Supergreen

Decided to order DIY Bowl - choose pasta as base, soft boiled egg, cucumbers, corn and kidney beans- four ingredients and lastly for main broccoli, roasted carrot and Teriyaki Chicken ($8.80). I choose honey mustard for sauce but I felt that sauce texture was slightly thick and a bit too much. I really like their teriyaki chicken a lot.

for $9.80, you get to pick a choice of base (pasta, lettuce ) , 4 toppings, 1 protein and 1 sauce.

i opted for just the pasta for my base, sous vide egg, corn , tofu and cauliflower for the topping and teriyaki chicken for the protein. i like that the chicken is diced so it’s easier to eat.

There seems to be a time in the F&B scene a couple of years ago that the opening of a new salad/grain bowl place is probably all the rage; thought we were have probably grown out of that phase for some time since considering how most of the talk seems to be more on progressive contemporary cuisine, as well as hipster hawker stalls that are run by young or budding hawkerpreneurs. Opened recently in the basement of Marina One, Supergreen is yet another salad/grain bowl establishment that has sprouted up within the Central Business District — taking up a unit that is just a stone’s throw away from the lift lobby leading up to the East Tower of Marina One, Supergreen is also located just right opposite the new Yenney Restaurant serving Vietnamese cuisine which we have visited just a couple of days before making our trip to Supergreen. Supergreen only offers their salad/grain bowls in one form — Build Your Own Bowl-style where the patron goes for their choice of up to two types of bases, four types of toppings, one protein and one sauce as the basic package at $9.80 nett; any extra base/topping/protein/sauce will be a chargeable add-on. Whilst primarily intended as a location for busy office workers as an option for takeaway lunches, Supergreen does have a dine-in area that mainly comprises of high tables and high chairs with an arrangement almost similar to that of a communal dining table that can usually be found in cafes.

One thing that sets Supergreen apart from other salad/grain bowl spots for us was their interesting options of toppings and proteins that seem to suggest a more artisanal offering as what other similar spots seem to have to offer — think toppings such as roasted capsicum and mandarin orange, while the choices of protein includes Meatless Chicken Chunks in Soy Ginger. For our order, we went for the following:

Base — Organic Fusilli
Toppings — Roasted Broccoli, Roasted Pumpkin, Sautéed Mushroom, Tofu
Protein — Seasoned Smoked Duck
Sauce — Honey Mustard

The choice of Organic Fusilli here does make our bowl turn out to be more of a pasta salad; served semi-chilled, the pasta does provide a good chew as a base — noted that they are rather generous with the portions of the base here, which makes the Organic Fusilli a really good option for those who prefer something that is more on the filling side. Between the four toppings we opted for, we felt that the Roasted Pumpkin was the one that stood out of the lot — rather than serve up cubes or chunks of roasted pumpkin, it is served almost akin to a mash here; the roasted pumpkin being aptly seasoned with pepper for a slightly spicy kick that brings a lot of flavour to the salad bowl; all that whilst being earthy and naturally sweet as it is supposed to be which we found to be really appetising. The tofu served at Supergreen is diced into small cubes; soft and silken — does not require any effort to chew and sufficiently moist, while the sautéed mushrooms involved the use of Shimeiji mushrooms that offered much bite with a slight savoury note. Thought the roasted cauliflower deviated a little from what we had been expecting — Supergreen seems to have kept things a little healthier here with their rendition where the broccoli still managed to have some of its moisture locked in and with a good crunch; was expecting a version where there were a lot more charred florets for a crisp texture and smokier note. The Seasoned Smoked Duck was star of the entire show here — it is interestingly served in a form similar to shaven ham; it’s also similarly savoury and carried a note that is almost akin to cured meat without being overly dry, and is a really intriguing protein option that is something we least expected from a salad/grain bowl spot. The choice of the Honey Mustard sauce works well here — its sweetness and slight earthy notes bridges that gap between our choice of meat, the toppings such as the Roasted Broccoli and the Organic Fusilli base altogether.

One thing that really impressed us at Supergreen is how their offerings are seemingly artisanal as compared to other salad/grain bowl spots that can be easily found within the Central Business District — they do carry a lot of interesting options such as the Seasoned Smoked Duck and the Meatless Chicken Chunks in Soy Ginger that are both items that one is unlikely to find at more generic spots. Whilst the variety here may not be quite as wide as what other more established spots such as Grain Alley and The Daily Cut has to offer, what makes Supergreen especially attracting is the affordable price point of their salad bowls — priced at $9.80 for the most basic Build Your Own Bowl, it is similarly priced (or even slightly lower) to most other F&B establishments within its immediate surrounding save for the likes of Malaysia Boleh! and Fun Toast. Truth to be told, we had never been fans of such establishments serving up salad/grain bowls especially since we have had them a little too often during those days which they were the in-thing a couple of years ago. That being said, having had a whiff of whatever they were preparing in the kitchen every weekday morning before they open for the day got us intrigued to give them a try. We would most certainly be back for more — definitely a spot we will think of if a quick grab-and-go lunch is required!