Pickled ginger isn’t part of the usual recipe, but it’s silly to be a purist about something invented in a Beverly Hills restaurant in the 1960s. We tried a Chinese chicken salad, a turkey and avocado fondant, and a tuna salad panini to get as wide a range as possible.Ĭhinese Chicken Salad is made with lettuce, carrots, dry chow mein noodles, pickled ginger and sesame dressing. Most of the items here are the same few ingredients combined with very slight variations – sprouts, carrots and cucumber are in virtually every item. We liked it enough to go back, and when deciding what to order, we noticed the limitations of the menu.
Nevertheless, if you like natural flavors subtly enhanced, it’s a nice starter, and the portion is generous. I wish they hadn’t cut the roll because although the preparation is pretty, it’s not easy to eat cleanly as it falls apart after the first bite. You get your choice of protein, and I chose the poke salmon, which has a mild marinade brightened up with sesame seeds. I have to say it’s a good dressing with sesame oil and a peppery kick. Health Nut’s version is a stripped down salad in a flavorless wrapper until you add the protein and some of their spicy Asian dressing. The traditional version usually includes basil, cilantro, mint, or other strong-tasting herbs, and a dash of fish sauce or hot vinegar. It’s a riff on the Vietnamese classic, which is often called a summer roll to distinguish it from a fried roll. The spring roll is a salad of carrots, cucumbers, bean sprouts and alfalfa stuffed in a slightly fluffy rice flour wrap and cut into eight pieces.
Spring roll and noodle soup at Health Nut. About the only thing I would change are the very large potato chunks, which should have been cut smaller to make them easier to prepare. Neither the noodles nor the tofu nor the skinless chicken breast add much flavor, but they provide different textures. Diners have a choice of tuna, chicken, or tofu for protein, and the soup is served with noodles on the side that you add to taste. It’s very good, with a delicate ginger flavor that adds interest to the sweet vegetarian herb broth. On our first visit, we ordered the Health Nut spring roll and noodle soup, which one of the counter staff assured me was one of the most popular dishes. It’s a balancing act, and while they do some things very well here, they don’t always hit the mark. At the same time, the people designing these recipes have to be inventive enough that not everything looks the same.
#THE HEALTHNUT PLUS#
This is a plus with this type of restaurant because when everything on the menu focuses on the flavors of fresh vegetables, there is a lot of potential for wastage due to the short shelf life. The menu has quite a long list of items, but when I looked at it closely I noticed that it was the budget chef’s dream, with many of the same ingredients used in each dish.
Although they opened in the old location of Jamba Juice, they don’t make smoothies, but have a few simple drinks like lemonade and fruit tea. Health Nut is a small restaurant chain serving exactly what you’d expect from its name: calorie- and nutrition-conscious salads, sandwiches and noodle bowls. The recently opened Health Nut has taken over Jamba Juice’s former location in downtown Manhattan Beach.