Beautifood

Beautifood is my new favorite lunch spot in Central.  Their tagline is "You are What You Eat", and they stand behind the philosophy of hara hachi bunme, or the Japanese concept of eating until you are only 80% full.  The idea is that it takes 20 minutes before your stomach sensors can absorb and convey the information to your brain that you are full.  In Chinese we say you should eat until you are "eight points full".  I have to admit that I don't often follow this philosophy, but at least now I am trying! 

I like Beautifood's steamed fish sushi burrito and almost all of their salads.   My favorite is the Salty Lemon and Seared Salmon, closely followed by the Demon Black Caesar and the Umami Nicoise.  I also really like how thoughtfully the chef has paired the ingredients to create truly unique flavors.  It is very well planned and very well executed fusion cuisine.  (The sushi burrito is the chef's fusion of the sandwich and the sushi roll - it consists of cooked seafood or meat and veggies rolled into an egg-based burrito wrap or brown rice.)  Methinks chef Alvin Leung deserves his Michelin star!

Clearly I'm not the only fan.  I'm working my way through the flavors.

 

 

Sichuan hot chick burrito - it doesn't look like much, but it's pretty tasty

I think what makes these salads such a huge hit in my book are the incredibly fresh ingredients (no wilted, brown, or rotten lettuce here, no soft or flaccid cherry tomatoes) and the out-of-this-world salad dressings that land on my tongue like flavor bombs.  I would buy Beautifood's salad dressings by the bottle if they sold it.  Their black garlic Ceasar salad dressing and tangy lemon vinaigrette are ohhhh so good...