Look at the Food!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Kechara Oasis Canapes
I think there’s a huge variety of delicious vegetarian food if you just make the slight effort. Eating vegetarian is good for the earth, good for animals, good for your health, good for your spiritual practice, good for your conscience and excellent for you to develop a caring responsibility of lessening pain in others (in this case animals). It also helps you to discourage others from butchering animals for your pleasure. Just because you don’t work in a slaughterhouse, or watch the animal being butchered DOES NOT MEAN YOU ARE EXEMPTED from the horrible negative karma involved.
The old tired excuse or adage that if you don’t eat meat, your body will weaken has been proven wrong hundreds of times over and over again from scientists, actors, spiritualists, monks, to athletes, doctors and the common vegan person on the street.
I have started a department within Kechara and it is called KECHARA OASIS which caters to fine, high quality, delicious VEGETARIAN COOKING. We have one of the best vegetarian chefs in the city with us and he gave up on cooking meat years ago after contemplation and thinking.
Irene Lim, my long time student and friend, is the head of this dept and endeavours to do her best to serve her clients with her terrific team.
Irene herself has been a health ‘guru’ for years. She would always bring me all types of herbs, healthy methods of cooking, ideas, organic items, detox drinks and a plethora of Chinese herbal remedies if I even sneezed.
She does not like anything unnatural, non organic or taking over the counter pills to heal. She really is into health. And being a dharma student on the spiritual path, combined with her deep passion for healthy foods, she is the PERFECT person to share Kechara Oasis with you. She has never been in anything for monetary profit…it is always about spiritual health. You must stop by and get to know Irene as she is a very loyal and caring friend also. Her staff at Kechara Oasis adore her I heard.
Kechara Oasis has become THE ‘wedding restaurant’ to celebrate in now. Kechara Oasis is booked for weddings constantly and monthly. Last month they catered to an outdoor wedding in a nearby park (see pics below). It was very successful. But their weddings on premises also very nice.
Companies like to book their dinners/lunches their for their staff to commemorate or celebrate an occasion. People like the very nice service, delicious food and spectacular ambiance.
Kechara Oasis is the top Vegetarian Fine dining available in the city now.
See the beautiful collection of foods available below.
Tsem Rinpoche
So delicate and beautiful….
Incredible delectable food creations from Kechara Oasis!!!
Kechara Oasis’s Outdoor Wedding Banquet at a garden…
Feature in THE STAR on Kechara Oasis
link: http://thestar.com.my/metro/story.asp?file=/2009/2/1/sundaymetro/3137239&sec=sundaymetro
Sunday February 1, 2009
Going vegetarian
Story and photos by GRACE CHEN
A visit to Kechara Oasis Restaurant shows that a vegetarian way of life can be flavourful and interesting.
SOMEONE had once remarked, “If I don’t eat meat, what is there left except for vegetables?”
Spoilt for choice: Enjoying a vegetarian spread are Tsem Rinpoche, founder of Kechara House, and Irene Lim, director of Kechara Oasis Restaurant.
For a fact, a vegetarian diet can have its own variety.
A recent food tasting session at the Kechara Oasis Restaurant in Petaling Jaya was an example of how a vegetarian way of life can also be as flavourful and interesting.
Of note was the deep fried Vietnamese spring rolls. This is mushrooms wrapped in rice paper. Crispy on the outside and soft and luxurious inside, they came with crunchy, vinegar-pickled sticks of carrot and radish.
Spoilt for choice: Enjoying a vegetarian spread are Tsem Rinpoche, founder of Kechara House, and Irene Lim, director of Kechara Oasis Restaurant.
These rolls of delight are then wrapped in lettuce leaves with the pickle and dipped in a clear, light, sweet and sour sauce. The effect to the palate? Crisp. Clear. Natural.
Then, one must not forget to sing odes to the ‘lo sang’, which boasts a formidable combination of macadamia and cashew nuts; pine, sunflower and pumpkin seeds; and julienne strips of yam crunchies.
Delightful: The Vietnamese spring rolls which were crispy on the outside but soft inside.
Delightful: The Vietnamese spring rolls which were crispy on the outside but soft inside.
The nuts imparted a special taste with their woody and smoky notes and coupled with the seaweed, it served to remind the palate of the fishy element within this festive and colourful salad.
Of course, there were many who spoke well of the stir-fried vegetables of celery, lotus root slices, white fungus and mushrooms.
