Pawon Vegetarian (Sembawang Hills Food Centre)

Have actually been quite curious about Pawon Vegetarian that is located at Sembawang Hills Food Centre having come across the existence of the establishment quite some time ago on social media. These folks are situated within a stall unit that faces the main thoroughfare of Sembawang Road being along the side that is closest to Jalan Leban. Pawon Vegetarian is a pretty unique concept — whilst being very much a vegetarian stall at heart, Pawon Vegetarian centres its focus on serving up Indonesian-style vegetarian cuisine; apart from serving up classic Vegetarian-style economic rice where patrons can opt for everything that is on display behind the counter, they also do offer six (6) rice / noodle dishes that are also prominently illustrated on its signboard for those looking for a more fuss-free experience dining here.

Being pretty much spoilt for choice, we were recommended by the lady behind the counter to go for the Nasi Tumpeng — Nasi Tumpeng is an Indonesian-style dish that features cone-shaped turmeric rice and an assortment of dishes; the version at Pawon Vegetarian does come with elements like Nonya Achar, ladyfingers, sambal, hard-boiled eggs, tempeh and even some form of mock beef as well. What left us most impressed out of the entire plate would be the mock beef; made out of soy elements, we were actually very surprised with the fibrous texture of the mock meat when we took a bite into it — it was also sufficiently moist and came with a tender texture that was easy to chew apart as well. Flavour-wise, there was also this note that seemingly tried to replicate the gaminess of beef with a very soft note of mock meat flavour that is barely detectable in the finishing notes as well. The rice also does carry a distinct fragrance of turmeric, while we also quite liked how the ladyfingers were done all soft with a slimy texture and mixed with mock meat for some element of bite as well.