KUALA LUMPUR, June 21 — Away from the madding crowd in Bangsar, Organica Lifestyle (Organica) beckons to those who are searching for a cosy hide-out that serves healthy delicious meals. The place also serves as a yoga studio and store for your healthy needs. In the future, plans are also underway to house a clinic with integrative medicine practices.

Hidden within a no-signboard bungalow just off Jalan Maarof, the place which opened this January is the brainchild of best friends, Shantini Iyngkaran, 30, and Dr Anjana Arunachalam who is an integrative medicine practitioner based in Australia.

Walk through the glass doors and down the stairs to discover this small space for delicious eats and their small store.

Shantini, who moved to Melbourne when she was three years old, is more inclined towards a healthy lifestyle, after she went through her own weight loss journey about 10 years ago. Last May, following adrenal fatigue that caused her complete body exhaustion, the commercial and human rights lawyer moved back to Malaysia to set up Organica.

Both ladies dreamt up this well-being sanctuary during a trip to Bali in July 2013. They had envisioned a space that was beautiful, calm and healing where you could eat food that was good for you. It would also be a space to do yoga, relax and unwind.

You could also shop at your convenience, buying for instance, minerals that are ethically-sourced. “Every  decision you make in this space is for the ultimate well-being of yourself. The moment you walk through the door, you can let go everyday’s garbage, relax and unwind,” explained Shantini.

Quinoa Lemak is their take on the classic nasi lemak with quinoa, homemade sambal with tempeh and tofu, toasted pine nuts, hard-boiled eggs and vegetables (left). A recently introduced special is their Portobello mushroom burger, which is served with handout baked sweet potato fries (right).

Initially the idea was to open in Melbourne, but as Shantini explained, the competition would be tough. The push to open in Malaysia was jumpstarted by Shantini’s health scare. “We’re waiting for Malaysia to be at the right tipping point so that people will go... yah, we really want to get more conscious and authentically get better, heal or look after myself. I think five years ago, people were like... oh quinoa, that looks really cool, I want to eat it and they didn’t know why they were eating it and now, people are actually trying to get more of it. So I said, let’s do it, now or never.”

It took them about a month to find the house, which they wanted within the triangle of Damansara Heights, Bangsar and Mont Kiara. “We were always adamant that it had to be in a house, as we just wanted it to be like home. When you walk inside your home, you just unwind. It’s that same kind of feeling that we want people to feel when they first step into Organica.”

The place includes an open kitchen. “We wanted an open kitchen, as we want to encourage people to start to know what the kitchen is like, feel excited to want to cook and people are always curious about what they are eating. If they see how the juices and things are being made, people get inquisitive and they start to ask questions.” In future, they also hope to hold cooking classes.

Pick up good-for-you goodies at the store like healthy snacks from Amazin’ Grace, nut spreads from Nuts Enough and artisan chocolate from India.

Most of their clients trickle in for the healthy food, thanks to a shoutout on the Eat Drink KL food blog during their early days. They stay on as regulars once they have tasted their delicious gluten-free and meat-free meals. The secret to their deliciousness is every thing is prepared fresh upon ordering.

The kitchen in Organica Lifestyle is a designed for a home with a small capacity so bear with the longer wait time when it’s crowded (left). Look out for their bakes on the counter that change daily. The cafe also bakes their own wheat-free and dairy-free life loaf generously filled with nuts and seeds, and a Paleo bread, which can be ordered for take-away (right).

“Everything is freshly made and home-made, like our loaves, spreads and dressings. We make everything except the coconut and olive oil which we can’t make ourselves. For those things we can’t make, we try to use very good produce.” In their small home kitchen, there’s no freezer, as they don’t believe in keeping things for long since it loses the nutrients.

One of Holly Anderson’s creations is this deconstructed burrito bowl.

Initially Shantini admits the menu was very salad based. “We had to come midway to accommodate to the Malaysian palate but it’s still wholesome and nutritious.” Being unfamiliar with what Malaysians like, she first pitched her menu to her family. “If my brother won’t eat it, I know the average Malaysian won’t eat it.” In her first month of business, there were six regular customers who came in every weekend. She would let them taste the food items, asking their feedback so she could tweak the menu.

That feedback truly paid off, as everyone enjoys their compact menu that is peppered with brunch items, salad bowls and even quinoa lemak, their healthy take of the local staple. Favourites include their zucchini and carrot vegetable fritters topped with a dollop of smashed avocado — creamy mashed avocado mixed with feta cheese, and sprinkled with chopped fresh beetroot.

