Life Food

Healthy Food for All Taste buds

We dropped in again at Life Food to sample the latest addition to the menu that allows you to customise your dishes to suit your taste. The new menu was launched on September 30 and the offer applies to their salads and power bowls. With healthy eating still a hot topic in Colombo and after a weekend of stuffing ourselves with too many chicken koththus, we were in need of a little nutrition. So, on a quiet Monday evening, we sat down at Life Food, excited to see what was in store.

Drinks

Hydrator – LKR 400

We opted for the Hydrator, a concoction of lime and mint leaves and said to be “Packed with electrolytes, vitamins and nutrients to rejuvenate your body”. Served ice cold on a hot day, this drink would have been refreshing but it was too watered down for my taste. It was difficult to detect any flavours coming through, whether it was the kick of the lime or the punch of the mint leaves. However, all drinks come served with wooden straws that blends in with the rest of the rustic interior and respects sustainability.

Kombucha – LKR 600

Kombucha happens to be one of those things that you develop a taste for but Laa Dhalu’s turmeric flavoured Kombucha had me hooked after the initial sip. Although the fermented taste takes getting used to, the fizzy, tangy drink is made with organic Sri Lankan turmeric and black tea. The fun flavour and fizziness also makes the drink different from other ‘healthy drinks’. It also went well with the food that we ordered and I found it to be an effective palate cleanser.

Mains

Make Your Own Salad – LKR 990

All of Life Food’s produce is locally sourced and care is taken to ensure that all of the food is served fresh. The new menu offers you the option of picking out one of the existing salads or mixing two for LKR 990. Two of the options are vegan. You can also make your own from scratch which is what we did. We picked quinoa, prawns, chickpeas, beet, roasted pumpkin and bean sprouts with a Moroccan dressing.

The salad is served with all the ingredients separate which allows you to mix it up as you please. It had an interesting mix of textures enhanced by the grainy quinoa, which also blended perfectly with the creamy, spicy Moroccan dressing. The roasted pumpkin was well cooked so that it was nice and crisp on the outside and soft and gooey on the inside. Its sweetness complemented the rest of the ingredients that we chose. However, the prawns could have used more flavour as they were a little bland on their own and got lost in the other components of the salad.

Hunger Busters

We ordered one of the existing power bowls off the menu and chose to customise the second.

Chimi – Chimi – LKR 1200

A combination of grilled chicken, avocado, sautéed mushroom, black-eyed peas and corn. It also comes with a poached egg and fresh tomato salad with green chimichurri sauce on the side. The bowl was a bit bland and has a much milder taste than the other bowl that we ordered. The grilled chicken could have used more flavour and the sautéed mushrooms still tasted a little bit raw. The sweet and pungent chimichurri sauce made things a little more interesting but did not hit the mark. The chicken can also be replaced with fish at a slightly higher price of Rs 1400. Done properly, this bowl is a good option to choose if you are still new to healthy eating due to its simplicity.

Customised Power Bowl – Rs 1300

To customise your own bowl is a pretty simple process, thanks to the easy and straightforward menu. You pick a base, protein, flavour, legume, vegetables and dressing. Only two out of the six dressings are not vegan. We kept things simple by ordering soba noodles, chicken (harissa flavoured) white and red black-eyed peas, carrots, red bell peppers and sautéed mushrooms with the ‘Seoul Calling’ dressing.

This bowl was packed with flavour. The chicken was spicy and succulent and adds a little more oomph to the whole dish. Watch out for the spice of the harissa as it hits you later! The sautéed mushrooms in this dish the buttery and juicy and the combination of all the vegetables and chewy black-eyed peas provides a whole lot of texture.

Ambience

The venue is friendly and welcoming with staff greeting you as soon as you enter. The long narrow space can get quickly crowded so arrive early to ensure comfortable seating. The interior remains cozy with rustic touches here and there. It’s an ideal spot if you want to drop in for a quick, healthy meal during your lunch hour. They still serve Kangen water (Hydrogen-rich water obtained from a Japanese filter) which comes in a trendy square-shaped bottle with Life Food branding on it.

Tip – Definitely bring some sort of sweater as the air conditioning blows directly at anyone along the long bench and the narrow space gets chilled very quickly.