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• delicious fusion-inspired set lunch

there's a promotion going on for weekday lunches at the thompson plaza branch until mid-october 2015, so that's where my mum and i headed last wednesday. if you're familiar with sufood, another imported veggie restaurant, elemen operates on a similar mechanism, with a five-course weekday lunch set: a starter, salad/soup, main, dessert and drink. we opted for two salads - avocado and quinoa - instead of soup. both were light and refreshing with delicious dressings (i haven't had teriyaki dressing in a vegetarian eatery before), and would have looked like they packed a punch had they been served in smaller bowls rather than on plates. for our mains, we chose avocado rolls and braised golden-brown pumpkin with glutinous rice in hot stone. again, they were delicious without being too overpowering or filling. my choice of dessert was chilled coconut puree, which in terms of richness was probably equivalent to or more than a main, while my mum's was the lighter osmanthus flower with grass jelly. i don't like sweet drinks and requested for my grapefruit mojito to have less sugar. it was sour and had kick indeed. with its similar style of service and presentation, it's hard not to compare this with sufood. i liked the mix of japanese and western options here (i'd describe this experience as a fusion of sufood and teng bespoke) and felt that elemen's dishes were lighter and not too heavy/cheesy as compared to sufood, which leans towards pasta/carb-based dishes. even the pizzas here, which we observed being delivered to a nearby table, seemed to be thin-crusted. staff were friendly and one in particular shared his personal experiences and recommendations. given the chance, i'd definitely like to come back to try other dishes.