Mama Kim Sauna Mee @ Tanjung Tokong, Penang

Mama Kim Sauna Mee has sneakily adventured into Tanjung Tokong Penang after establishing numerous outlets in Klang Valley. Bearing a tagline "where healthy is yummy", the restaurant serves a variety of healthy dishes and managed to overturned the usual "meh" expectations we had on healthy dishes - "not delicious, bland, tasteless, expensive and etc". Instead, the dishes here are flavourful, affordable and able to whet our appetite with their simple yet attractive cuisine preparation. The spacious and air-conditioned dining setting also allows patrons to enjoy the piping hot cuisine in a comfortable setting.

One of their signature here definitely would be their Sauna Mee (RM 15.00). Served in simmering hot soup in a stone bowl that has been heated up to 250C, you can opt to have it with brown rice, pumpkin noodles or mushroom rice noodles. This seemingly simple dish uniquely combines 5 different healthy colour of vegetables to give an appetizing light taste soup. Not even a second of dull moment was experienced when we were having this bowl of noodle. You can add up some fried shallots to channel a more aromatic overall taste.

Soup can be added into the noodle on complimentary basis. Not sure how many times would they allow though.

Black Porridge, Fish (RM 9.50) certainly is a great bargain with its wallet-friendly price tag. The dish utilizes a more solid rice granules, which presumably to unpolished rice grains that comes with richer nutrients. A handful of black mushrooms were added to the porridge, giving rise to a pleasant taste portfolio for the overall dish. It totally dismisses the claim that porridge is meant for sick person.

If you prefer to enjoy something relatively bolder in taste, Baked Cheesy Mushroom Rice (RM 13.00) would be a great idea. They utilized brown rice instead of regular white rice, and have it baked with a generous portion of 5 different colour of vegetables such as broccolli and enoki mushroom. Despite the presence of baked cheese, we felt the overall dish did not cause surfeiting, probably due to the tedious proportioning of cheese and other ingredients that fits majority's appetite.

Do expect to find a range of fresh juices, flower tea and refreshing beverage that aims to bring the healthy message. Though the name Vegetable Juice (RM 6.50; small) does not convincing in the taste, the flavour upon savour speaks otherwise. It is miraculously appetizing and would not give the boring greenish taste but instead yielded a refreshing fiber taste instead. Some other interesting juices here will be Cabbage & Apple Juice and Passion Fruit Juice.

The Black Sesame Dessert (RM 6.50) here registers a taste which we could not tell what was it. It was a slightly herby, perhaps a more healthier version of black sesame? Any enlightenment from those who have tried it?