Food Review: Create Healthy Lifestyle

I have been heading here quite often since the opening of the Downtown Line, whenever I have cravings for vegetarian food.

Create Healthy Lifestyle offers gluten-free vegan food. There are regular items on the menu such as the brown rice set ($6) and the Taiwanese braised pork with rice. There are also items such as bittergourd with sambal and kimchi noodles with dumplings.

The brown rice set is available daily and the dishes vary from day to day. Sometimes there is braised beancurd, or potatoes, or chickpeas. The salad and green vegetable are constants based on my various visits. The brown rice set also comes with a bowl of nutritious vegetable soup. It's the taste of home-cooked food. I definitely recommend this dish if you are looking for something balanced and filling, and also if you are not sure what to order.

Taiwanese braised pork is available on the regular menu. It is stir-fried beancurd in dark soy sauce with tomatoes, cucumbers, cauliflower, ginger and brinjal, accompanied with brown rice below. I thought it was ok, but as I am not vegetarian, I can tell you it does not taste like the real deal. But I guess that is not so important since we are here for vegetarian food.

If you have seen a similar dish like above before, you will know that this is Lei Cha or Thunder Rice Tea ($6.50), a Hakka dish. This dish is only available on Tuesdays, except when it coincides on the first and fifteenth day of the lunar month. This dish has various health and detox properties. It provides a lot of fibre and protein from the vegetables and nuts and beancurd. The soup, which is made from ground green tea, basil and mint leaves, can be drunk or added to the vegetables and brown rice. The vegetables and peanuts add a lot of crunch and it is a very refreshing dish. However, I must say that this is an acquired taste and usually only people who have tried and liked Thunder Rice Tea would be able to appreciate this dish. But during my Tuesday lunches there, majority of the diners order it. So if you are raring for a "green" treat, please do try it out.

The colourful dish above is Korean Bibimbap ($7.00), available every Friday, except when it coincides on the first and fifteenth day of the lunar month. This is definitely the most colourful of the lot. It usually takes a bit longer to prepare so do spare 10 minutes to wait for it and you will be rewarded with this hearty dish! It's brown rice, topped with black fungus, purple sweet potato, carrots, kimchi (of course!), radish, greens, mushrooms, sprouts and tofu (which has been treated naturally with turmeric to resemble egg). The first time I had this dish I was actually impressed by the creativity to make the tofu resemble eggs. The flavours work well together with the kimchi and it is at once appetising and satisfying. Mmm... I'm actually getting hungry just looking at this picture. It also comes with a dollop of Korean chilli bean paste which is super spicy, so if you are not a fan of spicy foods you can ask them to leave it out.

The schedule of daily specials go like this:

Tuesday: Hakka Lei Cha

Wednesday: Pumpkin Porridge (with same dishes as brown rice set)

Thursday: Bak Kut Teh

Friday: Korean Bibimbap

There are also side dishes such as the vegetable sushi roll. It is a refreshing sushi made of raw vegetables like beetroot, carrot and lettuce strips, wrapped with seaweed, accompanied with a savoury salad sauce. There are still many other dishes that I have not tried here yet, but I will definitely be back for more!

Create Healthy Lifestyle

https://www.facebook.com/Create-Healthy-Lifestyle-289744384453193/
190 Middle Road, Fortune Centre #02-17
Singapore 188979
Mondays to Saturdays 10.30am to 7.30pm