A lot of people ask me why I don't feature the famous vegetarian mecca that is known as Circuit Rd more on my blog. I have blogged quite extensively on this area, but I've always felt quite underwhelmed by the food I have tried. I have always thought that Circuit Rd is a great place due to its abundance of vegetarian food, but not for the quality. Well, over 2014 Circuit Road has undergone a face lift of sorts, and a number of new vegetarian stalls have popped up, which I will review in due course. But for today, I will focus on Xuan Miao Vegan, or 炫妙 (dazzling and wonderful).
Xuan Miao VeganLocation: #01-78, Blk 79A Circuit Road Food Centre Contact: 92385088 Opening Hours: Tues-Sun 5.00pm-12.00am. Closed Monday. Considering Circuit Rd has a myriad of mostly disappointing vegetarian stalls, I was quite pleased to hear a large amount of positive feedback from those visiting Xuan Miao. This stall is famous for their soup noodles, and specifically their ban mian
板麵. The name ban mian translates to mean board/block noodle, the reason for the word 'board' stems back to the Hakka's method of cutting the noodle into straight strands using a wooden block as ruler.
Xuan Miao was originally in business at Jalan Besar, but subsequently moved to 79A Circuit Road in 2011. The stall is owned by Mr Ng, who has attracted a considerable amount of recognition for his mee hoon kuey. Mr Ng originally learnt to cook from a Malaysian chef whom he used to patronise in his younger years for his awesome mee hoon kuey. No MSG is used in any of the food. The stall goes by the saying 'saving one animal’s life, one bowl of vegetarian food at a time'.
If you're going on public holidays or weekends then this stall can become quite packed, and customers have been known to wait up to 30-40 minutes for their order to be completed. Aside from
Victor's Vegetarian, I am sure Xuan Miao would rank as the highest vegetarian achiever at 79A.
Xuan Miao has a total number of nine dishes available, but I decided to kick things off with the classic
Hand Made Mee Hoon Kuey. This is a dish that is ideal for a rainy and cool day, the soup is comforting and mild. The thing that always scares me about Chinese soup noodles is the ridiculous amount of MSG and/or salt that is often used inside. At Xuan Miao I was pleasantly surprised that this wasn't the case. The kuey could have been thinner and more delicate, but overall this was a pretty satisfying dish. The soup may be a little on the bland side, especially if, like myself, you are more accustomed to stronger tasting food.
Price: $3.50. 7/10Next dish was named
Ban Mian Dry. I have to say, the portion size for this item was incredibly generous. For $4 one can expect a large soup of soup and a large bowl of noodles. In terms of the soup, it was identical to the mee hoon kuey dish - But it was the dry ban mian bowl that really won my heart. The flavours were very well balanced, and I especially loved the hint of sourness from vinegar inside. The mock ikan bilis on top added a great textural crunch, too.
Price: $4.00. 8/10Conclusion - Nestled amongst stall after stall of criminally unhealthy (and mostly rubbish) vegetarian food, Xuan Miao does offer hope to 79A Circuit Road - The food is definitely the healthiest you can find in the area, and I was simultaneously surprised and impressed with the quality. I'm not really a soup noodles person, but even I could see myself returning to Xuan Miao.Overall Rating
Food - 8/10
Ambiance- 6/10
Service - 8/10
Value - 8/10
