Life

Blink and you’ll miss it; we very nearly did. Tucked away in a Bukit Timah neighbourhood corner is The Living Café, a vocal proponent of the Singaporean raw food movement.

If you haven’t yet tried raw cuisine, this is the place to do it. With vegan starters like the guacamole flaxseed chips that come with an avocado, tomato, red onion, carrot and zucchini dip or the veggie nori roll complete with avocado, beet, cucumber, carrot, leafy greens, red cabbage, wasabi, raw cashew mayo, and balsamic orange dressing, this is just the tip of the iceberg (lettuce, so to speak). Who knew vegan cuisine could taste this yummy?

The salads are delicious too, but we would skip right ahead to more adventurous raw offerings, such as the very popular zucchini pesto pasta or the TLC cheese burger. This burger consists of a lettuce ‘bun’ enveloping a dense patty made from mushrooms, walnuts, sunflower seeds and oats, topped with a rich macadamia cheese sauce along with a slice of tomato, shredded onion, carrot, beetroot and some alfalfa sprouts – a hit even with meat eaters.

If you’re not one for eating like a rabbit, you could opt for the signature herbed salmon burger with coleslaw and sweet potato wedges complete with optional gluten-free bun; honey-glazed chicken whole-wheat wrap; ‘bacon’ and egg sandwich (the bacon is made from eggplant); brown rice bowls with a choice of wild barramundi, chicken or vegetables, served with Mexican-style or pesto sauce and garnished with shredded lettuce, red onion, avocado and lime wedges; or the sunny-side-up mushroom wholemeal pizza, topped with runny eggs, mushrooms, alfalfa, pesto sauce and a touch of fragrant truffle oil.

What if you want to tuck into something sweet? Easy-peasy. Raw brownies, raw blueberry cheesecake (made from cashew milk), key lime pie (made from avocado and zucchini), raw lemon cranberry tart with pistachios, raw German chocolate cake (made of psyllium husk, agave, almond, dates, macadamias, coconut and palm sugar), cacao coconut balls and the like beckon from the dessert counter.

What else we loved? The extensive menu and the quality of the food. What we didn’t? The pricing is reasonable, but you wouldn’t be able to eat there daily when it adds up to more than SGD50 (nearly RM150) per person with starters, entrees, desserts and smoothie. Maybe healthy eating also means eating less.

The Living Café
779 Bukit Timah Road, Singapore 269758
+65 6468 4482
Open Monday to Thursday 11am – 7pm, Friday 11am – 10pm, Saturday 9am – 10pm, Sunday 9am – 8pm

This article first appeared in the April 2018 of UNRESERVED.

Related: How to Love Your Food the Healthy Way