I Tried HappyCow, an App That Helps Travelers Eat Vegan: Review

As a foodie, I eat all types of meals — and that features a number of meat. However a weight loss plan filled with meat might not be wholesome or good for the setting.

I dwell in Singapore and often eat hawker meals day-after-day, so my weight loss plan consists of meals with a number of carbs like noodles and rice, greens, and totally different sorts of meat, from hen to mutton.

Whereas I attempt to keep a balanced, non-vegetarian weight loss plan, there are lots of causes to go vegan. According to an article by Harvard Medical School, a veggie-based weight loss plan can decrease well being dangers like coronary heart illness and most cancers. 

It is also higher for the setting — plant-based meals usually produce decrease carbon emissions and require fewer assets to domesticate in comparison with animal merchandise, per the United Nations Environment Programme. 

Many vegans additionally chorus from consuming meat due to ethical reasons: Animals do not should be slaughtered for meals or endure within the course of.

After doing my analysis on the advantages of going vegan, I made a decision to strive consuming solely plant-based meals for a day. I discovered an app known as HappyCow, which helps vegan vacationers discover eateries all all over the world.

HappyCow is the highest paid app within the AppStore’s journey class in Singapore. It has a 4.8-star ranking over virtually 350 evaluations and prices 5.98 Singapore {dollars}, or $3.99 to buy. HappyCow was initially based in 1999 as a web based platform, after which finally developed right into a cellular app, Eric Brent, the founding father of HappyCow, informed me.

Brent stated the app lists vegan and vegetarian eateries by way of curating eating places submitted by customers and companies from all over the world. The listings on the app are then moderated and researched by a workforce of in-house vegan editors, who resolve if these eateries will probably be featured on the app.

“I grew to become vegan again within the early ’90s and whereas being vegetarian wasn’t tough again then, being vegan was very sophisticated. The choices had been usually very restricted, and it was a continuing battle to eat out,” Brent stated. He added that the app is “essentially the most up to date, human moderated, listing of vegan/vegetarian eating places out there.”

I needed to eat solely at vegan eateries, so it was useful that the app differentiated between vegan and vegetarian choices.

HappyCow was pretty simple to make use of. The most effective half was that I might filter and kind eateries primarily based on how far they had been from my location, what sort of delicacies they served, how costly the meals had been, and so forth.

Wanting on the map, I noticed how a lot fewer the vegan choices had been in comparison with vegetarian ones. I am not too choosy with regards to meals, so I benefit from the comfort of strolling into any restaurant or hawker heart close by. 

However as I used to be on a mission to eat solely vegan meals, I discovered that I needed to plan effectively forward of time. 

Whereas many native hawker facilities, or open-air meals stalls, in Singapore often have one or two vegetarian stalls, they’re usually not vegan as they promote dishes that embrace animal byproducts like eggs (which might nonetheless be eaten by lacto-ovo-vegetarians, however not vegans).

I additionally noticed a handful of different vegan meals listing apps on the native AppStore. There’s Abillion, a Singapore-based app that lists vegan eating places in addition to curates vegan recipes. And there is Plantastic, which is described as “Tinder for plant-based meals” that helps customers discover vegan meals close by.

It was fairly simple to sift by way of the eating choices from wanting on the map. I noticed a brunch spot in central Singapore which served cafe meals, and I figured that was the place I might be having my first vegan meal of the day.

Every restaurant on the app had helpful data like its location, tackle, web site, evaluations from HappyCow customers, and if reservations are required.

I headed to Loving Nature Lucky Espresso Cafe for brunch. The cafe was small however had a comfy and alluring vibe.

Loving Nature Lucky Espresso is a vegan cafe with retailers in nations throughout Southeast Asia, together with Singapore, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. The shop operates on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays, and has a five-star ranking throughout 9 evaluations on HappyCow.

I met Delia Ng, a employees member on the cafe, who informed me the Singapore outlet opened in September final 12 months. Ng, who’s a vegan herself,  additionally stated that her son impressed her to turn into vegan after being vegetarian for 20 years. 

“We wish to encourage individuals to like nature by way of meals,” she stated. “We do not wish to hurt the animals.”

On the partitions had been writings that alluded to the vegan life-style, together with a framed drawing that learn: “Respecting the dignity of all life varieties.”

The cafe had a restricted menu which included baked items, waffles, vegan rice dishes, and dumplings. I opted for the dumplings, which price SG$6, or $4.25, and a strawberry milkshake, which price SG$5.

Ng stated that a lot of the employees on the cafe are volunteers. One such volunteer, who was initially from Indonesia, makes the restaurant’s delectable sambal — a conventional candy and spicy sauce constituted of chilies — which complemented the dumplings completely.

The dumplings, which had been made up of seven elements together with shiitake and enoki mushrooms, had been completely scrumptious.

