COMO Shambhala Kitchen is indeed a core component of the COMO Shambhala wellness brand, emphasizing a holistic approach to healthy eating. The concept is built upon three key pillars: nutrition, flavour, and sustainability. Through the integration of these three pillars, COMO Shambhala Kitchen seeks to provide guests with nourishing, flavorful meals that not only promote physical health but also contribute to a sense of overall well-being and vitality.
The Culinary Expansion of COMO Shambhala Kitchen
The evolution of COMO Shambhala Kitchen over the past 25 years can be attributed to the visionary leadership of Christina Ong, the founder of the COMO Group, and the dedicated efforts of Amanda Gale, the cuisine's lead development chef. Amanda Gale, hailing from Australia, has brought her culinary expertise and passion for healthy living to the forefront of COMO Shambhala Kitchen's development. Her commitment to creating nutritious and delicious meals has been instrumental in maintaining the brand's high standards and reputation in the wellness industry.
COMO Shambhala Kitchen emphasises whole foods. Dishes are low in sugar, salt and free of artificial additives. Recipes are developed to support various wellness intentions, such as brain and cardiovascular health, sustained energy, blood sugar stability, and craving control.
Cooking techniques preserve or enhance the bioavailability of nutrients whether the ingredients are cooked, raw, fermented, or sprouted. Plates are rich in plants, prioritising local and seasonal vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, grains, roots, and herbs. Seafood and meat also feature. The food is wholesome and satisfying, but also light and easily digested, with a wide range of fresh salads and soups, as well as selections suitable for individuals with food sensitivities, such as dairy- and gluten-free.
As part of the cuisine’s sustainability commitment, ingredients are grown and harvested in ways that promote biodiversity and reduce environmental contaminants. Ethical and sustainable sourcing is a foundational value of the COMO Shambhala Kitchen, promoting grass-fed, organic and free-range meat and poultry, as well as sustainable wild-caught seafood.
‘Eating well is about energy and flavour, not calorie-counting. I personally want to eat organic, but don’t fixate on it. I look instead for foods that have been intelligently farmed, where the meats and vegetables haven’t been pumped with hormones and pesticides. I generally prefer light desserts but I certainly don’t avoid sweet foods altogether. I juice once in a while, but I wouldn’t ever do this instead of eating. COMO Shambhala Kitchen has always been conceived with this flexibility in mind, but with an absolute commitment to rigorous nutrition,’ says founder, Christina Ong. ‘What the recipes don’t do is fit into one prescriptive way of eating – raw, macrobiotic or otherwise.
Chef Amanda Gale emphasizes that COMO Shambhala embraces various culinary approaches while maintaining a consistent focus on flavor. She highlights that there are several common threads running through their approach to cooking and eating, all without compromising on taste. According to her, engaging in the COMO Shambhala way of cooking and dining should be a source of pure, unadulterated pleasure.
The cuisine is available on menus at select locations, including eighteen COMO Hotels and Resorts worldwide. It is also the principle cuisine at the COMO Group’s three dedicated healthy-eating restaurants: Glow at COMO Uma Canggu in Bali, Glow at COMO Dempsey Singapore, and Glow at COMO Shambhala Estate in Bali. These standalone eateries function as flagships of the COMO Shambhala Kitchen. To reflect the essence of a nourishing eating experience, all the brand’s restaurants have bright, energising interiors. Singapore’s Glow was created by Milanese designer-architect Paola Navone at Otto Studio; Bali’s two locations by Osaka-born Koichrio Ikubuchi.
The brand’s cookbook, The Pleasures of Eating Well: Nourishing Favourites from the COMO Shambhala Kitchen (London: Clearview, 2021) is available from Amazon, COMO Orchard and COMO Dempsey in Singapore, and all COMO Hotels and Resorts’ boutiques worldwide.
New brand developments with COMO Shambhala Kitchen include a ‘juice cleanse’ launching at COMO Metropolitan Singapore in March 2024. The COMO”s Group’s Singapore supermarket, Supernature, will also be announcing new events and partnerships with Glow and COMO Shambhala Kitchen throughout the year.
COMO SHAMBHALA KITCHEN – SAMPLE DISHES
COMO Shambhala Ginger Tea: Served both hot and cold, this ginger, honey and lemon tea supports immunity and helps digestion. The vitamin C in lemons and the phytochemicals in ginger counter oxidative stress, while honey imparts a gentle, natural sweetness that settles digestion and bolsters respiratory health.
Lean and Clean Greens: A juice featuring apple, fennel, cucumber, spinach, green pepper, celery, sunflower seeds, macadamia nuts, and spirulina powder. Nourishes the body’s detoxification processes, reduces inflammations, and fuels lean body mass.
Muscle Mylk: A juice featuring banana, coconut water, coconut meat, flaxseed, Medjool dates, cocoa powder and almond milk. Accelerates fitness recovery by replenishing electrolytes and nutrients and restoring muscular energy reserves.
Green Goddess Soup: An all-day dining classic, featuring spinach, watercress, basil leaves, flat-leaf parsley leaves, young coconut water, raw honey and lemon juice. Chlorophyll quenches harmful free radicals within the digestive tract, preventing their absorption into the bloodstream. The greens also simulate or catalyse enzymatic activity in the liver to support the processing of toxins.
Flaxseed Cracker ‘Club’ Sandwich with Avocado Crush, Dried Tomatoes and Sprouts: While also rich in essential fatty acids and mineral, the flaxseeds and avocado offer valuable soluble fibres which support the microbiome, promote heart health, and clear impurities from the bowel. The rainbow slaw is a crunchy, raw vegetable COMO Shambhala classic which features in other dishes, and also in the brand’s cookbook, The Pleasures of Eating Well.