It looked like chicken karaage; it even tasted like it. And the sweet-and-sour sauce was pure bliss. The only difference, though, it wasn't chicken but pseudo "meat," and the the sauce contained no preservatives, no sugar and absolutely zero animal byproducts.
Hale Macrobiotic may sound more like a scientific experiment than it does a restaurant. Nontheless, what chefs Motoko "Moko" Kubota and Yuka Akahane are accomplishing here is nothing short of a local culinary revolution, proving that eating healthy doesn't mean bland limp tofu and tasteless homogenous vegetables.
As explained by Kubota, macrobiotic's etymology is Greek and it means long (macro) life (bios).
"A macrobiotic diet consists mostly of grains and organic vegetables," Kubota explained. "Eating these is good for the body's balance."
Not to mention it tastes good. The sweet-and-sour veggie meat ($19.45, dinner only) was packed with a yin-and-yang of flavors and a side of organic brown rice is one of — if not — the best in town.
Sprinkling what she called as "magic," Kubota topped the rice with a simple melange of sesame seeds and salt. And abracadabra, it was no longer just fluffy brown grains.
"It's 100 percent organic," smiled Kubota, who studied macrobiotic principles in Japan and holds a Macrobiotic Certificate of Concierge. "I have many condiments I can put on rice."
Passsionate about what they do and cook, Kubota and Akahane pay close attention to flavor profiles, textures and presentation. The intricacies and details can be seen and savored in the smallest of dishes. For instance, their version of a tsukemono came in a form of diced organic apples mixed with wine-and-balsamic-vinegar Chinese cabbage.
"And it changes every day," Akahane said. "We make everything fresh, including our desserts."
Much like the sweet-and-sour veggie meat, the kurumafu burger ($10.95 for lunch) was deceitful in texture, possessing a crispy onion ring-like crunch, as well as in flavor, tricking the palate and mind to think it was biting into a hamburger patty.
McDonald's may have its secret sauce, but it pales compared to the tangy tonkatsu-like garnish that's slathered on this burger.
"That's one of our most popular dishes," Kubota said. "In the evening, we slice it up like a cutlet and serve it with an apple-miso sauce."
Not one to waste food, Kubota's sauces are made from items that other chefs would normally discard. For example, her kale miso is made with the stem of this leafy green vegetable by pressure cooking it with miso and spices. Her stocks are prepared with konbu, which usually gets tossed after it's cooked, but Kubota keeps hers and flavors it with a little organic shoyu to use as a garnish served with rice.
Lunch prices range from $3 for a soup of the day to $12.95 for the Macrobiotic lunch plate, consisting of five different types of vegetables, miso soup, brown rice and tempeh, which is a soybean cake.
And if you think dessert has to be prepared with refined sugar and eggs, think again. The brownies here contained none of those ingredients and they were rich, moist and guiltfree.
"Macrobiotics is the best match for me personally," Kubota said. "I love vegetables and the more creative I can get with my dishes, I think the more people will change their diets."
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