Nutritious and flavourful

The food at Woods is proof that a macrobiotic meal is far from boring and unplatable.

EVERYONE sort of went barmy at Woods after lunch. It all started when an elderly diner, while waiting for the bill at the counter, challenged his younger companion to see if he could touch his toes without bending his knees.

As it looked like a fun thing to do, we joined in too.Soon, the stunt caught on and even June Lim, the youthful-looking 60-year-old chef and restaurant owner got into the act, throwing in an impromptu demo of her flexibility, with some pole exercises as a bonus.

We’d like to think that this impromptu display of playfulness had something to do with lunch at Woods.
We will not say that the cuisine here, which is 100% vegetarian, is the best there is because food preference is such a subjective matter. But the certainty is, we were all feeling unusually energetic after lunch.

Youthful: June Lim, Wood’s 60-year-old chef and owner.

Maybe there was some strong psychology at work as Lim had told us earlier that the menu is macrobiotic. Every single item on the menu is organically grown. This means the food at Woods has no artery-clogging trans fats, artificial colouring, preservatives and other funny stuff that will cause your insides to morph or malfunction 20 years down the line. That is such a comfort, isn’t it?

So what did we eat to bring about such a good mood?

Lunch began with an appetiser of fried fu coated in kudzu powder. Kudzu is a Japanese vine root. Fu is dried wheat cake and presents like a Swiss roll, which has to be soaked before cooking.

The fried fu makes an interesting conversation piece because it looks like a piece of fatty roasted meat. But on the bite, one discovers a pleasant bread-like texture, which is springy and chewy.

This was followed by a creamy tomato soup made from a vegetable stock of shitake mushrooms, radish, cabbage and konbu seaweed. Together with some cherry tomatoes, this hearty soup also had a combination of other hand-ground cereals like maize, barley and brown rice.

According to Lim, the starch from the brown rice gives the soup its creamy texture. This wonderfully thick soup was seasoned with rosemary and basil, both of which were grown by Lim herself in the little plot of earth outside the restaurant’s walkway. My friend, Alice Ching, loved this so much that she went for double helpings.

For the main course, we had what Lim would call the “Heart Strengthening” lunch set comprising of brown rice sushi, a mochi cabbage wrap, pumpkin and raisin salad, and a clear soup with corn, diced pumpkin, carrots and cabbage.

The sushi was a colourful treat for the eyes and the filling of shitake, carrot and cucumber sticks made every bite sweet and crunchy.

The pumpkin salad was just lovely because, instead of a mushy clump, one can taste the shreds of pumpkin. One could also kiss Lim for the presence of raisins, a childhood favourite.

Another treat, which Lim whipped up, was the “Five Energy Noodle” set, a colourful presentation of yellow, red, black, green and white somen noodles. It was accompanied by, not one, but two scrumptious side salads.

The shitake mushrooms and capsicum, and the duo of cabbage with flowering cabbage leaves came drizzled in olive oil and were fresh and crisp.

The visually attractive brown rice sushi.

The sauce was wonderfully wicked and Lim let on that she had concocted it with soya sauce, sesame oil, konbu seaweed, shitake stock and mirin to end it on a sweet note. According to Lim, this dish is her representation of the five elements of water, fire, metal, wood and earth, and thus has medicinal value.
Interestingly, the black somen noodle was coloured with charcoal, which is proven to aid in colon cleansing.
Dried shitake was the choice here as Lim finds that the energy from the fresh ones were too “cold” for the digestive system.

For those who like pastries, there is a strong recommendation for the shitake and tofu puff, which came with a cilantro pesto. Lim made the tofu and the presence of carrots, almonds, cracked wheat and barley in olive oil rendered the filling very interesting.

The pesto, which had been carefully prepared with coriander leaves, pine seeds and olive oil, added zest to the pastry, too.

In this presentation, Lim is especially proud of her salad pickle of red cabbage, cherry tomatoes, carrots, white cabbage and green capsicum. It takes a day to make this and the highlight here is in the crispiness of the vegetables.

For dessert, we had green tea cake with soya cream and dragon fruitcake. Thus far, Lim had used a green tea cake base twice.

At first bite, the cakes seemed a tad coarse. She explained that this is because organic wheat flour was used.
Minus the presence of flour improvers, the flour was just presenting itself in its natural state. True enough, the subtle flavours of the green tea would become evident to the palate after a few chews. And the soya cream was just brilliant! Luxurious and nutty, it was a combination of homemade tofu and roasted sesame, pureed and blended into a smooth paste.

Plus, these cakes contain no added sugar and no eggs, so one can indulge.

For more on macrobiotic cooking, Lim is a qualified vegan chef and a holistic nutritionist who conducts classes at her own school, Woods Macrobiotic Cooking Academy of S.E.A. which is located at the poolside at Lanai Kiara Condominium, #1, Jalan Kiara 3, Off Jalan Bukit Kiara in Kuala Lumpur.

Her restaurant, Woods Macrobiotics, is at Jalan Telawi 2, Bangsar Baru, Kuala Lumpur, and is open from 10am to 10pm daily. For details, call 03-2287 0959