Wellness Recipe Organic Cafe

(Sorry for the long hiatus folks. My busy schedule has gotten the better of me. For those who've been back here to check on my blog, thanks for your patience.)

Wellness Recipe is an organic cafe that serves healthy organic food without MSG and low in salt. 

The menu is elaborate with set meals and ala-carte items. The items are mostly vegetarian but for those who can't live without meat, read this: Wellness Recipe also serves organic chicken, so fret not. You can even opt for the Hakka Lei Cha, Nasi Ulam, Asam Laksa or Korean style Hot Pot, amongst others (check out the full menu here).

I bought two vouchers from Groupon so we made our maiden visit to the cafe a few weeks ago to claim the vouchers before they expire. 

I paid RM9.90 for each voucher for a choice of Yin Yang Spaghetti or Mushroom Fried Rice or Tom Yam Noodles and Barley Green Honey Drink (voucher value RM21.70) 

We immediately liked the cottage inspired decor with green hues and cozy ambiance. We opted for the spaghetti and fried rice and paid extra for the signature Organic Chicken and an additional glass of bitter gourd honey drink. 

Wellness Recipe promotes wellness juicing programmes so there is a host of interesting fruit beverages on the menu.  

We truly enjoyed the meal especially the fresh and whole ingredients used. This is what I call good wholesome food minus the guilt. 

Barley Green Honey Drink (RM5.90)

Mushroom Fried Brown Rice (RM13.80)

Bitter Gourd Honey (RM4.90)

Wellness Signature Organic Chicken( RM18.80)

Yin Yang Spaghetti (RM13.80)

Wellness products for sale

Dr Yoshide Hagiwara's Barley Green

Wellness Recipe Cafe K-5-1, Bay Avenue, Lorong Bayan Indah 2 11900 Bayan Lepas, Penang Tel:+604-646 4505 / Fax:+604-643 8119 Operating hours: 10am - 9pm (Mon - Sat) http://www.wellnessconcept.net/v4/greencorner_wellnessrecipe.html

Passions of Kerala

Passions of Kerala is undoubtedly the best banana leaf rice restaurant in Penang for me just as how their tagline suggests "The Best Banana Leaf Cuisine".

My first try of their banana leaf rice was at their Brown Garden outlet, then known as Innira's. They have since changed the name of that outlet to Passions of Kerala to have a consistent name for all their outlets in Penang, the other one being at New World Park. The outlet at Brown Garden, albeit older, has a certain romantic ambiance to it with it's dim lighting and soft music played in the background. Though not air-conditioned, the strong breeze especially at night is a welcome change and is very relaxing.

This round I paid a visit to their relatively new outlet at New World Park. This is by far their most upmarket outlet with nice decor and air-conditioning.

We ordered their signature vegetarian banana leaf rice set which comes with free flow of rice and vegetables. We were served four types of vegetables cooked differently including beancurd, eggplant, cucumber and chutney. The set also comes with accompanying dhal curry, chicken curry, fish curry and papadum. I asked for mint chutney to dip the papadum in but unfortunately they were out of it that night.

We were quite full so we didn't order any side dishes but their specialty includes McNair fried chicken, fried fish and mutton masala.

I love the fact that the rice and curry at Passions of Kerala were served hot thus making them more appetizing. The three types of curry were full of flavours and went very well with the white rice. I absolutely loved the mango chutney.


We were pleasantly delighted when they distributed bowls of free Payasam dessert. Payasam or Kheer is traditional South Asian sweet dish, made by boiling rice or broken wheat with milk and sugar, and flavoured with cardamons, raisins, saffron, pistachios or almonds.

Payasam



Vegetarian Set RM5.50 per set

Mango Lassi RM5.00
Masala Tea RM2.50

Some claimed that the price of the banana leaf set is higher at New World Park but I feel it's fair given the higher rent. You pay a little more for a very comfortable ambiance and setting.

