The artful sushi roll is all rice and veggies. (Zhang Wei/China Daily)
His favorite dish on the current menu is the green-tea cold noodle, adapted from a Korean classic with some simple changes to make it his own version, such as replacing the traditional peanuts with cashews for their health benefits.
One secret to make healthy food delicious, the chef says, is to meld flavors, mixing spicy, sour, bitter, sweet and salty flavors into each dish to make it delicious.
Another secret is using ingredients that are "fresh and as close to raw as possible", he says. The fresher and less processed the ingredients are, the more nutrients will be kept, he explains, adding almost all dishes on the menu feature something raw.
On my recent visit, just as the chef predicted, I liked the green-tea cold noodle very much.
It was ice-cold refreshing, and had a light but pleasant aroma of soybean milk, with plenty of fresh cucumber, kale, pickled radish and sesame.
The noodles got softer as we waited for the photographer to finish taking photos, but they were still very tasty and chewy.
To make the soybean milk used in the dish, the chef soaks the beans in water for more than two days, instead of the usual few hours, until they start to sprout.
The nutrients beans have are mostly protein and carbohydrates, but once they begin to grow, they will have more vitamins inside, Trowbridge explains.
Also, he says, the longer the soaking, the less heat is needed to cook the soybean milk, so fewer nutrients will be destroyed by heat.
The Israel lentil bowl also contains rice that gets a long soak in water, for at least 24 hours until they sprout, before getting boiled for a short time and steamed.
The base underneath is five grains－red rice, brown rice, quinoa, buckwheat and millet－and the topping is spiced lentils, pickled peppers, toasted cauliflower and beet hummus. It is served with green tahini sauce.
The rice is flavored with vinegar and honey; the lentils and cauliflower with turmeric, cumin and fennel; and the beet hummus gets extra zip from lemon and orange juice. The large family of ingredients suggests healthy and nutrient-dense eating.
My favorite dish that day was the "cheesecake" made of raw beets and cashews.
The chef softens the two ingredients by soaking them. Then he smashes the beets and cashews, sweetens the mix with honey, and puts the mixture in a refrigerator for five to six hours before serving with seasonal fruit.
The cashew and beet combine to produce a texture like cheesecake, but provide healthy protein and vitamins instead of fat.
The restaurant has a large menu of drinks, including various fruit juices, and sells coffee made with organic beans and milk at a competitive price.
Tribe Organic also holds seminars focusing on healthy eating every month.
If you go
10:30 am-10:30 pm daily; Building 3, China View, 2 Gongti Dong Lu, Chaoyang district, Beijing. 010-8587-1899. Tribeorganic.com.
