Garden to Table Private Dining in Section 14 PJ

Eating clean seems to be  the buzz word these days.

It is a concept that stresses healthy, whole, unprocessed, organic type of eating. And, although the phrase is relatively new, the principles are not.

There’s a ridiculous amount of information out there these days, and it can be tough sorting out truth from fallacy.. really all it is is, ensuring you are eating the BEST, freshest foods and keeping yourself healthy, and not omitting anything important. I mean, the gluten craze just annoys me. If you aren’t gluten intolerant, why omit gluten? In fact there is a ton of nutrition in gluten that folks have forgotten to highlight, swept under the carpet, by the gluten-free movement.

However, if you do have some trouble with gluten or diary etc, then a good place to check out would be Garden to Table dining, in section 14 PJ.

Known as Garden to Table Private dining, and run by a lady called CY, this spot that perpetuates clean eating, is located in a single-storey bungalow in Section 14, Petaling Jaya.

I really felt like I was visiting a friend for lunch at her home. The garden was certainly lush, growing more than a hundred types of edible and decorative plants. CY herself, is a culinary consultant and food stylist, and after spending more than 18 months cultivating the plants, you can see the fruits of her labour paying off.

Being a home and everything, Garden to Table Private dining can only take around 12 – 14 pax at a time. And you really need to book online (via their FB page) and select your meal from the menu, before you show up. At the moment, they are only open on Saturdays, but they have plans to open on Sundays too, in the near future.

While the menu might be limited, the ingredients used are top notch, and the flavour is decent. Talking to CY, she informs us that there will be a new menu next month, and Nasi Kerabu is on the cards.

This time round, we had the Nasi lemak and Nasi Ulam, and as you can see, it’s rather easy to eat the entire menu in one sitting. The Nasi Ulam had nice plum dried shrimp, salted fish, tempeh (fermented soy) and even a homemade salted egg for sides. The salted egg was incredibly salty so you just need a dab of it. Preserved in house by CY, employing sea salt, a star anise, a cinnamon stick and water.

There were easily 10 types of homegrown herbs in the Nasi Ulam. Loved the explosive flavours of fresh herbs, of daun kadok (wild betel leaf), daun kesom (polygonum leaf or Vietnamese mint leaf), lemongrass, daun kunyit (turmeric leaf), bunga kantan (torch ginger flower), pegaga, tenggek burung, cekur leaves, thai and lemon basil, ulam raja, kaffir lime leaf and mint.

The Nasi Lemak, whilst not sinfully lemak, was light tasting and delicious enough. The low sugar Achar was not bad. We could taste the coconut milk in the Nasi Lemak  – not as full on as the regular versions of these two hot Malaysian favorites you might be used to, but you definitely leave feeling light and not Sodium-ed or MSG-ed out. That’s a huge plus. CY favors herbs, spices, less salt & sugar, honey, maple syrup and pepper if she needs too use any seasoning at all.

And the Avocado Soy here is a must. For those who are gluten and dairy intolerant, this is a good place to come for lunch. Even the sourdough is predigested, so even if you are gluten intolerant, many can still take their bread. They also have scones on the menu and homemade jams to go with it. For coffee addicts, they serve Espresso, Long Black, Cappuccino, Mocha, Latte and Piccolo latte here as well.

At the moment CY is still working hard on the garden but because of the monsoon rain it’s tough to keep her crops alive. Lots of pests and too much rain, means that the veggies don’t grow well. But better that, than pesticides of course.

I love the fact that this place grows as far as possible, their own ingredients, supports organic and sustainable farming. Definitely come here for some high quality, home grown, and where possible, organic food, at affordable prices!