Naive

Needed to look for a nice lunch place around Katong / Joo Chiat area which served vegetarian food and found it on HGW :D

I was impressed with the design of the place to be honest, for the place it was situated in. Awashed in green and white with full length glass panels facing the street, it was standing out quite enough for people to spot it easily in the stretch of shophouses and for passserbys to stop in their tracks to flip through the menu.

Inside, it didn't feel like a cafe at all as it was all very clean sleek lines with 2 long communal tables with long wooden blocks as seats, with the word Naive carved onto the sides. Very interesting. A handful of 2 and 4 seaters were spread out evenly in the small eatery.

They have a strange ritual called the "Blessing of the Sesame Seeds" where they give each table a pounder with black and white sesame seeds in it and ask you to pound it. It apparently represents the blessings in your life or something. You can even choose to sprinkle the crushed seeds into your food after that. I don't know about you but I couldn't even pound them properly, so I gave up.

A 3-course set lunch at $9.80 was attractive enough an offer for me so I chose that. There are no options for soups, starters etc, you have to take that 1 exact set (prices indicated are what you would have to pay for if you order them ala carte, altho I'm sure the ala carte portions will be bigger):

1. Wolfberry Soup ($3.80) - "flavorful with eyesight-enhancing properties" --- very clear very light soup dotted with wolfberries and slices of dan gui. Although a very nice warm starter, I felt as if the ingredients weren't simmered long enough for the flavour to come out.

2. XO Shanghai Tang ($13.80) - "braised mushrooms with rich savoury XO sauce - amazing taste for lovers of chinese mushrooms" --- came with served with lightly fried kailan. For me, the taste wasn't 'amazing' enough...fragrant yes but I felt there was a slight overdose of the XO sauce resulting in it being too saltish for my liking.

3. Oliver Twist ($3.80) - "fragrant thai rice infused with oriental spices - The Olive Rice of olive rice" --- I still feel when you say things like "The olive rice of olive rice" in the description, it better taste like it is. Disappointingly, this is not. The taste of the olive was too little and they could have been more generous with the spices. I have tasted much better olive rice before.

They had another 3-course set lunch priced at $12.80, with tom yum soup, olive rice too, and this:

Spice of Life ($12.80) - monkeyhead mushrooms "sauteed with spicy kungpo sauce and peppers" --- very flavourful sauce paired with tender mushrooms; with the texture very similar to mock meat. Incidentally, monkeyhead mushrooms are their specialty and they do it in many other different ways, although I didn't manage to try them.

This was a side dish we ordered to share:

Penang Rendang ($9.80) - "spicy pan-fried mushrooms with steamed buns" --- the rendang sauce was a good match with the steamed buns and the mushrooms very tasty indeed.

The entire lunch was very light on the palette; I think that's how its meant to be, no? Service was nothing to complain about too.

I would want to come back to try the ala carte but only if I'm in the vicinity :D

Pics will be uploaded after I figure out what's wrong with my mobile bluetooth....

we went there for vday dinner and the atmosphere and service was good. without a reservation, we managed to get a seat on the long tables that will be shared with other diners.

the food was nice, we had monkeyhead mushroom, tofu & assam fish. every dish was so delicious esp the monkeyhead dish called love at first bite or something.

the taste and texture is awesome although the price is quite steep and portions not very big. the drinks were quite pricey also.

but for good vegetarian food, i would recommend but i would try the set lunch mentioned below that sounds more value-for-money.

For pictures and the full review, click here! Otherwise, read on...

Naive is the brainchild of Whole Earth, a restaurant that I've been to many times for its amazing Peranakan-Thai cuisine (I've been rather lazy so I haven't reviewed Whole Earth yet though), but the qualityof Naive's food pales in many respects, as I will explain shortly. I've been here twice.

But before I continue, I want to highlight a misrepresentation in advertising. I'm vegan, and the point is not to be annoying - I think it is of interest to all potential customers of a restaurant that they realise there are inaccurancies in advertising. As at the point of writing (05:33 on Sunday 16 October 2011 - I am unhappily plagued by insomnia and jet-lag), Naive's website proudly boasts under "about naive - naive food" that they have created a "fantastic and healthy asian menu from purely plant-based ingredients with no meat, no seafood, no eggs, no onion, no garlic, and no MSG... We love serving such tasty and natural food that everyone can enjoy." VEGANS beware - the Naive menu is NOT purely plant-based. I found this out the hard way. After my companion and I finished our meal, the manager (who is very friendly and attentive) came over to ask about our dietary habits. I said I'm vegan, and she asked, "So you did not have the Button Steak"? The menu had stated that the Button Steak contained rennet-free cheese (as do some other items on the menu) but as I had felt assured that Naive created food based on "purely plant-based ingredients" I thought "cheese" in this instance must be referring to vegan cheese. Apparently not. I probably also neglected to clarify with the staff because I was having dinner at 21:30 The Naive menu contains dishes that use rennet-free cheese, which, while being vegetarian, is not vegan. (Don't know the difference? http://www.vrg.org/nutshell/cheese.htm provides a handy guide:) )

Another thing to note is that many of the items on Naive's menu are either very similar or identical to that on Whole Earth's menu. For the similar items I've tried, Whole Earth usually does it better.

