Sufood's name in Chinese is 舒果. But for me, my personal interpretation is a direct translation - 素(su)食(food) refers to vegetarian food in chinese. Aptly named for this restaurant which has several outlets in Taiwan. At the first sound of it, I thought the fare would be the usual mock meat and veggie dishes that we are so used to seeing at local vegetarian stalls, but there's actually none of it here. The dishes on the menu are the products of extensive experimentation by the head chef and the results are meat-free options with a western slant. Unique and rarely, if not never, seen before in Singapore.
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| Sufood's Entire Menu at a glance |
It is recommended for diners to get the full 8-course set at $25++ (drinks are considered 1 course). However, if you like, you can order the mains ($12.80 each), soup/starter ($5.80 each), and salads ($7.80 each)) on an ala-carte basis, but really, the full course is more value-for-money. Two can always share one full course set if it might be too much.
They served a course of rosemary breadsticks, which came toasty warm with a mustard/blueberry dip. I liked the texture of the breadsticks and the combination, though simple, worked.
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| The Sufood Appetizer - cherry tomato jelly, snowflake greens stack and poached Japanese Yuca root. |
For this dish, the correct way to eat it is to start from the poached Japanese Yuca Root to the jelly (right to left in this case) as the flavours are arranged in ascending strength. The Yuca Root was interestingly slippery and crunchy in texture, with the tart berry sauce. Light on the palate.
Apparently, the white water snowflake greens in the middle cannot be found in Singapore and had to be imported specially from Taiwan. The cherry tomato jelly (left) was the strongest-flavoured of all and really whetted our appetites with its sour yet refreshing taste.
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| Mushroom salad |
This salad has an oriental flavor to it, because of the fried garlic topped upon the soy-sauced flavored mushrooms, along with a light vinegar dressing. Definitely for the ones who love mushrooms (me).
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| Tropical Fruit Salad with yogurt dressing |
Looks like something we can quite easily put together at home, so don't order this, though the yogurt dressing was good.
The vegetables are cut into " little sticks", making it easy to dip into with the accompanying Caesar dressing. There's a choice of sesame dressing available too.
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| Mushroom and Pea Potage |
I decided to go for the mushroom and pea soup. It is definitely an 'acquired taste' because it tasted like a cross between seafood and pea flavors. Acceptable to me, but I heard some didn't like it. Order this, at your risk, but I would say it's interesting enough to warrant a try. Our other pick of cream of pumpkin was safer, it was executed reasonably.
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| Vegetable Pita Pockets |
The presentation reminded me of the Mediterranean
Shakshuka and tasted similar to it too. Paired with the pita bread which provided
a nice bland contrast to the rich savory tomato flavor, every bite was moreish with the “meatiness” of
the filling. I wasn't missing the meat at all for this.
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| Wild Mushroom Charcoal Tagliatelle |
The amazing thing about this dish is how the mushroom looked so much like rings of squid. This reminded me of Chinese style fried noodles 炒面 because of the strong garlic-sauteed-in-soy-sauce flavor to it. The pasta was a little overcooked though, so it was a little mushy. Pity. Otherwise, it could really be as great as my colleague who tried it, described.
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| Star Pizza |
The 'star' of the eatery. This was a mix of mushrooms, seaweed, mustard and wasabi atop cheese. It tasted pretty much like a regular pizza with an Asian flavourslant, nothing spectacular aside from the mustard-wasabi. This combination didn't really work for me.
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| Mediterranean Vegetable Skewers |
The presentation for this was stunning, but once it was pared down from the skewers, you realise it is basically just mushrooms, capsicums and tofu with rice. Didn't taste this, but I didn't hear any comments, so I should guess this was ok.
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| Macaroni Alfredo Casserole |
Last on the table because this took about 25 minutes (perhaps because of the baking), it really is just your baked macaroni veggie version. The macaroni was quite soggy, most likely from overcooking.
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| Sesame Panna Cotta and Banana Cheesecake |
For dessert, the creamy, smooth fragrant-with-black-sesame panna cotta was a hit. The banana cheesecake was somewhat disappointing because there was only a hint of the banana. The cheesecake wasn't creamy enough and the biscuit base wasn't as moreish as it usually is. Skip this.
This is a concept that takes vegetarian dining to a new level. Dining here, you don't feel like you have been shortchanged in your meal because the flavors are all present and delectable. Hits and misses, but this is a good place to try at least once and see/taste for yourself the creativity that makes these dishes stand out.
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