Agrain

Going for healthy options can sometimes be a burden on the pocket.

Realising that, Agrain founder Jason Ooi aims to offer healthy, delicious, high quality choices at affordable choices for customers.

“When people think of healthy food, salads come to mind but it is not something that you eat daily. some of the choices available in the market are cold and raw, mostly western and salads.

“Here at Agrain, we offer warm food with an Asian Twist, natural flavours, and grains instead of salads,” he said.

Agrain was first launched its first outlet in 2016 in Menara Hap Seng, later expanding to Intermark Mall and the most recent in Gardens North Tower. There are three outlets in the plan for 2019.

According to Ooi, ingredients are oven baked, prepared using minimal oil, no deep frying or pan-frying.

“We did meticulous ingredient sourcing. We use fresh chilled chicken and fresh Cameron farm vegetables.

“Sauces are made from scratch without additives, MSGs or chemicals,” he said.

The menu is updated every four to five months.

With their system, they are able to collect data on which items are popular with customers and which are not. This helps them to plan their ingredients, reduce wastage and cost.

They must be on the right path as they have won the QSR Media Asia 2019 Best Menu Innovation In Health Award and Rising Star Award.

Customers can either choose from preset bowls or build their own bowl.

Items that contain gluten, dairy, nuts or are spicy, are labelled.

The menu is pork-free and alcohol-free. There are options for vegetarians.

Start by selecting your base, choices include ecoBrown rice, pasta, buckwheat soba, cauliflower rice, mixed lettuce and baby spinach.

Next, select your type of protein with options like chicken, tofu, and fish. Customers need to top up for some options like baked salmon, beef stew and white fish.

You then choose supplements like onsen egg, herb-roasted potato, marinated cherry tomato and many more.

Among the choices for toppings are mixed sesame seeds, shredded nori, crispy garlic.

The number of supplements and toppings depend on whether you opted for a petit (RM13.90), regular (RM16.90) or large bowl (RM20.90).

Finally, you select the dressings. Choices include butter yoghurt, rosemary-infused olive oil, basil pesto and salted egg yolk.

If you are not sure which dressings go well with the items selected, fret not as the staff are able to advise you.

I was pleased with my choice of buckwheat soba, baked salmon, spicy edamame, curried pumpkin and chili okra, topped with sunflower seeds and soy lime cilantro.

There are also juices and homemade tea. The mint limeade (RM3) was a refreshing beverage.

True to what Ooi said, healthy food need not compromise on taste and flavour.

Agrain currently delivers via its partners at GrabFood, Foodpanda and Honestbee.

For details, visit www.hale.my/agrain.

AGRAIN, Suite G.01, Ground Floor, The Gardens North Tower, Lingkaran Syed Putra, Mid Valley City, 59200 Kuala Lumpur. (Tel: 03-22020595) Business hours: 8.30am to 3pm and 5.30pm to 8.30pm (weekdays); 8.30am to 3pm (weekends).