You know right, everyone knows that eating healthy is good for our health and fitness. But hor, experience tells me that eating healthy often comes with big sacrifices in flavours and taste. That's why sport professionals and enthusiasts have cheat days where they indulge in
Well, if you are lucky enough to be in JB, you can say good bye to cheat days. You can have healthful yet tasty food at H & F Kitchen Health & Fitness Protein Restaurant (near Sutera Mall) - no bull, this is not a food advertorial (there are none in this personal blog).
H & F Kitchen Health & Fitness is the brainchild of Chef Stanley Yim. Seeing Stanley today, you would never guessed that he suffered a life changing heart attack 2 years ago.
I first met Chef Stanley when he was at Lazio at Danga Bay back in 2012. Met him again at Magnum Sports Cafe at Puteri Harbour, and later at The Taste in Taman Sutera. Stanley's after work lifestyle back then involved very little exercise beyond throwing darts ๐
One night two years ago, Stanley suffered a heart attack while refuelling his car at a petrol station. When he came to, he was lying in hospital. From tests, he had a whole slew of life threatening medical conditions from blocked blood vessels, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, to high blood sugar, high uric acid and was overweight. He was lucky that the heart attack wasn't fatal but his doctor warned him that unless he changed his lifestyle, he was unlikely to live another 6 months.
Well, as they say, what doesn't kill you makes you bigger and better.
Stanley was forced to take an entire year off work and completely re-invent his lifestyle. Fortunately, Stanley's past experiences allowed him to rearrange his expertise from over the decades and put them to work together in his "rebirth".
You see, besides being an accomplished Western cuisine chef, Stanley was in the pioneer batch of certified fitness trainers when California Fitness opened in Singapore about 20 years ago. So, in a twist of fate, Stanley marshalled his fitness and culinary backgrounds together in H & F Kitchen Health & Fitness Protein Restaurant.
The result is tasty healthy food everyone wants to eat (and some crave for) ๐
When Stanley started me off with his signature poke bowls, I told him that I am not a fan of poke bowls as I haven't tasted any delicious ones yet ๐
This garden salad of leafy greens, cubed fruits and nuts tossed in savoury sweet tangy zesty dressing was a great start and the beginning of many changes in my views towards healthy eating.
The stamp of Stanley's gift in blending flavours and textures was evident even from the simple salad. I can eat this for meals like a weight conscious OL (office lady) ๐
Spicy Salmon Poke Bowl with spicy citrus sauce (price RM30.90+).
This poke bowl turned out to be one of my favourite dishes of the day. I love the blend of zesty citrusy, savoury sweet flavours and jumble of textures from the sashimi grade salmon cubes, edamame, avocado, cherry tomatoes, and buckwheat noodles.
I love this buckwheat noodles done tender al dente. The characteristic buckwheat flavour was well complemented by the citrusy, savoury sweet taste from the sauce enveloping the thick grainy strands.
Aussie Grass Fed Beef with barley (price RM28.90+).
The subtly sweet barley was boiled till soft and melded with the savoury sweet cheese sauce.
The grass fed beef was done medium. It was slightly chewy as it was lean but it was spongy tender and had a nice mild beefiness.
Stir fried boiled barley with prawns and egg - healthy "fried rice".
Protein Porridge with sea bass slices (RM18.90+).
Okay.... this gruel does looked like health food or hospital food.... . But, one spoonful of this brown rice porridge and it changed my mind. It's so delicious!
This porridge changed my mind about brown rice as I never liked the earthly taste of unpolished grains. Made with slices of sea bass, H & F Kitchen's brown rice porridge had a nice savoury sweet flavour with a bit of heat and taste of ginger.
Grilled marinated sweet savoury chicken leg and breast on whole grain rice.
Whole grain brown rice base.
Grated ginger sauce (left) and grated ginger sauce with Sriracha. The "original flavour" ginger sauce was as good as any at specialist chicken rice shops. The one with the Sriracha was something different and interesting as the chili sauce gave the ginger sauce a layered kind of spiciness and a bit of tanginess.
Pan seared Norwegian salmon on mushroom barley grains with sous vide egg, grilled pumpkin slice, tofu, broccoli and quinoa (price 26.90+).
Rice Wrap with various choice of meat and rice fillings. I had prawn with tomato whole grain rice (price RM17.90+).
Classic Chicken Protein Burger (price RM25.90+).
House made fresh chicken patty sandwiched by fried eggs topped with mac & cheese. Served with glazed sweet potato wedges.
Darned... Stanley makes creamy mac & cheese topping tastes so good. The thick sauce was made with relatively robust savoury low fat cheddar.
The chicken patty was tender, juicy and gently savoury sweet. It was well complemented by the eggy "buns". Lettuce, chicken, eggs and mac & cheese combined perfectly in this burger.
I can eat this everyday.
There are also Aussie grass fed beef, turkey and salmon patty options.
Banana, Peanut Butter & Granola (price RM7.90+).
Homemade Greek yogurt with fruits, nuts, and seeds (price RM11.90+).
The fresh smoothies were fruity nice but what won me over was the whey protein milk shake spiked with espresso and hazelnut. It's one guilt free chilled latte that I can drink everyday (price RM17.90+).
๐ The dishes at H & F Kitchen are made with ingredients that reduce cholesterol, sugar and sodium while losing fat, building muscle and fortifying your immune system. They are prepared with Stanley's expertise in flavours and taste. Healthy food which I don't mind eating everyday because it is so delicious. Darned.... now I have a craving for health food ๐ฑ Can never imagine that before... .
⚠ Warning: Eating here might inspire you to change your lifestyle. After eating at H & F Kitchen Health & Fitness Protein Restaurant, you will feel greater guilt eating regular food and find yucky health food even more insufferable ๐ฑ
Disclosure: Please note that this was an invited tasting.
Restaurant name: H & F Kitchen Health & Fitness Protein Restaurant
Address: 12, Jalan Sutera Tanjung 8/3, Taman Sutera Utama, Johor Bahru (near Sutera Mall)
GPS: 1°31'01.9"N 103°40'02.0"E | 1.517204, 103.667224
Waze: Health & Fitness Kitchen
Tel: 07-570 1577
Hours: 10:00am - 10:00pm
No pork, no lard, no alcohol, no Halal cert
Date visited: 3 Sep 2018
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