SATS Premier Lounge Singapore Food and Nutrition Review (breakfast)

The SATs Premier Lounge Singapore sits between the British Airways Lounge and Qantas Business Lounge in T1 at Changi Airport. I’ve visited this lounge a couple of times over the years, entering on my Priority Pass, but this was the first time for breakfast. And it was an interesting spread – not fancy but not a stock standard breakfast buffet fare of eggs and sausages either. So is this lounge worth paying for entry? Lets explore!

What’s Healthy?

• Salad vegetables – I love the sight of salad vegetables at breakfast. What was even better was that there were chickpeas and edamame beans available too. These are a source of fibre and plant protein – perfect for adding as a side to any breakfast. The prebiotic fibres are great for gut health. Chickpeas and edamame beans are a source of FODMAPs and so if you are prone to IBS symptoms then be mindful not to have more than 1 spoonful. Try taking a side plate and adding some colours to your meal even for breakfast – don’t worry about the time of day.
  
• There was a pesto pasta salad also on offer – cold pasta is a source of resistance starch which is important for gut health. Adding a spoonful of pasta salad can privde some lovely flavour to a salad of vegetables while also adding some more gut health benefits.

• The roast sweet potato was a beautiful vibrant orange colour and was cooked until completely soft (not crunchy at all). Sweet potato is a good source of beta-carotene – that’s what gives the lovely orange colour. Beta carotene is an antioxidant, carotenoid and pre-cursor to vitamin A – all three contribute to good health.

• There were spinach dumplings available on the buffet. Dumplings are also a tricky one to place (are they nutritious or not) as it all really depends. I have placed them in the healthier section for this lounge as there was only one variety available and there were many other foods available too. Adding 1-2 of these dumplings to your meal is ok, rather than just having a huge plate of fried dumplings with meat in them. So if you like dumplings having one as part of your breakfast is ok.

• DIY Laksa! The SATS Premier Lounge had their signature laksa available for you to make yourself. These bowls were available in a small fridge next to hot water used for blanching. There was a sign next to the noodles signaling these bowls were halal.

• Fresh whole pieces of fruit were a very welcome sight!

• Plain, unsweetened yogurt was available from a fridge in small portions.

Not so great. Caution.

• Instant noodles – while popular, and some people say delicious, they don’t really offer much in terms of a nutrition benefit. In fact many instant noodle pots are high in sodium (salt) which isn’t great, especially while travelling when we are more likely to be eating out more than usual. These noodles had 1177mg of sodium per serving (per container) which is 2.9g of salt. This is just over half the recommended Australian daily sodium intake per day.

• There were 3 kinds of cereals available; a chocolate based cereal, a corn based cereal, and a low fat granola. Chocolate based and corn based cereals are generally low in fibre and have either added sugar or salt to help make them tasty. These aren’t the best choices for breakfast if you are just having these, mainly because you don’t know what is in them and

• Watch out for deep fried pastries such as these chicken curry puffs. Deep fried pastries are typically high in calories and without a lot of nutritional benefit.

• Waffles with strawberry compote were available, with the compote served on the side. The waffles here didn’t look too appetising.

• Chicken curry served with paratha was available. Paratha is an Indian style flatbread layered with ghee and folded repeatedly in a way similar to puff pastry. So while delicious than can be oily. The chicken curry was fragrant but not spicy. There was also a lot of sauce and not much chicken.

• The fried rice was too garlicky for my taste that early in the morning and was made with mainly white rice and some egg. The dish did not have many vegetables in it – not that fried rice necessarily has much vegetables, but this version really didn’t have much at all.
  
• Bakmi goreng (Indonesian fried noodles) was also available (picture next to the sweet potato at the beginning of the article). The dish was mostly noodles, not many vegetables in here either which can be in some bakmi goreng (or mie goreng as sometimes called). It would have been good to have some more vegetables mixed through both the noodles and the fried rice. But since they don’t then try adding some in for yourself or a side salad to your meal.

• Pastries and white bread – not very nutritious breakfast foods. Made from low fibre, white flour – these don’t give you much bang for your buck in terms of nutrition. While there was wholemeal bread there wasn’t any wholegrain, dark rye or sourdough available.

• Chicken congee was also available – this dish is hard to place as it is a lovely comforting dish for many but can be quite high in salt. I place it here but acknowledging that for many this is a preferred and well loved breakfast choice. Try not having other foods that are high in salt for breakfast along with chicken congee, or even for the rest of the day if you can (i.e. don’t go and have instant noodles later in the day).

Final Word on SATS Premier Lounge Singapore

The SATS Premier Lounge Singapore (T1) has a pretty solid breakfast offering with a range of foods (breaking out of the scrambled eggs and bacon buffet mould). While the food is nothing fancy, it did have a fair variety of foods. With Changi being quite the international transit hub, this food offering helped recognise the many time zones visitors may be operating on and also the many cultural backgrounds people may have. There were opportunities to eat well in the lounge however there were also dishes that weren’t very nutritious. There were a fair few low fibre, white carbohydrate based dishes available (think white rice, noodles, white bread, pastries, paratha, waffles etc) and so it is easy to overeat on the refined carbohydrates before jumping on a long haul flight.

NOTE: All pictures of SATs Premier Lounge Singapore (T1) are my own and I review the food from the foods available at the time I visited the lounge. There may be different options available at other times.

If you are flying on Singapore Airlines from Changi Airport, Singapore you might be interested in my review of the Singapore Airlines SilverKris Lounge. Or if you don’t have airport lounge access then check out my review of Plaza Premium Lounge in T1.

(This article is not sponsored but does contains affiliate links.)