Chai Bar at Oasis Ara Damansara: Restaurant Review

Salads often get a raw deal from the meat-preferring public – ‘rabbit food,’ some folks scoff – but a fresh set of salad bars is sprouting to change that. Our favourite in the Klang Valley so far: Chai Bar, planting itself this week in Oasis Ara Damansara.

Mix & Match Combos

Chai Bar is helmed by friendly young entrepreneurs Dennis & Edward, who aim to serve meals that can be simultaneously satisfying & wholesome. Customers looking to turn over a new leaf currently have a selection of 75 ingredients & 15 types of dressings to mix & match for seemingly infinite combinations.

‘Superfoods’ Salad

One of the challenges for salad bars is ensuring that each offering tastes like a cohesive recipe – not simply random leaves & toppings slapped together – but Chai Bar has a solution, offering 10 tried-&-tested recommended combinations. Our favourite: ‘Superfoods’ (RM16) – rocket leaves & spring greens with sweet potatoes, beets, avocado, dried cranberries, pumpkin seeds, pine nuts, quinoa & peanut dressing. Add RM6 for smoked salmon.

Each salad we bought was absolutely worth the price, packed with irreproachably fresh ingredients. Our sole regret: We probably should have eaten at the outlet instead of ordering take-out, since these salads might have looked much better composed properly & photographed in bowls.

‘Chicken Rice’ Salad

Another thoughtful twist: Many of Chai Bar’s recipes are playful interpretations of classic Asian favourites – we’re fans of ‘Chicken Rice’ (RM14), a minimal-guilt creation that showcases the outlet’s own-poached chicken breast with crunchy red rice, bean sprouts, onions, cucumber, baby spinach & a soy sauce dressing.

‘Bibimbap’ Salad

Korea receives its due with ‘Bibimbap’ (RM18) – thick, hearty slices of slow-grilled lean beef with hard-boiled eggs, carrots, mushrooms, kimchi, Korean anchovies & gochujang sauce – an illustration of how a nutritionally complete lunch or dinner can be enjoyed here. Plus, Chai Bar makes its own dressings daily – no Thousand Island, thankfully.

The ‘California Girls’

Stick a fork in it: A Japanese influence is woven through ‘California Girls’ (RM23), which pairs kaori-hako sticks with the likes of butterhead lettuce, red coral leaves, pickled seaweed, cherry tomatoes, capelin roe, roasted seaweed & creamy wasabi mayo.

The ‘Porntip’

Think Thai: The lightly piquant, mercifully-not-too-spicy ‘Porntip’ (RM19) mixes glass noodles with springy boiled prawns, young papaya, roasted peanuts, dried shrimp, som tam sauce & more. Could go well with the kaffir lemonade, ‘berrynana’ smoothie & other juices & teas that Chai Bar expects to serve eventually.

The ‘Sombrero’

Amid all the Asian sensations, this Tex-Mex ‘Sombrero’ (RM20) might seem out of place, but it still manages to hold it own with a three-bean mix, peppers, grilled chicken, tortilla chips, corn, tomatoes, onions, cheddar cheese, avocado dressing & salsa.