SINGAPORE, MALAYSIA & VIETNAM

THREE COUNTRIES AND COUNTLESS VEGAN ADVENTURES!

by Caryl Eyers

Here it is, our latest Vegan Food Quest update where we can share some of our vegan food adventures from South East Asia. This month we were in 3 separate countries and yet again we didn’t go hungry as we searched out plant-based treats from around the globe.

One of our favourite places we visited was in Singapore, where we were lucky enough to visit VeganBurg, a healthy fast food burger restaurant. French fries seasoned with seaweed, cold broccoli sides and crunchy little ‘spinach pops’ were a healthier alternative to what you’d usually find in a fast food place.

We loved it at VeganBurg; healthy vegan food at it’s best.

A healthier version of the usual fast food side dishes.

But the star of the show was the burgers we ate with our favourite being the ‘Wasabi Mayo’, a vegan burger with alfalfa sprouts, edamame beans and a delicious wasabi vegan mayo. We really wish that these restaurants were everywhere across the world in replacement of some of the other fast food burger outlets that we see everywhere, even when we are traveling to exotic and far flung places. Imagine how much world health would improve if our go to fast food treats were plant-based? Imagine the lessened impact on the environment? We can but dream…

‘Wasabi Mayo’ Burger: we hope this is the future of fast food.

We spent a lot of time in Johor Baru in Malaysia but don’t have much to report back as we were mainly eating in our hotel who’s team of chef’s took up the challenge to learn to cook amazing vegan food for us. A couple of the things we ate really stood out from our time in Johor Baru, where we stayed at the new DoubleTree by Hilton. First was a little edible vegetable garden made with lentil soil, fresh herbs and crudités; a simple yet beautiful dish that was super healthy too, being packed with all those lentils and veggies. We’ll definitely be stealing this for our next dinner party menu!

A great way to serve lentils and veggies; looks amazing, tasted amazing too!

The second dish was a rich, vegan coconut ice cream and baked apple dessert. We have never tasted vegan ice cream that was this good, so creamy with coconut. A real treat!

We wished we’d got the recipe for this!

Before we knew it we were heading back to Kuala Lumpur where we took in a few sights but also discovered an amazing new restaurant that was all about healthy plant-based eating (called Ashley’s). We were really at home here, eating our way through the healthy juices, raw vegan food and healthy versions of local favourites like the famous Malaysian Laksa.

These raw vegan marinated eggplant rolls were stuffed with nut cheese then served on a raw flaxseed cracker with a slice of pepper were one of the best raw food dishes we’ve ever tasted. Heavenly.

Raw vegan eggplant delights.

We also loved the ‘Living Enchiladas’ with a zingy tomato sauce, soured nut cream and plenty of fresh organic veggies sliced up inside including jicama which tasted like a savory apple. It was wrapped in a raw, tomato and corn tortilla. Delicious.

This was definitely a dish that was full of life and full of flavor too.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia’s capital city certainly has a growing healthy food scene, so it’s easy to eat healthily as a vegan here. After months of being in countries where we have been indulging in decadently rich food, sweet treats and fried snacks, it was a real pleasure to discover something that was so tasty but also so good for us. We were so happy to see that there are people all over the world that are joining the real food revolution and advocating a plant-based, whole foods diet to improve health and well being.

The third country that we’ve been searching for vegan food in this month is Vietnam. We started our trip in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) and were desperate to get our hands on some famous Vietnamese Pho. There was a vegetarian restaurant right around the corner from our hotel and so we got to sample a vegan version of this normally meat based dish on our first night. It was so fresh and packed full of herbs and tofu. Needless to say, we love vegan Pho now!

In love with vegan Pho now.

It’s great to be back in this part of South East Asia where there is an abundance of Buddhist vegetarians (that are mainly vegan) and the food is light, spicy and fragrant. We’ll be staying in Vietnam for a month, mainly exploring Hoi An in Central Vietnam and Nha Trang in the South of this beautiful country. But first we have to take a long 17 hour overnight train heading North out of Ho Chi Minh City to Danang.

Next stop, more delicious vegan food in Central Vietnam.

Join us again next month to see what Vietnam has to offer us traveling vegans.

Caryl Eyers has recently left her beloved home in England to brave new worlds in search of adventure and exotic vegan foods throughout Southeast Asia. Join Caryl as she goes Veggin’ Out and About through Southeast Asia! Check out Caryl’s blog!