiny restaurant is hidden away in the food court at the Bugis Junction but it is all vegan and offers organic vegetables. I ordered 2 main dishes (veg kway chay and shrooms bak kut teh with rice) and then added on some spring rolls for $3 and some spicy tofu (get the spicy tofu if you come here!)
Both of the bowls I got were actually soup (one was with noodles and one was with rice.) I didn't expect that by the images on the menu so it was a bit surprising but in the end I wasn't going to complain at all because both were scrumptious. One had boiled peanuts inside and now I want to always have boiled peanuts in anything soupy I eat-- they are AMAZING!
This meal cost about $22 including the 2 mains and 2 side dishes. Note: they don't take credit card!
Sufood is trying hard to get people to stop eating as much meat as they currently do. They want to show people what's possible without using meat products and so rely a lot on hearty mushrooms to replace that texture people are used to. They offer a 4/6/8 course menu which is a fun way to try a lot of things while you're there!
Try their mushroom with potato for a hearty taste:
It's a bit higher priced but it's a beautiful experience in a chic restaurant in a bougie mall.
Come here for a star shaped pizza, a glorious drink menu and extremely creative use of mushrooms.
No MSG or white sugar here! Now if that's not a selling feature I don't know what is!
The owner is very alert to detail and wants to "make sure people leave with not only their bellies, but hearts full also."
He explained this to me after I insisted I needed another round of gobi Manchurian (which I definitely DID NOT in terms of space in my belly, did so in terms of experiencing that crazy flavor explosion again)...
For vegans, this menu is vegetarian but the owner will make you anything you want vegan and he knows exactly what that means. I kept asking him to make sure and he assured me there would be no hidden dairy (the only thing they had there to worry about) in any of my items that were being freshly prepared.
Mushroom masala + biryani rice (perfeclty creamy tomato sauce with a beautiful blend of spice).
Coconut chili idly... this was outside of my regular comfort zone and it was a bit too dense for me (see first photo). The flavors were great but it's kind of like a sponge and it was making me too full to eat my gobi (cauliflower).
At the end, high off the food I got ambitious and ordered a spicy kadai mushroom dish. It's a fiery mixture of bell peppers and mushrooms and it is insane in a roti.
So, you can easily get lost stuffing your face with all the thrills of these prefect spices here. I left 3 months pregnant basically... my stomach was fully expanded and my heart was absolutely full. $65
Saute was one of the first places I went to and I was pretty disappointed with how oily it was. That said, they have truffle hash brown bites which are definitely not the healthiest thing but out of control addictive so... those are about $7 for a mini skillet. Careful.
They have a signature dish (orh luak) that's usually made with egg and mushroom but you can get it vegan so I did to try it and it really genuinely looked like eggs so I had to ask... twice. Turns out the vegan version is made with tofu and seaweed and it's really good, just a lot of oil.
I also got their mala rice which was spiced really well. I was asked how spicy I wanted it and I said medium... I have an extreme heat tolerance and I'm going to say this was a bit spicy so be warned!
Those three things were about $25 (no credit card machine) and it was too much to eat for 2 of us. We had to take about half of the dishes home. The tofu dish was especially filling.
The menu itself had a lot of noodles on it so being VGF it was a bit hard to find options other than the ones I ended up picking. I wouldn't go out of my way to go back but if I were to find myself there again I'd probably have to go for the mala rice again!
I visited this popular spot on the way to the airport and I've got to say, it's super good... exactly like you'd think but on the healthy side of things? Not so much. Talk about those loaded fries....
Definitely some vegan junk food to indulge in especially if you're new to trying vegan food- highly recommend this for you!
Ask for gluten free to opt for a lettuce bun!
Korean food that's veg. Make sure to ask what is vegan and what's not. Hot pots, kimchi and rice to suit your every need. I got a vegan hotpot (*see the photo above) and it was great!
Genesis is a wholesome cafe boasting an Asian fusion menu. Their ingredients are carefully selected with an emphasis on the level of sugar, salt and oil used, strongly discouraging the use of MSG.
Above we have the claypot which was delicious and below here, we have dumplings filled with soy instead of meat.
This side dish was really unique, it's spinach, mushrooms and carrots wrapped in beancurd and it's called the Yuba roll.
