Saludable: Fresh Salads & Frozen Yoghurt in New Cairo’s Downtown Katameya Mall

Cafés

Saludable

- 10/03/2013

Saludable: Fresh Salads & Frozen Yoghurt in New Cairo’s Downtown Katameya Mall

Downtown Katameya Mall, S1 Building, Road 90, Fifth Settlement
0229200411
8.30AM-midnight -

reviewed by

Jessica Noble

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Saludable: Fresh Salads & Frozen Yoghurt in New Cairo’s Downtown Katameya Mall

Hidden within the gleaming walls of Downtown Katameya Mall in New Cairo, newly opened salad bar, Saludable, entices healthy eating fanatics with its brightly coloured walls and giant neon beanbags contrasted with sterile whites and large, clean buffet bars. Claiming to offer ‘a shortcut to happiness’ we popped in anticipating something wonderful.

Like a few other establishments in Cairo, their main concept is healthy eating – salads and pasta salads being the main meals on offer. There are several high tables with brightly coloured stools for seating, along with a takeaway option. The menu, like their concept, is both straight to the point and simple, offering a choice between salads or salad wraps (20LE-32LE), light pastas (30-40LE) and frozen yoghurt (20LE-40LE) for dessert. Fresh fruit juices are also coming soon.

Casually moving around the separate stations for each section, we appreciated the wide range of fresh looking potential ingredients; from the usual lettuce, tomato and cucumber, to a range of extras including red kidney beans, chickpeas, boiled eggs and pickles. For a small extra fee (5LE-7LE each), meat in the form of grilled chicken, turkey, tuna, beef and salmon can also be added to your salad or pasta dish. All the staff wear immaculate uniforms and plastic gloves when putting together the food which helps ease any hygiene fears.

We went for a straight forward salad with all the toppings of our choice; lettuce as our base, tomato, cucumber, red and yellow peppers, black olives, feta cheese and grilled chicken. Out of Caesar dressing, honey mustard, oil and vinegar, balsamic, sweet chilli and Thousand Island dressings, the latter took our fancy. As we suspected, each ingredient was fresh and chilled with the crunchy lettuce creating a nice base for the sweet peppers, ripe tomatoes, juicy cucumber and salty olives. The feta came in thick and creamy cubes, whilst the small pieces of grilled chicken remained moist and perfectly cooked. Although it was a good bundle of greeny goodness, the Thousand Island dressing was watery and tasteless.

We finished off with a regular sized berry frozen yoghurt (20LE) which, much to our delight, was absolutely delicious. Saludable allows for one, three or five toppings of fresh fruit (5LE/10LE/15LE), but as we arrived a little late in the day, none were available. Nevertheless, we happily inhaled a plain one which tasted exactly like a wild berry yoghurt, frozen straight from the pot; it was delectable, deliciously sweet and smooth.

Saludable is yet another contender presenting the concept of a healthy fast food in the form of a create-your-own salad bar with fresh ingredients but poorly mixed dressings. However, we’ll probably be re-visiting for a healthy lunch and some more scrumptious frozen yoghurts.