Passions of Kerala
102-C-3 New World Park
102 Jalan Burma
10050 Penang, Malaysia
604-227 2550 / 012-4388550
Business Hours: 11:30 am to 11 pm

Passions of Kerala
5 Lorong Endah 4
Taman Brown, Gelugor
11700 Penang
Business Hours:
12 pm to 3:30 pm
6:30pm to 10:30 pm
E-mail: passions.of.kerala@gmail.com
Managing Director: Gary G.V. Nair

Catering available.
604-657 8550

Puspamalar Food Corner

Puspamalar Food Corner serves a variety of vegetarian food ranging fron Indian to Chinese to Western to cakes and pastries. It is converted from a 3-storey terrace house at Jalan Bagan Serai and may go unnoticed from the main road. The food corner occupies the ground floor of the terrace house.

As you walk through the front gate, you will see tables and chairs arranged on the porch with a station whipping up different types of roti e.g. roti canai, tosai, roti naan, murtabak etc. The decor is quite straightforward and minimal but the place is clean and airy.


The first time I was there, I was very impressed with the variety of food available at Puspamalar. There was a white board on the wall which lines out the specials of the day which could be anything from Lamb Chop to Bah Kut Teh to Nasi Lemak etc.

Masala Tea and Iced Lassi

Mee Jawa

Roti Canai

Roti Canai Tisu

Cheese Tosai

Sometimes some people say, "When you are Jack of all trades, you are Master of none". However, everything that we have tried at Puspamalar so far was very up to standard and good. The waiter recommended the Cheese Tosai and it was indeed very tasty and special.The total bill came up to around RM12.

Puspamalar Food Corner

6C Jalan Bagan Serai, 11600 Penang

Tel: 04-2835366 / HP: 012-4645366

Lily's Vegetarian Kitchen (Revisited)

We were back at Lily's Vegetarian Kitchen again in less than a week after the first visit to try the course dinner.

We loved the restaurant setting as we rarely find vegetarian restaurants so spacious to accommodate banquet-style seating.

We were immediately attended to by the lady owner (I presume she was Lily) of the restaurant who was very friendly and seemed very passionate about the food she serves at the restaurant.

We ordered a few of the famous items on their menu based on what I read from other blogs and based on the recommendations from the owner.

Mixed Fruit Tea


The fruit tea is quite interesting. According to their website, this tea is organic and caffeine free and flown in from United Kingdom and USA.

Beef Rendang



The lady owner swore by this dish and highly recommended it. It did turn out to be very fragrant and quite good

Otak Otak



This otak otak tasted like the real thing :)

Butter Prawn



The butter prawn is also a famous dish and I have to say it was very fragrant with the curry leaves

Seaweed Soup


Yam Ring



Claypot Tofu



Sambal Potato Leaves



The restaurant was enjoying very brisk business with almost 8 other tables being occupied when we were there including for a large group function. The restaurant is very clean with a simple and neat setting. I will anytime recommend Lily's for a sit-down vegetarian course meal.

The bill came to around RM140 including chrysanthemum tea.

Lily's Vegetarian Kitchen

Lily's Vegetarian Kitchen at Madras Lane is a lacto-vegetarian restaurant where only dairy products are used apart from vegetables and nuts. Lily's is made up of two floors with the ground floor serving fast-food ala carte menu while the upper floor caters for private functions including sit-down course dinners, steamboats and buffets with a seating capacity of 150 patrons. Lily's also provides outdoor catering service.

I would recommend Lily's for its extensive array of Western, Oriental, Nyonya, Fusion dishes and the fact that it uses mostly soya-based products and less gluten.

Penang Laksa (RM5)

Xiang Chun Noodles (RM5)

Chix Rice (RM6)

Green Curry Rice (RM6)


Mushroom Soup (RM4)

Wan Tan Mee (RM3.50)

Lam Mee (RM3.50)


Lasagna (RM10)

Pasembur (RM5)

Pizza 8" (RM12)

Apart from the mushroom soup and Xiang Chun noodles which were quite mediocre for our taste, the rest of food were quite good and interesting. This is definitely the place to go if you want a good variety of vegetarian food with less gluten. Watch this space for my post on the course dinner at Lily's Vegetarian Kitchen at its upper floor.

Vegetarian sauce

LILY'S VEGETARIAN KITCHEN
Address:
98 Noble House, Madras Lane10400 Georgetown, Penang, Malaysia
Tel / Fax:
04-226 3810
Opens daily from 8.00 am to 9.30 pm except Mondays
http://www.lilysvegekitchen.com/