Since I’ve been adapting to a veg-led diet, my body often signals me what it wants. When deep-fried or oily food dominates the table, I’d end up too much fuelled, holding my tummy and losing appetite for later on; if red meats are present too much, I usually can only sample a few and then go for colourful veg.
In my case, a cheeseburger with curly fries (plus a Coke) is always tempting to me, whether meat-free or not. Yet, my body would end up striking, leaving no room for supper.
Nowadays, restaurants try to push for more vegetarian options on the menu to meet the significantly increasing plant-based demand but fail to deliver promising quality because they heavily rely on frying to shortcut the cooking time and greasy sauce to compensate for the flavour, resulting in heavy and imbalanced eating — just don’t feel great after eating!
I’m happy that Root is different.
Here they offer a few choices of fish and meat, but we tried all veg. On every plate, you can savour the distinguished flavour from each vegetable because the chef patiently builds up the flavour without rushing; proofing time is the best seasoning.
Though these were small plates, we were deliciously satisfied without feeling we were missing any meat. We even didn’t have bread since there were a handful of pink fir potatoes.
Recommendations? Go for the smoked mushrooms. We just couldn’t get enough of those wonderfully smoked oyster mushrooms (hidden under) — very meaty, glazed with Madeira, and providing a nice contrast to the crispy kale and crisps.
The second favourite would be the charred leeks with chipotle, roasted sunflower seeds, and sour cream. When anything is nicely charred, you know it’ll be fantastic.
And don’t skip the Arrocina beans with Delica squash! The dark-orange flesh of the pumpkin was really sweet and nutty, but I liked the creamy beans equally much!
After our visit, I happily noticed that some old dining-out problems didn’t come up — bloating, oily tummy, loss of appetite… I could have a proper supper as usual.
Their outstanding food made me attempt to replicate it at home. Luckily, Root has published a cookbook called the same name, with detailed recipes to guide you through. But to be honest, spending hours to oven-bake a bunch of kale is simply not fitting in a busy life. Perhaps I can take on a few techniques while leaving the rest to the professionals, and surprise me one more time!
