Had always been passing by Teng Bespoke Vegetarian Restaurant if we were to hit Sunshine Plaza during lunch hours whilst working from the office — somewhere that I had always been wanting to try but had never done so because it is always so difficult to get everyone to agree to have vegetarian cuisine for lunch. And so when a friend mentioned that he is craving for a vegetarian meal for dinner on a weekend, I ended up suggesting making the visit either to Herbivore (at Fortune Centre) or Teng Bespoke Vegetarian Cuisine.

Initially wanting to go for their Mixed Vege Tempura Don — their rendition of the Tendon coming with vegetable tempura pieces as opposed to the mix of Ebi and chicken pieces that other Japanese Tempura specialty stores usually serve up, but we found ourselves ordering in a more communal style so we settled for the Hiziki Fried Rice instead. For those who hadn’t heard of Hiziki, think of it as an alternative to seaweed — essentially a dried sea vegetable of a similar nature known for its health benefits.

I usually don’t rave much about fried rice but the Hiziki Fried Rice really set things right at the first go; the soft, fluffy short-grain rice was like a pearly, non-sticky version of glutinous rice — the rice being lightly sweet yet seemingly carries a umami note from the Hiziki, all that whilst coming with nibs of corn, edamame, peas and carrots within. Coming in a single portion size, the Hiziki Fried Rice is probably good to share between two hungry souls with a bit of stomach space left to share a small side, or could feed three if one intends to order a heavier side (such as the King Mushroom). Make no mistake though; this isn’t quite the wok-hei heavy fried rice that most seem to associate fried rice, but its a testament to how vegetarian dishes can be big on flavour as well.