Welcome to Jalan Besar.

Pass. This is one of my favourite PRC restaurants. Hidden gem.

Pass. This is one of my favourite PRC restaurants. Hidden gem.

Quite flavourful. This is one of my favourite PRC restaurants. Hidden gem.

It has been a while since we had noticed Bo De Vegetarian setting up shop at Hamilton Road in the shop unit previously occupied by the now-defunct Missus and Tipo Pasta Bar right beside the outlet of Brawn & Brains Coffee there — these folks had finally opened their doors to the public after quite a long phase of renovation works. For those whom are unaware, Bo De Vegetarian is an establishment by the same folks behind the Lang Nuong Vietnam brand — this would include that of Lang Nuong Vietnam 1980’s that is located just right across the street on the other side of Hamilton Road away from Bo De Vegetarian; they are also the same folks whom operate Little Hanoi within the Food Republic food court at Shaw House. As the namesake suggests, Bo De Vegetarian is an establishment that serves up vegetarian-friendly Vietnamese cuisine — an establishment with a similar concept would be that of Moon Chay Vegetarian that is situated at Fortune Centre. The menu at Bo De Vegetarian is segmented into sections dedicated to Signature, Rice and Sets, Noodles, Small Plates, Green and Mushrooms, Soups and Hotpot. Whilst Bo De Vegetarian is not an allium-free establishment by default, those whom have such preferences / requirements and any allergies to certain ingredients can let the staff know it advance.

The Bun Hue (Hue Noodle) is a dish that is listed in the “Signature” section of the menu at Bo De Vegetarian — typically known as a Spicy Vietnamese Beef and Pork Noodle Soup at other non-vegetarian Vietnamese dining establishments, the Bun Hue at Bo De Vegetarian is described to come with elements such as rice noodles, spiced lemongrass broth, tofu, forest mushrooms, Huế-style vegan sausage, and fresh herbs — all coming in hot stone bowl. The dish is presented with the rice noodles and fresh herbs in their respective separate plates; patrons should add them to the hot stone bowl that comes with all other ingredients before consuming the dish. The spiced lemongrass broth for the Bun Hue does come with a slight tang — a pretty light but aromatic broth in which we found to be rather appetising with a clean finish that was easy to have. The dish was also kept warm from the use of the hot stone bowl that was adequate to retain heat — the dish does arrive the table still bubbling from being boiled. The accompanying rice noodles was slurpy, while the usual elements of beef and pork were replaced by Huế-style vegan sausage that takes the form of mock meatballs and mock meatloaves with the former replicating that of pork and beef meatballs. Other elements not mentioned in the description of the dish in the online POS system includes that of corn, radish and beancurd skin; the radish having been stewed to a soft texture. We do advise to go easy on the herbs on the fresh herbs on the side however considering the intense bitterness that it inherently comes with; though we were pretty surprised how the simmering of the broth does still takes away much of those flavours.

The whole crustacean was deep-fried, but the shell was too hard to eat whole. Unfortunately, there's also not a lot of flesh.

More interesting than 辣子鸡. Chinese eel isn't as good as Japanese eel, but acceptable lah.

It has since been a while that the folks behind D’Legacy had ended their residency with ChefX at Central — that being said, these folks are back in action with another pop-up stint that would run for a longer period of time (at least for a number of months) this time round within the Incubaker Kitchen @ Jalan Besar space at level 4 of a building named TRIO situated along 11 Sam Leong Road; this would be the same building that used to house the now-defunct Hambaobao after their move from Beauty World Food Centre. One can find D’Legacy being situated next to Veg-An there. D’Legacy describes itself as an establishment serving up Modern Eurasian cuisine; the folks behind the brand are Eurasians whom are enthusiastic about bringing the authentic flavours of Eurasian fare to the masses; a form of cuisine that is not particularly easy to come across in Singapore. Their menu here largely revolves around that of sides, soups, tea time snack, ala-carte dishes and desserts, with the ala-carte dishes focusing on their Babi Pongteh, Curry Devil and Shepherd’s Pie.

During our visit, we went for the Set Um that is part of the Sets section of the menu; this would come with the Curry Devil, Vegetables, Rice, as well as choice of soup (we went for the Chicken A La King) and beverages. D’Legacy describes its Curry Devil to come with elements such as tender bacon, pork, chicken, mustard seeds, chillies and fragrant spices — it also comes with sambal belachan on the side, while the vegetables accompanying the dish would be grilled eggplants spread with something almost akin to that of Sambal Ijo. Their choice of rice grains that came with the dish would be that of basmati rice which was pretty light and fluffy on its own. Having tried Curry Devil elsewhere previously, we found D’Legacy’s Curry Devil to be not particularly spicy on its own until one adds the Sambal Belachan in — the curry also differs from the typical curry where it bears a smoky and earthier note without carrying that usual richness from the use of coconut milk; a little Rendang-like in its consistency being more lumpy and not particularly watery. The meat that came along with the Curry Devil was tender, while the root vegetables such as the chunks of potatoes and strips of carrots were stewed to a soft consistency. Even after adding the Sambal Belachan, the level of spiciness in which the Curry Devil came in was still pretty manageable for those tolerable to moderate levels of spiciness.

$150! It had an uncommon texture so the price is for the experience.

Spicy af. We almost passed away. This is one of my favourite PRC restaurants. Hidden gem.

Great value leh.

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