Genesis Vegan Restaurant: Guilt-free & insanely yummy vegan dishes like lasagna, Nyonya laksa & seaweed rolls

“Wait… what? Aaron trying vegan food?” Those who know me well would’ve probably said that, knowing how much I love meat. I’ll be honest, I was a little skeptical before my visit to Genesis Vegan Restaurant located in the basement of Havelock 2. I mean… how tasty can vegan food be? I was eager to find out.

There was a cute easel blackboard on the outside of the restaurant with a list of specials for the day. As it wasn’t lunch time yet, the place was empty and we had it all to ourselves.

The uncle at the counter enthusiastically introduced the specials to us. The cosy boutique restaurant seats 26, and the whole atmosphere of the place was warm and homely.

Genesis Vegan Restaurant was started by 3 female acquaintances (a dietician, a retired nurse and a retired teacher) in 2006 who had the common goal of living healthily. The restaurant was previously located in Lorong Telok near Boat Quay before making its move to Havelock 2 in Oct 2019.

What I tried at Genesis Vegan Restaurant

We decided to order the Braised Vermicelli (S$8.90), which was one of their daily specials. The dish consisted of brown rice bee hoon, slices of bean curd skin, some unknown dark soybean product, xiao bai cai and tau geh doused in a viscous glossy broth.

At first glance, the consistency and appearance of the sauce reminded me of shark’s fin soup. It managed to coat every ingredient nicely after I had mixed everything together

The bee hoon had the perfect balance of seasoning and the layer of crunch coming from the xiao bai cai stems and tau geh was satisfying.

The bean curd skins were slightly fried before they were braised, adding a slight smokiness to it. After I had chewed multiple times to decipher what the darker pieces of bean curd were, I finally realised that they were actually seaweed.

Overall, I felt that this was an elevated version of a vegetarian bee hoon.

We proceeded with the Seaweed Roll (S$5.90) next, which was an appetiser. It had a melange of raw carrot strips, romaine lettuce, purple cabbage, sprouts and crunchy almond bits wrapped in seaweed, and drizzled with oil-free cashew sauce.

The amount of vegetables that was jam packed into the rolls was insane. I experienced dual sensations of crunchiness coming from the raw veggies as well as the crushed almonds.

The cashew sauce flooded my mouth with nutty, tangy and sweet notes. This had no dairy in it? Unbelievable! The freshness of the vegetables also made it an ideal palate cleanser— I could’ve eaten 10 of them without any trouble at all. It was so much lighter than sushi.

The final dish, Lasagna (S$12.90) was layered with mushrooms, brown lentils and cashew sauce. It also came with a side salad drenched in more cashew dressing.

“Lasagna without meat— how good would it be?” I thought to myself.

Then I dug through the 3 layers and tried my first mouthful.

“What sorcery is this? How can this taste so good?” I wondered.

The brown lentils were savoury and possessed a texture that was similar to meat. The lasagna sheets were soft and the filling was delicious and moist. If I didn’t know it was vegan, I would’ve thought it was a regular lasagna.

Final thoughts

Despite the absence of animal products and meat, I was blown away by how yummy the vegan dishes were at Genesis Vegan Restaurant. We ended our meal feeling satisfied but not bloated.

I’m eager to try their vegan take on familiar local dishes like the Claypot Rice (S$10.90), Nyonya Laksa (S$9.30) and Dumplings (S$6.60). This calls for a revisit sometime soon!

Expected damage: S$4.50 – S$8 per pax

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