The last time I had a Vegan Christmas meal at Hungry Tapir was in 2020. Two years later, I was back on the 25th with an empty belly and a Jasmin Irisha to enjoy their new Christmas menu featuring Green Rebel foods.
I’ll get more into Green Rebel (not sponsored) towards the end but first, let’s devour the food!
Vegan Beefless Steak
I still can’t get over how close to real beef it looked and felt. I can’t remember the taste of actual beef but then again I don’t think meat has a particular taste (except lamb) unless cooked with herbs and spices.
But the texture of Green Rebel beefless steak was so on point that it scared me a bit.
The 100g beefless steak was accompanied by cranberry, Yorkshire pudding, long beans, and Brussel sprouts.
The description on the menu:
Served on a bed of pumpkin truffle mash with smoked long beans, Yorkshire puddings, and spiced Brussel sprouts with creamy mushroom gravy and cranberry sauce.
The taste was superb and my friend Jasmin loved it and thought that this was the best Christmas vegan meal ever.
I’d say a plate was enough for one though if two people have small stomachs then one plate can be shared. However, Jasmin and I wanted to try both of the mains so we also ordered the other one.
Vegan Rendang & Chestnut Wellington
I don’t think I’ve ever tried a Wellington so I can’t compare it to anything. But I loved it nonetheless. It had the Green Rebel beefless rendang wrapped in crunchy puff pastry. The sides were the same as the beefless steak but the sauces were different.
The description on the menu:
Puff pastry with a festive local twist filling, Yorkshire puddings, spiced Brussel sprouts and potato roasties served with pedas penyet sauce and Christmas gravy.
I think they ran out of potato roasties so they replaced them with long beans. I felt that the potatoes would’ve been better.
And yes, the pedas penyet sauce was indeed pedas (spicy) giving the dish a nice kick.
Fruit Cake and Ice Cream
We didn’t think of getting dessert but the manager came and recommended one and it sounded good so we ordered it.
I think Jasmin was lowkey glad we got the fruit cake because she could make a lame pun from it— “Merry Kismis”!
FYI, kismis is raisins in Malay.
It was yummy and a good way to end the wonderful vegan christmas lunch.
Price — Worth It?
We wanted to order the appetizer Peegs In Blankets but we knew that two mains would already be a lot.
Note to self: if there’s a special vegan menu for a festivity, bring along at least 3 friends.
So were the mains worth the price?
I think MYR 55 (~USD 12.50) for one main dish was reasonable. After my travels and since I’m currently earning in USD, I can’t complain. I’ve developed a deep appreciation for the prices in Malaysia.
So two mains, a set of desserts, and two drinks (matcha latte and acai smoothie) totalled up to about USD 40.
Minor Setbacks
Although the food and ambience were great, there were just a couple of things that could be better.
- Service: if you book a table on a weekend, the time is limited to 2 hours. However, we ordered the christmas meal which took half an hour to prepare and we were alright with that. But then it meant that it took up more time than expected. The server came up to us while we were still eating telling us we might need to leave the table as there was another booking and asking us to pay. I told them we were not going anywhere because we haven’t finished and the food came late anyway. A few minutes later, they came back saying we can stay. I presume they talked to the manager and settled the situation. I’m glad they didn’t kick us out. This was just a minor dent to an otherwise lovely lunch.
- Entertainment: there were a singer and a guitarist serenading the customers. While it was a good addition to make it feel christmasy, I felt that the volume should be lowered a little bit so that the customers can hear each other talk. I had to raise my voice a bit more and open my ears wider. Maybe I should’ve requested the volume to be lowered there and then but I was enjoying the conversation with Jasmin that the extra effort did not seem worthwhile.
Despite the minor setbacks, I would totally come back to Hungry Tapir be it for a regular meal or a festive one when the opportunity arises. Their food quality is really good and I like the chic ambience.
What Is Green Rebel?
Green Rebel is an Indonesian tech food company creating a range of innovative meat alternative food products. They have recently expanded to Malaysia and I’m really glad. I’ve tasted a few meat alternatives before but they didn’t quite hit the mark for me. But Green Rebel nailed it on the beefless products. They have the chik’n products as well but I haven’t properly tried those yet.
Apparently, they use 100% natural ingredients with no MSG or preservatives. The beefless range is shiitake mushroom based and the chik’n range is soy based.
I’d really like to be a fly on their factory wall and see how the food products were made from scratch til their final form.
10/10 Recommend
This vegan christmas menu is available until the end of December. But if you missed it and want to try Green Rebel products, you can go to Hijau Kuala Lumpur where they incorporate the products into their regular menu.
If Hungry Tapir does another vegan christmas menu next year, I strongly urge you to book a table. They never disappoint!
