Thursday 29 October 2015

Of Hits and Misses...


I was at The Salad Bar again. Am I boring you? My original intention was to eat at Lohas, a cafe that serves organic vegetarian food. You see, I wanted to do penance for overindulging at a buffet the day before. What buffet? The buffet served during a conference. Yes, I'm all about the food. Conference and seminars means food and more food.

So, after going for 3 rounds (or was it 4?) at the buffet, I was really stuffed. Let me recall what I had - Chicken with Thai Basil, Mutton Varuval and Salmon in some kind of glaze. That was round 1. Sorry no pictures, not appropriate to snap food photos with conference crowd for company.

Round 2 was New Orleans Salad, seafood salad (the prawns were fresh and awesome), kerabu mangga, tuna and pasta salad and an assortment of smoked meats in a delicious wholegrain mustard sauce.

Round 3 was gado-gado, some more seafood salad (there was only a little bit left) and more smoked meat. OK, only 3 rounds and I was stuffed. What a pig! No, I did not have desserts and no, I did not fall asleep during the afternoon session.

So after all that indulgence, it was time to go vegetarian. But alas, I forgot that Lohas closes on Tuesdays. Bah! So I had to go to their neighbor, the very familiar Salad Bar.

I had no idea what to eat. After flipping the menu, I remembered that they had Chicken Chop which is air fried; a curiosity to me. After confirming with the cashier that this item was available, I also ordered a 1/4 sized Fruity Nuthouse salad to go with it.


The salad arrived first as expected. It's a mix of lettuce, apples, honeydew, grapes, cashew nuts and pumpkin seeds. From what I read in the menu, the dressing is a sweet plum dressing. But it tasted like fruit yogurt to me.


I'm afraid I don't like this salad at all. The nuts were raw (supposed to be healthier way of consuming) and I very much prefer roasted nuts, which are tastier. And the dressing was not to my liking. It was very difficult to eat. Just as well, this was a small serving.


I suspect this is a yogurt based dressing and I do not like yogurt in dressings. It's just me, others may find this salad to their liking.

The Chicken Chop arrived after I finished the salad.


It looks good, right? But looks can be deceiving. This is entirely my opinion, OK? Others may beg to differ.


The chicken was on the dry side. I believe this must be the breast and it was sliced very thin. The taste was just alright. Not bad but not good either. The description is "airfried with wheat flakes batter". 


This piece of chicken needs improvement in terms of seasoning and also the cooking method. Another reason why it was so dry could be that it had been in the freezer for too long and it dried out. With the benefit of hindsight, I noticed the server looking apprehensive when she served me this dish.


The salad was dressed in their Italian dressing which I found quite overpowering with herbs. The fries were well, ordinary fries. They were cut into thin sticks and at best I would say, they were passable.


Notice how generous they are with the sauce and mayonnaise (to make the chicken go down easier?). At first I thought the one on the left is tomato sauce but after a few dips, I realized it was hot. So it must be chili sauce.

And I have an axe to grind with that mayonnaise-like sauce. It tasted really weird. I first dipped my fries into it, then to further confirm, I dipped my fork into it and had a taste. Ugh! This can't be mayonnaise or it's mayonnaise that has gone bad. So I left it untouched.


Well, so much for satisfying my curiosity about air fried chicken. This one was not worth the RM23.18 (inclusive GST) I paid. At least now I know what to avoid at The Salad Bar.

37 comments:

  1. Yikes... I don't know if it is my eyes seeing wrongly, the chicken seems slightly undercooked to me. Well, they're supposed to specialize in salads, maybe that's why they mess up when the dish is not salad. :P

    I don't like those fancy fancy salad to be honest. I probably would not bat an eyelid to this place at all.

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    1. It was cooked all the way through. Must be the lighting. I guess you are right. They should stick with salads and pastas full stop.

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  2. Ooooo I thought you only ordered salad and perhaps a sandwich, wah, chicken chop wor, I thought if wana go on diet, can forget about chicken chop? Hehe.. But definitely not me.. First impression of the salad looks good, with honey dew and all, but when you said the nuts were uncooked, err, potong stim lor, not so nice hor.. The chicken chop looks ok to me, wondering if we can exchange the french fries with a baked potato (with loaded sour cream+bacon sprinkles), kakakakakaka..

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    1. I was curious about the air fried chicken chop. Tak sedap lah. Better stick to their salad and pastas.

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  3. Haiyar!!!! I would love to see the photos of the food at the conference. I dreaded attending those when I was still working - 6 meals a day and after a week, I would come home all bloated up like a balloon! Too bad I had not started blogging then - so much food to show here, there and everywhere.

