Healthy Lunch @ Surya Yoga, Aman Suria

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), approximately 1.7 million of deaths worldwide are attributable to low intake of fruits and vegetables.  Five servings of vegetables and fruits actually go a long way to ward off many diseases & cancers while maintaining a healthy, strong body.

But for many people, the thought of healthy eating is a turn-off, especially when it comes to vegetables-only meal.  There's always a wrong perception that eating healthily usually means bland and tasteless food.  For me, I strongly believe that if one has a good understanding of the natural flavours packed inside the vegetables & fruits, you will be able to create a tasty meal.

For Surya Yoga's Juice & Salad Bar @ Aman Suria, they have done it the right way.

For starters, we had the soup of the day, which is pumpkin soup topped with croutons.  As the soup is not served with cream, it does not have the kick.  But, it is still a very sweet & nice soup.  The only complain I have is that it is lacking a bit saltiness to bring out the flavour.

For mains, we ordered Rice Salad & Thai Salad to share.

The Rice Salad (RM 6.90) is a healthy rice dish mixed with capsicum, celery, carrot, mushroom, mix nuts, vegan ham.  It may looked like a typical fried rice, but it is no fried rice.  This warm, colourful rice salad is very flavourful and you would never believe that a vegetarian dish could taste that nice.  Trust me, this dish definitely can fool those must-eat-meat people.

Another delicious dish is the Thai Salad (RM 6.90).  This Thai-inspired salad has chicken, tomatoes, cucumber, green salad leaves and pineapple, topped with cashew nuts (it was originally peanuts, but we're staying away from peanuts due to health reasons and requested for a change to cashew nuts instead).  But the X-factor to this dish is the special Thai chilli dressing.  This acidic, creamy dressing with a touch of spiciness brings this salad to a whole new level.  With such nice dressing to complement the greens, I see no reason to say no to vegetables.

For drinks I ordered the Red Monster (RM 5) while KS ordered After-Workout (RM 6), both highly recommended by the waitress.

Red Monster is actually beetroot and green apple.  This red drink is very nice and sweet, not as scary as I thought.  A very nice, thirst-quenching drink.  I love this very much.  Definitely will come back for this again.

After-Workout is a mixture of apple, celery & cucumber.  Well, after drinking that sweet Red Monster, this green-ish drink is a bit bitter.  More to a vegetable drink than a fruit drink.

But one thing I can be sure off is they did not add sugar to these drinks - 100% pure vegetables & fruits.

It is indeed a light, refreshing and nutritious lunch, accompanied by relaxing yoga music in the background.  If you feel like detoxing once in a while, try stopping by here for a meal.  They have healthy set lunches (RM 9.90) that comes with a selection of vegetables-packed meals and a choice of soup, side salad or yogurt.

Surya Yoga is a yoga centre and they offer a range of yoga classes from beginners to advanced levels, from toddlers to adults.  One thing I find very special is that after each class, you will be rewarded with a glass of freshly squeezed juices.  Talk about a complete detox process.

Juice & Salad Bar @ Surya Yoga

C-1-9, Jln PJU 1/45,

Aman Suria, Damansara

47410 Petaling Jaya

Selangor

Tel:  03-78036044

Dinner @ Sam U Claypot Restaurant, PJ

Everytime when we go to PJ New Town, we always think of the famous duck rice.  But this time, we decided to try the restaurant just beside it, Sam U Claypot Restaurant.  This restaurant, which is apparently the branch of Sam You (which is just nearby serving a more formal Chinese dining - nice and affordable), has been open for quite a time, but we never tried it until now.

The first dish was the Fish Maw in Sing Kong Style.  It is basically a claypot filled with fish maw, slices of chicken, tofu and mixed vegetables topped with egg-drop sauce.  It may not look very appetizing, but the sauce is very nice as they have used quality stock.  I ended up drinking the sauce as it was very hot and tasty.

The next dish was the Claypot Kangkung in Belacan.  This is definitely not the usual spicy kangkung belacan.  Nevertheless, it tasted quite nice as the belacan taste in the sauce is strong.  The kangkung is not too mature, and hence, very crunchy.  

The last dish, which was supposed to be our snack, is the Fried Yam Abacus.  If you are not aware, this is a traditional Hakka dish that is pretty hard to find around in KL (at least not the tasty ones).  Here, this dish is very nice.  They got the texture of the yam abacus just right - not to dry or too chewy.  The only thing I felt could be improved further is the level of saltiness, probably due to the combination of dried shrimps and salted radish.  Definitely will come back here again as yam abacus is my dad's favourite.

Another unique thing about this restaurant is that they serve steamed rice.  It is quite rare to find restaurants cook the rice this way as the usual would be using the rice cooker.  Steamed rice is fluffier and the moisture is retained.

Sam U Claypot Restaurant
12 Jalan Tengah
Off Jalan Yong Shook Lin
Petalling Jaya

Lunch @ Xenri D'Garden Terrace, Menara Hap Seng

Xenri D'Garden Terrace @ Menara Hap Seng is a fine-dining restaurant serving Japanese kaiseki cuisine.

