Andy Mossack visits Spitalfields, the City’s trendy foodie market to try out The Salad Project, its latest fast but healthy eatery.
There’s certainly no shortage of food choices in Spitalfields, east London’s answer to Borough Market. This ancient marketplace just off Bishopsgate has been repurposed into hipster heaven with organic and healthy options wherever you look. Small wonder then, that entrepreneurial duo Florian de Chezelles and James Dare after a decade in hospitality chose to plant their first food outlet right here in the epicentre of City foodiedom.
The Salad Project is a delightful dip into fresh and healthy fast food that will no doubt appeal to office workers and tourists looking for a satisfyingly nutritious bite no matter what their leaning, be it vegan, vegetarian or carnivore.
The menu, specifically curated by food scientist and chef Clementine Saxby brings a mix of delicious flavour combinations as bowls or trays that are freshly prepared to order in front of your eyes. The boys are adamant about maintaining a mantra of food to fork quality through using proven suppliers and farms. As Florian told me “We obsessed about freshness and quality. We even get our tomatoes directly from the Isle of Wight.”
The Salad Project commands a prominent perch on Spitalfields’s outer ring by the Fruit and Wool Exchange almost adjacent to Spitalfields iconic Christ Church. However, I suspect these boys will need no spiritual guidance in their endeavours. Florian again “We’re reinventing what customers think of when we say ‘salad’ by offering over 50 different ingredients in an innovative build-your-own process.”
I got there on a dismal rainy lunchtime, yet the place was doing good business. There are berths for 25 people to sit in and I suspect due to the weather there were plenty of customers doing just that.
Faced with so much choice, I tried one of Saxby’s curated salads, the market bowl freshly built by James and comprising a heaped bowl of whole-grain rice, roasted sweet potato, caramelised red onions, apples, spiced chicken thigh, goat’s cheese, maple walnuts and a pomegranate vinaigrette. (£9.95). it was a delicious combo that was more than enough for a very tasty lunch.
But, putting curated bowls aside, you are free to conjure up your own tray or bowl of goodies. Start with a base (£6.95), everything from spinach and cos to quinoa or kale, then choose a few toppings (50p per top) from chargrilled broccoli or miso aubergine to sweetcorn cherry tomatoes or coriander. In fact, there are over 14 to pick from.
Ten headliners are next (£2.95 each); including burrata, roast salmon, baked falafel, roasted cauliflower and chicken. Then some premiums (£1.95 each) maybe stilton, or feta, kimchi or those maple walnuts, and finally a crunch or two (50p each) soy seeds perhaps or crispy chickpeas. Round it all off with a choice of nine dressings and you have your own curated salad project.
The Salad Project has enormous potential and fits perfectly into the Spitalfields demographic. Well worth popping into and let me know if you agree!
All images except featured pic (C) Andy Mossack
Tell me more about The Salad Project, Spitalfields
The Salad Project, Spitalfields, Fruit and Wool Exchange, 68 Brushfield Street, E1 6AG E: florian@saladproject.co.uk
Open Monday to Saturday 10.30am to 8.30 pm. Sunday 10.30 am to 5 pm
