Have you ever wanted the satisfaction that comes from indulging in a big plate of stir fry but didn’t want to deal with the grease? Honeygrow located on Rockville Pike next to Cava is a new chain restaurant that provides a healthy alternative.
The interior is simple and modern with plenty of seating. At around 4 p.m. the restaurant was partly empty and quiet. The decorations on the wall displayed where the ingredients they use come from and their healthy benefits.
Instead of speaking with a cashier to order, there are two large touch screens to select and customize your meal. On the touch screen, you can select different items to put in your cart. You have the options between a stir fry or salad and both are fully customizable. “It’s basically Chipotle but for stir fry, which is cool,” junior David Mejia said.
I chose a stir fry with egg white noodles, sesame garlic sauce, broccoli, chicken and sesame seeds. I found the touch screen to be surprisingly easy to use, but I appreciated when one of the workers asked me if I had any questions. There is a credit card reader on the side of the screen, which made the paying process slightly faster. Once I paid for my meal, I could see the cooks begin working on my meal immediately.
After about five minutes, I was alerted that my food was ready as a worker called my number and placed my meal on the table. There was a hearty amount of noodles and the paper bowl was considerably heavy. The sesame garlic sauce was a perfect blend of garlic and sesame. The sauce was particularly interesting as I have never tasted a sauce like it. The noodles were firm and the chicken was white and tasted fresh. Overall, the stir fry tasted like a healthier and fresher version of your local Chinese restaurant.
If you choose to order a stir fry, you can pick between egg white or whole wheat noodles, rice noodles, brown rice, or Boston lettuce cups. Then you choose one of their house made sauces. The options include spicy garlic, sweet soy five spice, sesame garlic, red coconut curry and roasted garlic tahini. Next, you choose three vegetables and two garnishes. You can also add protein, which costs extra, such as roasted spicy tofu, cage-free egg, all-natural roast pork, all-natural roast chicken, naturally raised beef, roasted shrimp and togarashi spiced turkey.
If you choose to order a salad, the base can be either lettuce, noodle or wheat berries. Next you can choose from their house made dressings such as red wine dijon vinaigrette, walnut lemon dressing, sriracha tahini dressing, olive oil and balsamic vinegar, lemon squeeze, pomegranate vinaigrette, honey ginger vinaigrette and white balsamic vinaigrette. “I haven’t gone to Honeygrow yet, but as a vegetarian I appreciate the variety of sauces and fresh vegetables,” senior Amritha Sridhar said.
They also have options for red, green, or orange sugar free cold pressed juices. The red juice contains watermelon, beet, lemon and raspberry. The green juice contains apple, spinach, cucumber, lemon and basil. The orange juice contains orange, carrot, lemon and ginger.
If you are looking for a new health spot to get a filling yet healthy meal, then Honeygrow will not disappoint. I recommend everyone go and see what combination of stir fry and salad works best for them. “I’ve seen the promotions for Honeygrow on my Instagram feed and it looked really good. I’m definitely going to go try it sometime,” senior Maddie Lee said.
