A new restaurant that specializes in salads opened this semester. The name of the restaurant is Secret and it is known to provide healthy, homemade foods to KAIST students. To find out more about the menus and to get some advice on healthy eating habits, The KAIST Herald met with the manager of Secret.

Please briefly introduce yourself.
Hello, my name is Seong Ae Choo and I am the manager of Secret here in KAIST.

▲ Secret is located at the North Cafeteria | Ah Hyun Kim

What kind of food does Secret provide?
Our motto is to provide fresh and healthy food. Thus, we put an emphasis on healthy menus. Also, a well balanced diet in terms of nutrition is very important. We try to provide various kinds of food without any disturbance or deviation in nutrition balance. Some students say that our menu selection is a bit confusing, but actually it is quite simple. You only have to choose the type of salad you want and we will provide daily side menu, or “Today’s menu,” which changes every day. For example, side menus for today are stir-fried spicy pork, soybean soup, Korean pumpkin pancake, and more. This combination of salad and side menus is a set menu; if you want to enjoy just the salad, it is also possible. The food is freshly made every morning or right before each meal.

Please introduce some of the menus.
Currently we have eight kinds of salad choices. They are fried shrimp, spicy donkatsu (pork cutlets), chicken breast, pumpkin, crabmeat, fruits, Cajun, and salmon. Cajun and salmon salads are the newly developed menus. Besides the salads, we also provide fresh fruits, rice cakes, and soups.

Which menu is preferred the most by KAIST students? Do you have any recommendations?
I think KAIST students prefer menus that include fried ingredients. They particularly enjoy chicken breast salad and spicy donkatsu salad. Pumpkin salad is another big hit. I would like to recommend all of our selections on the menu. It is hard to select only one because they really are all very tasty. I think it is best to choose whatever fits your appetite the best.

What are the eating habits of KAIST students like?
It is hard to tell because KAIST students barely leave any leftover foods. A few students leave out the salads but most of the other students really clear their plates. One thing I noticed is that, as I said before, KAIST students enjoy fried foods. Once we stopped the fried menus, students made requests to bring them back. Now we provide fried shrimps and other kinds as we did before.

Do you have any advices about healthy eating habits for the KAIST students?
It is best to eat every kind of food without being picky. Eat a variety of foods and eat them in a balanced way. In addition, intake foods made with fresh ingredients.

Do you have any last comments for the readers?
First of all, I hope that many KAIST students come to eat the salads and get to enjoy it. Also, I want to make a request to students to be more understanding even if the food comes out a bit late. As we are not a big restaurant, we do not mass produce each menu. We cook the menus right after we get the orders. As a result, it might take some time to deliver your food so please be understanding about this. We are doing our best to provide fresh and healthy food right onto your plate. 

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