April brings about Earth Hour, and that typically marks the zenith of environmental consciousness for the regular diner. While that is all well and good, the environment should always be at the forefront – not just one day, much less one hour.
Our food choices play a huge role in this. We eat thrice a day, and our choice of where our food comes from – whether the beef you ate was raised sustainably and how far your kale has travelled to get to your fork matters.
Here, we spotlight five restaurants that’s taken strides to be sustainable. From growing their produce on-site to embracing veganism
After all, we have only one planet. So let’s make it count.
The Living Cafe
Factory farming is a massive cause of global warming thanks to the huge amounts of resources poured into these businesses to produce meat at very low cost and low quality. Get around this by going vegan and dine at The Living Cafe. The raw and vegan dishes here are so delicious you would forget that there is no meat on your plate. The raw lasagne in particular has awards and here, thick slices of fresh juicy tomatoes are layered over a nutty sauce packed with umami goodness while zucchini slices act as lasagne sheets. It’s not only vegan and delicious, but packed with nutrients to boot.
Artichoke
Mediterrenean restaurant Artichoke is one of the pioneers of cooking with local produce. In fact, Bjorn Shen was one the early chef proponents and went through great lengths to procure what’s grown and raised here at a time there was no supply chain nor transport that connects farmers with restaurateurs. Expect a menu featuring locally caught or raised seafood as well as a host of vegetarian and vegan items that the mediterranean is so well-known for and don’t leave without checking out the wine list curated by vino specialists RVLT.
Poison Ivy
How does dining in an actual farm sound to you? That’s exactly what Poison Ivy Bistro at Bollywood Veggies does, and it’s set in a bright and airy spot that’s perfect for a daytime family outing. The food is local and rustic so expect a farm-to-table menu along the lines of nasi lemak and fiery curries. Don’t leave without trying its iconic banana cake made from bananas grown mere metres away from where you are dining.
Rumah Rasa
All this talk about going local means nothing if we’re going to keep using produce that does not originally hail from our region. Go truly local and savour the flavours of the land at Rumah Rasa, a Halal pan-Indonesian restaurant at Bay Hotel Singapore. The herbs and spices used in well-loved Indonesian dishes like gado gado and rendang are grown in the hotels very own rooftop garden. The food here is reputed to be delicious and rustic – perhaps all the more reason why the restaurant is so named Rumah Rasa which means, the house of flavour in Bahasa.
