The Vegetarian Butcher: Family-Friendly Plant-Based Meals For A Good Cause
If you’ve resolved to eat less meat in 2021, then you’re in luck: European plant-based meat brand, The Vegetarian Butcher, entered the Singapore market last December. Brought in by Unilever Food Solutions (UFS), The Vegetarian Butcher launched at the second outlet of The Social Kitchen in Jurong Bird Park, offering meatless takes on Asian classics like curry noodles and beef rendang.
If you’re wondering what The Vegetarian Butcher can offer to a market already saturated with meat substitutes, you’re not alone.
For one thing, the menu is family-friendly. A representative from UFS told us that while they are targeting flexitarians, they specifically designed the offerings to a broad spectrum of age groups and taste preferences. Kids can order NoChicken Nuggets & Waffles, while perhaps their parents would prefer Fiery Mala NoMeatball Pasta.
True to The Vegetarian Burger’s European roots, there are also dishes like NoChicken Schnitzel with Fries & Apple Cucumber Walnut Salad, catered to tourists at Jurong Bird Park, once borders reopen.
The Vegetarian Butcher's arrival in Singapore also marks a milestone for The Social Kitchen, which provides local F&B with rental spaces and provides employment opportunities to the disadvantaged. Co-founder Alvin Yapp stressed that The Social Kitchen provides career progression for its 12 employees, and this partnership with UFS could also provide beneficiaries access to potential opportunities with Unilever. Beneficiaries also have the option of working at The Social Kitchen's other outlet in YMCA, and at future outlets once they open.
"We want to inspire their families [by showing] we have a space for them," Yapp said.
Prices for food items range from $6 to $14 at The Social Kitchen in Jurong Bird Park. When we asked a chef from UFS how they devised the menu to appeal to Singaporeans, he said that they tried to create something that was new, but not out of the norm - "as Singaporeans, we want to try new things, but we want to try them in our comfort zone". Hence the presence of familiar flavours like assam curry and Thai sauce-glazed "chicken" nuggets.
Want to make your own Kungpao NoChicken? (Pictured above.) The NoBeef Burger, NoChicken Burger, NoChicken Nuggets, NoChicken Chunks and NoMeatballs are currently available online in Singapore. Plant-based meat sausages and plant-based meat mince are expected to arrive here from the first quarter of 2021.
The Social Kitchen is located at Jurong Bird Park, 2 Jurong Hill
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