Nani Bowl

It was not too long ago that we had given Gyoza-San a visit at its newest outlet at the basement of Marina One — the basement of Marina One had recently been seeing quite a number of new F&B establishments open its doors especially with how office workers are gradually returning to their workplaces, whilst also conveniently linked to the new Shenton Way MRT Station along the Thomson-East Coast Line. Taking over the former premises of the now-defunct outlet of WHEAT Baumkuchen at basement two of Marina One, Nani Bowl is a new concept by the Suki Group of Restaurants — the same folks who are behind brands like Curry Boy (a stall serving up Japanese-Singapore fusion curry rice in KINEX), B.E.D (a food court concept in the day featuring multiple concepts from Suki Group of Restaurants, and operates as a bar at night), and Kin Kao Young (a Thai street food restaurant with outlets at 313@Somerset and E!Avenue @ Downtown East). Being a concept that primarily serves up rice / grain bowls, Nani Bowls also do serve up Sandos in the morning from 8am to 11am as well; the Sandos being paired up together with Long Black and Flat White for every order. The rice / grain bowls are available either in ala-carte or set (includes one mushroom soup, one drink and one ice-cream) — patrons can ether opt for the mains listed which comes with pre-determined toppings; patrons do also get to pick between the various bases and dressings which they had to offer. For those who prefer more flexibility on the base, protein, toppings and dressing that comes with their rice bowl / grain bowl, there is also the “Build Your Own Bowl” option that one can opt for. The beverages available at Nani Bowl includes coffee, matcha latte, chocolate, barley with yuzu, hibiscus and peach oolong — all available either hot or iced.

Visiting Nani Bowl during the weekday lunch hour, we found ourselves going for the Spicy Salmon Bowl from the Mains section of the menu — the default elements that come with the Spicy Salmon Bowl includes diced salmon sashimi with homemade spicy sauce, Japanese rice, diced Tamagoyaki, poached edamame, pickled cucumber, Chuka Wakame (i.e. seasoned seaweed salad), and cherry tomatoes. Overall, the Spicy Salmon Bowl does feel rather wholesome with the elements it came with — a good load of diced salmon sashimi, diced Tamagoyaki and other greens paired with sushi rice. That being said, the quality of food can be said as rather decent; the diced salmon sashimi being drenched with the spicy mayo — the spicy mayo being more on the creamier side and does carry a rather light kick that should gel well with those with lower tolerance to spiciness. While the diced salmon sashimi does come at a decent level of freshness, it is diced in just about the right size that provides enough bite when had together with the other elements of the bowl. The sushi rice is interestingly served warm; not something which we were a fan of however considering how the rice did significantly warm up the diced salmon sashimi, though it does carry a slight hint of vinegary tang that provided some flavour to the whole bowl. The diced Tamagoyaki lent its sweetness to the bowl for flavoural contrast, while the poached edamame provided a good bite — the pickled cucumber and Chuka Wakame provided different dimensions of crunch and umaminess, while the cherry tomatoes provided a refreshing burst of tanginess to the Spicy Salmon Bowl as one chews upon them.

Having tried only the Spicy Salmon Bowl from Nani Bowl, we did find that their offerings are decent though did not carry much of an impactful impression — there was nothing much for us to pick on what was being served up to us; a rather wholesome grain bowl coming with elements that are pretty typical of what other establishments would serve up for similar offerings as well. Whilst the base price for a bowl is priced rather albeit high especially for some office workers with the items of the Mains section being listed between $12.90 to $14.90, we would think that Nani Bowl is competitively priced against other similar spots within the Central Business District serving up similar fare. That being said, we could not help but to compare Nani Bowl against Supergreen; the latter also being an establishment that serves up grain / salad bowls with the basement of Marina One — the standard price of a bowl is priced lower at $9.80 each, whilst patrons were able to choose between more bases and toppings per bowl. Supergreen also provides a wider selection of toppings and proteins; their offerings being more artisanal as well. That being said, we do think that the offerings at Nani Bowl would still be able to appeal to most of the office workers in the Central Business District however; perhaps not quite our choice for grain bowls in the area, though a decent option for those working near Marina One to consider as a lunch option.