New Fut Kai Vegetarian Restaurant

This is really a difficult place to find for one unfamilar with the area, it is in fact near neither the Lavender MRT & Farrer Park Mrt that one can see on the map if you are thinking of travelling by mrt. We had a hard time searching for the place.
The Icon is it is located at the shophouse just beside Cityhub hotel. So, after knowing this green modern building is Cityhub hotel, and for those who frequent the nearby Foochow building for cultural or religious events, or the Jalan Besar Swimming Complex which is diagonally behind, hopefully all these Icons can aid more people to find the place.

Well, what made me go through all the trouble to want to find the New Fut Kai Vegetarian Restaurant are the 2 dishes at the centre, the Steamed Vegetarian Cod Fish and Herbal Chicken that I had tried at a catered vegetarian dinner by the restaurant.

The flavour of the Steamed Vegetarian Cod Fish was very much like the Teochew style steamed fish method with slices of tomato, mushroom, pickled vegetables, carrots, lettuce and the coriander leaves (Chinese parsley) that greatly enhanced the flavour of the dish. The steamed cod fish texture was of the compressed soft beancurd skin type and the dish was so well cooked that made one really felt like one is tasting the authentic Teochew dish.

The Herbal Chicken, a common dish now easily available even in food court was a dish that I greatly missed, not for its meat but for its herbal gravy/soup and accompanying ingredients.
I was rejoiced to finally find this vegetarian style which was also authentically cooked too.
Strong herbal aroma arises as soon as the aluminium foiled dish unfolds. The well-stewed mushroom, carrot, walnuts and especially the crunchy water chestnut became the main stars and won praises by all and the dish was quickly finished within minutes. :P
This dish is not available at the restaurant daily and has to be pre-ordered if you really want to try it. It is available only at 1 size and cost $25 each if I had not recalled wrongly.

OK, back to the restaurant, it is a small shop with traditional setting and one is welcomed by their appetizers, the Chinese pickles - A-zhar and crispy fried seaweed stripes. We tried their Cream Corn soup with Spinach. It is an unique combination and served with pieces of nourishing Baihe. The others would had liked it to be more creamy as the name had reflected on the menu but I am okay with the texture.

Next, the Stir-fry Vegetarian Delight in Pumpkin and Tapioca Ring is recommended for those who like pumpkin. Instead of the traditional Yam ring of Chinese dishes, this is the enhanced flavour with fragrances and flavour of pumpkin.

Then another of my favourite dish, Deep fried Vegetarian Prawn with Crispy Cereal, the well fried cereal, curry leaves and I wonder how they marinated the vegetarian prawn to make it taste so much like the real... :P

Actually, I was also amazed how they maintain the "freshness" of the vegetables, such as the Stir-fry Vegetarian Abalone with Broccoli at a catered dinner. Well, this is really a caterer that I will seriously consider and recommend if there are any Vegetarian events.

I would think New Fut Kai is really a good venue for just turned vegetarian who used to enjoy non-vegetarian cuisines to visit to remind themselves that it is the cooking style and not the meat that they used to like and also a place that non-vegetarians can try to accept vegetarian cuisines.

Located at 282 Jalan Besar , Spore 208945
(Diagonally left front stretch of shop houses from Jalan Besar Swimming Complex, next to Cityhub Hotel.)
Buses stopping just in front of Cityhub Hotel: SBS 23,64,65,66,130,139,147, SMRT 67,857
Opening hours: 10am-2.45pm; 5pm-9.30pm
Tel: 6398 0836