Now on to the review. Before we began our meal, there was a Japanese-inspired "blessing of the sesame seeds" ceremony. Basically, a set of quite beautifully crafted and efficient Japanese mortar and pestle was set before us so that we can grind fragrant toasted sesame seeds which can then be sprinkled onto the dishes. The smell of the ground up sesame seeds was intoxicating, though I wouldn't add it to every dish - goes well with the olive brown rice though.

Summer Salad

To start with. This was purportedly one of Naive's specials. It contains cabbage, baby asparagus, strawberries "with [vermicelli] crystal bits served with Asian tamarind dressing. Refreshingly delicious." It would have been nice if it was indeed "refreshingly delicious" since this was the first dish but what killed it for me was the dressing - there was too much of it, and it was too overpowering. A salad dressing is supposed to complement and bring out the flavours in the ingredients, not drown it into oblivion. Not to mention that the flavour of the dressing was rather boring. I suppose the strawberries were supposed to serve as an effective, refreshing contrast to the other ingredients and the dressing, but the strawberries were not fresh and not very tasty, so it hardly did the job.

Enchanted Forest (Monkeyhead Mushrooms with Broccoli)

I've been to Naive twice and both times I've ordered it - best thing I've tried here. It's sick.The unique, meaty texture of the perfectly braised monkeyhead mushrooms has to be tried to be believed - I don't think monkeyhead mushrooms should be cooked any other way after trying Naive's version, which is superior to the ones I've tried in other restaurants. The mushrooms are swimming in a delicious lightly flavoured herbed broth with wolfberries (obviously very healthy) and nestled amidst crunchy almost-raw broccoli florets. I could probably eat two plates of this by myself, it's so good?!



Tamarind Tofu Cake and Curry Tofu Cake

The tamarind tofu cake, which was what I had the second time I went to Naive, was satisfactory, but nothing to shout about. The texture of the tofu cakes were quite pleasant, closely approximated to that of fish, but it wasn't as good as Whole Earth's Thai Mango and Tamarind Fish. The texture was aided by the crispy fried layer surrounding the tofu cake. The tofu cakes were adorned by pineapple strips, which are again sadly not very fresh. My companion had difficulty identifying the strips as pineapple because it wasn't very sweet. I liked the Tamarind sauce though - adequately spicy and tangy.

I had the curry tofu cake the first time I went there - it's along the same lines as well. Not particularly memorable, but I definitely enjoyed the curry sauce.

Lotus Root

This had a characteristically fancy name but unfortunately I've forgotten it. Anyhow, my companion liked it a lot though it was so-so for me. Each lotus root was topped with a meaty substance (my guess is mushroom), which was quite tasty on its own, without the dipping sauce (again I don't know if it's vegan). It came with a small side of penne in a creamy dressing with strips of capsicum which was not bad.

Button Steak

The button steak is made up of mushrooms and topped with rennet-free cheese, accompanied by a serving of ketchup. While the flavour of the mushrooms was not bad, it was ultimately a boring dish.

Sambal Long Beans with Tempeh

I loved the long beans, nicely sauteed and very crunchy. Not so sure about the tempeh (Indonesian bean cakes) though - I don't mind tempeh but these ones just had a really strange texture...

Olive Brown Rice

Flavourless, especially when compared to Whole Earth's version. Seriously. Don't order it. No idea why it was marked out as one of Naive's better items on the menu.

Desserts

I don't know if the desserts are vegan - I ordered them the first time I went to Naive because I had made the similar assumption that "purely plant-based ingredients" = vegan. But I'm going to review them anyway.

Chocolate Brownie

I ordered the chocolate brownie twice, not because it was that great but because it did the job - it was sweet and chocolatey and I wanted something sweet and chocolatey. :)

Sencha Pudding with Japanese red beans

Didn't like it, particularly the texture of the sencha pudding - basically very soft and wobbly.

Drinks

Jug of Lime Juice

Don't order it. Not what you want in a lime juice, which is a strong sour kick punctuating its sweetness. The flavour was really bland.

Conclusion: Will come again, if only to have the braised monkeyhead mushrooms with broccoli for a third time. But other than that, the food has never blown me away. Also note the food isn't cheap.

