Jolly Good Bollywood

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Bollywood Veggies along Neo Tiew Road

Recently, after our regular visit to Ethan's favourite goat farm, my family decided to drop by Bollywood Veggies for lunch and a quick look around. Located at the long and winding Neo Tiew Road at the Kranji/Lim Chu Kang area, this organic farm is opened by Mrs Ivy Singh-Lim and her hubby Lim Ho Seng. Ivy is a very well known and outspoken figure in our local social scene, and was previously the President of the Netball Association of Singapore, while Ho Seng used to be the CEO of NTUC Fairprice.

In a way, the farm cum restaurant (Poison Ivy Bistro) is a labour of love for both - a retirement gig which offers the promise of a more rustic laid-back lifestyle after slogging it out for the better part of one's life in the corporate world. According to my wife Tina, rental for the entire plot of land is only about $5,000 per month, and much of the income derived by the couple comes from the F&B business plus farm tours (which goes for about $2 per head and includes a little snack).

Selling farm produce isn't really sustainable as the size of the farm is only 10 acres, but they do have quite an interesting variety of fruits and vegetables like bananas, ladies fingers, papayas, brinjals, kang kong, sweet potatoes and so on.

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Ample and free parking spaces makes Bollywood Veggies an attractive destination. If you don't drive, you can hop on to the Kranji Express which offers cheap rides ($2 for adults and $1 for kids - round trip) from Kranji MRT station.

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Herbs and spices like ginger, mint, basil, chilli and coriander can be found growing in the soil or on pots.

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A proud pineapple sitting atop its throne of thorny leaves.

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Tina and Ethan taking a break while posing beside a signboard stating the Earth-friendly cred of the place.

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Water to irrigate the crops are drawn from this pond located in the middle of the farm. We saw some small fishes swimming in there too.

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Another rest area, this time shaded by the lush foliage of trees in the farm.

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A lucky shot of a butterfly taking a sip of sweet nectar. Does anybody know what Lepidopteran species this is?

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After a hot noon walk in the farm, the cool air-conditioned restaurant Poison Ivy provides a temporary respite.

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Naturally, we need to fuel up too. We had a delicious meal of mainly organic vegetables like a salad of rojak flowers, banana curry, and stewed vegetables washed down with fig and lemongrass tea.

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