Elevate Your Consciousness At Govinda's Vegetarian

Govinda’s promises to fill and fulfill

Like any nice Jewish boy ought to, I decided to have lunch at a Hare Krishna temple.

Govinda’s Vegetarian Restaurant opened in 2007 in the basement of the ISKCON New York Hare Krishna temple at 305 Schemerhorn Street (just off Nevins Street) and it’s only open Monday through Friday from 12pm – 3:30pm.

“If you eat, healthy, good fresh home cooked food, you’re gonna feel happy and lighter and it’s gonna elevate your consciousness,” said Satya, who is both the manager and the chef.

This is Satya, the chef/manager of Govinda’s.

I was surprised to learn that Govinda is much a chain or, as Satya put it, “like a franchise.” They have successful locations in Los Angeles, Tuscon, and in Hawaii as well as elsewhere around the world.

ISKCON New York opened Govinda’s in 2007 as a means of spreading their message and raising funds.

“Hare Krishnas are known for their food, fresh homemade, no preservatives, as healthy as possible,” said Satya.

The food is served cafeteria-style and seating is the same. The no-frills approach masks the many splendors of the meal. Depending on the number of items you get, it can run anywhere from $7 to $12 (cash only.) The menu is always vegetarian, as the name implies, and sometimes it’s vegan, but the emphasis is on whole ingredients and not things like isolated soy protein.

My tray was filled with nutloaf, mixed vegetables, black bean salad, roasted sweet potato, garden salad with tomato mustard seasoning, spinach rice, sundried tomato bread, and a cupcake.

Nutloaf. It tastes much, much better than it looks.

The nutloaf was unlike any else I’d encountered anywhere. Made with cashews, brown rice and assorted sundries, it’s amazing. It’s nutty, as you’d expect, but also a sort of platonic ideal of filling, savory warmth.

Satya said the recipe came from the devotee who runs the Govinda in Tuscon. I’d have traveled there for something this good.

The yellow split pea soup with okra also stood out, though not quite as far. It was light but hearty, strongly characterized by its eponymous ingredient and with just a hint of spice.

The bread was not as stellar as the standout nutloaf and soup. It was a bit dry, but I was assured that this was a one-off.

“It’s not our best day for bread. Once in a blue moon, I mess up. It’s usually really perfect. Today it wasn’t really perfect,” explained Satya.

This cupcake is worth the trip.

For dessert, I had a vegan apricot-blueberry cupcake that heightened my consciousness (and it wasn’t just from a sugar high.) The cupcake was crumbly and sweet but not overly sugary.

Today everything was vegan, but that’s not always the case.

The most popular dish is the eggplant parmesan, which is served on Thursdays.

“That’s the top day, the top dish, that’s the most popular item. People would ask to eat that every day but they’d get really fat if we did that,” mused Satya.

Visit Govinda’s Vegetarian, 305 Schermerhorn Street, Monday to Friday, 12pm – 3:30pm. Cash only.