Pretty excited about this new place we went to for lunch.
Known as Garden to Table, and run by a lady called CY, this spot is located in a single-storey bungalow in Section 14, Petaling Jaya.
The place is lovely with a garden growing more than a hundred types of edible and decorative plants. CY is a culinary consultant and food stylist herself, and after spending more than 18 months cultivating the plants, you can see the fruits of her labour paying off.
The place is not as huge as a restaurant, obviously, so they can only take around 12 – 14 pax at a time. And you really need to book online (via their FB page) and tell them what you want to eat. The menu is also limited, but the ingredients used are top notch. One note of caution, if you say you want the 1pm slot, they will have your food on the table at 1pm sharp. So if you don’t want to eat cold food, make sure you show up on time!
This time round, we had the Nasi lemak and Nasi Ulam. I was dining with a friend who was back from Tokyo, so we practically shared the dishes. 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.
The flavor in both our dishes was light yet tasty enough. We could taste the coconut milk in the Nasi Lemak as well. 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, 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.
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. So happy to have found this gem of a joint!
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