Zi Zai Vegetarian - Boon Keng

Many will remember a long long time ago, when HAM was just a baby, I did a couple of reviews on a restaurant called Forest Dew.  One review back in 2009 and another in 2011.  Well, fast-forward another three years since my last review, and things have indeed changed.  Forest Dew is no more...In terms of the signage at least.  This restaurant has been taken over by the owner of Zi Zai - Taking over eateries is somewhat of a hobby of his, as he has also recently acquired Mai Zhi Su in Ang Mo Kio as well.  Who knows, maybe I will be getting an offer for him to take over Hungry Ang Mo soon too?  Kidding aside, I went to Zi Zai interested to know what changes might have been made, whether for the better or worst - Let's find out...






 
Zi Zai Vegetarian
Location: #01-523 Blk 23 Bendemeer Road
Contact: 62939579
Opening Hours: Daily 10.30am-10.00pm. 


One thing has clearly changed - The decor.  The look and feel of the place is very similar to Zi Zai's latest brain child D'Life.  As with D'Life, the decor is tremendous, a vast improvement compared to the old design.  One thing missing (as with D'Life) is music, it would really bring more life into the place, and mask the sound of the wok.  Interestingly, although the decor and name has changed, Zi Zai is using the same menu that Forest Dew used (it even still has the name Forest Dew on it).
First dish was the Green Curry Fried Rice.  I was going back and forth on this dish.  In terms of green curry, I've been a little spoilt recently, indulging in Chef Wai's mind-blowing green curry cod fish.  So subconsciously my expectations are high, and thus this green curry rice didn't have enough kick for my liking.  Having said that, I did find the rice was very well cooked and there was suitable green curry flavour in the rice.

Price: $7.00 (中).     6/10
One of the dishes the waitress highly recommended was the San Bei Tofu.  The tofu was fried well, but frankly I didn't like the texture of the tofu itself.  It had that weird almost jelly-like texture, which felt really artificial to me.  The sauce was decent enough, but they should change tofu supplier.  The most disappointing dish of the meal.

Price: $9.00.     6/10
I must admit, the urge to order anything green (except green curry) seldom goes into my head when eating out.  Nevertheless, I kept an open mind for this Fried Water Cress, and I'm glad I did.  This dish was easily the best of the meal.  To me, there is only one way to enjoy Chinese vegetables, and that is fresh tze char style straight from the wok to the plate.  This watercress had incredible flavour, and was cooked to the perfect texture.  The sauce was not too overpowering, and I liked the addition of the small pieces of TVP.  Definitely a dish I would recommend you order.

Price: $6.00.    8/10
Lastly, we have the Savory Brinjal.  Eggplant is without a doubt one of my favourite ingredients, but I can't tolerate it when it's undercooked.  To my relief, for this dish the eggplant was cooked just enough, verging on undercooked but still passable.  Still, I would have enjoyed it more if it had that soft melt in the mouth texture.  The sauce was strong and had just the right amount of spice.

Price: $7.00.     7/10












Conclusion - Zi Zai have recently sparked a lot of controversy for reasons I am not going to go into in this post.  My objective opinion on purely the food is that it is a little hit and miss, but overall the food is at a better quality, compared with most vegetarian eateries.  The staff (for my personal experience) were good and the decor is fantastic.  Boon Keng/Bendemeer has a lot of options in terms of vegetarian, but Zi Zai is one I could see myself frequenting.

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