The Green Bar, Hitachi Tower, Singapore

I nearly walked away from this place the first time I came here (16 Collyer Quay #01-16, 6493-6948). See, one of my biggest pet peeves is fruit in a salad, and nearly everything on the menu at this place featured something sweet in it. And this wasn't your usual salad bar where one could pick your own ingredients either - you had to pick from a limited menu of pre-designed salads.

But for whatever reason, I ended up sticking around...maybe because I noticed that they had a Greek salad, which was one of the few selections that wasn't sweet. And it was delicious, not only because of the sea salt that they sprinkled on it, but also because of just the right pairing of ingredients that made it taste just right. Indeed, it encouraged me so much that I've gone on to try nearly every other thing available here, including this off-the-menu special above featuring strawberries, dates, and balsamic vinegar - three things that I never would have put in a salad of my own, but that in reality came together wonderfully. No wonder why one of their slogans is "Our salad designs...when you trust us to do it for you."

There are still a few remaining things on the menu that I have yet to try, particularly the Chili Crab Salad and Caesar Salad, mainly because of fear that they won't live up to my expectations of the real thing. Yet these guys have proven my preconceived notions wrong so many times already that maybe one day I'll muster up the courage to try them on faith that these guys will still create something tasty.