New restaurant takes 'boring' out of healthier food

By Madison Bryan

June 23, 2020

Owners Thomas Wood and Carly Li just opened Carly’s Healthy Cuisine on June 11 in downtown Branson, and they are excited to serve the community what they say is a fun and healthier option.

“Branson is actually a real popular place. It has been popular for many years, and we saw an opportunity to get the building, and we kind of jumped on it,” said Wood. “So, we thought it was a great opportunity.”

It’s at 215 W Atlantic St. in downtown Branson and is open seven days a week, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. An important aspect of Carly’s Healthy Cuisine is that “healthy” doesn’t have to be boring. “Our food is classic sandwiches. We do have a cashew chicken sandwich that you can only get here at Carly’s Healthy Cuisine, and then also we have a soup noodle, which is a rice noodle with meat of your choice, carrots, corn, onions and bean sprouts and baby bok choy. It’s very authentic,” said Wood.

“It’s my wife’s recipe, she makes it really well. This is my wife’s dish and you won’t be able to get it anywhere else.”

Carly’s Healthy Cuisine stresses that “balance is crucial.”

Also, everything is made to order. "What kind of sets us apart is that we think that balance is crucial, like meat is OK in moderation, bread is OK in moderation, but veggies is very crucial,” said Wood. “With every sandwich, you get a salad and a side of chips. The chips are made in-house, we make to order.

“The one thing that we do want to highlight is that we do have a lot of veggies, and we end up creating a balance so people will understand that meat isn’t that bad for you. We’re trying to push the fact that balance is key to a healthy eating habit.”

Carly’s Healthy Cuisine is open for dine-in and takeout with 50% capacity due to COVID-19 restrictions.

They’re also taking extra safety precautions to help staff and their customers remain safe.

“We do have hand sanitizer when you first come in, all the menus are wiped down after use and our server wears masks and I wear a mask as well," said Wood. "We wear gloves when we make our food. We do have masks in the back (and) we’re real clean when we cook the food."

Visit them on Facebook or call 417.334.8111