My Trip To Govinda's Los Angeles

By the early 1980s, members of the Hare Krsna movement had opened Vegan/Vegetarian restaurants (usually called Govinda's) in places all over the world.

I visited one such place in Los Angeles today.

It is part of The International Society for Krishna Consciousness based on the teachings of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.

I had never been to this restaurant before but an acquaintance mentioned it to me, so I thought I’d check it out.

The restaurant is attached to a Krishna Temple as well as a Museum and Gift Shop. The Museum wasn’t open until 1:30 and I arrived at 11:00 so I walked around the Temple, then had lunch and browsed the Gift Shop. Next time I hope to tour the Museum.

Here is a picture of the front of the temple:



Inside were a few shrines devoted to their leader:







Here is the Museum entrance which is located between the Temple and the Restaurant:



The restaurant is very quaint. Monday through Saturday is a Buffet for $7. The menu changes daily. All of the dishes are either Vegan or Vegetarian. It’s cafeteria style where I grabbed a tray, plate, bowl and helped myself. I paid at the Cashier and then had a choice of sitting out on the Patio or inside.

Considering it has been over 100 degrees this week, I opted for the later.

My offerings consisted of a very nice salad bar with Mixed Greens and many different vegetable toppings such as corn, cucumber, beets, green peas, chick peas, sunflower seeds and many more choices.



To accompany my salad was a choice of 4 dressings:

Tahini Dressing – Sesame seed paste, cashews, tomatoes, olive oil, soy sauce, lemon juice and water.



Sunflower Seed Dressing – Sunflower Seeds, water, canola oil, lemon juice, fresh cilantro, black pepper, hing and salt.



Sweet Basil Dressing – Canola Oil, tomatoes, honey, lemon juice, salt, oregano, basil, hing and black pepper.



Spicy Peanut – Peanut Butter, lemon juice, sesame oil, canola oil, cayenne pepper, hing, braggs, soy sauce and fresh cilantro.



In the above photos the dressings can be viewed as follows:

From Left to Right in the Photo (Sweet Basil Dressing) is: Spicy Peanut, Sweet Basil, Sunflower Seed.

On the far right in the Photo (Sunflower Seed) is the Tahini Dressing.

I topped by salad with the Tahini Dressing, but later went back and had a plate of cucumbers topped with the other 3 dressings. It’s hard to say which was my favorite, but the Sweet Basil had a wonderful fresh tomato-basil flavor that really delighted my palate.

There was also a delicious Potato Salad which consisted of Potatoes, peas, parsley, salt, black pepper and a mayonnaise made with Olive Oil, lemon juice, tofu and hing. Hing is a spice which delivers a smooth flavor, reminiscent of leeks. In my opinion a restaurant or chef should be judged by their Potato Salad and based upon my experience this was a winner.



There was also a Hot Tofu Salad (cold). The salad consisted of Tofu, celery, tomato, black olives, fresh chilis, coriander leaves, soy sauce and olive oil. It was spicy but packed a nice flavor.



Finally was a Lima Bean Salad with Black Olives. I am not a fan of lima beans at all, but I must say this salad was quite tasty.

The Hot Tofu and Lima Bean Salads can be seen from left to right in the photo of the Hot Tofu Salad.

The hot item selections was plentiful as well. The Vegan items included: Spicy Pasta with Tomato Sauce, Brown Rice, Tomato-Barley Soup, Yello Split Pea Daal and finally Sweet Yams. I tried everything but the Spicy Pasta and the soup.



My daughter ate the pasta and said it was spicy, but not too spicy, and she enjoyed it.

The soup was a mix of vegetables and barley in a broth. It looked very fresh and clean.

The Brown Rice was nice to enjoy with the Daal and the Sweet Yams cooled my palate when it was heated up by the Hot Tofu Salad mentioned previously.

The Vegetarian items consisted of Basatmi Rice and Subji. Subji literally means ‘vegetable dish’. Subjis can be dry, wet or in curry form. In this case the Subji was a wet curry style. It was not spicy, but consisted of Brussel Sprouts, Potato, Peas and Tofu in a Sour Cream sauce. I liked it soo much I went back for seconds and it also paired well with the Brown Rice.

I was curious as to why the Basatmi rice was considered Vegerarian versus Vegan so I asked and was informed that there was some butter in the rice.

Finally for Dessert was a Chocolate Halavah. I am not a big chocolate fan at all, but I wanted to try this dish as I have never experienced Indian Halavah before. I have had the Jewish version which reminds me of and tastes like a powdery piece of sawdust cake. I never much enjoyed Halavah, but this version presented to me reminded me of a Bread Pudding.

Upon taking a bite the chocolate was very subtle. My daughter mentioned it had a ‘coffee’ flavor and I would agree. The dish actually seemed to me like Bread Pudding made with Cream of Wheat. Upon now doing a Google search I discover that some versions are simliar to a British Pudding, so at least I was on the right track.

Here is a photo of my plate (sans Halavah):



Another nice aspect of dining was each table had a book rack with several types of books. One was on the Krishna view of ‘before life’ and ‘after death’. I picked up a copy for my wife as she enjoys reading about spirtuality. There was also a book titled “The Higher Taste, A Guide to Gourmet Vegetarian Cooking and a Karma-Free Diet”. This book contains over 50 famouns Hare Krishna recipes.



Each book had a sticker for $1. So when I left I went up to the cashier and she told me the books were “suggested donation”. I paid $2 and was on my way.
Before I left I did walk upstairs from the Dining Area and looked around the Gift Shop. The shop was full of Krishna Style Clothing as well as herbal medicines and jewelery.





The overall experience was very enjoyable. I would definitely go back again. If you are interested in Govinda’s you can find all the information you need to know at: www.Govindasla.com


Until Next Time.....Cook On!!!

The Food Dude