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Not Jus’ a Salad

Published:Thursday | June 27, 2019 | 12:00 AMNatovia Shand/Lifestyle Intern
Relish in their special Hot Lunch Fridays of slow simmered brown stewed chicken, quinoa and red peas with side salad.
Using a base of lettuce, carrots, tomatoes and cucumbers their fresh salads take form.
A wholesome pan-seared chicken salad paired with the honey mustard sauce.
Yummy vegan dish of buffalo chickpea salad.
Crumpled to the touch, their black bean brownie was a heavenly treat.
Tenderly wrapped BBQ chicken wrap.
Khadine Smith and her partner Al Neville Hall
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In this Kingston heat of blaring car horns, numerous stoplights, jam-packed streets, neatly squared food orders all packed away in a little van ready for delivery. This is the daily game for Not Jus’ a Salad delivery service. They prepare wholesome salads, wraps and juices. Food recently went for a leafy adventure to the quaint flats of College Common where Khadine Smith and her partner, Al Neville Hall, run their budding business from home.

Smith is a Trinidadian-born student at UWI, Mona, currently pursuing a master’s in development studies, particularly focused on non-communicable diseases. She has a background in project coordination and has worked extensively with international organisations with a focus on public health. Her passion for healthy living and cooking has lead the delectable dishes of Not Jus’ a Salad to take form. Its name was conceptualised out of the co-founders’ vision to sell, as the name states, not just a salad but a combination and expansion of other affordable nutritional meals. They currently deliver on Monday to Friday from noon to 2 p.m. and cater for small events from their savoury menu.

Since its inception in June 2018, the Instagram-based delivery service has been rooted at its location in College Common; however, with much feedback from customers they are soon to expand by August.

“Every day we try to think of something that is considered unhealthy fast food and make it healthy”, Smith explained. This, she boasts, was the spark for inspiring her vibrant colourful salad bowls and juicy tender wraps. “When people think of going on a diet, they mainly think of green salads, so our mission really is to make healthy foods that are mainstream and affordable. Just as we would quickly turn to a fast food or cook shop, we expect people to look to us,” she said

They offer a variety of crisp salads with Parmesan chicken, BBQ chicken, pan-seared chicken, BBQ chickpea, buffalo chickpea, tuna cobb. Their salad wraps of flavourful pan-seared chicken, BBQ chicken, BBQ chickpea and egg wrap are all divinely wrapped in a bed of lettuce, carrots and tomatoes in a soft home-made wrap. Their menu extends to flavoursome hot lunches, desserts, home-made salad dressings and fruit juices.

Smith and Hall said that the crowd’s favourite is the Parmesan chicken salad combined with the honey mustard dressing. The popular salad is created by coating the boneless chicken breast fillet in a Parmesan and breadcrumbs mix evenly and then the coated chicken is pan seared in the oven. This crusty Parmesan chicken then gets added to a base of lettuce, carrots, tomatoes and cucumbers. The co-founders highlighted that, “What also sets us apart is our add-ons and home-made dressings of classic vinaigrette and honey mustard. We are basically customising your salad and you can build your salad almost. We have cranberries, dried almonds, raisins, egg and Parmesan cheese.”

Their BBQ chicken wrap and black bean brownie, quite similar to a chocolate brownie, was experienced by Food. The goodies were scrumptious and lip-smacking enough for you to believe it wasn’t healthy.

Smith notes, “We try to make all our meals as organic as possible and sweeten with agave nectar.”