Salad Atelier @ Sunway Velocity

I'm not one who would order salads at restaurants coz I've always felt that they're overpriced + it's something we can make at home (rather easily) if we wanted to.  After all, it's just a matter of putting together a combo of fresh greens and fruits to make a salad.  Except for the dressings...that I've to admit we can't replicate as well (the restaurants' ones are definitely more unique than the ones we can make at home).

But I've seen phonghongbakes enjoying their salads, so I finally gave Salad Atelier @ Sunway Velocity a try when I succumbed to Shopee's Super Deal promotion of 50% off (or RM18 off for a minimum spend of RM36) recently + delivery is also free.  I used to have to pay additional for delivery from Sunway Velocity, Aeon Maluri or Pandan Jaya (coz the max delivery discount was only RM3 then) but now there's a RM4 off delivery voucher (for minimum spend of RM15 at selected restaurants) that we can claim. 

I've never had kale before, so I thought I'd give the Kale Citrus Chicken Salad @ RM34.90 a go.  This is predominantly a kale salad topped with roasted chicken, pomegranates, grapefruit, tangerines, cashew nuts and shredded cheese (which I left instructions to omit but they never read!) served with tangy mango and elaiese dressing.  Luckily, the taste of cheese was quite mild from the few pieces left behind that I didn't manage to pick out.

To bump up my order to RM36 so that I can enjoy the Super Deal of 50% off, I had to add in a can of Ayataka Japanese Green Tea @ RM3.70.  No problemo since green tea is good for us.

The grapefruit (unfortunately) had a slight bitterness to it but (luckily) the tangerines brought some sweetness to the salad as they were juicy and sweet....the pomegranates too which I loved for its crunchy texture and burst of juices when you bite into one (there was just not enough of it).  The cashew nuts well, let's just say, I can do better at home to bring out that roasted flavour and toasty, nutty aroma.  The roast chicken was just bland, dry and unimpressive and, safe to say, it won't be my choice of protein from now on for my salads.

Sadly, the kale I did not love at all....it was rough and chewy...with a green taste, not crunchy nor juicy like say lettuce.  It's a bit like eating arugula but at least rocket has a peppery taste and is not bland tasting like kale.  If each forkful of kale was not accompanied by something (a protein or a piece of juicy fruit), it was difficult to eat on its own.  Yes, I felt like a moo moo cow grazing on grass...great for the cow but not necessarily great for me! :D  I suppose it's okay once in a while because of kale's health benefits but I won't go looking for it anytime soon.  Now I know for sure I don't like kale.

The salad came with a tub of tangy mango dressing and a tub of Elaiese oil (which is supposedly premium red palm fruit oil known for its natural nutrients and health benefits).  The Elaiese oil looked quite intimidating with its ruby red colour, so I tasted it first before pouring it over my salad.  

I found it to be light tasting without any unwanted strong flavours, so I was okay with drizzling some over the salad...but not too much as it still had that oily aftertaste.  I probably used about two spoonsful but emptied the entire tub of tangy mango dressing into the salad.  You could certainly taste the mango flavour in the dressing, so it was light and tangy, but there were with some minced white bits in it (not sure what those were...garlic, perhaps (though it was soft and didn't have that strong garlic taste)?  Could it possibly even be some mild tasting cheese? >.<

For my second salad order, I was thinking of a DIY Salad where you get to choose the size of the salad to suit your tank (aptly named rabbit, raccoon, tiger, panda or dinosaur) and the ingredients (choice of base, main, supplementary, prime & dressing) you want to put in your salad.  But I quickly abandoned the idea coz it was quite a hassle, not to mention time consuming, to go through the never-ending list of ingredients.  When we get to choose, we can be quite fickle-minded and usually end up picking more than we're supposed to (which will bump up the price of the salad) or we could also end up choosing ingredients and dressing that don't work so well together.  Plus, from my earlier experience, I also don't trust them to do a good job of picking all the ingredients in my list, after all, they made a mess of my note to them to omit the shredded cheese in my earlier salad.

They offer a variety of signature salads (as in ready-assembled options so that we don't have to crack our heads to select the ingredient-pairing) such as Greek God, Rama Thai, Vegan Thunder, The Cartel, Godfather and the Rising Sun (though not all options are available daily).

I chose Rama Thai @ RM30.30 coz I remembered phonghong mentioning that the prawns were good and this salad was the only one available that day that had prawns as its protein along with garden greens, mango, asparagus, cherry tomatoes, Japanese cucumber and brown rice as its base.

As far as salads are concerned, I always welcome diced mango in my salads for its juicy-sweet taste.  This time, the mango had just the right ripeness, not overly ripe (nor overly sweet) for that nice, firm bite.

The spicy prawns were boiled prawns with a crunchy texture (a bit like frozen prawns but taste slightly better).  It could well be those already cooked prawns you get in a packet (that we often see sold in supermarkets).  You can see little specks of chilli on them which provided a bit of heat.  They were alright although you can't compare them to fresh, cooked prawns.

The garden greens of romaine lettuce, frisee, cherry tomatoes and Japanese cucumber were there to add crunch and juiciness to the salad.  The few sticks of asparagus were over blanched till soft and not crunchy anymore.

The best thing about this salad was the homemade Thai Sukiyo dressing with its combination of sweet, sour, salty and spicy flavours.  It had a good dose of spiciness with some light sweetness and tartness...very appetising indeed.

The only thing I didn't like was the base of brown rice as it had a dry mouthfeel.  I don't think brown rice was an appropriate base for this salad, garden greens would have been a better combo (I personally would have preferred greens too as a base).  I didn't finish the salad at one go (it was a good portion size) and left the balance in the fridge.  It was even better eaten cold later (after I discarded the brown rice) as the greens of lettuce and cucumber became even crunchier to the bite (this is an excellent salad to keep for later consumption).

