Lagoon In A Bowl: Dig Into This Extra-Healthy Butterfly Pea & Mentaiko Salmon Bowl For Only $10 At Amoy Street

The hawker scene in Singapore has changed tremendously over the last couple of years, with an ever-increasing number of new-generation hawkers dropping everything to pursue their collective passion for cooking.

Whether or not this is a welcome change remains debatable, but it is certainly worth exploring what this new generation has to offer.

The Amoy Street Food Centre has proven to be a popular place for young hawkers to set up shop, and the latest addition to the young hawker crowd is Lagoon In A Bowl, owned by Zilch Ng.

Lagoon In A Bowl is a one-dish stall that seems to embody everything that the millennial stands for. The Mentaiko Salmon Rice Bowl ($10) is first a premium donburi which features a thick salmon fillet.

The dish will also score points with millennials for featuring trending ingredients and flavours – that is, blue butterfly pea-cooked rice and mentaiko mayo (on the salmon).

Yet, its most important trait is perhaps the health benefits the ingredients of the dish are said to bring. In a society that is growing increasingly health-conscious (with millennials leading the herd), offering healthy and delicious food at affordable prices is, no doubt, the way to go.

But before I get into the details of the dish, here’s a little more about Zilch and his vision for Lagoon In A Bowl.

What’s the concept behind this Mentaiko Salmon Ricebowl?

I wanted to focus on providing a healthy donburi. One of the dish’s more unique qualities is its butterfly pea-cooked rice. This ingredient has been gaining popularity because of the brilliant blue colour it lends to food that it’s cooked with – cafes are mixing it into drinks, and the Thai use it to colour rice noodles.

But it’s not just the colour I’m concerned about; butterfly pea tea has many health benefits. I decided to infuse it into rice because this way, the health benefits are maximised. 

Why sell just ONE dish?

I’m friends with Daniel, the owner of Gyu Nami. He was doing very well with just one dish, and I thought I would follow his example.

Here at Amoy Street Food Centre, there are already 150 stalls – plenty of variety. I felt that there wasn’t a need to offer more than one dish.

Why DONBURI & why in a hawker centre?

I chose to sell donburi because many cafes and restaurants offer donburi, but they’re all usually very pricey. It’s not affordable to have it every day. So I thought I’d do it in a coffeeshop setting and sell it for much cheaper.

The response at my other donburi stall in Jalan Besar has been good, I’m hoping Lagoon In A Bowl will yield similar results!

Moreover, I feel that nowadays, it really doesn’t matter whether you sell it in a hawker centre or a restaurant. What matters is the crowd you’re attracting. If you have a good crowd, then it’ll work. Lagoon In A Bowl is in the CBD area, and I believe this will appeal to the office crowd here. 

Our Verdict

Before I get into how the dish tasted like, I must first say that it looked beautiful. A perfectly pink salmon, with torched mentaiko mayo covering its surface, sits atop a bed of brilliant blue butterfly pea tea rice, along with a glorious onsen egg and a sesame-dressed mix of corn, cherry tomatoes, and cucumber.

Cooked sous-vide, the salmon was incredibly flaky and sported a nice pinkish hue on the inside. It was cooked medium, and the flesh in the middle had a very tender, melt-in-your-mouth quality.

Just so you know, salmon supposedly helps to fight inflammation and protect brain health.

The salmon was matched with a delicious mentaiko mayo. Torched to provide a smoky flavour, the mentaiko mayo hit all the right notes.

Its spice had quite bite to it, and the flavour of the cod roe was robust and well-infused into the sauce. The mayo was luxuriously creamy, albeit a little on the salty side.

The brilliant blue rice carried a very subtle fragrance from the butterfly pea tea, though the texture of the rice wasn’t the most ideal. It was a little harder than usual, but it didn’t bother me too much.

Butterfly pea tea flower is said to improve eyesight, rejuvenate skin and have anti-cancer properties, among other things.

The best part about having an onsen egg is mixing it into the rice and yielding a wonderfully creamy and smooth texture.

Its health benefits include improving the immune system, lowering the risk of heart disease and more. I just wish there was more of it to enjoy.

The salad was well dressed, and each ingredient was delightfully fresh. The crisp flavours provided a refreshing touch to the rich dish.

For a hearty and healthy meal, you should certainly give Lagoon In A Bowl a try. It’s a bowl of premium, healthy and most importantly, delicious ingredients.

Next time you’re in the CBD area and craving some fancy food that you don’t have the budget for, head over to Lagoon In A Bowl and you’ll certainly be satisfied.

Expected damage: $10 per pax