The Lawn Cafe: Warm, Welcoming Salads

[image credit: The Lawn Cafe]

Salads are often an afterthought, an accompaniment, a side dish. Not at The Lawn Cafe. Here Salads take center stage, and are entire meals unto themselves. 


 

A main order gets you a choice of salad ($8.90) or the unbelievably refreshing olive rice ($9.90), 5 toppings to choose from, a selection of freshly grilled meats and seafood (a steal at $3 per selection). We do like the less common toppings on offer like the alfafa sprouts, chestnuts and cashew nuts.

And the concept of having warm, freshly grilled meat on the salad simply blew us away. Imagine the juices from the meat mixed with the carefully picked greens. The dressing is served separately and you can choose how much intense you want your meal to be or especially helpful if you are on a calorie count. 

 [image credit: The Lawn Cafe]

Meat lovers would be drawn to Ben's Beef Rub- tender chunks of spiced steak with a subtle prickliness that danced on your tongue. It went very well with the Perky Sesame Ginger dressing (sesame seed, coriander root and grated ginger) that evoked memories of chicken rice, yet with a distinct heaviness of flavor from the beef.

And this is where The Lawn Cafe scores. Many have trotted down the path of East-Meets-West cuisine but The Lawn Cafe has managed to meld both tastefully without resulting in poor renditions of either. This characteristic was to be repeated with the innocuous sounding char-grilled prawns with garlic that surprises you with its infusion of Thai flavours (complete with hints of lemongrass).

Where most salad bars would provide the usual French, Ranch, 1000 Island or Vinegrette, The Lawn Cafe offers up to 12 (yes TWELVE) dressings to choose from, leading to many surprising fusions of flavor.With 12 different dressings to choose from, do expect to be overwhelmed in a good way. We personally liked the Red Island (a twist on the traditional, band quite honestly, blasé, Thousand Island, replacing the familiar pickles with fine sundried tomatoes), and the Me So Spicy (a potent combination of fresh chili, sambal belachan and mint). Even the humble olive oil vinaigrette is made with apple cider instead of the usual balsamic vinegar.

But what blew us away was the Maple Peanut dressing that brings with it a joyful sweetness that imbues the meal with a flavour profile more characteristic of a dessert. You been warned, this can be addictive.

For those who are less carb-conscious, the olive rice would be much welcomed. It maintains its 'grain intergrity'- each grain maintains its individual weightiness and texture without the whole serving becoming an oily, dismal mush.

All meats are grilled fresh, on the spot, so do expect some waiting time. And with its location in the CBD, it does get popular with the office crowd during lunchtime. Good news is that The Lawn Cafe delivers, literally, and you can do so online at order.thelawn.com.sg. (minimum charge applies)

The Lawn Cafe is popular for hosting events, from corporate functions to marriage registrations and 21st birthday parties. The Biopolis outlet can sit up to 125 and with the quint ambience, there are many pretty photo opportunities.

In Singapore where the typical fare tends towards irresistibly fattening, the Lawn Cafe and its retinue of salads is a welcome respite, and proof positive that guilt-free indulgence in Singapore is indeed a possibility. 

The soups are popular too and made fresh. Limited portions only (all soups were sold out by the time we were there.) Recommended ones are the mushroom soup and cauliflower with cheese soup. 

The establishment chose to work with Pickat-SG which is a food review and loyalty coupon app because they want to support local products, another reason why we love them. 

The Lawn at Biopolis
31 Biopolis Way
#01-07 Nanos
S(138669)
Mon - Fri 1115am - 9pm
Sunday 10am - 4pm

The Lawn at Shenton
8 Shenton Way
#B1-11, AXA Tower
S(068811)
Mon - Fri (1030am - 9pm)



P.S They also have a selection of desserts too! Beer is on the offering for now but word is they will not be re-stocking after the current batch sells out.