Thursday, October 16, 2014

Kiss the Berry for Acai Bowls

Kiss The Berry
http://www.kisstheberry.com/


I'm sure I'm late coming into the whole acai bowl craze but as soon as I tried it, I got hooked. My first taste was at Kiss The Berry in the city and after that, I tried it at a few other places (in consecutive days) and even attempted my own smoothie bowl at home (made with banana, strawberry and blueberries rather than acai berries). My conclusion is that Kiss The Berry does the best job so I'm happy to be sharing my experiences on here.


The first time I visited this place was totally on a whim. I headed into town for breakfast and somehow the idea of an acai bowl entered my mind. They had never appealed to me before; something about a big bowl of blended fruit and muesli seemed like the kind of boring faux-dessert that only health fanatics find appealing. Well, let's just say that I definitely learnt the meaning of "don't knock it till you try it".


I ordered my first acai bowl with apprehension. There were so many to choose from! For those who know as little as I did about what acai even means, here's a bit of background information. Acai is a type of berry found in Brasil that has become sought after for its superfood properties of extremely high antioxidant levels and some other vits and mins. Acai bowls are blended frozen acai berries (imagine a thick smoothie-like consistency that's spoonable) topped with fresh fruit, muesli and more.

The different types of acai bowls are due to the variation in toppings. As far as I know, you can customise your bowl if you like/don't like any particular ingredient. I was too unsure to be picky so I just went for the bog standard classic acai bowl.

KTB original bowl - with blended organic acai, banana, strawberries and apple juice, topped with banana, strawberries, local honey and chia seeds

I was immediately impressed with how delicious this was. Kiss The Berry uses a crunchy granola topping that together with the fresh fruit slices and cold, smooth acai blend give an awesome texture and flavour combination.

Actual acai blend under the toppings

It didn't taste like boring health food at all. It was delicious and very, very filling. Don't expect to eat a bowl as a side thought or snack unless you have a huge appetite. For me, one bowl equals one entire meal, be it breakfast or lunch.

Snickers delight bowl - with blended acai, banana, raw cacao, almond butter and coconut water, topped with banana, raspberries, coconut and cacao

On my second visit I tried the snickers bowl. This tasted much more indulgent with chocolate accents and a topping of desiccated coconut. Again, it was very tasty and now I know that the reason I like Kiss The Berry better than other acai makers is the granola they use. The crunchiness makes all the difference.

The shop itself is small with an open working space so if you like, you can see them put your acai bowl together. There are also smoothies and other options but no food foods (like sandwiches or wraps). In other words, if you're someone who's idea of lunch HAS to include something savoury, you'd need to stop off elsewhere.

I like the decor, which is trendy and vibrant. They use some kind of shaded lighting so everything in the shop looks pink. That explains why all my photos are so pink too. I was a fan of the music they played and even Shazamed a couple of songs I heard that I liked. They didn't have serviettes the first time I went and I'm a really messy eater so I brought my own tissues along the second time. I'm pretty sure that was a once off issue anyway.

I definitely recommend Kiss The Berry as my favourite acai bowl vendor to date. It just tastes better than all the others that I've tried. When it comes to simple food, taste is what matters the most. I hope they open some new stores in more locations.
Kiss the Berry Açaí Bar on Urbanspoon

1 comment:

  1. Thanks for the review. I always had the same wariness as you described, but now I will give it a go!

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