PETALING JAYA, Aug 27 — When it comes to sumptuous dim sum at Chinese restaurants, one rarely thinks about meat-free options.
To encourage meatless dining and cruel-free eating habits, popular Bangsar eatery Ruyi has teamed up with the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) Selangor to bring customers a vegetarian dim sum culinary experience.
Vegetarians and animal lovers everywhere will breathe a sigh of relief at the 10-piece Kinder Garden platter that not only looks too cute to eat but showcases the clever use of plant-based dim sum fillings.
“The whole idea of this is to propagate cruelty-free eating. It’s our first collaboration with the SPCA and not many Chinese restaurants put out a vegetarian dim sum platter,” said Ruyi managing director Lyn Siew yesterday at the media preview.
Siew pointed out that dim sum often consists of pork and chicken fillings but with this platter, she wanted to demonstrate that meatless doesn’t have to be salads and greens but can be filling and satisfying.
“What’s interesting is it’s not going to be a plate of greens, it’s going to be quite Instagrammable and quite photogenic because we love what the SPCA does and I’m an animal lover,” Siew said.
In operation since 2015, Ruyi is known for its pork-free modern Chinese cuisine.
The garden-like platter which was created by executive chef James Ho features a pair of steamed mushroom baos in the shape of a toadstool, ox-shaped crispy puff pastry with spicy taro filling, swan-shaped puff pastry stuffed with yam bean, fluffy white porcupine baos with reduced-sugar lotus paste and creamy peanut butter lava carrots.
Each platter is priced at RM60 and 25 per cent of the proceeds will be channelled towards SPCA’s animal welfare efforts.
Perfect for two diners, the platter also includes free-flow of Chinese tea or soft drinks.
SPCA Selangor chairman Christine Chin said the cruelty-free dim sum collaboration intends to bring to light the dark side of the livestock industry.
While meat products are known for their enjoyable taste, Chin wants the public to know there is a lot of misery behind closed doors.
To put things into perspective, the world’s current population is seven billion and every year, 50 billion animals are killed for food.
In Malaysia, where the population is 32.58 million, over two million chickens are slaughtered daily for food.
Chin said it was high time people think about the impact of consuming meat.
“As we go forward with the human population growing larger, it is unsustainable. The farming of animals itself is not sustainable because of the land it takes to grow them and the methane gases the animals release into the atmosphere,” she said.
“Which is why there’s a movement towards not just eating fewer animals because of cruelty but eating fewer animals because of environmental issues.”
The month-long campaign which kicks start from September 1 until September 30 will be extended throughout October in conjunction with World Animal Day on October 4 if the restaurant sells 200 platters.
Reservations and pre-orders must be made a day in advance by calling the restaurant at 03-2083 0288.
Ruyi is located at Level 4, Bangsar Shopping Centre.
