Smol, the cafe and salad bar known as much for its inclusivity as its tasty and healthy grain and salad bowls, has opened its doors at a brand new venue. The eatery has relocated to PLQ Parkside (Park Place Residence), a mere stone’s throw from its previous incarnation as a food cart at PLQ Mall’s Outdoor Plaza. With the relocation also comes a new weekend-only brunch menu.
The new 58-seater is pet-friendly with both outdoor and indoor dining spaces that offer a respite from the heat. According to Smol founder and CEO (‘Chief Everything Officer’) Charmaine Low, it was important for Smol to remain close to its existing customers and the community that has been supportive of it since its launch in 2017.
Smol. Photo © Fen Chia.
Since it was established, the brand has been committed to serving up nourishing fare that realises its ethos of ‘Appetite for Good’, while also creating an inclusive space as a registered social enterprise that hires people with disabilities, Transbefrienders and Yellow Ribbon Project for ex-offenders. Smol has always been queer-friendly and while not halal, has a Muslim-friendly no-pork, no-lard menu with halal-sourced meat.
The menu features no pork and no lard. Photo © Fen Chia.
Starting off with drinks, we had the ginger spice latte and sparkling lemonade, both homemade from fresh ingredients. The latte (S$6.50 hot, S$7.00 iced) was delicious and the fresh ginger juice and spices strong enough to provide that extra kick on top of that provided by the coffee, while the sparkling lemonade (S$6.50) was refreshing and thirst-quenching.
I was also a little tempted by ‘dear goat‘ (S$8.50), essentially an iced latte with fresh local goat’s milk, though I ultimately chickened out as I was cautioned that the taste could be pungent for those who do not usually take goat’s milk. Nonetheless I was impressed that carrying on the spirit of inclusivity, there is such a coffee option catering to the lactose-intolerant, while also sourcing its ingredients locally from Hay Dairies, Singapore’s only goat farm.
L-R: Ginger spice latte and homemade sparkling lemonade. each providing a unique ‘kick’ of their own. Photo © Fen Chia.
While the weekday menu comprises mainly a wide variety of grain bowls for the office crowd, the weekend menu features tartines (open-faced sandwiches), mains and a few sharing dishes. Our ‘salmon to love‘ (S$22) was made up of smoked salmon, house-pickled watermelon rind, cucumber, dill, cream cheese and chives on a slice of sourdough.
The watermelon rind is an intriguing way to use a part of the fruit that most people usually discard. It is in fact packed with fibre, amino acids, minerals and antioxidants. It features prominently in a sharing plate on the menu, the ‘wo de mei ren‘ watermelon salad (S$16).
We went for another tartine, this time an Indian-inspired one called ‘better than your eggs‘ (S$16), which has hard-boiled eggs and curried mayo, pickled cucumber providing an extra tang, roasted chat potatoes and chives on a slice of dark rye. The salmon with cream cheese and eggs with mayo combinations are pairings which cannot go wrong, and the tartines make for a good light meal, though adding a side would make it complete.
‘salmon to love’. Photo © Fen Chia.
‘better than your eggs’. Photo © Fen Chia.
The next item we tried was a mains, ‘ree soto‘ (S$24), a barley risotto with roasted butternut, brown butter hazelnuts, parmigiano and kale chips. Barley has not been a traditional mains of choice in rice- and noodle-crazy Asia. However, it is popular in the Middle East and Eastern Europe, where it is not uncommon to find an entire steaming vat of barley at a breakfast or lunch, which one spoons in heapfuls the way we Asians eat rice.
Through ree soto, we were amazed at how filling barley can be, while heartened in the knowledge that we were consuming something healthy. Barley is a grain with immense benefits and is rich in fibre, vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. More importantly here, ree soto proved to be delicious. The sauce, which features cream, is rich and the dehydrated housemade kale chips add a fragrance that one would not imagine from the raw form of the superfood vegetable.
Each dish on smol’s menu is clearly labelled if it contains nuts, dairy, gluten, or is vegetarian, so those with dietary restrictions will find it convenient to order. Ree soto can be made nut-free if required, and you can make special requests for some other dishes too.
‘ree soto’ – you will not view barley the same way again. Photo © Fen Chia.
We asked Charmaine why the name ‘smol’, and it turns out that it is wordplay on ‘small girl salads’, the original idea for the name when she started off in 2017 at the very young age of 20.
She added: “Our core pillars are environmental responsibility, diversity and inclusion. We’re trying to be the change we want to see, change starts smol.”
Smol may not be a big business, but it is making a huge statement in terms of those pillars. Despite the fact that I am a local hawker food type of girl who seldom eats healthy or clean, I learned from my visit to Smol that it is possible to be big on health, taste and social responsibility all at the same time. And that is probably what has kept Smol, despite its name, growing and going strong for the past seven years.
Smol Café and Salad Bar
2 Paya Lebar Road
#01-05 PLQ Parkside,
Parkplace Residences,
Singapore 409053
Opening Hours:
Mondays to Fridays: 8am to 9pm (Coffee and Pastries, as well as Salads and Grain Bowls from 11am)
Weekends and Public Holidays: 8am to 6pm (Coffee and Pastries, Weekend and Public Holidays All-Day Brunch Menu)
Also available on Grabfood and Deliveroo.
