Yuan Vegetarian - Toa Payoh

For whatever reason, the best vegetarian food in Singapore always seems to come from coffee shops and hawkers.  It is only on rare occasions that I stumble across brilliant vegetarian food inside the more comfortable air conditioned Singapore food courts.  One of those exceptions, however, may be Yuan Vegetarian at Toa Payoh HDB Hub.  Toa Payoh has quite a healthy number of veggie eats around, but from what I've observed Yuan Vegetarian seems to attracted most attention. So let's find out why...










 
Yuan Vegetarian
Location: Blk 480, Toa Payoh Lorong 6, #B1-01 (HDB Hub - Gourmet Paradise)
Contact: None
Opening Hours: Daily 10.00am-10.00pm.


Back in 2013, the owner of this stall opened up a vegetarian bistro called YWQ, which I praised quite highly, mainly for their mind-blowing laksa.  Due to the long and somewhat unattractive named YWQ (which stands for Yuan Wei Quan), the owner has recently rebranded both outlets as simply 'Yuan'.
The stall has the typical economic bee hoon/rice and dishes, and a number of daily specials.  Rather frustratingly, their signature laksa is only available once a week (Wednesday).
Over the last few months, I have been quite a frequent visitor to Yuan Vegetarian, mainly for their Brown Rice & Dishes.  What I love about this stall is the brown rice they use.  It is pure brown rice (not mixed with white rice like most places) and always cooked perfectly.  The dishes tend to be pretty repetitive, but they are always cooked well.  I am especially fond of their thinly cut black bean bitterground, and their creamy eggplant.  The price on paper may seem high, but lets not forget this is a food court, not a coffee shop.  Moreover, the portion size at Yuan is typically very large.

Price: $4.00.     8/10
Many will be aware of my frequent high praises of the YWQ Bistro Laksa.  So the question must surely arrise as to whether their food court counterpart can boast the same quality.  The answer is no, the laksa here is not as good as their bistro.  As the laksa gravy is cooked in a much larger pot, the sauce inevitably gets a little more watered down, and doesn't have that richness that the bistro laksa has.  Having said that, this is still one heck of a laksa, which would match most of the 'so called' best in Singapore.  The gravy is creamy, aromatic and smooth, without being too spicy nor having too much oil used.  The ingredients all work perfectly with the gravy, and the minced laksa leaf garnish on top adds great visual appeal, as well as flavour.

Price: $4.00.     8/10




Conclusion - There is a reason why this stall attracts such a large number of Toa Payoh residents.  The rice and dishes is always fresh (although tends to sell out a little too fast) and their daily specials are also excellent.  For my money, this is definitely the best vegetarian eatery in the Toa Payoh region, definitely a place I suggest you visit - Particularly on Wednesday, then their laksa is available.

Overall Rating
Food - 8/10
Ambiance- 7/10
Service - 7/10
Value - 6/10