Vege Sense - Bugis

Fortune Centre is constantly changing, with new stalls opening up and old ones closing down every year.  Vege Sense may sound familiar to some of you, and rightfully so.  This establishment was once located on the ground floor of Fortune Centre - Previously specializing in vegetarian breads.  You can view my review of their old ground floor location here.  Around four months ago it gravitated up to the more tranquil second level.  So without further delay, lets find out what changes they have made...

Vege Sense
Location: Fortune Centre, 190 Middle Road
Contact: Unknown
Opening Hours: Daily 7.00am-7.00pm.  Closed Sunday.

The menu has really expanded significantly, compared to the previous location.  There are now a plethora of set meals available, along with Western dishes, and daily specials.  In my opinion, an eatery selling around 6-10 dishes is just about perfect.  I've been to so many places that have menus as thick as 'War and Peace', which tends to boggle the customers mind, and usually the standard of the dishes are lower also.  What I like about Vege Sense is they keep it nice and simple for the customer, without too many options.

We all have our personal favourite dishes, and I must confess that zhu jiao chu aka Spicy Vinegar Pig's Trotter Set is one of my most fondest.  Inevitably, because I adore this dish, I will naturally be all the more critical when the flavour balance is off.  This dish needs to have a delicate balance of three main ingredients - Ginger, sugar and vinegar.  Unfortunately, the ginger and vinegar were flying too far under the radar for my palate, instead the sauce was overwhelmed by sugar.  Considering the sauce was obviously flawed, the other ingredients inside were cooked well.  The black fungus (which I detest when overcooked), in particular, was cooked expertly.

Price: $5.50.     5/10

The next dish to the table was the Stewed Mushroom Pork Rice.  One thing that should be mentioned about both set meals I ordered, was they both came with a delicious ginger rice.  I found this to be a welcome extra touch, as my expectations were that plain white rice would be served.  Considering the pig trotter was a disappointment, this set meal was definitely a sign of improvement.  The braised sauce was absolutely packed with flavour.  The mushrooms absorbed all this sauce and exploded with flavour upon eating.  My favourite dish of the meal.

Price: $5.50.     8/10

On this particular evening, the daily special was the Burdock Burger.  Before we talk about the main attraction (the burger) let us chit chat about sides.  The french fries have a uncanny resemblance to McDonald's fries, with one exception, there is way more salt in this version.  Definitely the salt should have been reduced by at least 50%.  The standard burger has mayonnaise inside - But the owner could not verify whether it was vegan or not, so I asked for it to be excluded.  The burdock flavour in the burger patty was surprisingly strong, and matched well with the sesame seeds in the bun.  Pineapple, lettuce and tomato made up the other ingredients in the burger.  I found the burger pleasant tasting.  Although the fries were the big let down, I felt pleased by the chef's dedication to plate presentation.  So often chef's in Singapore simply don't bother to plate the dish nicely.

Price: $5.50.     6/10

Conclusion - Although I found that two out of the three dishes I sampled were slightly below par, I still support the philosophy of this establishment.  The owners are friendly (unlike a certain goblin lurking below on the ground level) and their menu has the potential to be very popular.  The standout was certainly the mushroom pork rice.  Vege Sense just needs to tweak the other dishes so that it matches the standard of that dish.  If they can do that, then success beckons!

Overall Rating
Food - 6/10
Ambiance- 7/10
Service - 8/10
Value - 6/10