A new restaurant offers wholesome healthy food that’s also filling and flavourful, writes Aznim Ruhana Md Yusup.
IT may sound strange but the best way to eat at Ours Eatery is to approach it like you would a mixed rice stall. You take your grains, followed by the proteins and vegetables, and then you douse the whole thing with gravy.
Because health food joints can be daunting and unfamiliar, Ours Eatery makes things easier by having all the dishes on the open counter. The only difference here is the ingredients that make up the meal and the way they’re prepared.
“We do minimal cooking at the restaurant,” says Jackie Leong, co-founder of Ours Eatery.
“Protein dishes like the chicken are oven-roasted. Nothing is deep-fried or cooked at high temperatures to maintain its nutritional content.”
Ours Eatery is Leong’s first venture into the restaurant business and it comes from her own healthy eating journey over the past year.
“I don’t want to spend all my hard-earned money to pay for medical bills,” she says on her dietary shift.
Ours Eatery opened in April this year at DC Mall in Pusat Bandar Damansara. It’s a new mall that focuses almost exclusively on F&B outlets.
It caters to the lunchtime office crowd and nearby residents. It’s refreshing to see healthy dining options accessible in malls instead of the usual burgers and pasta.
IT’S A WRAP
Ours Eatery has an open concept to match the restaurant’s Honestly Healthy motto.
As Leong explains, “We have an open kitchen so you can see how we prepare our food. All the food is cooked here and we don’t use preservatives, additives or stabilisers.
“The only closed section is our washing up area. We marinade the proteins with our own sauces, which we make ourselves.”
You order at counter by first deciding on either a wrap or the naked bowl option. Then you pick the Main Combo options, such as barbecue chicken, stewed salmon or an eggplant dish called Imam Bayildi.
This will determine the price of your dish, and it includes one topping and one sauce as well as a helping of fresh vegetables.
Toppings are mostly veggie-based, such as beetroot and feta, pickled cucumber or mushy peas. You can also find the grains options here, which includes brown rice, couscous or quinoa, as well as the non-grain Surprise Rice made of cauliflower.
There are 11 sauces to choose from and Leong is very proud of the fact they are all made in-house from scratch using natural ingredients.
There’s tomato salsa, chimichurri, a Japanese-inspired sweet sesame sauce and a spicy chili vinaigrette adapted from chicken rice’s chili sauce.
Meanwhile, the Creamy Butter sauce that you usually see in Chinese stir fry dishes has been tweaked to suit Leong’s requirements.
“Everybody wonders about that because Creamy Butter sauce is not healthy,” she says. “We use butter, garlic, curry leaf and instead of cream, we use fresh milk.”
TASTE TEST
I was served the Sambal Chicken naked bowl that was part of the restaurant’s Ramadan/Raya special.
It was accompanied by brown rice and fresh vegetables dressed in spicy vinaigrette sauce. The sambal had quite a kick, and the chicken was tender and lean.
Next was the Imam Bayildi eggplant dish with couscous, topped with beetroot and feta. It was lovely and flavourful, and a good choice if you’re an eggplant fan. The Brazilian Salmon Stew wrap is mild tasting and perfect for an easy lunch on the go.
The next wrap I had contained falafel as its Main Combo. It’s made from chickpeas and is baked instead of deep fried.
I found the texture a bit dry and mealy but the crunch from the carrots and red cabbage were a big help.
For dessert, I was served banana bread that was made from coconut oil, oat flour and, of course, bananas. It was soft and moist with a good spongy texture.
Meanwhile, the black bean brownie was fudgy with a strong taste of dark chocolate.
Overall, I enjoyed the various dishes and found them to be fresh, filling and full of flavour. The portions were large, and they come with a relatively affordable price tag.
Leong wants to make healthy eating a sustainable, everyday practice, and I believe that she’s on the right track.
FAST FACTS
ADDRESS: Lot G-12, Ground Floor, DC Mall, Damansara City, 6 Jalan Damanlela, Kuala Lumpur
TEL: 03-2856 0809
EMAIL: ours.dcmall@gmail.com
WHAT'S COOKING: Wraps, grains and desserts of diverse influences and origins
OPENING HOURS: 8.30am-8.30pm
GETTING THERE: DC Mall is accessible via Jalan Damanlela, and is connected to Wisma Guocoland and Sofitel KL Damansara in Pusat Bandar Damansara.
YOU'LL PAY: RM10-RM25 per dish.
ATMOSPHERE: Casual
CALORIE INFO: Not available
DELIVERY: Immediate vicinity only
SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS:
FACEBOOK: www.facebook.com/ourseatery
INSTAGRAM: www.instagram.com/ourseatery/
OVERALL VERDICT: Satisfying