Thai Salad Bowl

It probably wouldn’t be a spot that one would be able to find unless one decides to head into a detour within the building — we probably would not have known about Thai Salad Bowl if not for social media, considering how it is hidden in the second level of Oxley Tower along Robinson Road; this would be the same building that also houses establishments such as that of Gyūnion (which moved here from their previous premises at Sunshine Plaza some time back), and Bread & Butter By XY just to name a few. Thai Salad Bowl is actually located near the shop retailing Japanese fruits tucked nearer towards the landing of the escalators when one heads up from the ground level, though the hole-in-the-wall shop can be quite easy to miss nonetheless. Given the size of the shop space that Thai Salad Bowl occupies, it is needless to say that Thai Salad Bowl operates as a takeaway food store with no dine-in seatings located within — that being said, one can use the small communal dine-in area that the building management has catered for around the escalators and the walkway towards 120 Robinson Road should one wish to enjoy their salad bowls on the spot. Whilst there is no shortage of stalls serving up salad / grain bowls in the Central Business District, Thai Salad Bowl stands out with their selection of Thai-style salads (think Thai Mango Salsa, Thai Papaya Salad, Thai Spicy Chickpeas Salad) that one can opt for in the “Create Your Own” section of the menu. That being said, Thai Salad Bowl does offer Signature Bowls featuring fixed bases / salads with protein for those looking for a more fuss-free experience.

Whilst the prices of the Signature Bowls do seem pretty attractive, we found ourselves going for the Create Your Own instead — this would be the choice to go for if one would like to give more of their salad choices a go, since patrons would be entitled to opt for one (1) base, two (2) salads, one (1) topping and one (1) dressing at the base price of $6.90. Protein and add-ons opted for the Create Your Own, and this is where the Create Your Own can get a little pricey especially depending on the protein that one decides to go for. For our order of the Create Your Own, we went for the Organic Fusili as our choice of base, whilst going for the Shirataki Noodle Salad and Thai Spicy Mushroom Salad for the two (2) salads that comes with our bowl. For the topping, we opted for Garlic Chips, and our choice of dressing is the Thai Basil Dressing (Kapow); we have also added the Baked Salmon as our choice of protein for an additional charge of $8 on top of the $6.90 for the basic bowl with the rest of the elements that were mentioned.

If anything, the Create Your Own here with the elements that we had opted for was a party-in-the-mouth especially when it came to the textures that made up the entire bowl; one can definitely feel some sort of crunch from the onions added to the Thai Spicy Mushroom Salad and the capsicums from the Shirataki Noodle Salad, all of which complimenting the bouncy bite of the Organic Fusili, Shirataki Noodle from the Shirataki Noodle Salad and the Shimeiji Mushroom in the Thai Spicy Mushroom Salad. When it came to the flavours, there is this zingy and sweet note that comes with a slight hint of spiciness; pretty typical of Thai cuisine in general and might be a wee bit spicy for those whom are not too tolerable to lower levels of spiciness. The Baked Salmon does come with a light hint of its inherent flavour that one would associate with the fish, though the Thai Basil Dressing (Kapow) felt mostly savoury — didn’t really carry that note of basil that we were yearning for and can get a little salty for some. The garlic chips were more chewy than crisp as well; didn’t really quite deliver the garlicky punch that we expected. With all that being said, Thai Salad Bowl does provide patrons with a slightly refreshing take of salad / grain bowls that we found to be rather inventive — something worth checking out for those whom are into Thai salads!