Kechara Oasis, Jaya One

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,

One Who Flew Over The Cocoa's Nest

It's been awhile since there's been a road trip with fellow bloggers into the interior. Ever since our intrepid adventurer and adventuress, Cumi & Ciki became international food and travel writers, these jaunts into the quaint little towns and remote areas have become all but a memory. So, when Cumi & Ciki spearheaded the trip to Cocoaland, well, actually a Cocoa plantation run by the Lembaga Koko Malaysia, (not related to Coco Chanel), a large group of us enthusiastically hopped onto the proverbial bandwagon...some wagons arriving later than others, and getting lost.

The place, Jengka, off the new east coast highway, just after the Temerloh turn off, approximately 2 hours from KL. There are a whole lot of Felda settlements along the way, and Jengka is divided numerically into Jengka XXX. We were supposed to turn off at Jengka 18. Laidat oso got people can get lost.

The Malaysian Cocoa Board has a nice building perched on top of a hill...


Our troops ready for adventure.


The people at the Cocoa Board are very hospitable, we were given a lovely breakfast of fried noodles with fried eggs, before being ushered into the conference room for a taklimat. (briefing). It was actually very educational. I always thought Malaysia was way up there in cocoa production, but actually, we are lagging behind at number 18, if I am not mistaken, in cocoa producing. However, as Cocoa grinders, we are ranked no 3, so there is a big disparity between raw material and end product in our industry here.


The Cocoa Board actually sets out to help small time or big time farmers, interested in cultivating the crop. They provide seedlings, saplings, bud grafting, pest control, advice and service for 5 years for FREE!!! They even arrange for your crops to be bought. So, if you have 10 hectares of land lying around idle, do consider a career in cocoa planting. The price of processed cocoa powder is apparently even higher than palm oil.


Is that dashing British fellow falling asleep at the briefing? Gasp!


We were provided transport in a convoy of 4 wheel drives. Children being children, opted to sit in the trunk.


A cocoa tree up close, with them cocoa pods.


Who makes the peace sign anymore these days while taking pics? Well, apparently Memoirs of Chocaholic does. Maybe the cocoa fuelled the flower power in the chocaholic.


Ms Cocoaland 2010??


Some kid who was hanging around with us.


The cocoa pods come in different colors. This species is a glorious aubergine type color.


One of the projects of the Cocoa Board is to experiment on different permutations for crops. In terms of spacing of the plants, and what other plants can be grown concurrently. Here we have the very sought after TONGKAT ALI grown in between the cocoa plants. I would love to try them aphrodisiac chocolates made from cocoa from this plantation!


The fleshy interior of the cocoa pod.... the texture is a bit like soursop, as well as the taste. Yes, its edible.


Check out Oliver's pods.


With one deft chop, Su of Delectable manages to crack open the cocoa pod like a hard boiled egg.


The circle of life for the cocoa bean. The seeds are placed in a wet gunny sack to germinate. When germinated, the seedling is placed, root down, for the young sapling to grow. The pictures show the cocoa baby plant in various stages of growth. After 6 weeks or so, they are bud grafted, with other species, for more productivity.


And the final stop, how we actually GET the cocoa from the cocoa pod. The pods are broken, either manually, or with the Cocoa Breaker Machine, (COBRE), the beans are separated from the husk, and the beans are fermented for up to five days. Hence a foul odour fills the air, so if you intend to ferment cocoa beans at home, make sure you don't do it in your condo.

The fermented beans are then left to to get a sun tan, for 3 days or so, before they are dried to a crisp, and vaguely the same skin tone as Ciki. The precious cocoa lies within the seed.

We have in that last frame, that British fella telling Puan Rozita, "hey, this doesn't taste like Cadbury".



And the end product of cocoa is.....tah dah....

For those of us who wanted it, you could actually get the young cocoa plants and bring them home. The boy took 5 back.

A great trip, and honestly, MOST educational. Highly recommended for field trips etc. The people at the Lembaga Koko are great, hospitable, friendly and helpful. Kudos to them for an excellently run establishment.

