Back in early 2014 I posted a review of
My Vegetarian Way, which was one of the few vegetarian hawkers that sells healthy vegetarian/vegan food. Well, little did I know that another vegetarian stall located at Bishan bus interchange hawker centre also recently opened, again selling healthy conscious food. An argument that non-vegetarians usually make to defend their diet is 'ya, but vegetarian food outside oso not health what' - I have to agree that there is some truth in this. Vegetarian hawker food typically contains lots of poor quality oil and salt, and not forgetting MSG too. Places like Food for Life (which are becoming increasingly popular) can prove that this argument/excuse is false. Don't bother visiting this stall early in the day, they only open at 11.30am, and often that time is dragged until 12pm if stocks arrive late.
Food for LifeLocation: Blk 514, Bishan Street 13, Bishan Bus InterchangeContact: 98798478Opening Hours: Mon-Sat 11.30am-7.30pm. Closed Sunday.
The owners of Food for Life are two friends (not pictured here) - One being an engineer and the other being a nutritionist. However, due to their busy lives, the stall is managed most of the time by Shirley Quek (pictured left). Shirley is an extremely friendly and helpful staff, who has worked at Food for Life since it first opened, back in late 2013. Shirley spoke very highly of the healing benefits of eating this type of healthy organic food on a regular basis, she even mentioned many customers coming from the Singapore Cancer Society - Individual whom have remarked about improvement in their overall health due to a change in diet.
In addition to the vegetarian stall at Bishan, cooking classes and tingkat services are also available. Price wise, the food at Food for Life is very reasonable, especially considering most of the ingredients are organic.
Listed on the wall is all the reasons why Food for Life is healthy. None of the dishes contain milk, but for those who consume egg, be careful - The odd few dishes do contain egg. I would rather they get rid of the egg totally, so that this place can be officially classified as vegan.
To start things I selected one of the two soup items available, the
Potato Soup. There is also pumpkin soup available. This soup is blended fresh only when a customer orders, so one can be assured that soup doesn't get any fresher than this. White pepper powder and black sesame seeds are sprinkled on top. Being someone who is used to stronger tasting food, this soup was quite mild for me, and practically begging for salt. The soup was also a little overly starchy for my liking.
Price: $2.50. 6/10
Next up I went for the
Mixed Rice, which is essentially a healthier version of economic rice and dishes. Food for Life use sprouted brown rice, which is supposedly 10 times healthier than regular run of the mill brown rice. The cost for their economic rice is $3.80 for three dishes and $4.50 for four dishes. The rice and dishes were quite enjoyable overall - I especially loved the cabbage, which had tremendous natural sweetness, some vegetables can really have a totally different taste if organic. Those used to regular hawker food will be missing sauce and chilli from this meal though.
Price: $3.80. 6/10Lastly, I selected the ultimate healthy Chinese dish -
Lei Cha. Once again, all the ingredients used in this dish are organic. I really enjoyed the finely chopped long beans, which finally had sufficient salt to satisfying my tastebuds. The carrots were also sweet and delicious. The herb soup was a little watery, but did contain good flavour. To add a disclaimer to this dish (and all the food here) of sorts, this is not something that those with strong tastebuds will be able to appreciate. Due to the lack of oil, salt and spices, this dish will inevitably come across as bland to many - But if you want a super clean diet, then some sacrifices in taste are essential.
Price: $5.50. 7/10Conclusion - If your goal is to achieve a clean and healthy diet, or if you just want to take a break from the typical hawker junk food - Then I would highly recommend visiting Food for Life. The service is excellent, and the food is tolerable, but probably not something I could handle eating on a regular basis.Overall Rating
Food - 6/10
Ambiance- 6/10
Service - 8/10
Value - 8/10
