Some new spots have sprung up this month for white-collar workers looking for lunchtime fare that'll keep them alive & awake for several more hours. We'll start our afternoon break with a stop at Simply Green, the latest salad bar to launch in the city centre.
Simply Green is a friendly little eatery in Fraser Place where salads are customised according to the patron's preference & assembled to order. Not an original idea, but it functions fine: Select a base, pick toppings from a long list of possibilities, then choose a dressing. Voila; your personal creation should be ready in 10 minutes.
We opted for the largest salad (RM23.90), comprising one base (baby spinach), six 'mains' (garbanzo beans, roasted pumpkin, grapefruit segments, seaweed, barley & hard-boiled omega egg), two 'supplements' (avocado & Swiss cheese), one 'prime' (chicken yakitori ) & one dressing (green tea vinaigrette _ taking Simply Green's name to heart & going as green as possible).
The result: Pretty reasonable. Most of the components tasted fresh enough; the meat was a little greasier than expected, but this lots-of-leaves lunch is still the ideal counterpoint to a crispy-fried-chicken binge.
Surprisingly hearty; it's a hefty bowl, as filling as a plate of pasta. Simply Green's generous with its ingredients, making the price worthwhile. Smaller salads start at RM14.90, but even those come with one base, a full five mains, a supplement & a dressing.
It'd be fun to build a completely different salad next time. Maybe with a base of brown rice, plus toppings of black beans, broccoli, beetroot, edamame, jalapenos, raisins, cashew nuts, blue cheese, grilled tikka fish & lime herb mayonnaise.
Now that there are two salad bars within a one-kilometre radius of each other, it looks possible that a few more might open in the months ahead; let the salad wars begin!
Wholesome lunch, done & dusted. But before heading back to the cubicle, coffee's essential; that's where The Fix comes in.
The Fix also opened this week, but at another office hub: The Gardens South Tower, home to IGB Corp. & the Joey Yap Conference Centre. Similar to Simply Green, it's a Monday-through-Friday-only outlet, spearheaded by three friends promising to provide top-flight coffee in a speedy takeaway service.
The blend's currently an easy-to-drink Sumatran-Brazilian (probably Papa Palheta's Throwback?), according to co-owner Alan, who's paying close attention to customer feedback; he indicates The Fix is considering some potentially more robust offerings.
Dainty cheesecakes & brownies are now available, with sandwiches possibly in the pipeline. Loyalty cards are ready though.
Simply Green Salad
Ground Floor, Fraser Place, Jalan Perak, Kuala Lumpur. Same building as Mediteca
Mon-Fri, 8am-8pm
The Fix Coffee
Lobby, The Gardens South Tower, Mid Valley City, Kuala Lumpur
Mon-Fri, 8am-430pm
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