    The chop dish would be a complete meal by itself, got salad by the side already and you went and ordered one more. RM23.18 for both or just the chop. Chicken is usually cheaper here, unless at wannabe some classy joint perhaps.

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    1. I very paiseh to take food photo at the conference buffet.

      RM23.18 was for the chicken chop only. Not worth it :(

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  4. Ha ha ! You're cute Phong Hong! Whenever I attend seminars or conferences with buffet style food provided, I have to control myself cos over indulgence I will fall asleep. This fried chicken looks ok to me. Maybe it didn't marinate long enough for this fried chicken to be tasty?

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    1. Karen, the chicken was dry and the marinade not suited to my taste lah.

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  5. The chicken chop don't look appetizing to me...

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  6. I eat raw nuts as snacks. Hehehe

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    1. That's the right way to eat nuts but I tak boleh :(

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  7. Wah! You ate so much at the conference but you are a happier person and not a pig. Any photos to show us the pencil thin chef diva?
    The Salad Bar lost me as potential customer now. Lol

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    1. The salads are generally alright depending on which one and if it suits your taste. The pastas are not bad. You can still go and try but stay away from the chicken chop.

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  8. wah.. buffet buffet, buffet for conference, conference for buffet!! hmmm, surely not going to be boring if that's a buffet that you could go three rounds?? hehehe.. i love buffet too, but have been avoiding that in recent years, really cannot eat much, so might as well spend the money to go eat some better food huh?? anyway, once in a while, buffet would be nice too!! it's that "going savage" in a buffet that is fun~~ :D

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    1. salad bar again?? did you say again?? hahahaha, that were not a lot of times you have been there right?? maybe this time you were really bored huh, i mean you did not like the salad and you found the chicken not nice.. so are you going back there again?? or at least you will definitely avoid these two "boring" food huh??

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    2. i am quite okay with yoghurt as salad dressing but then i think not for veggie type of salad lah, fruit salad with yoghurt dressing seems fine to me.. anyway, i think i don't really fancy heavy dressing for my salad, light ones and non-creamy ones are probably my choice..

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    3. hmmm, the side salad for the chicken seems to be quite "baliar" leh, they are The Salad Bar and that side salad just look way pathetic.. the color of the chicken didn't seem that appetising, and that cup of mayonnaise-like sauce, i was wondering could that be a failed tartar sauce actually?? it looks horrible actually, hahaha..

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    4. I've been to Salad Bar 3 times so far and blog about it again hah..hah... I only like fruity yogurt by itself but not in salads. Cannot be tartar sauce also, didn't taste liek it. Besides tartar sauce is served with fish. I won't eat the chicken chop ever again hah..hah...

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  9. The chicken chop does not look nice in the photo. Thanks for all the posts about salad bar. Now I know that I am not missing out on anything since I don't order salad when I eat out because salad does not require cooking so I can buy the ingredients and mix them together at home to make the salad.

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    1. hah..hah...Yup, don't eat anything that you can make at home or can make better at home :)

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  10. PH Bar is much better anytime!!

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  11. I dont go for western food here in Ipoh, not many can really do quality meat chops... I think we can do our own chicken chop at home, well marinated and tastier!! 😀

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  12. Phong Hong, so sorry you didn't enjoy your lunch. I much prefer to look at your home cooked food.

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    1. Thank you, Nancy! Now you have motivated me to cook my own chicken chop!

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  13. maybe new Chef making that dish kot ...LOL

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    1. Maybe lah. Didn't know how to operate the air fryer :D

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  14. That salad doesn't look appetising at all. As it is, salads are already difficult to eat. They should, at least, make it more colourful and presentable so that you would want to eat it. I once tasted an aioli dip that I felt had gone bad and asked for a replacement and they promptly brought me another one that tasted just as foul! :(

    And....there's no such thing as substituting airfried chicken for fried chicken! :D

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    1. I'll have to agree that air frying and deep frying are worlds apart! I'm OK with salads as long as the dressing is to my liking. Well, no more chicken shop for me at The Salad Bar :(

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  15. The chicken does look dry..probably they should add some mushroom sauce or something to make it moist.

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    1. Agnes, they should either make improvements or take this item off the menu :(

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  16. The chicken looks dry but I would never have thought of what u did. I think that's a great and detailed review on the food. It really helps a lot on choosing where to go for meal...nice post! :-)

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    1. Well Billy, if you ever make it to The Salad Bar, stay away from the Chicken Chop hah..hah...

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  17. Yeah, that chicken doesn't look very appetizing! Sorry didn't have the greatest dining experience!

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    1. Lesson learnt, Lizzy. No more chicken chop at this joint!

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