salad stop
Stop presents a range of choices for those who want something guiltfree but still fulfilling
The question I needed to answer was this: if I stopped for a salad for dinner, after a hectic ten-hour day, will I be completely satisfied and fully sated? Conventional wisdom and my own experiences dictate otherwise: that my belly will continue to rumble and demand that I make a quick detour and not-so-surreptitiously devour a greasy burger to be really happy. But many friends, whose opinions I trust, advised me that indeed, it could happen. That I could be perfectly pleased with a salad, and just a salad, after a long and stressful series of shoots, events, and meetings. I needed to find out for myself. So with great trepidation, I headed to the Salad Stop in Glorietta, so beautifully and brightly lit that it must act like a beacon for lost vegetarians wandering around, looking for sustenance in the meat-filled mall landscape. I felt like I was the enemy; the polar opposite of the target market of this healthy food chain from Singapore.
The counter is a kaleidoscope world, a rainbow of dazzling colors and textures underneath a clear glass top. For the base: Romaine, white and red cabbage, plus rocket leaves and baby spinach. Sixty ingredients and toppings to choose from, including crabsticks, chickpeas, edamame, soba noodles, ripe mangoes, green apples, toasted almonds, smoked salmon, feta cheese, and so much more. A choice of 18 homemade dressings, Asian to Western: from Japanese Miso to Singaporean Chili Crab to Thai Lemongrass, all the way to Italian Basil and Pesto, French Honey Dijon, and All-American Ranch. I was tempted to assemble my own unique creation, but I suspected that the regulars in the queue forming behind me were getting hungry, and I didn’t want them to start hating on an indecisive noob taking too long to order. So I opted for one of the signature salads: the “Hail Caesar”.
It’s a big, deep bowl of crisp lettuce, lashings of shaved Parmesan, a shower of chopped up hard boiled eggs, a generous sprinkling of croutons, and inevitably, bacon bits. Lots of bacon bits. The secret sauce, if you will, lies in the dressing. It’s extremely tasty, reminiscent
HAIL CAESAR’ IS A big, deep bowl of crisp lettuce, lashings of shaved Parmesan, a shower of chopped up hard boiled eggs, a generous sprinkling of cr outons, AND bacon bits
of my childhood favorite from Mario’s, and this salad’s success lies in the way each component is coated with the classic Caesar dressing. It was seriously good, but I couldn’t finish it. It’s a humongous serving, I kept on digging but the salad seemed bottomless. A seriously excellent deal for only P260. I ended up taking a third of it home, where it promptly disappeared during a midnight raid to the refrigerator four hours later. It still was as scrumptious as it was in the store.
So I found the answer to my question. A salad could, and did satisfy me. I’m a convert, but in the interests of full disclosure, my Caesar had a total of 526 kcal. So no, it’s not necessarily diet food, but yes, it is healthier than most of my usual choices. On my next salad stop, I’ll probably settle for the raspberry vinaigrette. But I’m not worried. I’m certain it’ll be just as tasty. And certainly even better for me.