IF there's one company that simply oozes creative juices, it's the Spa Esprit group. First, it had the spa - at that time, blazing ahead of the industry by trimming brows and giving Brazilians through Browhaus and Strip, respectively.
Then, founder Cynthia Chua went ambitiously into a spa-bar-and-restaurant concept with House at Dempsey Road. Barracks, at the same location, was the group's first foray into the food and beverage business.
And now, it looks like the company has decided it's got the hang of it enough to open a 'healthy food' cafe in the heart of the city, 12x12. At Suntec City, the main business looks to be its Strip and Browhaus salons, but 12x12 is a great 'side dish' for sure.
The first '12' denotes the middle of the day, and the second '12' is for midnight - even though the cafe isn't going to be open past 10pm. But think of 12x12 as a 'balanced meal equation', as the menu says.
It's food that Ms Chua herself likes to eat but couldn't find: food that will taste good, as well as make you feel good after eating it. Everything is baked, boiled or steamed, with no frying and no butter. And the handmade food can also be free of gluten and nuts, if you ask for it.
As with all of the group's projects, 12x12 has the distinctive creative interior Spa Esprit is well-known for. The 40-seater cafe looks like the stage set of Rent the Musical, with its gritty city scene - complete with a suspended iron bridge.
It has soups, salads and flavoured rice balls - so that you can have a quick lunch onsite, or do a take-away. The soups are straightforward - with usually two or three different blends of vegetables - but with flavours and combinations less common than the ubiquitous mushroom soup. Refreshing combinations, such as watercress pureed with chicken stock, provide for healthy, tasty slurps. You have to like the 'green' taste of watercress though, which I did.
All the soups are cooked, then blended - for example, the leek and potato, the mussels in curry, green lentil and white bean, all priced between $5 and $8.50.
The fresh salads ($5-$8) are also in mother nature's vibrant 'au naturel' colours, like the brilliantly deep-red beetroots with oranges and bits of feta cheese, tossed in a citrusy vinaigrette, creamy celeraic with cured ham in grain mustard sauce, and carrot ribbons with coriander and cous cous (a sprinkling of raisins would have perked this up more).
For a Japanese twist, there's also a daikon 'slaw' with strips of daikon, ponzu, shiso and crispy nori. Again, for the watercress fan, there's raw watercress with shaved fennel, roasted walnuts and fresh figs in sherry vinegar.
As for the rice balls, they are cricket ball-sized wild rice, red cargo rice and brown rice balls done in funky Thai, Italian, French and Spanish styles. The Thai version is a fruity, zesty ball with pineapple bits, onion and coriander leaves. 'Provence' sees root vegetables mixed up with brown rice in a basic pesto, while 'Chorizo' has the Spanish sausage flavour to it.
You get three balls for $5, as a minimum order.
The sandwich selection isn't much, with only pastrami and Vietnamese up for grabs ($6.50-$7.50). But there are herbal teas and juices, besides coffee with the choice of soy milk. There are also gluten-free and butter-free cakes, which can be quite a dry-ish shock to the taste buds, frankly, and are an acquired taste.
The soups, salads and rice balls look great for boardroom meeting snacks or lunches. The cafe also delivers and does catering.
It's a concept that health-food fans will take to easily, though it might take those who're used to their locally flavoured carbs longer to adjust. So here's hoping there'll be enough turnover to keep the cafe churning out the fresh stuff.
