Living Food Bistro & Cafe @ Wisma Tan & Tan

Price Range	: Mid-range
Type of Cuisine	: Organic
Recommended For	: A feel-good, guilt-free wholesome meal
Catphobia-Friendly	: Yep!

We were invited to try this latest addition to the growing list of healthy eateries in KL by the cafe’s gracious owner, Philip, and we are still reeling from the experience. Yes, we’ve had our fair share of organic meals, but none comes close to Living Food! When asked what makes the food at this cafe so organic, Philip, ever ready with his interesting explanations, informed us, “We go beyond organic. It’s not just about how the ingredients are grown, but more importantly, what ingredients are actually used.”

For example, did you know that olive oil will be denatured once it is heated? This means that any health benefit the oil previously had is destroyed by the heat. To avoid such loss of vital nutrients, the cafe only uses top-quality grapeseed oil, which withstands heat better and retains all that’s good for you.

This attention to detail piqued our interest greatly, as Philip continued to boggle our minds, “We all know that taking almonds is good, but did you know that it is better to take them sprouted?” The sprouting process (in which the almonds are soaked overnight in water) helps rid almonds of the bad bacteria and retains the good enzymes that your body needs. They are also much easier to digest. Additionally, the sprouting process multiplies the food's nutritional benefits significantly! 

With these insightful elaborations about the essence of good food, we were then introduced to the cafe’s colourful menu. We started off with a sample platter, made up of dehydrated rosemary bread accompanied by their herbed cheese dip and mango salsa dip. The little bread pieces go oh-so perfectly with the smoky, nutty undertones of the cheese dip, and we are amazed by how sweet the capsicum slices are! We will probably be overusing the word ‘fresh’ in this blog entry, but honestly, that’s the best word to describe the capsicums (and pretty much all the food we had here).

Just one look at the brilliant presentation of the Dehydrated Tomatoes sent us drooling. And they taste even better than they look, if that's possible. The tomatoes are stuffed with cashew cream, and crispy mushrooms and zucchini. The sweet and sourness of the tomatoes work absolutely well with the slightly bitter stuffings, and the cashew cream just blends these two contrasts perfectly. 

We moved on the Smoked Salmon Sandwich (RM18), which really, can’t possibly go wrong. The generous slices of smoked salmon are served with capers, zucchini and onions, topped off with dill cashew cream, on freshly-baked toasted bread. The cashew cream really caught our attention (and yes, it is as good as it sounds!) and we were told that the cafe actually uses minimal dairy products so as to cater to healthier eating preferences, hence the cashew cream! (In line with this, they also use almond milk as a substitute to dairy milk to keep things vegan).

Next, we tried their Zucchini Pasta (RM15), and the first thing that struck us was how light the dish was. It’s just as filling as a conventional pasta dish, but not in the overstuffed ular sawa sort of way. The pasta is topped with all sorts of raw goodness, including their sprouted almonds, cucumber slices as well as some very juicy tomatoes, which lend a rather pleasantly-sour kick to the dish.

We were taught also on the importance of taking raw foods in our diet, and was then introduced to their Mushroom Pattie (RM16), which is made up of completely raw ingredients: a flavourful patty comprising of dehydrated mushrooms and seeds, topped with freshly-whipped guacomole and served in between juicy slices of tomatoes. This dish is arranged to resemble a burger, but lucky for us, this dish would definitely bring about a whole lot more goodness that a burger would! Plus, it’s actually (dare we say it?) more delicious than a lot of  burgers we’ve had!

Their Chicken & Mushroom Pie (RM10) is absolutely great as well! They do use dairy products for this though, but if that’s okay with your eating choices, then go right ahead and order this gem of a pie! It’s stuffed with tender pieces of free-range chicken, cooked in a delicious gravy with carrots and mushrooms. With their zero usage of artificial seasonings, you can really taste the natural flavours of all the ingredients used. Interestingly, whatever little flour  used at this cafe is actually made in-house and ground daily. So you can be rest assured that pie you're taking in is as fresh as they come! 

Who knew eating desserts could actually be good for you? O.o We had the tiramisu, which was so delicious we couldn’t believe that we weren’t supposed to feel guilty eating it! The super-healthy ice cream with brownies, also made from almond milk, were also unbelievably creamy and tasty that we polished our glasses off rather quickly.

But our favourite is definitely the Blueberry Ice Cream with Pancake! Sounds normal, huh? Well, if you've been seeing throughout this post how the skillful chefs at Living Food recreate such basic dishes into gorgeous, healthy masterpieces, then you would know that there is nothing mundane about this dessert. 

First off, it looks amazing and tempts you to have a taste. The blueberry ice cream, served in passionfruit and topped with a slice of dehydrated orange, is very fruity but not too sweet. The pancake is a definite winner: it is made from bananas and lavender, and then dehydrated to form this chewy, wholesome pastry. So you've got this sweet banana taste interlacing so seamlessly with light notes of fragrant lavender. Pure perfection! 


Now, get this. All the desserts that we have mentioned here, are all raw. Yep, no cooking took place to create any of these delectable desserts! Living Food has successfully broken the misconception that raw foods are icky and boring, and for that we applaud them! 

Eating at Living Food introduces us to a concept of how it’s not how much you eat, but what you eat. As long as you’re putting all the right things in your mouth, there’s no reason to restrain yourself from food! If we haven’t mentioned it already, we’ll say it now: Living Food is by far the best place to go for a healthy and wholesome meal! Now excuse us while we continue daydreaming about them yummy Mushroom Patties.... *mmmm* =P~

Living Food Bistro & Cafe

G-04, Menara Tan & Tan

Jalan Tun Razak

50400 Kuala Lumpur
T: +603 2181 2778

M: +6016 888 9123
E: livingfoodcafe@gmail.com

Living Food Website

Opening Hours:

Mondays to Fridays: 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Saturdays: 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

GPS:

3.156331, 101.720647

Parking:

Apparently it’s quite hard to find parking spots in the afternoon in the building (so we were told, but we’re not sure how accurate this is). If you’re working in this area, it’s probably greener to just walk here! =)