The weekend before the last, we dropped by a newly opened organic vegan cafe/restaurant – Vegsenz @ The Verge for dinner. It’s fairly visible with the nearest bus-stop just outside. Nearest MRT station is Little India, at just a mere 5 minutes’ walk away. But make sure you use Exit C. There’s not much information on Vegsenz online, probably because it’s new. Thanks to the Vegetarian Society Singapore’s Food Outlet guide in its newsletter, we came to know where to tantalise our taste buds.
It’s a rather huge setup – almost as big as a neighbourhood fast-food restaurant. The staff are courteous and friendly. After handling us the menu and giving us a brief explanation of the ordering procedure (by writing the selected items’ numbers before going to the counter), they were quick to serve us two glasses of distilled water. Flipping through the menu, and not being as adventurous as we would like to be, we chose a plate of sushi rolls, aglio olio (spicy) and miso soup noodle.
For the restaurant business, a good menu is half the battle won. A good photo display tells a thousand words. Their simple menu had 4R photographs of the dishes. Not a perfect menu but it’s presentable. It would be nice if the ingredients used are mentioned in the menu, but that seems to be a rarity in local food places. When our food came, we quickly tucked in. Below are some of our opinions to share…
The aglio olio was a bit too dry. A dash of olive oil will be great. A common mistake made by non-expert pasta food outlets is that they seem to like to use shiitake instead of portobello mushrooms. Shiitake mushroom has its own authentic taste, which I personally don’t think is a good blend with Western food, especially pasta. The menu mentioned ‘spicy’ but I think paprika powder was used rather than chilli flakes. A small bowl of soup would have compensated the dryness of the pasta too 🙂
The miso soup noodle was not miso-ish enough. It was more like Chinese vegetable soup. Miso soup as we know is Japanese, but the dish was nothing Japanese. In fact, it was very Chinese in terms of its appearance and blandness. If the taste of miso is more dominating than the rest of the vegetables in the bowl, it probably would be better.
The sushi rolls saved the day. There’s no rice but a fusion of different kinds of vegetables and fruits. The combination is superb – not too sweet or too bland. The rolls are fresh and crunchy – ideal for ladies who want a non-fattening yet healthy snack. We can easily eat many plates of this… Yum! :dream:
We gave our honest feedback on the lack of spiciness and miso-ness when the manager came by to ask for our opinions. He was very apologetic for the letdown and said they will take note accordingly. He also explained that some customers think the amount of spiciness we had is too much. I was surprised. Well, probably some never tasted chilli before? He also mentioned that there will be 10 more new dishes coming up the following week. I hope they will improvise on the shortcomings and amaze us with the new ones. It is because of his sincerity and well-mannered service, that we will definitely drop by again to try more dishes. He was so sincere that he promised us a free meal in when we return!
If you are into organic and healthy food, we have found another haven for you. Although the price is a little towards the steep side, hey, at least you know what you put inside your body is not ‘poisonous’ or with some crappy animal growth hormones. It is also a nice spacious place to hang out. Do give them a try. I hope they will survive in this ever so competitive food industry. With your patronage and open feedback, they will be able to continue providing us healthy food. Bon appetit!