A new delivery service in Bangkok wants to revolutionize your lunch break by bringing healthy food right to your office. Polpa offers Mediterranean-inspired salads, sandwiches and meal boxes with some Asian influences. All you have to do is order online, pick a delivery window and voilà. As a health food lover who often laments the lack of wholesome options near my office and in Bangkok in general, this service sounded too good to be true.
Polpa’s website is inviting and simple to navigate. The menu is divided into three categories: salads (THB120), sandwiches (THB260-280) and meal boxes (THB170-190). When you add selections to your cart, you choose what days each item will be delivered. The site allows you to order meals up to two weeks in advance, and there are four delivery windows between 11am and 2pm each day.
I ordered a couple days worth of lunches at once, which ended up being extremely convenient. Both afternoons, a nice delivery guy showed up at my office right on time and handed over a paper bag full of perfectly packaged meals.
The colorful vegetable salads looked more like cuisine I’d find in Los Angeles than in Bangkok. Each salad is rather small, so they are more like sides than meals. The Jasberry Rice & Chickpea Salad was a flavorful blend of spiced chickpeas, cranberries and fried shallots that added a nice crispy texture to the dish. The high-antioxidant Superfood Salad had avocado, broccoli, edamame and chunks of fresh feta in a tangy lemon dressing. Another standout was the refreshing Tuscan Tomato Salad with grilled eggplant, peppers, capers and crunchy bread crumbs. The only somewhat disappointing salads were the slightly bland Pumpkin & Hazelnut Salad and the Mackerel & Beetroot Quinoa Salad with a strong smoked mackerel taste that overwhelmed the other flavors.
Polpa prides itself on using natural products from artisanal suppliers and the ingredients certainly tasted fresh. Perhaps the best dish was the Teriyaki Salmon & Soba meal box (THB280), a sizable piece of grilled salmon served over green tea soba noodles in an apple and sesame dressing. It was filling and delicious. Other meal box options include the Roast Beef & Salsa Verde with roasted sweet potato and balsamic tomatoes (THB280), Grilled Chicken & Quinoa with chili broccoli (THB260) and Seabass & Mango Salsa with brown rice and rocket (THB280).
The sandwiches, served on fresh bread with a variety of gourmet fillings, are also good, particularly for sandwiches in Bangkok. While the meal boxes only cater to fish, poultry and meat eaters, vegetarians will enjoy the Aubergine Caponata Sandwich with stewed eggplant and Emmental cheese on whole wheat bread (THB170). The Lemony Tuna Sandwich is a healthy twist on classic tuna, using yogurt in lieu of mayo (THB170). There’s also plenty of options for meat lovers, like the Reuben (THB180) and Roast Beef & Gorgonzola (THB180).
If you’re looking for a healthy lunch or on a tight work schedule, Polpa is definitely worth a try. It’s expensive, but it’s also convenient and tasty. Just be sure to order before 6pm if you want your meal delivered the next day.
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