[content_slider]
[content_slide]
[/content_slide]
[content_slide]
[/content_slide]
[content_slide]
[/content_slide]
[content_slide]
[/content_slide]
[content_slide]
[/content_slide]
[content_slide]
[/content_slide]
[content_slide]
[/content_slide]
[content_slide]
[/content_slide]
[content_slide]
[/content_slide]
[/content_slider]
MELBOURNE | Happy Place is a holistic lifestyle café located in South Melbourne Market, co-owned by famous nutritionist and cookbook author, Lola Berry, and ST-Ali’s Salvatore Malatesta. Lola’s philosophy on healthy eating and exercise has taken the world by storm thanks to her ‘common sense’ methods and recipes for meals that actually taste good. This new café has only been open for a couple of months, but you couldn’t tell based on the crowds that flock here, especially on weekends.
The design of the café is very welcoming, calming and happy. With no windows or doors, light-grey stone benches, and only a few seats out the front, the openness and lightness of this space parallels the honesty and pared-back nature of Lola’s healthy eating tips, as well as the fresh and organic meals that Happy Place provides.
On offer are a combination of drink-form and bowl-form smoothies, all customisable with milk alternatives, as well as cold-pressed juices, chia puddings, salads, vegetable-based dishes paired with protein options, bone broth and raw paleo treats. The Happy Place Bowl (banana, kale, activated Byron Bay macadamia nuts, coconut oil, almond milk, cinnamon, maple syrup) and Acai Aura Bowl (banana, blueberries, acai, coconut water, raspberries) are 2 of our favourites – healthy and flavoursome.
The most popular smoothie is apparently the Salted Caramel, however this time around we couldn’t go past the Pumpkin Pie smoothie (Japanese pumpkin, ABC butter, Medjool dates, clove, cinnamon, maple syrup, almond milk), which is essentially a cold version of pumpkin pie in a drink, and is so addictive. When it comes to warm drinks, no coffee is available, but you can find warm, nutritious options such as Green Tea Elixir, Turmeric Latte and Beet & Hibiscus Latte. The Shroom Latte (medicinal mushroom powder, chicory root, dandelion, stevia, almond milk) is a bit too earthy for our tastes, but would be perfect for those who appreciate those flavours.
Perfect on cold days, the bone broth is full of flavour and is super healthy and nutritious for you thanks to the vitamins, minerals and other immune-boosting ingredients that are emitted from the boiling meat. Kombucha can also help to cleanse your digestive system, and is available on tap at Happy Place. Tasting a bit like ginger beer but without the alcohol, we thoroughly enjoyed both the ginger root and ginger-and-lime flavours on the day.
Inspiring health and wellness through their gluten-free, refined sugar-free, dairy-free, caffeine-free, paleo and FODMAP meals and drinks, you will immediately feel lighter and healthier after one bite or sip. To help extend the happiness that customers feel throughout the day, staff were also giving crystals to each person that ordered a smoothie when we visited. Happy Place is sure make you happy, as long as it’s not a caffeine fix you’re after!
Happy Place
Stall 56, South Melbourne Market
117 Cecil Street
South Melbourne
Victoria 3000
Australia
Telephone: n/a
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: http://happyplacelb.com.au/
Open
Mon – Sun: 7:00am to 5:00pm