If You’re Tempted by Tempeh . . .

“Bruschetta,” said the waiter at the new MT Plate Gourmet Bistro, “to activate your enzymes.”

There was a time when health food restaurants were like the now-defunct Organicville--grim, institutional-looking places where the plates came loaded with Brobdingnagian broccoli stalks and compost-heaps of sprouts. But now that we’ve gone through a food revolution of sorts, many of us are not satisfied with health food that’s just good for us--we want health food that tastes good.

The MT Plate, on the upper level of a Redondo Beach shopping center, is trying to deliver just that. Softly lit and prettily decorated, the place looks sophisticated and pleasant.

And like those at many non-health-food restaurants, the menu here is eclectic, full of dishes inspired by diverse ethnic cultures. You can get lasagne and pizza or chilaquiles . From Indonesia there are deep-fried tempeh sticks, with a sweet-soy sauce that is too thin to be authentic. (The tempeh is also less nutty tasting than what you’ll find in local Indonesian restaurants.) There are Japanese-style soba noodles; a sort of Thai-style coconut-cashew curry, nicely spicy but with an alarming amount of brocciflower; and a giant-man portion of polenta with pesto and (not enough) spinach, three-quarters of which is destined for a takeout container.

Of course, if you usually eat toward the top of the food chain, there’s no getting around the fact that no meat, fish or poultry is used here--and many of the cheeses are dairy-free. There are several mock-meat dishes--seitan filet au poivre , tempeh scaloppine--but a tempeh burger, no matter how freshly made, just doesn’t cut it if what you really want is a juicy cheeseburger.

MT Plate Gourmet Bistro, 403 N. Pacific Coast Highway, Redondo Beach; (310) 318-8558. Entrees $7.50-$10.95.