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Cool for the summer

Summer is fast approaching, which can only mean a few things—junk trips, beach visits and outfits that offer a lot less places to hide under. If you’re looking for healthy meal options, whether it’s to prepare for summer or you’re taking a step to change your lifestyle, we’ve got some recommendations for you.

Over at Café O, they’ve just come up with new delicious and nutritious menu items. Their pizza wraps are designed by award-winning pizza creator, Claudio Conforti, and features flavors such as truffle and fresh vegetables (HK$68) and smoked salmon and cream cheese (HK$78)—all under 500 calories. They’ve also come up with healthy and low-carb cake options which are made without butter, processed white sugar, flour, additives or colorants. Try the beetroot & orange cake which only has 239 calories per serving or the lemon and chia seed cake at 160 calories.

Along with their soups, salads and multiple locations across the West Island area, Café O’s new items are perfect for when you’re in a hurry or to takeaway for your “al desko” dining.

Cafe O, Bonham Road 33, Sai Wan, Hong Kong

On Moon Street in Wan Chai, Maya Café is a small, thoughtful restaurant that offers tasty meatless dishes with great variety. Co-owner and chef Tina Barrat is the granddaughter of a cook and daughter of an athlete, and hails from the south of France, so her cooking is greatly inspired by all these aspects.

Try some of their meatless and carb-less pastas, like the raw spaghetti with marinara sauce and meatless balls (HK$150). The ‘pasta’ is purely made of vegetables, while Portobello mushrooms make up the meatless balls. The dish is cold and incredibly fresh, and won’t leave you feeling sluggish after your meal. Wash it down with one of their blended juices, served in cute mason jars, and finish off with one of their array of desserts. Our favorite is the chia seed pudding, made with coconut milk and of course, chia seeds, and is full of protein, omega 3, and has a nice tangy flavor.

Maya Cafe Mediterranean Lifestyle, G/7 Nan Fung Tower, 173 Des Voeux Road Central, Sheung Wan, Hong Kong, 2111 4553, mayacafedeli.com

Finally, if you have some time to spare, take a trip to Locofama. It can be a bit of a trek with its Fuk Sau Lane location, but worth it (and when you’re trying to be healthy, that shouldn’t matter!). Created by a group of young Hong Kongers who all gave up high-stress jobs for this new restaurant, everything about Locofama exudes chill vibes. The interior is bright, vintage and simplistic, and plants pepper every corner of the establishment making it all easy on the eyes.

“We want our customers to realize healthy eating does not have to mean bland,” says Steven Wu, co-owner.

And indeed, food at Locofama is far from that. Try their kale salad—fresh and full of vitamins, or 48 hour short rib which is incredibly tender and has a special sweet tasting sauce that comes with it.

The restaurant also has an attached grocery store selling organic products, and regularly hosts healthy activities like free yoga and juice making workshops.

9-13 Fuk Sau Lane, Sai Wan, Hong Kong, 2547 7668, locofama.com

 

A version of this article first appeared in the Friday, 4 April, 2014 issue of The Standard Hong Kong.

Photo credits to The Standard.

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