Thanks to Cumi for organising, to Ciki for inviting, and to all the staff at the LKM.

PS- I hope little Chloe benefited from the Cocoa Pod that her mother asked for! ;)

Liyen at the Ritz Carlton

We are all victims of preconceived notions. I for one, when you mention Ritz Carlton, see Ringgit Signs flying out of the wallet faster than you can say WHY TEE EL! I've always thought the price to eat in any outlet there is beyond ordinary mortals like me.

When Lyla of Il Lido invited me to sup there one night, I was thrilled. And with such good company too, for on the guest list, were Marian, aka The Makan Fairy Godmother, Alilfatmonkey, Aly of Red FM, Ciki of Cumi & Ciki, and the Goddess of the Food Bloggers herself, Boolicious of Masak Masak. At hand to play host were Oliver Ellerton, that young dashing Brit fella, and the very demure Andrea.

The Ritz Carlton is a boutique hotel, so its not so easy to waltz in and out anonymously. Which I find intimidating. However, we were politely led to Liyen, the Chinese Restaurant.

Alilfatmonkey trying to discreetly dislodge a piece of monkey food from his jaw perhaps?


Is Marian saying a little prayer, "oh Lord help me get through this nite with all these monkeys around me"...


First, a most homely watercress soup with pork ribs, wolfenberries, (gei chee). This is one of my favourite comfort soups. I love the bitterish tinge imparted by watercress. Although, it has been seared in my mind, that classic scene in Dynasty, (yes, I am from that era), where Joan Collins says to Linda Evans, who had served watercress sandwiches, "dahlink, only giraffes eat watercress". Call me a giraffe then, albeit a portly one...I love my watercress.


Glistening Peking Duck. It's strange how it's retained the name, no one calls it Beijing Duck. Peking Duck does sound more perky... and pecking.





I love it that its served with these traditional flourlike pancakes, the chinese tortillas. I am not a fan of those eggy yellow pancake impostors that many chinese restaurants use to serve their Peking Duck in.





Fragrant Prawns in Champagne. The aroma of champagne was very distinct, and imparted a subtle flavour to the prawns, which were fresh sea prawns.


Ah, all the British fella flocking together. (Private Joke)


The Lovely Lyla of Il Lido


Them Camw****s.


Ciki and the demure Andrea


Look at my prawn shells, says Aly, the Queen of the Prawns


This has to be my favourite dish of the night. Baked Spare ribs with chinese tea leaves. The slightly charred glaze, paired together with the wonderful scent of tea leaves, plus the excellent cut of meat, ribs that fell of the bone....ah, I could just eat this alone. And, it is reasonably priced at RM14 per rib, if I recall correctly. Same price as some establishment in Robson Heights famous for their ribs.





Honey Glazed Cod Fish. Some commented that it looked like Char Siu. Well, it might have, but it didn't taste like char siu. Cooked to perfection, flaky yet firm, just the right amount of glaze so as not to make it sweet like a cake.





Liyen's signature Spinach Tofu with Honshimeju (what a mouthful) mushrooms. Can't go wrong with beancurd, and paired with Popeye's favourite green vegetable, makes for a power packed parcel of goodness. Actually, I wouldn't mind having just this, the ribs, and rice.


But speaking of rice, OHHHH MY, this fried rice, fried with the duck meat from the Peking Duck, absolutely glorious. Fluffy grains of rice, fried in a hot enough wok, interspersed with the juicy flesh of the duck, ....I'm in fried rice heaven!




And to wash it all down, avocado cream! Frankly, a bit too rich a way to end such a superb dinner. A clear sweet tongshui would've been much better. Nevertheless, for avocado fans, this is a must. Rich, creamy and bursting with avocado goodness.






And Alilfatmonkey in the various stages of his avocado cream.

So yeah, the the preconceived notions dispelled, I look forward to heading back to Liyen for some lovely tea leaf ribs, and oooh, just about everything else. The place is non halal.

Thanks Oliver and Andrea for being such gracious hosts, and Lyla, for the invite.