One diner was heard to opine that the slight pungent taste of celery had done a good job in helping the palate to identify the subtle flavours of the lotus root and fungi.
Thankfully, this simple dish would come with no pretensions as the accompanying sauce neither overpowered nor flooded the vegetables in a thick goo – a typical practice in most restaurants.
Instead the vegetables were left to stand on their own for the diner to enjoy their natural sweetnesss and to savour the goodness of their subtle but distinctive flavours.
Herein, one must note that the chef, whom the restaurant had declined to name for fear that he would be head hunted to work elsewehere, had opted to use two types of mushrooms in the dish – enoki and shitake.
Like the real thing: The mock sambal fish curry really had the taste of something that once swum in the ocean
Like the real thing: The mock sambal fish curry really had the taste of something that once swum in the ocean.
Also, throughout lunch, a guest (we will not name him for reasons of privacy but suffice to say that he was quite an eminent VIP) had revealed to all and sunder that he was trying very hard to slim down.
Perhaps, it should be noted that mushrooms are very good for slimming as they contain virtually no fat, sugar or salt and are a valuable source of dietary fibre. In addition, they are also a good source of antioxidants.
At the Kechara Oasis, they have this wonderful sweetmeat which comes wrapped in a translucent pastry made using mung bean flour.
It is the very same kind that glass noodles are made from.
Within these crystal-like marbles is a creamy filling of lotus paste which has been incorporated with small amounts of finely mashed red beans.
To give it a rich feel, this lovely, ‘beany’ combination has a touch of butter and cheese in it. The result is a heavenly sensation of soft, sweet but slightly savoury effect which creates a lasting impression on the diner’s tastebuds.
These delicious crystal globes had come with a cold dessert of longan and sea coconut and they complimented each other very well.
The gentle bite of the sea coconut and the longan fruits made for a pleasant contrast between the mushy texture of the crystal delights and the balance of sugar was wonderfully harmonised.
And speaking of harmony, let’s not forget that this restaurant also has something for those who must have their ‘meat’.
Very interesting are the skewers of barbecued satay which really did taste like roasted pieces of char siew and the sweet and sour ‘fish’, which is actually a piece of compressed soya sheets, had the flavour of a creature who had swum around in an ocean somewhere.
Suffice to say, that at last, a vegetarian will find these dishes a novel but safe and acceptable way for his tastebuds to embark on a gourmet adventure.
- Kechara Oasis is situated at D19, Block D, Jaya One, 72A, Jalan University, 46200, Petaling Jaya. Tel: 03-7968 1818.
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Kechara Oasis serves good and healthy foods for most its vegetarian. Kechara Oasis founded by our Lama Tsem Rinpoche caters to fine, high quality, delicious food leaves a deep impression on our nature. Looking at those pictures tells us more. Well decorated those foods shown. We can live and be healthy without killing animals for food. Nothing will benefit human health and increase the chances for survival of life. As our Lama had always encouraged us to on vegetarian to save animals .
Choosing to go on vegetarian is the best choice. One of these day I will go KO to try those delicious dishes.
The art of dinning come from the menu, style and the concept of the restaurant. I haven’t been there but the menu looks yummy. I love almost all vegetarian food that’s made from fresh and healthy ingredients. Vegetarian food leaves a deep impression of our nature. Thank you for the sharing, I wish to walk in one of these days.
Kechara Oasis offers delicious guilt free dining! It’s not that easy to be able to find delicious vegetarian dishes. Few of my friends who tried KO said that it was good! I especially love the button mushroom, and the green curry pasta! So yams!
It is so vital to go vegetarian and promote vegetarianism at this day of age because we are so comfortable with consuming meat that we belittle the value of going meatless. Not only does going vegetarian benefits us health wise, it also does not kill animals for our consumption.
Now with so many vegetarian restaurants around (KO especially) there are no reason NOT to adopt the vegetarian diet. Go green, go vegetarian! =)
Thank you for sharing, Rinpoche!
I have always liked the food in Kechara Oasis, my family and I used to go every week. The food are super yummy and healthy. One of my favourite dishes would be the Curry Laksa although it’s spicy.
(I can’t stop swallowing my saliva while thinking of it, hehehe..)
Thank You for sharing the delicious pictures Rinpoche.
Love, beatrix.
Wow, the food really looks good. The pictures have really made me hungry. And im sure it doesn’t just look good, but tastes good as well. And the way that the food is served in such a delicate manner makes it look amazing. This is what i call REAL fine dinning.
Foods in Kechara Oasis (KO) are REALLY very mouth-watering.