Similarly, to make the price go beyond RM36 so that I can get RM18 off, I had to include a bottle of Vitamin Water (Triple Berry) @ RM7.25.  Not an issue since I like berry-flavoured drinks...and this one was refreshing and only lightly sweet which was perfect for me! ;)

My Personal Opinion

Between the two salads I tried, I liked some of the components from each salad.  For one, the prawns were certainly a better protein than the dry roasted chicken and I also like the inclusion of juicy fruits in my salads like tangeriens, mangoes, pomegranates and grapefruit.  Going forward, I guess a DIY salad is my best option (where I get to pick what I want) and hope for the best (that they don't miss out any ingredients).

Well, I'm not one to pay RM30 for a salad....but if  I can get it at half the price, then I certainly don't mind ordering a healthy salad every now and then...and having it with a uniquely delicious dressing that doesn't come out of a bottle! ^_~

Salad Atelier

Lot 5-03i Sunway Velocity Mall

Lingkaran SV Sunway Velocity

55100 Kuala Lumpur

Who Needs A Little Amazin' Graze?

Amazing Grace is one of the most recognisable and popular Christian hymns sung around the world.  The melody and words will get to you each time you hear or sing it...like it did recently when I watched the acapella performance by Garth Brooks during Joe Biden's inauguration....it was such a moving and emotional rendition...and beautifully sung too.  But I'm here to offer you a different kind of Amazin' Graze! :D

The kind that you can eat.....lol! ;D  Well, I thought the gift of Amazin' Graze would simply make amazing ideal presents (for intended recipients to snack healthily and with no guilt during Christmas).  So, here's a look at some of the stuff I bought.

Originally, I wanted to get the Merry Gift Box solely because I thought the packaging was perfect as a Christmas gift but was discouraged by the non-favourable reviews of the taste of one of the items in the box...the Cherry Peppermint Brownie Chips.  So I decided to order the Granola Bites Variety Box (RM39.90, 320g) instead.

The Granola Bites Variety Box comes with a jolly combination of 8 fun-sized packs of granola bites (40g each) in 4 flavours.

2 x Blueberry Coconut Granola Bites - toasty coconut with sweet blueberries

2 x Chocolate Hazelnut Granola Bites - rich dark cocoa & juicy cherries

2 x Banana Bread Granola Bites - banana puree & dried bananas

2 x Coconut Kaya Granola Bites - tropical coconut, pandan & kaya jam

Other ingredients in the granola bites include different types of nut, rolled oats, flax seeds, chia seeds, dried cranberries, dried cherries black raisins, goji berries and shredded coconut.

The other box was the Nut Mix Variety Box (RM39.90, 240g) comprising of 8 fun-sized packs of crunchy nuts in 4 flavours.

2 x Coconut Curry Lime Nut Mix - fragrant coconut, lime-infused with real curry leaves

2 x Sweet Chilli Nut Mix - coated in chilli & tomato paste with fresh spring onions & ginger

2 x Pandan Coconut Nut Mix - glazed with fragrant coconut shreds & aromatic pandan leaves

2 x Zesty Maple Nut Mix - flavoured with natural orange zests

I was really impressed with the good quality and classy packaging that was also very sweetly coloured at the same time.

You get a combination of pecans, peanuts, cashews, almonds, walnuts and pumpkin seeds with sweet, spicy and savoury flavours.

Since both the boxes of granola bites and nut mix contained two packs each of 4 flavours, I decided to cheat a little and swapped the packs around so that each box contained one pack of 8 flavours instead.  That way my recipient can get to taste 8 different types of snacks...hee..hee!  Great idea, right? ;)

I also bought the Chocolate-Coated Almonds & Strawberries (RM17.90).  These are crunchy almonds and tangy freeze-dried strawberries decadently covered in dark chocolate.  Sounds yummy? ^.^

I also got these Dark Chocolate Brownie Chips (RM14.90).  These are thin and crispy layers of chocolatey goodness sprinkled with almond flakes, chia seeds and coconut shreds for that satisfying crunch.

I have to say these make excellent gifts, especially to recipients who practise a healthy lifestyle, since they're oat based, healthy, vegan-friendly snacks where the ingredients are considered superfoods that promote health and well-being.  They offer delicious goodness at the same time to satisfy one's cravings on snacking minus the guilt.  I'm sure we can all do with a bit of that.

Since I did not taste any of the granola bites or nut mix (nor got any feedback from the recipients of the gifts...*wink wink*), I'm not able to give you my opinion on them.  I can only hope and assume they tasted alright like their tagline which says "discover joy in every bite". ^o^

In a year where lives were impacted by the global pandemic, this year's X'mas gifts also took on a concept of health and safety in mind.  With that said, I decided to include these colourful masks which I found online recently.  There are a lot of coloured masks in the market now but these pastel colours are the sweetest I've seen compared to the rest.  You get two each of blue, yellow, pink, purple and green (to match your outfits...hehe!) in a pack of ten and each box (RM35) comes with 5 individual resealable packs (that's also convenient to keep).

My pressies are packed (in recycled paper bags, just added a touch of glitter!) and ready for the intended recipients at our Christmas family gathering which I blogged about here.

Hey, I got one back too.....filled with chocolate chip oat cookies, almond biscotti and cranberry cookies from Chocolat World.  I liked the cranberry cookies, buttery with a light tang, but the chocolate chip cookies were a bit too crunchy while the almond biscotti was rather bland.

I bought all these from Amazin' Graze's online shop at Shopee (that way I can make use of some of my Shopee coins) but you can also order direct from their own shop at amazingraze.com.  Who needs a little Amazing Grace.....or Amazin' Graze at this time? ^_~