Chef Q&A: Healthy Garden

Healthy Garden, formerly Kiko's, offers healthy, vegetarian food that's "good for the body" and "good for the Earth." We hear the food is low-fat and very tasty. Healthy Garden offers sushi, stir-fry, noodle dishes, vegetables, smoothies and more. Shown is owner and chef Jim Wu.

Jim Wu, like your mother, would like you to eat your veggies. The owner of Healthy Garden in Melbourne is making vegetables easy to love by preparing them in delicious ways. For eight years, Wu ran Kiko Japanese Cuisine before he went on a one-man mission for healthier eating. He’ll explain.

You ran a successful restaurant for more than eight years, but three months ago, you decided to change the formula. Why?
Change is part of life. My wish was to bring a new and healthier place to dine. This is change that helps both the customers and the environment and also makes it a more enjoyable dining experience for my customers. Vegetarian dining is good for the body and good for the Earth. Five years ago, my family went vegetarian. Everybody felt better and healthier. People are becoming increasingly aware of health problems that are caused by lack of proper diet, problems like obesity, high blood pressure and strokes.

When we don’t know how to take care of our health, we pay the price. If you don’t care for your body, medicine and hospitals will control you. You need to balance your life. I realized I might lose some of my Kiko’s customers by going vegetarian, but I had to follow my heart. I tell my new customers to sample a dish for free. Take a sample anytime. Just ask for Jim.

What is the trick for a good vegetarian meal?

If you’re cooking only for healthiness, nobody likes it. This food is really good for the body and tastes good, too. Cooking meat is very easy. You cook this type of food very differently. You have to use your heart to cook it.

I’m using my 23 years of experience as a chef to provide food, which is not only tasty but also healthy.

Signature dish?

Special mushroom delight ($10.99). It’s made with king oyster and white and brown beech mushrooms. Our veggie meats are very tasty. They taste just like the real thing, but they’re good for you. We mix all our salad dressings. We don’t use anything bottled.