For pictures and the full review, click here!

Naive is one of my favorite restaurants in Singapore. I would recommend any dish here!

Love the food they served - it's a little over priced for vegetarian. Visit this restaurant at least once a month, if not twice. Go on indulge, but look at the price before doing so! Not forgetting the good service staff.

Lured by the prospect of a vegetarian dinner, as well as the beautiful and bright ambience, my friends and I decided to visit Naive for dinner this Sunday night. We decided to opt for the more 'Western' options instead of sharing rice and dishes. The food was served up in small portions but I personally felt that it was definitely filling enough. We tried the Olio Penne, a delicious, herb-flecked pasta tossed with, among other things, succulent and meaty mushrooms, the Papa Smurf, a run-of-the-mill tomato-based baked pasta, and my favourite, the baked rice, which boasted perfect morsels of al dente broccoli and cauliflower and was smothered in lots of cheesy sauce. One of my friends also ordered the beauty enzyme drink which (rather suspiciously) had no price on the menu and ended up costing $12 for a wine-glass! 

The food is certainly not cheap (especially since they're all vegetarian), but this would have been acceptable if not for the (polite but) overly pushy waitresses. During our order, we were asked first if we wanted to order an extra main (!) and then side dishes to share and later as we were paying, we were first offered an air freshener and then a book. Although the small restaurant was about half-full, service was also rather slow. Pity about the poor service, because most of the food was rather good.

Perhaps it's because I don't believe in paying more for vegetarian food as I would for meats.

Naive didn't disappoint, and lived up to its name as the best vegetarian restaurant in the East, as acclaimed by many reviewers. My only dissatisfaction was that the bill came up to a hefty SGD60++ for just 2 persons...and for vegetarian food?!

I tried their soup of the day which was lotus roots and peanut soup. This was pretty average and the portion was really tiny.

Following that, I had their mains: Love at First Bite (monkey mushrooms with kailan) and Elephant Toes (some herb balls with ginger sauce and vegetables). I have to say they were pretty good, although there was sort of a 'vegetable overload' for me.

If you're into vegetarian food, this will be a good bet for you. However, it will definitely not come cheap. That said, I actually loved the clean and sleek look of the restaurant and their use of uniquely-shaped bowls...but I probably won't return again because it was way too expensive.

I had heard good things about this place and been dying to try it.  Stopped by when in the area for take out lunch. 

Inside is very trendy and the staff were attentitive but that's where the good stuff ends.

I ordered Tom Yam soup, teriyaki tofu and one of the monkeyhead dishes.  The soup had no flavor except spicy - didn't taste anything like tom yam.  The tofu was so bad that we threw it away after one bite.  And the mushrooms were barely edible.  It seem like quality ingredients but the flavoring on all three dishes was terrible.  On top of it - the prices were a bit steep for lunch time veggies!

We were very excited about a good local vegetarian place, but will have to keep looking.

I was a fan of Naive and for anyone wanting vegetarian fare which is not run-of-mill, I would always recommend them Naive. That is, until last night. I wish I had read the most recent review on HungryGoWhere, and I would have 2nd thoughts about patronising the restaurant last night. I brought my sister along last night because she is into meatless diets, and she had heard me raved and raved about Naive. The food in Naive is simple, yet creative and the ambience is timeless Zen-like.

What can I say? Only the naive will be conned by Naive. The waitress was polite but she literally pushed dishes to us on the pretext of recommendations. We had 2 wolfberry soup each, olive brown rice, cheeky monkey (made of mushrooms) and Penang Rendang and Elephant Toes. That is A LOT for two ladies but never once, did the waitress suggested that it might be too much for the two of us. We struggled to finish the food and what could have been a Zen meal has become a Stuffed meal. The bill came up to $86.90 for 2 pax, without any orders of beverages.

Finally, we were asked if we had any last orders...we said no, and we settled the bill, and continued chatting. We looked around and there was another table of 4 guests still in the restaurant. Then the lights above us got switched off!! Unbelievable!! If the service personnel  had wanted to go home, it would be more polite for them to COMMUNICATE to us by telling us abot the closing time, and not switch off the lights!!

My sister says she will never return to the restaurant again. Neither will I. No matter how much I love my food, I cannot tolerate bad service. I also feel embarrassed about my recommendation because I raved so much about Naive and it is my sister's first time to the restaurant.

Joo Chiat has aplenty of good food ....there are plenty of choices with much better value in terms of food and service.

I am, not even remotely, vegetarian. I am resolutely omnivorous, although I have days where I have a weird vegetable cravings (think Sizzler's free-for-all salad buffet). Naïve has been on East Coast Road for almost a year. We knew that it was a restaurant but never really ventured over for a look see until after a vegetarian friend told us about it.



