Zest Cafe @ The Sphere Bangsar South

More restaurants nowadays are going the healthy living path, and this round I had the opportunity to dine in at Zest Cafe in Bangsar South who advocates healthy yet delicious food. Located inside The Sphere, Bangsar South, Zest Cafe goes by the tagline "Food for the body, and food for the soul". It's rather appropriate actually, as we were told that Zest Cafe practises MSG-free, low salt, low sugar, low cream, no deep-fried food, no margarine, only butter, and uses 100% olive oil. 

Zest Cafe Bangsar South

Zest Cafe

Unit 1-2, 1st Floor, The Sphere, No 1, Avenue 1,
Bangsar South, 8 Jalan Kerinchi
59200 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Phone: 03-2242 0389
Email: bengchung.ong@zestcafe.com.my
Website: http://www.zestcafe.com.my/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ZestCafeRestaurant


Bangsar South Foodilicious !






Zest Cafe with it's comfortable interior



Reaching the area just past 7pm, I felt Zest Cafe had a rather nice interior with a modern setting perfect for private group dinings, with friends and family. I was there with this big group of bloggers and we were welcomed by the owner Mr Ong, who we soon found out is a food technologist by training with a passion to get folks to stay healthy and happy. 

Zest Cafe owner Mr Ong cheerfully explaining his dishes to us, the mere mortals.

Get ready for the on-slaught of food pictures, as we were served so much food that evening, check it out below. It was to be a full course dinner of food, lots of it.

#1 Mushroom Soup - RM6.90

#2 Zest Salad - RM19.80

We were served with the appetizers to kick off our meal that night which came in the form of Mushroom Soup and the Zest Salad. Zest Cafe did not skimp on the mushrooms as I could actually taste loads of saute button mushrooms in the soup. As for the Zest Salad, it was a healthy mixture of coral salad, grilled zucchini, pumpkin and aubergine in balsamic dressing. It was nice to see three succulent pan-fried prawns on top of the salad as well. 

#3 Vegetarian Fresh Spaghetti - RM13.90

Pasta and spaghetti lovers will be spoilt for choice at Zest Cafe as they serve a really wide variety of spaghetti. That evening, we had 3 spaghetti dishes namely the Vegetarian Fresh Spaghetti, the Prawn Spaghetti, and the Seafood Aglio-Olio. Now I found the Vegetarian Fresh Spaghetti to be really unique as it is not often we find a full veggie spaghetti. It was made from mushrooms, aubergine, zucchini, capsicum, and black olives. Feeling really healthy and all, I dug in, I preferred the ones with seafood or meat though.

#4 Prawn Spaghetti in Pesto - RM22.50

#5 Seafood Aglio-Olio - RM22.50

The Prawn Spaghetti in Pesto however was a whole new level of tastiness in itself. Three succulent big prawns can be found in pesto sauce with the spaghetti, which went well together and tasted good. We were not served with the classic Aglio-Olio this round, but had the Seafood Aglio-Olio instead. My first impression of the dish was that it really had a generous amount of squids in it. Served with two prawns, we just could not get enough of this dish. 

#6 Aubergine-Spinach Lasagna - RM17.50

Images of Garfield comes to mind when I hear of the word Lasagna, but this one that we had from Zest Cafe was the much healthier version. Instead of beef or chicken, the Aubergine-Spinach Lasagna had a unique filling of grilled aubergine and spinach on a hearty tomato sauce. How's that for a healthy meal. Again, I would have much preferred the fillings to have meat in them. 

#7 Seafood Chicken Paella - RM60

#8 Tubers Beans Kofta - RM14.90

More healthy dishes came to our table, as Zest Cafe served us with yet another two unique dishes, the Seafood Chicken Paella, and the Tubers Beans Kofta. The Seafood Chicken Paella was a medley of prawns, squid rings, chicken slices, and chicken sausages cooked in creamy short grained rice. Now it looked really good, but lacked saltiness which took off the tastiness of the dish. As for the Tubers Beans Kofta, my initial thoughts were, "Hey, it's a veggie burger!". It's more than that though, as the dish came with two patties of crushed beans, potato and carrot, served with slices of garden greens and onion mushroom sauce. 

#9 Pan Fried Salmon - RM35

#10 Rosemary Roast Chicken - Half chicken RM20, Whole Chicken RM38

The next two dishes were poultry and salmon dishes, namely the Rosemary Roast Chicken and the Pan Fried Salmon. The salmon had a light smoked flavour to it, served with potato gratin, butterhead lettuce, gherkins and hollandaise sauce with peppercorn. I do like the Rosemary Roast Chicken as it retained a lot of flavour from the rosemary herbs thrown inside. The marinated chicken was roasted and served with baked potato, saute fatoush salad, and herb sauce.

#11 Beef Rib-Eye - RM38

I love my steaks, and I was really pleased when Zest Cafe decided to bring out this Beef Rib Eye to the table. The dish consisted of juicy Australian/New Zealand rib-eye served with butterhead lettuce, saute asparagus, and capsicum, garnished with creamy peppercorn sauce. It just had to be a healthy dish with the vegetables thrown in, but it's good to note that the medium done meat tasted just like what you would expect from a good beef rib-eye. 

Dessert for the sweet tooth in us

We ended the meal with some nice desserts prepared by Zest Cafe, an apple type of sweet dessert if I'm not mistaken. It was good though, a perfect sweet ending to a good meal out. Go for Zest Cafe if you're in the vicinity of Bangsar South, and wish to get some good healthy food. I leave you with some of Zest Cafe's kitchen philosophy and profile statement.

Zest cafe Profile Statements

•  Zest Cafe is passionate about healthy & delicious food. Our Mediterranean-inspired dishes are light, flavourful and colourful. All prepared in our kitchen, using 100% olive oil and MSG-free.
• At Zest Cafe, it’s about “food for the body & food for the soul”.

• At Zest Cafe, we care for your health and palate at the same time. You’ll be happy to know that our kitchen employs the following food philosophy:
• No added-MSG, low salt, low sugar, low cream, no deep-fried food, no margarine, only butter, 100% olive oil.
• Relax, unwind and allow yourself to enjoy your meals.