Green Room Cafe

 

 

 

The Green Room Café is set in the lush greenery of Bishan Park II. This vegetarian café is part of Aramas Spa-the Garden Spa. It was certainly a nice discovery, especially for all the vegetarians. Finally, there is a place where vegetarians can eat and relax in a cozy place, right in the midst of the greens.

 

“The dishes in the menu are focused on using the freshest raw organic ingredients that will leave you filling satisfied but not weighed down and tired from a heavy meal,” is what I read in one of the spas materials. Chef Christina is behind the planning of the menu both to provide nutritional benefits but also complement the spa treatments.

 

The menu features an array of freshly-prepared organic fruit and vegetable juices and we tried the Replenish and Detox. It was certainly refreshing on that hot day especially after the body scrub and massage. I love laksa but have always hesitated to finish drinking the gravy because of the high calorie. But at the Green Room, you can drink the laksa gravy till the last drop and not worry about trans fat and so forth because the laksa gravy is made of non GMO (genetically modified organisms) soy milk and lots of crunchy bean sprouts, generous sprinkling of laksa leaves and soy based mock prawns and fish cakes. The gravy was not very spicy but at the same time you can taste a slight sweetness of the soy milk. Portions are very large indeed.

 

The Baked Zucchini and Eggplant was served next. This healthy eggplant recipe is one of the most delicious and healthiest ways to cook eggplant. Basically it was a Japanese style nasu dengaku – except that instead of deep frying the eggplant like the way the Japanese do, Chef Christina had baked the eggplant smeared with a dap of sweet miso and for that added luxury, zucchini has been baked with it. This dish was absolutely delicious and the miso base had given it a slightly tart but sweet flavor. One service was certainly not enough for me!

 

Another must try here is the Pumpkin and Spinach Gnocchi served with parmesan cheese and semi dried tomato. These little pillowy Italian dumplings had a lovely mild flavor that was almost sweet and nutty. It was rich tasting with the cheese and butter but the chopped sun dried tomatoes offset the rich taste. The portion that was served was just about right.

 

 

 The Curry ‘Lamb” Pie was made of mock ‘lamb’ of soy flavoured mushroom stalks cooked with spices. The ‘lamb’ was bit too chunky for me but the flaky pastry was awesome when eaten with this almost dry spicy filling.

 

 

 

The Pandan Pannacotta served with berries was enough for two persons to share. This sweet, cool, creamy, wobbly dessert was paired with a mixed sweet and tar tasting berries compote. It was such a simple dish that made a satisfying dessert. The signature dessert is certainly Sticky Date Pudding that was served with ice cream. Dates are a great source of dietary fibre and have the highest concentration of polyphenols among dried fruits –I can describe this pudding as moist, gooey and sticky and amazing. I cannot resist finishing all! 

 

I left the Green Room Café very contented, knowing that I did not stuff myself with junk. On the whole, the Aramsa Spa fed my mind and body!