The Lawn cafe

The Lawn cafe

8 Shenton Way

#B1-11, AXA Tower

Would like to first thank Johnathan for his kind invitation to a food tasting session at The Lawn cafe. It was a really interesting session knowing how this whole concept came about and I actually find it very apt in today’s busy Singapore, especially for people working in the CBD area.

What I enjoyed most is the concept of creating Asian influenced sauces which brings more surprises to our palates compared to the normal vinaigrette or thousand island dressing that we usually have. Very creative indeed and the other interesting thing is that you get to customise your own salad! You get to choose the salad base, type of grill and dressing. For a glimpse of the menu, please click here.

All the different sauces presented to us. There are the more traditional ones and the more exciting fusion ones. I personally prefer the one with sesame (bottom left), mesospicy (first from the second row) and my All time favourite – wasahoney (top right). The sesame one is really fragrant while the mesospicy is really quite spicy as it is made from belachan. Wasahoney as its name suggests has a sweet wasabi taste and I felt that it went really well with my salad (I may be a little biased here as I like wasabi).

My salad! I had green apple, tomatoes, egg, peppers, raisin, tofu, almond and cashew nuts here! For a salad bowl with 5 toppings and together with a grill, it will cost about $13. It may sound a bit pricey but trust me it’s a HUGE bowl. As a big eater myself, I thought I wouldn’t be full from salad but halfway through I already felt stuffed! Really like this salad together with the wasahoney sauce! The peppers, tomatoes and raisins made it slightly sweet while the green apples gave it a slight sourish, refreshing taste. The cashew added made it a little fragrant as it has a slightly roasted taste while both the cashew and almonds made this salad even crunchier. Tofu was also really smooth and is a good source of proteins! Really love the salad here!

We tried so many grills that night and we have cajun, teriyaki and chicken with fresh herbs here. As a salad bar, the cut chosen is definitely the leaner ones and therefore they are all breast meat. They were all well flavoured and grilled. As it is breast meat, it tasted slightly dry for me but was perfect when I tossed them with my salad which is the way it is actually being served!

The char grilled prawns. Well flavoured and marinated again. They were slightly spicy and I like that. Actually thought that this will be a hit if tiger prawns are used!

And we also had grilled beef which wasn’t overcooked and doesn’t feel fatty at all.

To make the selection of meat more complete, The Lawn also serves this butter seared Dory. Slightly crispy on the outside, the inside was slightly dry I felt. I guess the chef might have slightly over grilled this fish which would otherwise have been a perfect grill for the salad!

We had the vegetarian grill as well and I love it. The eggplant though tasted a little more daring to me. It was a little too sour and also has ground peppers sprinkled on it. The asparagus were well cooked, crunchy and not too salty! I especially love the portobello mushrooms which were so well cooked. Soft and super fragrant, I think I ate most of them and finished it in two big spoonfuls.

Ooo this olive rice was very delicious. Light, not oily and aromatic, this olive-scented rice is really inviting. I could just have it on its own and yet find it very healthy.

Next it came to desserts and we had the tiramisu from tiramisu hero. The tiramisu tasted pretty nice but thought the mascarpone was not sweet enough.

The cakes are from gobi dessert and my personal favourites are the chocolate and the carrot cake. The chocolate cake is thick, rich in chocolate and moist while I like the icing of the carrot cake as it is sweet enough for me.

On the whole, I am impressed with the concept and most importantly, the salad from The Lawn. Love how the asian sauces go so well with the salad, making the otherwise less tasty salad so palatable. Having the grills tossed with the salad is also a very good combination as it makes your salad more fragrant and roasted. The interior also looks very relaxing as it has a lawn-like carpet, allowing people working in the concrete jungle to enjoy a moment of greenery. A really recommended cafe if you want to get their greens fixed and feel healthy after a long working day. Oh and for really busy people who cannot leave their office, you will be glad to know that they do delivery!

Once again, thank you Johnathan for the kind invitation. Has been a pleasure to know that salad can be made this way!