Their famous Choc-Maca pancakes is a must-order with its delicious caramelised bananas, honey ricotta and fresh berries topping.

If you take a look around the cafe, every table orders their famous Choc-Maca pancakes — fluffy raw cacao, maca and dark chocolate chip pancakes topped with caramelised bananas, honey ricotta and fresh berries. It’s one of Shantini’s first dishes — a complete spur of the moment creation she had whipped up from whatever she had in the refrigerator for a hungry customer.

In the beginning, the cooking was solely done by Shantini. Since she wants to focus on other things, she has now hired Joshua (Josh) Shan, 31, and Holly Anderson, 27, who help out in the kitchen. Both came from recommendations through friends and Shantini considers them “blessings.” “It’s been really good, as it’s wonderful that we work synergistically like a family,” said Shantini.

Josh, who never cooked a day in his life prior to working here, was taught by Shantini within a week to cook. Nowadays, he has no problems running the kitchen himself with the help of an assistant. Holly, who is from Perth, works at Organica on a part-time basis. She’s an extremely talented self-taught cook with her own food blog (http://thewanderingmatilda.com) who once made it to the semi-finals of My Kitchen Rules, the Australian competitive cooking show.

The open kitchen at Organica Lifestyle makes people curious about what’s being served in the kitchen.

Her creations at Organica include the Japanese noodle bowl and banana walnut loaf on the menu. She also whips up the daily specials like the Thai curry and deconstructed burrito bowl.

In the future, Shantini also has plans to offer evening meals with the addition of a newly-hired part-time chef. It’ll be al fresco dining on the terrace — a space unused at the moment since it’s too warm during the day. Shantini hopes to open it up from 4pm onwards for high tea and an early dinner.

In addition, she’s also working on making the house garden an edible one with herbs that can be used in the kitchen. Currently it’s in the early stages with just thyme, rosemary and aloe vera growing.

Yoga classes are held upstairs in a natural light infused room.

Upstairs the yoga studio’s emphasis is on smaller classes (about 6-8 people). Currently, they have a total of seven yoga teachers from Malaysia, Australia and South America teaching hatha flow, ashtanga vinyasa and power vinyasa yoga. “We’re very alignment based, not in the boring sense but we emphasise on the teacher’s understanding of the anatomy, ability to cue a student if they are misaligned and push them in that direction,” explained Shantini. In addition, they also conduct workshops, allowing yoga enthusiasts to learn more about the poses.

Next year, Shantini hopes to launch their clinic focusing on intergrative medicine. As explained by Shantini, integrative medicine — also known as complimentary medicine — is a combination of East and West philosophies together, so a lot of diagnosis will be based on tests, like skin and allergy tests.

You can also pick up their daily made cold pressed juices from their chakra series to balance out your chakras.

The treatment is often from a nutritional point of view and lifestyle integration like going to bed earlier, or even creating a calming environment to allow the body to restore and meditate. Currently, on an ad hoc basis, Shantini who is nutritionally trained is carrying out nutritional consults tackling issues like weight loss management or even women’s health. All this is done in consultation with Anjana.

The clinic will also house various practitioners to offer a range of services, like a TCM practitioner, Ayurvedic doctor, Reiki and naturopathy. “We don’t see us as competitors or anything because this area of medicine is very niche and it’s still very controversial in Asia. We are mindful that we don’t want to tread on other people’s territories like doctors here but we have been approached by a few doctors here as they see it as an integrative approach,” said Shantini. Organica is also working with a pharmacy to come out with their own pharmaceutical range.

In addition, Organica hopes to also be a place for others to come together to share their stories via workshops. “The space is beyond a cafe and being a yoga studio. It’s also a space to create community.” Shantini recognises that it’s important to have a community to support your journey to being healthy.

The store within the cafe also offers Claire Organics products.

For their next phase, don’t be surprised to see Organica at your hospital. Within a few months, Organica will be launching their pop-up store at Pantai Hospital, as part of their healthy hospitals initiative programme. “One of our visions is not only the space at Organica but for people to understand the experience. When they see Organica elsewhere, they know what to expect,” said Shantini.

The pop-up will serve cold pressed juices, simple salads, baked goods from their gluten free series, and light dishes that people can pick up to go. According to Shantini, the stall will be based at the hospital’s lobby but will also move around to certain wards to create awareness among people about healthy living and eating. She will also be working with Pantai Hospital to take care of their staff by developing a nutritional plan, supplying them with healthy food and even yoga teachers.

Organica Lifestyle 15, Jalan Tempinis 1 Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur Open: 10am to 5pm. Closed on Mondays. https://www.facebook.com/pages/Organica-Lifestyle