There has been some talk around social media about a vegetarian Thai food stall that had recently surfaced in the Tastebud Eating House coffeeshop at Blk 932 Hougang Ave 9 — Thai 素 Vegetarian is a relatively new addition to this coffeeshop, taking up a stall unit that is situated right beside J&J Grillhouse there. Despite its relative newness, it appears that the stall had previously operated in Balestier before — we had also noticed from the SG QR used by the stall that Thai 素 Vegetarian does seem to be affiliated with an establishment named Teenoy Thai Kitchen that used to serve up regular Thai cuisine and had operated at several locations prior; it is unclear when these folks had made a shift to serve up a vegetarian menu instead. The menu is segmented in the same way that one would expect out of most Thai food stalls around with dishes catered for both individual diners and communal dishes to be shared around the table — categories in the menu will include that of Rice, Fried Rice, Fried Noodle, Vegetable, Soup & Curry, Salad, Appetisers & Side Dish, and Dessert.

The Pad Thai is an item that is listed under the Fried Noodle section of the menu — Thai 素 Vegetarian does not describe the elements that are featured in their various dishes, though it can be observed from our order of the Pad Thai that the version here does come with tofu and vegetarian shrimps in place of the usual seafood that some Pad Thai comes with; whilst crushed peanuts are served by default, the addition of chili flakes is entirely up to the patron’s preference via the self-service condiment bar at the counter. Digging into the Pad Thai here, we did find that the vegetarian version of the Pad Thai here to taste fairly similar to what one would get from a non-vegetarian stall serving Thai cuisine; the noodles are slurpy and slightly chewy carrying the same sweet, savoury and lightly zippy notes that one would expect — the adding of chili flakes would add an extra touch of spiciness that tickles the tastebud, while one can squeeze the lime provided on the side that further adds a zing to the dish for extra flavour.