Kaiseki, a traditional multi-course Japanese dinner, is a type of art form that focus on the right balance of taste and presentation.  So such a meal would be satisfying not just your taste-buds but also your eyes.  Of course, with such complexity involved, it comes with a hefty price.

During lunch time, Xenri offer a more casual version of kaiseki cuisine (or what we normally term as lunch sets), with a slightly lower cost.

My chance came when my boss decided to treat us for lunch at Xenri.

I had the Shake Minute Steak To Agedashi Doufu Teishoku, which translates to a Salmon Minute Steak with Deep-Fried Beancurd Set (RM 34).  It comes with chawanmushi, miso soup, pickles & fruits.

The main dish is the salmon steak, served with generous stir-fried vegetables and fried garlic, accompanied by a bowl of fluffy rice.  The salmon, which is very fresh, is well-cooked and juicy.  The sauce is very unique, not the standard teriyaki sauce - a little bit acidic, sweet & creamy (very close resemblance to the wafu dressing) and it compliments well with this dish.

I love the chawanmushi very much.  The steamed egg is very smooth, and most importantly, it is very flavourful.  I had a feeling they have used many ingredients into the stock for the egg mixture.

The agedashi tofu or deep-fried beancurd is very soft, and me, being a lousy chopstick user, had a hard time picking up the tofu.  I like the texture, quite like pudding.

The desserts, which were fruits, were a little disappointing.  The mango was quite mushy while the rock-melon still tasted like it had not been defrosted well.  Not what I would expect to come from such a restaurant.

But all in all, the meal was satisfying, with more surprises than disappointment.  To top it, there's a sense of peacefulness when you step in to Xenri.  Perfect to unwind and truly indulge in your meal.

Xenri D'Garden Terrace
Lot 2-04, 2nd Floor
Podium of Menara Hap Seng
Jalan P. Ramlee
50250 Kuala Lumpur
Tel:  03-20786688

Handmade Oyster Mee Sua @ Shihlin Taiwan Street Snacks

When I think about Taiwanese snacks, the first thing that came to my mind is the mouth-watering Handmade Oyster Mee Sua  ( 蚵仔麵線) from Shihlin Taiwan Street Snacks.

Came to first know about this simple but delicious bowl of noodles when KS introduced it to me.  From then, I am totally hooked to it.  Each time when we feel like getting snacks in-between meals, I would begged to go to Shihlin.

Each bowl is filled with handmade mee sua served over a hot-piping flavourful soup, topped with generous amount of oysters & shredded chicken.  And the extra kick to this mee sua is the chilli paste, giving it a nice touch of spiciness.  It is also not too starchy, so every spoon of it just makes you keep wanting it without feeling bloated.

Oh no, I am already drooling for it now..

This popular franchise serves a variety of popular Taiwanese snacks, and another snack which I always order is the golden and crunchy Sweet Plum Potato Fries.  These savoury sweet potatoes are battered and lightly fried, seasoned with plum powder.  Not too oily & a definitely healthier snack compared to french fries.

You can find Shihlin almost everywhere is most shopping centres.  Perfect to stop to rest your tired feet while munching on the delicious snacks before continuing your shopping spree.

Lunch @ Palate Palette, KL

Hidden among the old shophouses along Jalan Mesui lies a quiet, relaxing restaurant & bar, Palate Palette.  In fact, you will have not noticed it if you were not actually looking hard for it.

But if you do, you have just found a very nice place to unwind during your lunch hours as it is usually not crowded (maybe no one actually noticed that it was a restaurant to start off with).

They have furnished the shop very nicely, with a lot of colourful murals drawn on the walls - it's as though you just stepped into an art class.  The ambiance is very relaxing with dim, cool lighting accompanied by soft music in the background.

We had the soup of the day, which happens to be pumpkin soup.  This sweet, creamy pumpkin soup is very nice, and to date, would have been one of the best pumpkin soup I've ever had.  I love the consistency - not too watery nor is it too starchy.  Very tasty.

For mains, we had the Asparagus and Smoked Chicken Pasta (I had the fettuccine while KS had the penne).  KS initially ordered the Grilled Chicken Aglio Olio, but the kitchen somehow messed up the order, so both of us ended with the same pasta.

The pasta is served in creamy white sauce topped with asparagus and smoked chicken breast.  I didn't enjoy this as much as the soup as I found my fettuccine not properly cooked well & hence, still has a little taste of flour and felt quite dry-ish.  On the contrary, KS pasta tasted much better with a lot more sauce.  Otherwise, I enjoyed the smokey taste that the smoked chicken breast brings to this dish.

Palate Palette offers set lunches that comes together with a cup of soup of the day and a variety of mains such as sandwiches, pasta etc from RM 13.

Palate Palette
21 Jalan Mesui
50200 Kuala Lumpur
Malaysia