Conscious Eating

Eat well, live well. it used to be that doing so meant indulging in the likes of foie gras and wagyu – but not anymore. These days, more restaurants are increasingly aware of the movement towards clean cuisine, and are adopting healthier approaches to cooking. Plant-based, impossible food alternatives are sprouting up on moremenus. also on board are gluten-free pastas that promise to go easier on your gut. and even TCM beliefs – rooted in nourishing herbs to restore balance – have come into play. We round up a shortlist of restaurants for your non-cheat days.

- Meryl Koh

Alternative Approach Prive At tiong BAhru 57 eng hoon Street, #01-88 | tel: [phone]

Prive might have opened its doors back in 2007 with a focus on Josper grilled meats, but the homegrown brand founded by Yuan Oeij has come a long way. Its new outfit in the residential neighbourhood of Tiong Bahru is the first of the group’s restaurants to turn the spotlight on vegan and plant-based cuisine.

It’s helmed by chef Jack Allibone, formerly from the Michelin-starred Angler in London. The English native abides by a single philosophy: fresh food, simple cooking.

This means plenty of organic greens turned into creative brunch food – popular among expats – as well as a wider selection of plant-based dishes featuring whole foods and meat alternatives.

Take Tracy’s Favourite Salad – named after Oeij’s wife who is a vegan. This serious superfoods contender is packed with purple cabbage, black beans, hummus, cashew nuts and pumpkin wedges. The vegetables are sourced locally and the hummus is made in-house.

And, just in case you find it tough to get out of eating meat, Allibone has a couple of tricks up his sleeve. At first glance, the Hainanese Chicken Rice, for instance, looks like an elevated take on the ubiquitous national dish.

The slices of meat, tender and ohso-flavourful, taste just like chicken done well. So good is the plant-based substitute Heura “chicken”, brought in by Barcelona-based company Foods for Tomorrow, that even Spain’s Roca brothers are putting it on their menu at the legendary El Cellar de Can Roca.

At Prive Tiong Bahru, the trick is in slow-cooking the soya-based protein to extract maximum flavour and nutrients. It’s served with fragrant brown rice simmered in a light vegetable broth.