Healthful Bites

On Thursday after work, I had the pleasure of meeting the lovely Danielle for dinner at SoHo’s Souen restaurant. Danielle and I first met while we both interned at Fitness last summer, and more recently reunited as roomies at Fitbloggin’! She is now keeping busy with a fantastic internship at a unique company and she always has great stories to share. So was the food at Souen, a macrobiotic restaurant, as good as the company?

We’ll get to that soon, but first: what does macrobiotic mean?

In Greek, macrobiotic literally translates to big/long life. The plan emphasizes eating natural and mainly plant-based foods and being in-tune with the environment. Proponents claim that eating this way will better align your body and spirit with nature—thus leading to extra years, fewer illnesses and greater happiness. Organic and seasonal foods are encouraged whenever possible and the eating local craze seems to jive pretty well with the macrobiotic philosophy. 

Macrobiotic “dietary guidelines” recommend vegetables at every meal, whole grains, fruit juices without added sugars, non-meat protein sources such as beans or tofu and certain teas. 

When it came time to order, Danielle and I had a “great minds think alike” moment! We both decided on the Macro Plate and opted to split an order of Gluten Free Cornbread as well.

I think the orange bits are carrots, and the dressing/dip is tahini.

The Macro plate came with the legume of the day, black-eyed peas—which weren’t quite as rockin’ as the band, but close! ;) Steamed greens, carrots, broccoli, kabocha squash and hijiki seaweed represented the vegetable family. And the meal was rounded out with about a cup of brown rice.

Now the verdict: the cornbread dish was a little disappointing. Danielle and I agreed that the texture was nice, but the taste was not like any cornbread I had ever had before. It was slightly nutty in flavor and not nearly as sweet as most cornbreads that I am used to. The slices were cooked well, with a soft inside and slightly crunchy crust. But the consistency couldn’t mask the fact that the cornbread wasn’t extremely tasty, in my opinion. (And the tahini wasn’t too hot either).

It’s not all bad news at Souen, however! The Macro Plate was quite delish. The black-eyed peas were the perfect savory and smooth accompaniment to the just al dente (you can use that term for more than pasta, right?) brown rice. I loved how the vegetables were very simply steamed so that they retained their amazing taste and texture. Some restaurants say “steamed” when they really “saute” or cook in plenty of oil, so I give kudos to places that really steam when they say they are! This dish confirmed the fact that I am not a fan of seaweed at all. But now I know for the future! It’s always good to expand your horizons—if for nothing else than to have a story to share :)

Overall, the prices at Souen were very affordable and the atmosphere was very zen. I will likely return to try some of their more adventurous offerings or daily specials.

From the looks of the menu and my review, would you be interested in joining me? What do you think of the macrobiotic concept?