Locofama – tasty organic food in Sai Ying Pun

Fancy eating somewhere where you know you’re getting good food made with great quality ingredients? Well, new restaurant Locofama – with its slogan of “fresh organic bites” – offers just that! With about 80% of all their ingredients organic, you know you’re getting some good in you (and FYI, according to co-founder Justin Chan, the other 20% is for ingredients that don’t always necessarily need the ‘organic’ label anyway).

Located in Sai Ying Pun right across from Grassroots Pantry, Locofama can be a bit fiddly to find (so make sure your directional skills are on par!), but boasts a quiet chilled atmosphere away from the hustle and bustle of manic city life. With white washed walls, simple rustic décor and a breezy open-front, this cute little restaurant manages to feel a lot bigger than it actually is!

Before we started on the food, we sampled some of Locofama’s signature healthy juices. I risked it with the Brazilian Thunder, a combination of fresh greens of the day, cinnamon, ginger, lemon and coconut water – let’s just say that it definitely tasted very healthy, and may well have constituted my detox attempts for the week! Kate went for the Miracle Berry, which had goji berries, red dates and coconut water; this one seemed to have less of a ‘grassy’ taste, so if you fancy a healthy (but tasty) kick, we’d recommend this one!

After trying our very health-conscious drinks, we were slightly concerned that Locofama’s menu was going to end up similarly full of that kind of “healthy” food that lacks much real taste. How wrong we were! Our first dish was tofu with salad, which initially might not sound like the most exciting dish, but had bags of flavour and was one of the best tofu dishes I’ve ever tried. The tofu was soft but not too rubbery with a slightly crispy outside, and had been marinated overnight in yuzu to give it more flavour. Accompanied by a scrumptious (but too small!) portion of kimchi vinaigrette and a fresh salad dressed with the most delicious nutty sesame sauce, this was a perfect, simple but satisfying vegetarian dish that we just couldn’t get enough of.

Our next starter was some beautifully presented, pepper-crusted Ahi tuna with cucumber. These were perfect bite-sized mouthfuls, again very fresh but packing a punch!

We were also all given an individual poached egg, either with bacon or smoked salmon plus a sprinkle of truffle, basil olive oil and a crispy slice of toast. These not only looked adorable and smelled heavenly, but were a good option for a light dish; keep in mind these are best for those who like their eggs nice and runny!

Onto the main courses and we were pleasantly surprised to receive some pretty hearty looking dishes. The first was lemongrass chicken wraps on a bed of grilled zucchini – you could really taste the lemongrass here and the wraps were extremely moreish.

These were accompanied by a vegetarian plate of Oolong tea soba noodles with plump oyster mushrooms, which had a very tasty sesame flavour, and got the thumbs up from Sassy’s resident veggie Simran back in the office!

But the star of the show was Locofama’s famous 48-hour short ribs. The only thing wrong with these was that there weren’t enough of them! The gloriously fatty beef literally melted in your mouth, with an intense and unique flavour from being cooked sous vide with kimchi, salsa and homemade chilli paste. There was almost a Korean barbeque taste – a really different but scrumptious flavour inspired by Justin’s own cultural heritage. An absolute must-have!

We had to sample dessert (as usual!) and we were delighted by the two beautiful pieces of cheesecake that appeared. One raspberry and one chocolate, these were addictively good, although we have to say the raspberry one was slightly lighter with a tart twist and edged it over the chocolate!

We also tried some of Locofama’s ice-cream – tofu and Okinawan (Japanese purple sweet potato), topped with sous vide strawberry “soup” sauce. The tofu ice-cream was light and pleasant, similar to vanilla (but not as sweet), and went well with the sweet jelly-like strawberry sauce, whilst the Okinawan tasted exactly like sweet potato but in ice-cream form! A fun, unusual and exciting dessert, unique to Locofama!

It was really nice to enjoy organic food that had stacks of flavour, and Justin explained that the whole concept of Locofama is to serve good quality, organic food that focuses on taste, rather than just being healthy for the sake of it. This was a more refreshing take on organic food than the occasionally sanctimonious attitudes at some health stores, and meant that there was lots of variety on the menu too! Locofama also has a small organic food shop next door if you fancy some fresh organic and locally grown ingredients and products to take home.

Overall, our lunch at Locofama was surprisingly delicious; with the majority of dishes priced between $70-170, the prices felt very affordable (especially for organic ingredients) and the food is simple but unique, and packed with flavours that really shine through. So if you’re determined to get away from it all and want to try a different part of town, head over to Sai Ying Pun for some fresh, tasty organic bites!

Locofama G/F, 9-13 Fuk Sau Lane, Sai Ying Pun Western District
2547 7668 www.facebook.com/Locofama