If you thought food with no-sodium salt is tasteless, have you been to Sante Spa Cuisine yet?

Hyderabad's Sante Spa Cuisine offers an organic spread with numerous options for vegetarians as well. 
A healthy spread
A healthy spread

The ‘no sugar, no salt’ diet need not be bland and uninspiring. In fact, it can be fun and lip-smacking. That’s what the team of 35 chefs at Sante Spa Cuisine restaurant at Jubilee Hills has been trying to prove for the last 11 months and break the stereotypes about healthy food and with success too. Now, the Italian and fusion menu restaurant that specialises in spa cuisine – read fresh, natural, wholesome and healthy – is going another step ahead to “healthify” junk food too. 

Says owner Abhiram Agarwal, “We are committed to not using regular sugar and salt, refined flour etc. We make salt in-house without sodium. In place of sugar, we have jaggery and honey. Along the same lines, we are planning for foods such as Pav Bhaji where we use multigrain pav and exotic, healthy veggies,” he says. Abhiram, a self-confessed health freak who sports impressive six-pack abs, says food is made only after the order is placed. “Even cutting of the vegetables begins after the order is placed. Healthy and tasty food take time,” he informs. 

Roasted Garlic Soup
Roasted Garlic Soup


We began with roasted tomato and garlic soup and beetroot spinach hummus. No hint of loud spices anywhere, just pleasant flavours. Even the water jugs come with a sprig of mint. Their 20-page menu is a dream come true for anyone looking for low-calorie food. Some of their popular ones are Quinoa Upma, Burrito phulkas, Moringa chowder, buckwheat gnocchi and high fibre gluten-free tomato fondue. I also love that most of the food comes in wooden platters and cutlery. The smoothies and shakes, which are typically loaded with calories at other joints,  tastes refreshing with the fruit flavours dominating the sucrose. In their main course, bajra risotto –hot and mushy laden with peppercorns and fresh greens – was like comfort food. Sante also has an exhaustive non-vegetarian menu. Multi-grain mutton kichhda and bajra riso are the crowd’s favourites.

Red Thai Curry with Red Rice
Red Thai Curry with Red Rice


As we finish dinner with pure coconut and jaggery ice cream, I cannot believe such a simple dessert can be so tasty. Abhiram says that his year-old daughter Nyra has literally grown up on these, even when she was a wee thing in her mom’s womb! “I started doing the groundwork for the restaurant when my wife was in her third trimester. My daughter was 3.5 kg and she was born a 5.8 kg baby. The obstetrician wanted to know the secret of such a healthy and bonny baby. It ’s my restaurant’s food, I told her. Today, she is among my regular guests to the hotel,” says Abhiram. We raise a toast to such good food – a votre santé to your health. 

Mud Cake
Mud Cake


Meal for two: Rs.2,500. 
 

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