Fresh, light and healthy food is well and truly the way that people like to eat in this day and age. You see more and more healthy snack bars opening with colourful juices, salads and sandwiches. Recess Express, located on Bank Street in the city, is a hole in the wall pop up store with nutritious and delicious food; not to mention their coffee and juices are to die for. Owned by the same people as Bank Street Social this small café is bound to be a hit.

We sampled seven of their vibrant dishes including salads and sandwiches. We started with the ‘Balsamic-grilled Peach Salad’ with mozzarella, basil and grains. This was our favourite salad by far, and when you taste it you will see why. The sweet grilled peach was the first flavour that hit my pallet, accompanied by the light mozzarella and grains. The strong addition of basil would come up every now and again and was fantastic. The flavours all worked together perfectly and there was nothing to fault about this dish.

The next salad we tried on them menu was the ‘Orecchiette Pasta’ with greens, chilli, pecorino and chicken. The plump pasta was cooked al dente and paired perfectly with the crunchy brussell sprouts and broccoli. As the salad was coated in a cream sauce I was excepting it to be quite heavy, this was the complete opposite. The sauce was not sickly at all it just helped to enhance the flavour of the vegetables. The addition of the spicy chicken helped to give the salad some extra kick.

Lebanese food always has so much zest so we decided to try the ‘Roast Cauliflower Salad’ with baba ganoush, pomegranate and flat bread. Flavour, flavour, flavour, from the creamy baba ganoush to the sweet pomegranate, this was a party in the mouth. A great combination of flavours, and to top it off the flat bread helped to give the dish some more substance.

The third fresh dish we tried was the ‘Pearl Cous Cous’, with tomato, cucumber, mint and feta. I absolutely love pearl cous cous, the texture and taste always goes well in a salad. The tomato and cucumber gave the salad that fresh side, and the mint and feta spiced it all together. A stunning combination of flavours, which made a healthy and crisp salad.

Next up with tried the ‘Spiced Chicken Roll’ with fresh slaw and kewpie. The ingredients in the roll were quite simple, but that’s all it needed to shine. The slightly spicy chicken worked well with the crunch of the fresh slaw and the soft American style roll. To top it off the Kewpie mayo (which makes everything taste sensational) was drizzled through the roll.

Next we had the ‘Haloumi Burger’ with hummus, tomato, spinach and labneh. If you are feeling like a hearty vegetarian meal this is the way to go. The haloumi was not too salty, which sometimes can be the case and it did not take over the other flavours. The hummus was slightly sweet and tied in well with the haloumi and the soft brioche bun.

Last but not least we had the ‘Prosciutto Sanga’ with mancheigo, candied chilli and rocket on sourdough. If you could put all of my favourite things into a sandwich, this is what you would get. Sandwiched inside the perfectly grilled bread was the salty proscuitto, which complimented the bitey cheese and the fresh rocket. What made this dish as unique as it was, was the candied chilli, it helped to make everything taste that little bit better.

Thank you to the team at Recess Express for inviting us to try their small, but hearty and interesting menu. Recess Express is open from Monday to Friday from 7am-3:30pm.

Words by Tomika Salerno

WHERE: 21 Bank St, Adelaide