from Have Your Cake and Eat It Too
I was intrigued when Aly of Red FM, who asked if I would like to go for a vegeterannean food review. Did she say Vegeteranean? As in a cross between vegetarian and mediterranean? Turns out, she was just slurring. Vegetarian, she meant. At Kechara Oasis. I always thought that was the name of a spa. It sounds spa-ish, don't you think?
Anyway, far from Spa-ish, Kechara is actually a whole organisation...check out their website HERE..Labelled as a New Age Vegetarian restaurant, the Kechara organisation has soup kitchens, their own meditation centre, and is inspired by Tsem Tulku Rinpoche, from the Tibetan strain of buddhism.
The restaurant itself is no soup kitchen, and in fact, is supposed to be the first fine dining vegetarian place in the Klang Valley.
Buddhist artifacts adorn the place... but not overly so. There is a certain minimalist zenlike quality about the restaurant.
Our hosts for the night are Jeffrey Gan, the Manager of the place, a "convert" to vegetarianism after watching some videos about the cruelty of slaughtering animals. He then found his calling and became the GM for the Kechara organisation.
A delicious mango lassi and avocado lassi. I preferred the mango one, which was slightly tangy. They pride themselves with purity of ingredients.
Kechara Salad. A vegetarian yee sang, so to speak. Raw salads, pine nuts, ground nuts, with a lovely tangy dressing. It certainly FELT healthy. All that fibre. Oh, they do not use garlic and onions, as Buddhist vegetarians, because of their potentially aphrodisiac and err... passionate qualities. No eggs either.
Kung Po Chicken. I've always been fascinated by chinese vegetarians, who make mock meats of every conceivable edible animal. We have mock charsiu, mock pork, mock mutton, mock chicken... this is mock chicken. I enquired why this was so, and Jeffry's answer, that actually made a lot of sense, said that it was to give variety in cooking...ie, the same method of cooking for the meat equivalent can now be used to cook the dish. Like this Kung Po "Chicken", for example. The chicken bits are made from a particular mushroom. Lovely.
Momos. This in Nepalese/Tibetan influence. Lovely little dumplings with an assorted filling.
Butter Mushrooms - A special mushroom, deep fried till crisp on the outside cooked n a divine butter sauce. Aly kept saying she is reminded of soft shell crabs. It might be vegetarian, but I'm sure the butter sauce negated the healthy effects of being vegetarian.
Chef Au, a jovial, semi meat eating chef. His favourite food, Bak Kut Teh...
Ting mo. Steamed buns, dipped in a lovely curry-ish sauce. The buns were superb. Light and fluffy, calling out for some chicken curry to be dipped in.
For dessert, a chocolate mousse, eggless of course. Concocted by their pastry chef Nic.
Interestingly enough, Kechara also caters for wedding receptions and large functions, and there is a market for such a service. Read Aly's post about Kechara HERE.
After a healthy purifying dinner, we just HAD to go and contaminate our bodies with THIS:
Thanks Aly for the invite, as always, and Jeff and Anna for being gracious hosts. Also, nice meeting you Andrew the photographer.
Kechara Oasis
Unit 19-LG1, Level B1 Block D Jaya One,
No. 72A Jalan University,
46200 Petaling Jaya,
Anyway, far from Spa-ish, Kechara is actually a whole organisation...check out their website HERE..Labelled as a New Age Vegetarian restaurant, the Kechara organisation has soup kitchens, their own meditation centre, and is inspired by Tsem Tulku Rinpoche, from the Tibetan strain of buddhism.
The restaurant itself is no soup kitchen, and in fact, is supposed to be the first fine dining vegetarian place in the Klang Valley.
Buddhist artifacts adorn the place... but not overly so. There is a certain minimalist zenlike quality about the restaurant.
Our hosts for the night are Jeffrey Gan, the Manager of the place, a "convert" to vegetarianism after watching some videos about the cruelty of slaughtering animals. He then found his calling and became the GM for the Kechara organisation.
A delicious mango lassi and avocado lassi. I preferred the mango one, which was slightly tangy. They pride themselves with purity of ingredients.
Kechara Salad. A vegetarian yee sang, so to speak. Raw salads, pine nuts, ground nuts, with a lovely tangy dressing. It certainly FELT healthy. All that fibre. Oh, they do not use garlic and onions, as Buddhist vegetarians, because of their potentially aphrodisiac and err... passionate qualities. No eggs either.
Kung Po Chicken. I've always been fascinated by chinese vegetarians, who make mock meats of every conceivable edible animal. We have mock charsiu, mock pork, mock mutton, mock chicken... this is mock chicken. I enquired why this was so, and Jeffry's answer, that actually made a lot of sense, said that it was to give variety in cooking...ie, the same method of cooking for the meat equivalent can now be used to cook the dish. Like this Kung Po "Chicken", for example. The chicken bits are made from a particular mushroom. Lovely.
Momos. This in Nepalese/Tibetan influence. Lovely little dumplings with an assorted filling.
Butter Mushrooms - A special mushroom, deep fried till crisp on the outside cooked n a divine butter sauce. Aly kept saying she is reminded of soft shell crabs. It might be vegetarian, but I'm sure the butter sauce negated the healthy effects of being vegetarian.
Chef Au, a jovial, semi meat eating chef. His favourite food, Bak Kut Teh...
Ting mo. Steamed buns, dipped in a lovely curry-ish sauce. The buns were superb. Light and fluffy, calling out for some chicken curry to be dipped in.
For dessert, a chocolate mousse, eggless of course. Concocted by their pastry chef Nic.
Interestingly enough, Kechara also caters for wedding receptions and large functions, and there is a market for such a service. Read Aly's post about Kechara HERE.
After a healthy purifying dinner, we just HAD to go and contaminate our bodies with THIS:
Thanks Aly for the invite, as always, and Jeff and Anna for being gracious hosts. Also, nice meeting you Andrew the photographer.
Kechara Oasis
Unit 19-LG1, Level B1 Block D Jaya One,
No. 72A Jalan University,
46200 Petaling Jaya,
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