Finally, this super stack is called the 7-layer stack and it's rice, beans, raw veggies, corn chips, all adorned with soy mayo-- delicious!
Stop by for fresh baked goods to have there or take away! They've got a wide range of made-in-house beauties (like these)!
Great smoothies and coffee in a central location (just ask for vegan to avoid any dairy!)
Specified vegan latte on the cafe menu. I got it twice, it's $8 but it's delicious and made with oat milk. It costs more if you want it iced. This is a cute cafe to get some work done in anyway, really close to Greendot which was great food (see above).
Oh so vegan ice cream is what you want?
They have weekly flavors and when I was visiting it was a surprisingly delicious but weird flavor... mango sticky rice. They used coconut and mango to pump the flavor up into what was confusingly ice cream a la mango sticky rice.
Cold Storage:
This hypermarket sells vegan ice cream in the freezer (you're welcome!)
I might have bought the small container (no, not the individual ones, they didn't have vegan in those!) Well anyway, I bought some dark chocolate ice cream made from coconut milk and carried it around with me as I explored. Super creamy and rich... You can find Ben and Jerry's no dairy and a couple of other options. My choice?
That delicious little number will hit the wallet at $9. Maybe don't scarf it all down in one go if you have a freezer available to you!
Other delicious tips:
Wonderful Durian:
If you know, you know. I'm obsessed so 50% of everything I ate in Singapore was the D. I love these guys and I gotta say they have a wide selection to suit whatever level of sweet and bitter your heart desires.
$4-$50+
Finding vegan food in supermarkets:
Fair Choice:
I was looking for ingredients so I went to a couple of Fair Choice locations. They have small sections of organic food where you can find necessities like rice, legumes, beans, flours, noodles etc for a good price.
Cold storage:
Vegan mock meats/products in the freezer section. They also have a small organic section with staples and I noticed random organic ingredients scattered around the aisles such as Braggs ACV and Annie's dressings.
Mustafa Center: 24hrs
This place is a crazy wild wild west of groceries. If you dare to enter in there, you better be prepared and have an exit strategy. It's intense, hot and cold at the same time and you just don't know what you're going to get. You can find nuts, beans, rice, lentils, peas, flours, spices, nut milks, noodles, hot sauce and just absolutely randomness here.
Giant:
I cabbed to Giant in Suntec city center and didn't find the elusive organic section I had heard of. In fact, I found nothing I wanted here but I did see they had a wine area upstairs... so there's that.
If you're visiting Universal Studies, good news! There's options for you!
I had this curry, it was fine... not the best but at least there was something to grab within the park!
So there you have it, a veg guide to Singapore!
It took me three trips and a ton of researching and taste testing ;) so I am happy to be able to share my findings with you!
Lots of plant-powered love!
Cece
You found real yummy culinary treasures - thank you for sharing. Will try them out next time in Singapore
Definitely don't miss Herbivore =D
What a wonderful trip through Singapore. I can't imagine the circumstances that would take me there, but it was certainly a treat to see.
I haven't had 'bald peanuts' in years. I had a good friend here that was a hillbilly from Missouri. His accent rarely betrayed him, until it came to boiled. It came out as bald, said slowly. There is a farm and store here that raises peanuts so he could get raw peanuts and 'ball' them up several times a year. They were wonderful...
Hey Tom, I guess it really is a big trip for you to go there! It's a great junction to Bali from the US so there's that! :) I have some photos of sight-seeing in Singapore from the first two times I visited but this trip was more work oriented (so, food!) =D
Haha well that sounds like fun, you should get him to "ball" you up some! I want to get my hands on some organic peanuts... peanuts are bugger-ous, they spray them with all kinds of toxins unfortunately! Once I find some, I'm going to give it a go. I used to make peanut butter when I was living in Texas but this whole "balling" thing, new to me and I love it!
Such a well written post and terrific pictures! I'm not vegan or vegetarian, but all those dishes looked fantastic, and sure to satisfy a committed carnivore.
Great job!
100% these foods will do the trick! I like hearty meals and play around in all the fun vegan foods that make carnivores do a double take to see if it really is plants. =D
That's part of my mission anyway, just sharing the realms of possibilities that are flowering in the vegan/vegetarian world. So happy I could share these with you and let Steemit see it's not all salads and carrots ;)