The dumplings had an unbelievable meaty taste because of the mushrooms. They went completely with the soy sauce and home made sambal.

The strawberry milkshake was top-of-the-line I’ve had. I particularly loved the sunshine taste of oat milk, which made the shake stand out from all of the others that I’ve had.

For sure, the vegan brunch exceeded my expectations. It was filling, flavorful, and an awesome begin to my vegan journey for the day.

My subsequent cease was Ichigo Ichie, a co-working cafe owned by sushi chain Sakae Sushi. I used to be shocked to search out that the institution wasn’t precisely vegan, as was listed on the app, however simply had plant-based choices.

The cafe served Japanese delicacies and had a small menu of vegan meals. It has a 4.5-star ranking throughout six evaluations on HappyCow.

The cafe was listed as totally vegan on the app, which wasn’t solely correct as patrons might order meat in the event that they needed to.

After I arrived on the cafe for lunch, there was barely anybody there. The cafe was linked on to the sushi restaurant, and employees served diners on the cafe and people seeking to eat sushi from the conveyor belt. 

Patrons additionally needed to pay a price to dine on the cafe, which I believed was odd. It price round SG$8 for an hour, and SG$6 for each additional hour, which meant eating there had an costly surcharge.

As a result of there have been meat-based choices, I used to be tempted to order these over vegan meals. I ended up ordering the vegetarian bento, which comprised of shimeji mushrooms, pumpkin croquettes, Japanese rice, and vegetarian salmon sashimi, for SG$14.50.

At first, ordering the vegan bento did not appear as unhealthy as I believed it might be. It appeared appetizing, with the meals wanting contemporary and colourful. 

I actually loved the candy and savory flavors of the pumpkin croquette, however my favourite was the mushrooms in teriyaki sauce. The mushrooms had a scrumptious umami style and paired effectively with the croquettes. 

The vegetarian salmon sashimi was a let down — it had an uncannily related texture to uncooked salmon meat, but it surely had no taste.

I felt upset after I tried the vegan sashimi because it tasted nothing like salmon. It was nearer to plain jelly, and truthfully fairly repulsive. 

Based on an ingredient list of vegan sashimi salmon bought on-line in Singapore, its important elements are water, resistant starch, trehalose, sorbitol, and konjac flour — which explains the jelly style and texture. 

In comparison with actual salmon, vegan salmon lacks omega-3 fatty acids and antioxidants, so it is not as nutritious — or tasty — as the actual factor, per an article by coffee brand Bulletproof, citing Emily Gonzalez, a naturopathic physician.

General, lunch was advantageous however I used to be beginning to miss the hearty, meaty meals that I usually had at a hawker heart.

My final cease of the day was VeganBurg, a vegan restaurant that claims to be “the world’s first 100% plant-based burger joint.” It has chains in Singapore and San Francisco.

According to the chain’s website, VeganBurg was based in 2010.  It is the top-rated restaurant in central Singapore on HappyCow, with a 4.5-star ranking over 102 evaluations.

The chain’s restaurant resembled most different quick informal eateries like Brotzeit, a burger joint that serves Bavarian meals. It was situated on the nook of a avenue in japanese Singapore and had a mid-range restaurant really feel, with a small menu of meals and drinks.

VeganBurg gives burgers, sides, and desserts which are all fully vegan.

I opted for the chili krab burger with seaweed fries and lemonade for SG$17.80. The burger is impressed by a preferred dish in Singapore that contains stir-fried crab smothered in a spicy tomato-based sauce.

The chain’s web site does not specify what precisely the plant-based patty is product of, but it surely tasted like a crossover between frozen fish fillet and surimi crab stick. The sauce fell in need of my expectations because it was somewhat too bitter for my liking, and it wasn’t as savory as the actual factor.

The fries and lemonade had been nothing particular both; each tasted similar to those I often have at quick meals chains.

Whereas I appeared ahead to consuming at VeganBurg essentially the most, it ended up being my least favourite of the day and obtained me pondering of heading straight to an actual burger joint.

After consuming solely vegan meals for a day, I noticed how laborious it was to dine out and go meat-free. The choices might be actually hit and miss, and I wanted to be meticulous when planning the place to eat — however not less than I had HappyCow to assist me within the course of.

Consuming vegan is actually a dedication. I discovered myself scouring the map on HappyCow for an hour, on the lookout for eating places that weren’t too distant from one another. Whereas it made the method simpler, at occasions the meals wasn’t pretty much as good as I anticipated and my opinions ended up differing from the evaluations on the app. It might have rather a lot to do with the truth that I am not vegan, so I always evaluate the meals to what I usually have at eating places or hawker facilities.

I realized that vegan meals might be scrumptious — however oftentimes plant-based meats just like the salmon sashimi and burger patty are nowhere close to as tasty as precise greens. 

General, consuming vegan was far more difficult than I anticipated, and it takes extra than simply curiosity to essentially make the change.