Living in Malaysia, we celebrate nearly all the festivities. As a Muslim, I obviously don’t celebrate Christmas in the traditional or religious sense. So by ‘celebrate’, we usually mean having lunch or dinner with friends. And that’s what I did on Christmas eve. Fauzi, the Founder of Sala Malaysia, had kindly invited me to a Vegan Christmas Buffet Dinner. I accepted in a heartbeat.
The Glorious Vegan Food
Decked in a red dress with a cute christmasy headband, I ogled at the buffet spread.
Appetizer
The charcuterie board was the centrepiece of the appetizer. There were pieces of bread, vegan cheeses from Emborg, salami-looking herb and smoky pepper roast by Verdanya, pecans, walnuts, figs, and grapes.
Other appetizers that I sadly didn’t get to eat were the burger sliders and nuggets by Phuture Foods.
Mains
My absolute favourite was the Shepherd’s Pie. It was made with Green Rebel’s chunks and lentils with mashed cauliflower and potatoes on top.
I also had a bit of the nasi lemak with sambal and Mushroom Lah vegan rendang.
If I had a bigger tummy, I would’ve eaten the other mains as well which were Nyonya curry laksa, burritos and tacos. But I’ve tasted those before so it wasn’t a huge miss.
Special Snack
An hour or so into the feast, we were served a special beefless satay by Green Rebels with kuah kacang (peanut sauce).
I love Green Rebel’s beefless satay. It tastes ridiculously like actual beef, or at least very close. The texture was definitely on point. This wasn’t my first time eating this satay as I’ve had it at Hijau Kuala Lumpur a few times before. But the ones at Hijau were served with their special sambal sauce, which I prefer more than the typical kuah kacang.
Dessert
The desserts were divine! As a chocolate lover, I was pleased that they served a good amount of dessert with chocolate in it. I liked the chocolate orange bliss balls and pecan bars the most. I also had the brownies and cranberry orange loaf which were also delicious. There was also Kelava’s onde-onde ice cream but I didn’t eat it because I was so full by that point and I’ve also had it before.
Drinks
I don’t have pictures of the drinks but I liked that there was Cha Cha Kombucha punch and herbs & fruits infused water. No cordial, very wholesome.
The Vegan Community
I’d just like to express my utter gratitude towards Fauzi for founding Sala five years ago and creating all the delicious food there, including this marvellous vegan buffet.
Sala Hartamas harboured a lot of memories of bringing my friends together, both vegans and non-vegans. Every one of them loved the food.
So it was nice to spend the holiday weekend eating delicious vegan food with some of my #vgang. We have indeed come a long way and I’m incredibly proud of our journeys and achievements.
Final Note on Meat Alternatives
The quality of plant based vegan food in Kuala Lumpur has definitely improved thanks to the creative vegan chefs and food creators as well as the new meat alternative products coming in. I’m constantly amazed at what creative vegan food people come up with.
At the moment, I’m genuinely impressed with Green Rebel Foods. Their goal is to democratise plant-based meat alternatives so that they are affordable and enjoyable. I think they have succeeded, and I’m excited to try more of their products. Apparently, they make them with 100% natural ingredients with no GMOs or preservatives. And no, I’m not paid to say this. I’m really amazed.
I don’t buy meat alternatives as often mainly because of the packaging as I am trying to reduce waste. But I would eat them at restaurants given the chance.
So here’s to more vegan food finds and eating them with friends!
