Let’s go have a healthy organic vegetable steamboat meal! And that’s just what we did after having the organic farming tour at Cameron Organic Produce Farm in Brinchang, Cameron Highlands.
And yes, their steamboat uses charcoal for heating and for that added charcoal aroma! And when we asked Mr Lee why did they use charcoal instead of gas stove, “Infra-red heat from charcoal is healthier than direct gas fire.” Was Mr Lee’s reply.
I’m not too sure if the logic of infra-red heat from charcoal fire is better than gas stove fire; perhaps it could be an inference to UV light is harmful while infra-red heat is a safer way of heating.
However this defies my theoretical understanding of the science of electromagnetic wavelength spectrum. Whatever it is, it can’t be denied that charcoal fire do provide a better taste to a steamboat meal and improving the benefits of eating organic vegetables too.
Pure Organic Meal
For this lunch meal, we went pure organic vegetable with no salt added to the soup mix and no meat or seafood.
We did this because my brother-in-law is battling cancer using the complementary medicine / nutritional food way. Which means no sugar, no salt, no red meat, only vegetables, fruits, nuts and fish for meals.
A complete lifestyle change of eating habit. It may be a more expensive meal, but you can be sure it is much healthier if maintain for the long term which is a benefits of eating organic vegetables.
Our organic vegetable steamboat may taste a little bland without salt, despite no salt added, it still tasted reasonable.
Of course this was a special request on our part, the usual steamboat has sprinkling of salt and meat like chicken and seafood is normally served. And the usual steamboat fare also comes with eggs, noodles and beehoon to complete the meal.
Despite without salt added it still tasted quite ok albeit on the blend side. It seemed when they first started the organic vegetable steamboat restaurant, their master chef who was supposed to prepare the soup stock didn’t show up.
So they had to come up with their own version and through some trial and error came up with a concoction of radish and herbs. No monosodium glutamate was used and very low amount of salt added. So even with our request for no added salt, the soup still tasted well.
One of the pioneers in Organic Meals
When they first started their steamboat restaurant, not many people knew of its existence. Then slowly more people learned about their restaurant and it became more popular.
And surprisingly many of the local patrons include the local farmers too! I guess they also want to eat healthy organic vegetables free from pesticides and artificial fertilizers. And through the patrons feedback they slowly improved on their steamboat soup stock.
The shop is not only a restaurant serving healthy organic steamboat meals; they also sell organic products and organic vegetables. So after a hearty healthy lunch or dinner, you can also “ta pau” fresh organic veggies to be brought back home!
However do watch out about buying fresh organic vegetables, they are not cleaned and sorted out unlike those bought from organic shops, so you might find some wigglies in your veggies.
It might not be a problem to some of you, but for those who feel squeamish seeing worms and insects in your fresh organic vegetables might be better off buying from the organic shops who has cleaned up their products before selling but of course at a higher price.
On the other hand if you want to buy direct to save some bucks then you just have to contend with the little wiggly thingy in your veggie.
Eating healthy organic food may be comparatively expensive in most organic shops and restaurant that I have eaten with some as much as double of what I would normally pay for similar non-organic fare.
But the steamboat meal here is actually quite reasonably priced at RM18 per head with the minimum of two persons as the requirement for a steamboat meal.
In comparison with non-organic steamboat meal in Cameron Highlands which is usually about RM14-16 per head. Non-organic steamboat meals in hotels cost more, perhaps more than what is charged by Cameron Organic Produce Restaurant.
Anyway, now you know where to go if you want a healthy organic vegetable meal in Cameron Highlands. Head to Brinchang and look for this shop, yes?
And if you want to know how organic vegetables are grown you can make an appointment with Mr Lee who will show you around his organic farms.
How’s that for an agro-tourism Malaysia travel? Not only do you learn about organic farming you get an interesting agro-tourism too!
Book early to avoid disapointment
And yes, this restaurant is quite popular, it was full of patrons when we had our fill. So head on over before there is no more seating left!
To make an appointment for the agro-tourism Malaysia organic farming tour you may contact them at:
Cameron Organic Produce Sdn Bhd
MDCH 10, Bandar Baru, 39100 Brinchang,
Cameron Highlands, Pahang, Malaysia.
Tel: +605-491 4807, +605-491 5011
Fax: +605-491 5514
Mr Lee Ong Sing +6019-779 6638