Nomadism 101: Welcome Home*

Tonight there are a few things that have struck me about being back in Singapore for the first time since in 17 years. It's the first time I've revisited a place from my early childhood. There is this strange feeling that I've found home (I've always said I've found home in people...this is very true, I'm a cultural nomad after all, but this place feels like home, the first place that has really done that) triggered by familiar things I haven't seen in 17 years and confused by the fact that this city has become a very different place in those years. to be visiting a city where although the government is currently well behaved (slight bratty behavior notwithstanding) the citizens are used to living under restrictive rules and almost complete surveillance. But that's all for later...right now, I'm going to talk about food.
A few of my Mom's friends took us out to LingZhi, a vegetarian Chinese restaurant, which some people apparently consider the best vegetarian restaurant in Singapore, which is saying a lot. An interesting note: LingZhi's philosophy is not to do “fake” anything. You're not going to find mock duck or chicken here. No gluten is found on the menu, though tofu is heavily used. Sure, some of the flavors might be quite meaty, but they're not in the business of imitation. I will say that while this is a pretty darn cool philosophy...I'm not against the other form of vegetarian dining either. After all, Chijuya, one of my favorite restaurants in Bangkok is all about creating near perfect vegetarian versions of Japanese and Taiwanese meat dishes. But back to LingZhi: I'm no New York Times food critic, and I can't remember the entire meal, there was just so much, but here are some highlights.
The meal began with a "rock n' roll salad": a variety of dark greens, mushrooms, a few cucumbers, several sliced slices of strawberry, and a herbalicious (I know, I know...just...shhhh) are placed in a large bottle which is then corked, shaken, and then re-opened and the contents served. This is followed by a seaweed/spinach soup served in a tall, narrow bamboo bowl.
After this, servings started coming quite fast, but a few of the highlights included monkey head mushrooms in a delicious honey glaze of some sort (I wouldn't have known they were mushrooms, they seemed more like meaty chunks of ... something), sauted and fried tofu on skewers (each piece of tofu prepared in a slightly different way, from crunchy to very moist) in a peanut sauce, and dark brown noodles with snow peas. The meal ended with some really great dim sum and a variety of desserts we all passed around. I don't think I've been this excited about food in literally years...I spent half the time just reveling in flavor combinations I hadn't dreamed of before.


I still am missing a camera from my life, so I owe these cool people a thank you for having pictures of LingZhi's dishes:
Aroma Cookery and Richard J. Steiner