The Restaurant

The restaurant was almost empty when we arrived at just a bit past 9pm. There was only another table of 4 who had already placed their orders by the time we got there. Restaurant decor is fairly simple - not zen, but probably slightly zen-inspired. The restaurant space being fairly small (it is located in a shop house), seating is maximised by the use of a long table and bench seating in the centre of the restaurant.

The Menu



The menu features predominantly mushrooms and tofu. You would expect with a name like "Naïve" the food would be Western influenced. But that's not the case. The food is Asian-style with no eggs, onion, garlic or MSG. And nothing on the menu even vaguely resembles the mock meats that you find with the usual local vegetarian food. Things were looking up.

The menu is divided into several sections by key ingredient: each ingredient (e.g. monkeyhead mushrooms, oyster mushrooms, tofu) is prepared in at least 5 to 6 different ways/styles.  We ordered:

* Soup of the Day. The soup of the day was tomato-lemongrass soup. This was essentially a clear/thin tomato soup, with a slight scent of lemongrass. This was tangy but not very satisfying - the flavours would work much better in a thick soup instead.

* Autumn tofu. Warm tofu (one of my mom's favourites) with a savoury topping made of oats and fermented beans. This tasted almost exactly like mince meat sauce (the type that you get with zha jiang noodles), but without the texture. For the first time in my life, I actually liked tofu prepared this way.

* Tamarind crispy tofu cake: A mix of seaweed and tofu replicate the taste of fishcakes. The tamarind sauce was nice and tangy, and reminiscent of Penang laksa sauce. I liked this quite a bit, but could do without the tamarind sauce. There is a mango version available, which I suspect will be closer in flavour/presentation to the Thai fried mango fish dishes.

* Fried oyster mushrooms (spicy). I have mixed feelings about this: on the one hand, I liked the texture and crunch of the fried oyster mushrooms. When the dish was first served, I thought it looked like some kind of tonkatsu. On the other hand, while the flavour was spicy enough to be addictive (suggest you order this with rice), it soon came to a point when it just became too spicy to eat anymore.

* Penang Rendang. This was definitely odd: mushroom stalks are stir-fried in some spicy peanut-based sauce. Too spicy, and didn't quite work with the steamed mantou that the dish came with. I'm not sure how this can be one of the recommended dishes on the menu, but it is.

* Hong Kong noodles and vermicelli. The carbohydrates were largely forgettable. H. said that the HK noodles were quite tasty - I sampled but didn't quite register the taste as I was still smarting from the penang rendang. The vermicelli came with the same oat sauce that the Autumn tofu came with: nice, but a bit repetitive. If the service staff had highlighted that the vermicelli and tofu came with the same sauce, I would have ordered something else instead.

Generally, portions are fairly small. Each dish comes in nice/spiffy looking crockery (which takes up way too much space on the table) but is largely portioned for one person. This, coupled with the fairly expensive pricing, made dinner overall not very satisfying.

Service

Now, before the food is served, diners get a Japanese mortar & pestle filled with black and white sesame seeds. These are the implements for the "bloss" ceremony, described on the restaurant's website as: "Before the meal commences, diners are invited to partake in our Japanese-inspired ceremony. A set of Japanese mortar and pestle is provided and diners will spend 2-3 minutes grinding fragrant toasted sesame seeds which can be sprinkled onto the dishes. Sesame seeds are said to have numerous positive health properties. For us each small seed is also a symbol of blessings we receive every day. This is a very calming ceremony that our diners enjoy. They usually add it onto their food afterwards too."

Kitschy, quite fun, but I was wondering - as I was grinding the sesame seeds in the ceramic mortar - how in the world they manage to clean the grooves of the mortar/pestle.

The service was okay given the number of diners in the restaurant. We found that we had ordered too much food and it would have been helpful if the restaurant staff had told us that we had ordered too much/too little (e.g. like what you would get in the Chinese dim sum restaurants).



Overall

Dinner (inclusive of 2 non-alcoholic drinks) was $80 for 2 persons. While the food quality and style was quite good, I found dinner to be pricey - especially for vegetarian food. We might be back, not too sure about it, but it would be nice if the food portions and pricing were adjusted to fit local palates.

A quaint vegetarian restaurant with a soothing ambience and AWESOME food! Service is amazing as well with well-trained and polite waitresses. What was so interesting was the grounding of the sesame seeds that will be given to each table and as the waitress explained, was to signify happiness and harmony. After which, we sprinkle the grounded sesame onto our rice! What I like about the dishes here is that they are well presented in the cutest bowls ever, and although they are purely vegetarian, they are cooked so elaborately with such an eye for details such that the taste is glorious. I would turn vegetarian if vegetarian food could taste this good.