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The Nation
112
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Chi Ju
Ya
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By the time this column comes out it would be the last day
of the Chinese vegetarian eating period. Every year, more
and more people stop eating meats and certain herbs and
spices during the eating vegetarian season or period.
This yearly event use to be strictly for Thais of Chinese
descent. It is a ritual that has been practiced for
centuries in Chinese culture and it is regarded as a time
to cleanse you body and soul of impurities. During this
period, you are expected to not only stop eating meat but
also to stop from sinful acts such as lying, cheating
drinking and gambling. I
am not sure about sex because I dont usually go strictly
vegetarian during this period.
It
is actually a very good idea to go on a |
vegetarian
diet for these 10 days because you get to give you body
and more importantly your digestive system a rest. Some
people are very strict with their diet to the point of
using different plates and cutlery to eat vegetarian.
This practice reminds me a little of kosher food.Today in
keeping with the tradition of eating vegetarian I am going
to take you to eat at a Japanese Vegetarian restaurant on
Sukhumvit55 Soi 2. This restaurant has been serving
Japanese vegetarian for quite a few years. Their shop use
to be at the United building and they only serve
vegetarian food which at that time was quite popular
because they had enough space to serve Japanese vegetarian
buffet. Now that they have moved the restaurant to Soi
Thonglor (Sukhumvit55) at Fifty Fifth Building on the
second floor there is less space and they no longer have
buffets.
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The quality
of the food remains the same though. To properly eat
vegetarian during this period there are certain kinds
of herbs and spices which are not made of meat which
you also have to avoid. No garlic, green onions, or
any kinds of onions, coriander leaves, Chinese chives
are to be eaten during this vegetarian eating period.
It is believed that vegetables that have strong smell
should not be eaten. Of course, no alcohol or tobacco
is permitted during this time. Anything that comes
from animal cannot be eaten such as milk, eggs and
cheese. I use to think that all these limitations do
not leave me much room for making vegetarian food
tasty. But they are very resourceful. Imitation ducks,
beef pork shrimp, all meat products are made from
flour. They taste and smell like meat. |
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At Chijuya, I tried many dishes some I found to be
very delicious while others couldnt replace the real
thing. For an appetizer, I try their Temaki roll,
which is stuffed with vegetables, rice, apple and a
creamy salad dressing and wrapped into a cone with
Nori or seaweed. It was very refreshing crunchy, chewy
and slightly sweet. You might want to try the Sashimi
boat, which consisted of imitation raw fish; Surimi is
imitation crab and seaweed salad. I was particularly
taken with the Surimi, which I found, to taste just
like the real thing. Vegetarian spring roll cannot be
missed because it is crispy and very good. We tried
shrimping sushi and eel sushi and finding that the
shrimp sushi was very authentic and had the right
smell and texture but the eel was a little too dry for
my liking and there was too little sauce on the eel.
It was with great surprise that the shrimp and
vegetable tempura was very good indeed. The batter was
extremely fluffy, crunchy and light. The shrimp inside
the tempura batter had the right texture and taste
like real shrimp. I was delighted with this dish.
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There was
vegetarian abalone sashimi and noodle with vegetable and
abalone sauce poured over it this dish was very good and
hearty. I always liked fried Japanese tofu, which they
served with additional pieces of tempura vegetables in the
sauce with shaved daicon. The Tonkatsu or breaded fried
pork was also remarkably like eating the real thing. I was
amaised that the food at this vegetarian Japanese
restaurant tasted far beyond my expectation. Everything
was remarkably well prepared and delicious. They use good
raw materials to make their food. Best of all, I found
that it was easy to digest. On that day that I went to try
out the food at Chijuya I actually enjoyed the food very
much and gave my digestive system a bit of a rest. I think
it is worth while to go try out their food. It is both
delicious and healthy. |
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Chi Ju Ya
Address 1/1 Fifty fifth Plaza, Sukhumvit Soi 2,
Sukhumvit 55, Bangkok 10110
Telephone number 02 392-1877,02 714-9504
Hours Lunch 11.30-14.30 hrs., Dinner 17030-21.00 hr.
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