Kechara Vegetarian Express!
KVE in Sunwaymas, located inside the Ninety Two Kopitiam restaurant
I received the good news of the opening of Kechara Vegetarian Express today at our hub in Sunwaymas.
Kechara Vegetarian Express (KVE) is a new express lunch take-away stall by Kechara Oasis to promote vegetarianism to the masses, targeting mainly office workers in commercial areas and also those in industrial areas.
KVE serves “mixed rice” or nasi campur, a lunch or dinner meal of rice with a variety of dishes that is very popular among Malaysians. A typical set up requires a buffet counter that can have from a few up to 50 types of dishes – everything from vegetables to fish and different types of meat. In the case of KVE, all are of course vegetarian, vegan-friendly, and suitable for strict vegetarians as they do not contain onion or garlic. The dishes are cooked with fresh ingredients every morning by the Kechara Oasis team, and then delivered to both locations via Kechara Oasis’ own van.
Liaison Irene Lim, the director of Kechara Oasis and Kechara Vegetarian Express said: “Since we want to encourage more people to go vegetarian, we have to make available healthy and affordable vegetarian food.” The idea for this came about as Irene heard that many Kecharians had difficulty obtaining healthy and delicious vegetarian meals.
A few years back I approached one student to open a restaurant for KECHARA. But the student declined citing various reasons. There are people who find reasons to win and some do not. So I approached Irene and asked her to open and without hesitation she said yes. Irene has never operated a restaurant in her life. She has never worked in one also. But she said to me, if I think she can do it, she believes she can learn and she will do it. She found the premises, she did the ID, dealt with contractor, found the staff and opened our first restaurant for KECHARA. It was my way to promote vegetarianism and self sustainability. Now Irene will be opening another branch of Kechara Oasis in Viva mall soon. As you can see here, she has opened KECHARA VEGETARIAN EXPRESS offering inexpensive, quick and delicious lunch and dinners.
Another effort by KECHARA to serve the public by providing affordable and healthy vegetarian food
Kechara Oasis is one of the depts of KECHARA and we are very proud of it. To make a department successful, we have to have the attitude this is dharma work. The better I do it, the better I become. The better I do it, the better it will benefit someone else. To benefit others and oneself is the driving force…. We should not see work as work but as an act of our spirituality. However we view the work, the work is the same. But if we view the work with love and expression of our spirituality, then we will do a much better job. When we do our work well due to our attitude, then bigger and beneficial results will arise. Why not? If we do our job half heartedly or because we have to, the work will have the same results, then bigger and better things will find it hard to arise from you. Dharma work is an expression of our spirituality. Work is work, but dharma work is dharma work DUE TO ATTITUDE. And the appropriate karma arises due to attitude mainly not so much what we do anymore. We should do our work without doubts and questioning again and again. Why? Because once we have decided, IT IS OUR DETERMINATION that will make something work although it looked bleak in the beginning or would not have worked with mediocre efforts. Our attitude and determination is strong because we have strong determination in our spirituality and hence wishing to benefit others. The fundamental wish to benefit others can be fulfilled through hard work. Hard work in turn can fuel our fundamental wish to benefit others. Now to see if we are genuine about our fundamentals or just nice words written in the scriptures of Lam Rim or what not, then take up the challenge and win. Do Dharma work. Reach deep within and find your spirituality through working for others. Dharma work can become just mundane secular work when our attitude is not honed to supreme thoughts. Mundane work likewise can become dharma work even if we are not physically working let say for Kechara if our attitude is honed correctly. Work is work. Work is supreme when our attitude is for the benefit of others and we are determined to leave our comfort zones because the needs of the many surpass the needs of oneself.
Remember, attitude plays a BIG PART in whether your work is fulfilling or not. Work does not need to be fun to be fulfilling. It just needs to benefit others. If benefitting others become boring, then you will find everything in life boring eventually. Make a mental shift….
Today, Kechara Vegetarian Express opened at 2 locations, one in Sunwaymas and another in HICOM-Glenmarie Industrial Park in Shah Alam. KVE is able to cater to 200 people in total each day. Irene hopes to increase the volume gradually, and also expand the choice of dishes to around 30 in the near future.
Irene and the team at KVE Sunwaymas
Popular dishes include: vegetable curry, spring rolls, Kechara Oasis Chicken (KOC), and a variety of fresh stir-fry vegetables
Familiar faces? Judy and June from Kechara Media & Publications deciding what to put on their plates, hehe
KVE in HICOM-Glenmarie Industrial Park Shah Alam, located inside Shen Shi Gei restaurant
Workers in Shah Alam can enjoy fresh, affordable and healthy vegetarian meals without MSG (monosodium glutamate)
The team at KVE Shah Alam, lead by Mr. Eddie Teoh,the restaurant manager of Kechara Oasis Viva Home’ (another Kechara Oasis restaurant opening soon in downtown Kuala Lumpur!)
I am very happy today as KVE will be another avenue to promote vegetarianism and less killing. It is more compassionate to not eat meat in the 21st century and KVE encourages the public to do so by providing the food, and also spreading the idea.
I rejoice for my long time student Irene who really pushes herself to move ahead. She gives no excuses and makes our causes grow through her department. Finally, Kecharians can now enjoy healthy vegetarian food from our own department right at their doorstep in Sunwaymas. Thank you Irene and all the staff at Kechara Oasis who will soon manage 2 vegetarian restaurants and 2 Kechara Vegetarian Express outlets simultaneously.
My prayers for your success.
Tsem Rinpoche
KECHARA VEGETARIAN EXPRESS @ SUNWAYMAS
Restoran Ninety Two Kopitiam
1-1, Jalan PJU 1/3D, Sunway Mas Commercial Centre,
47301 Petaling Jaya,
Selangor, Malaysia.
Opens for lunch Mon- Fri, 11am-3pm
KECHARA VEGETARIAN EXPRESS @ SHAH ALAM
Restoran Shen Shi Gei
11 Jalan Juruaudit U1/37,
Hicom-Glenmarie Industrial Park,
40150 Shah Alam,
Selangor, Malaysia.
Opens for lunch Mon- Fri and Sun, 11am-3pm
For more information about Kechara Vegetarian Express, please contact the manager, James on +6012 617 9118
Update: 22/3/2011
Yesterday, one of my students Margaret, sent me this update about KVE:
I am having lunch with the contractor, Tham, at KVE now. It is the most popular stall in Kopitam 92. Look at the crowd around our stall!
In this photo, this group of 6 are all from the same office and they have come to try our mixed veg rice!
Thank you,
Margaret
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Looks really yummy. If I was in Malaysia I would definitely want to try all those vegetarian dishes! Makes me hungry just looking : )
Congratulations to KVE. I really can’t wait to go. I bet it must taste awesome. KVE encourages vegetarianism and also makes sure that less animals will have to suffer for the taste buds of others. Now, those who do not have the fortune to go to KO. They can feast on these tasty treat from KO in KVE. I hope many will eat the food from KVE.
Congratulation Irene and your hardworking team for opening up not one but two Kechara Vegetarian Express on the same day!!!!
The dish looks tempting and delicious. Hope to have the opporturnity to try one day when iam down to KL.