PETALING JAYA, Mar 22 — Last week, for only the second time in my life, I signed up for a gym membership. It came with a free body composition scan.
Now, by most accounts, I was a pretty healthy and “fit” kid growing up. I was active. PE class was my favourite.
I even played football competitively to a decent level, culminating in an illustrious college football career in the US: five appearances off the bench in four years.
But if it weren’t for football, I’d probably never see the inside of a weight room — heck, I still look like I haven’t.
Three months into 2026, though, I’ve come to the sobering realisation that I can no longer rely on youthful metabolism and pretend I’m still in shape.
It’s been almost four years since the last time I checked my body composition, and I haven’t had a consistent diet or fitness regimen since.
Botanique is a rebranding of Daily Greens and Grains, which has been in the Damansara Jaya neighbourhood for four years. — Ethan Lau
There was a good chance I wasn’t in the best shape of my life.
I stood there, bare feet on the cold metal of the machine, watching as the numbers flashed across the screen, each more damning than the last.
My eyes widened. One number glared back more disapprovingly than the rest: my body fat percentage, which had more than doubled in the short span of the last few years.
The answer was irrefutable. I’m empirically in the worst shape of my life.
I knew something had to change. But working out isn’t the hard part — the diet is, especially in this line of work.
The Fu Yong Omelette at Botanique is made with ‘macao’ eggs, a variety with nutrient-dense yolks laid by hens fed with Napier grass. — Ethan Lau
And if you’re anything like me, all your favourite things are high in salt, heat and fat, three things that make food delicious but dieting that much harder.
So you can imagine my dread when my parents insisted on trying the vegetarian restaurant in our neighbourhood.
While I don’t share the same level of contempt for vegetarians and vegans that the late Anthony Bourdain did — these days, certain well-heeled individuals of the island class come to mind more immediately when I read the phrase “enemy of everything good and decent in the human spirit” — I simply enjoy eating meat too much.
Even a simple plate of French beans with preserved olives and mustard greens stands out here. — Ethan Lau
But they marched me into Botanique Vegetarian Private Kitchen anyway.
The restaurant has been in Damansara Jaya for four years, previously serving mixed rice and buffet dishes under the name Daily Greens and Grains, an offshoot of Clean Eating Grocer, a nearby grocer specialising in healthy and organic products.
In early 2025, it rebranded as Botanique and began serving à la carte dishes, with the mixed rice offerings moved to Clean Eating Grocer.
In addition to serving only vegetarian dishes, the fare at Botanique uses only organic produce, contains no garlic or onion (in line with Buddhist vegetarian tradition), and is free of MSG (I remain vehemently pro-MSG; that is a story for another day).
The menu is expansive and, thankfully, recognisable as actual dishes, not the green Orwellian gruel you so often find in fast-casual health food shops, broken down into macronutrients and barely resembling food.
No, here you will find local favourites like the Fu Yong “Ma Cao” Omelette (RM22), French Bean with Olives (RM23.90) and my personal favourite, Claypot Curry Vegetable (RM22).
On weekends, specials like nasi ulam and kerabu pucuk paku are available for pre-order. It’s still “real” food, just with a “healthier” touch.
Dipping these traditional goose sheets in the curry proves to be one of the most satisfying vegetarian experiences one can enjoy. — Ethan Lau
The omelette — made with “macao” eggs, laid by hens fed a diet rich in Napier grass — is filled with bell peppers, carrots and mushrooms, and somehow coaxes a surprising amount of flavour despite the absence of meat and onion, while the French beans are carried by the savoury character of preserved olives and mustard greens.
But the ultimate surprise was the vegetable curry. Rather than the mild, watery orange liquid with bits of cabbage floating around that I’d eaten so often growing up, this was full of cauliflower, broccoli, eggplant, carrots and okra, topped with crispy bits of beancurd skin.
The gravy was thick, spicy and, dare I say — satisfying?
But it was. For the first time in a long time, I remembered what it was like to be happy to be proven wrong.
I’ve rarely been quite so happy to eat my own words, but when they taste as good as this vegetable curry, I don’t mind it quite so much.
The only way to improve on this? An order of Traditional Five-Spice Goose Sheets (RM12.90), a classic Chinese vegetarian creation made from dried beancurd skin.
Fried to airy, crispy perfection, they turned into pure vegetarian bliss when soaked in the curry.
If eating “healthier” looks like this — flavourful, satisfying, and actually worth looking forward to — then maybe dieting doesn’t have to be the hardest part.
I’m not quite ready to trade in everything I love, but for once, it doesn’t feel like I’d be losing out.
Botanique Vegetarian Private Kitchen
51, Jalan SS 22/11,
Damansara Jaya,
Petaling Jaya, Selangor.
Open daily, 10.30am-3pm, 5.30-10pm
Tel: 017-332 5518
Facebook: Botanique Vegetarian Private Kitchen
Instagram: @botaniquevegetarianprivatek
* This is an independent review where the writer paid for the meal.
* Follow us on Instagram @eatdrinkmm for more food gems.
* Follow Ethan Lau on Instagram @eatenlau for more musings on food and occasionally self-deprecating humour.
