Idealite (品味舒食) is one of the more popular vegetarian restaurants in Penang. Besides the outlet at Gottlieb Road and Queensbay Mall, Idealite has another outlet at Gurney Plaza. The upscale appearance of the dining section implies that we are not dealing with an affordable restaurant.
Firstly, we ordered the Nyonya Rendang Hericium Meal (娘惹仁当猴头菇餐, RM18.70). This is a bento-like meal with rice and several Nyonya-style dishes, plus a small bowl of soup.
The main attraction is the Nyonya rendang curry with hericium mushrooms (猴头菇), long beans, eggplant, bean curd, cabbage and red chili. It is disappointing that the amount of curry is very little, and the amount of mushrooms is even miserably less. The curry is quite thick and milky, but fails to strike a chord on our palate.
On one side, we have a scoop of mashed potatoes with black sesame seeds. Just normal mashed potatoes if you ask me.
Brown rice is used as it is richer in several vitamins and minerals. I am starting to enjoy brown rice nowadays.
As for desserts, there are several juicy watermelon cubes.
The soup which is included is made using wolfberry (枸杞). While the soup is not particularly strong in herbal flavor, it is vital because most of the other dishes are dry. For the price charged, I wish that Idealite were more generous with the size of the bowl.
The food portion is not quite enough for us, so we also ordered a bowl of Green Curry Ramen (青咖喱拌面, RM13.70). Instead of the usual coconut milk, the curry is prepared using organic oat milk. The consistency of oat milk is distinctively different for a change, but I still prefer coconut milk for preparing curry. This bowl of green curry is not really spicy in any way.
The main ingredient in this green curry noodle dish is sweet potatoes. I believe sweet potatoes are responsible for the light hint of sweetness in the curry broth. I like the use of lettuce and mint leaves which give refreshing aroma to this meal.
The noodles used are quite thick and therefore filling. One-half of boiled egg is also thrown into the mix for enhanced flavor.
My initial impression of vegetarian food is that the price is cheap because no meat is used. However, my experience at Idealite tells me that there is a price to pay for not consuming meat.