I had this great chance to go KO during Wesak Day this year with members of KH (JB). We ordered a few dishes for sharing (remember they were ‘MoMo’ and ‘Butter Mushroom’) and each one of us ordered something different for our own, dishes such as Tomyam noddles.
MoMo and Butter Mushroom were great. I believe each of us would like to have one more, it is just that we need to ‘respect’ the virtue of sharing, so we could only take one or two scoops of each dishes. For individual dishes, I would say that the amount was so big (for all of the individual dishes we ordered) that they could easily be shared among two persons.
Foods at KO are very carefully and deliciously prepared.
It certainly has opened up my eyes that vegetarian foods can be made so nicely. I can only wish that my culinary skills can be half of it.
KO is a great place to celebrate important days, such as weddings, birthdays or any celebrations at all. During auspicious days, it is better to commemorate those days without any killings. This way, we don’t accumulate negative karmas by killing massive number of animals just for the sake of satisfying our taste buds for that few hours.
I could see the creativity in Kechara Oasis’s menu,the food look so delicious and feel like to have a bite ^_^.Nowadays vegetarian food is so delicious and got many type also new presentation for us to choose.Eating healthily without meat is a healthy alternative, so please vegetarian!!
Kechara Oasis boleh!! Of course this is possible through the inspiration of Rinpoche. The blessing comes from Rinpoche to make whatever project or department successful.
There is always a difference in Kechara departments because of the motivation is to benefit others. When the motivation is to benefit others which include food, the food always taste better and looks better.
I really love the food in Kechara Oasis. The mock meat tastes so real. My favourite dish in Kechara Oasis is the butter fried mushrooms. There is nothing in the world that can beat it at all. It is a beautifully fried oyster mushroom that is smothered with this heavenly tasting creamy sauce.
Now, Kechara Oasis is able to create beautiful masterpiece of art with food. They are really creative when in food.
If I was a food critic, I would give a ten out of ten for taste and presentation as they really deserve it!
I brought a number of people to Kechara Oasis, and they all loved the food! Especially the “non-vegetarians”, which is a measure of success for a vegetarian restaurant.
Yes..talking about Wedding. I went there with my family on one Saturday and it is fully booked for a wedding function. I will definately visit it again after having tried once months ago. Highly recommended! Yummy…yummy. I travel far from Penang and next round I am in KL I will make sure KO is in my food itinerary.
Yummy yummy food nicely presented. Now there’s no reason for us not to be vegetarian.
Last week I brought a S’porean business friend to KO for lunch. He had brought his family to eat there about 2 years ago. He still remembered that the service at that time was poor and the food quality did not match its pricing. However, he was surprised things had improved so much since then. As his family is starting a business in Jaya 1 soon, he said he will recommend people to KO.I also introduced him to the new manager.
Irene ,you are BOLIH !
Kechara Oasis is my son Sean’s favourite restaurant – he’s always asking to go there…and he’s 12 years old! Many kids love the food there because it’s so delicious. And when you explain to them that it helps keep animals alive, the kids like that too.
KO food is tasty, reasonably priced, healthy and not like what most non-vegetarians imagine vegetarian food to be like. Try it – you might just like it!
Irene Lim who was a Secretary in a Bank and one of the oldest student of Tsem Rinpoche is the Director of Kechara Oasis a Vegetarian Restaurant in Petaling Jaya. Kechara Oasis was founded by Tsem Rinpoche. Irene has change her career not knowing anything about restaurant. But Irene did with the positive attitude to start a place for Rinpoche to help people to have non-meatless meal and avoid committing the bad Karma of killing. With expert Chef Aw in Kechara Oasis he can design and dish up many delicious dishes of vegetarian food. Not only can he cook only Chinese dishes but also cooks vegetarian foods from other countries including Tibetan food. The wonderful cooking of Kechara Oasis is that the dishes look very similar to meat dishes.
What a beautiful art presentation with food!
Wow better faster go eat! Soul food to go!
The newly featured dishes looks absolutely yummy for foodies…must check them out! So creative and tantalising!
All time favourites between me and my friends – include The KO Chicken (Knock Out aka Kechara Oasis cos they taste better than the real thing) Butter Mushroom plus the Petai Belacan Fried Rice ( to keep you fired up) and many more…
And savouring the butter tea – is like savouring life on the Tibetan Plateau ( works on dreamers like me!)
Yeap they sure know how to whet your appetite and curiosity
VEG they can and they sure can!