Pleasantly paleo |

The paleolithic diet is raw where possible and full of fruit and vegetables. Above all it emphasises the importance of PROTEIN (lots of it) and very few carbohydrates (if any at all). But “Paleo” is no longer just for neanderthals, it’s for everyone.

Patch is a cafe dedicated to the paleo lifestyle. A cafe without carbohydrate rich food is a far cry the norm of cafes, where muesli, toast and muffins frequent every menu. Without taking a closer look Patch doesn’t seem any different. There were muffins in the display shelf, bowls of muesli on the prep counter in the open kitchen, and there was toast on the menu. However, if you focus in on whats really going on you’ll see the muffins are made entirely of almond meal, the muesli isn’t really muesli but a heavenly looking mix of nuts, coconut and seeds. Even the toast is a special house made paleo toast.

I was ready for an entirely un-cafe meal, but what I got instead was a fabulous Code Black coffee (tried first with almond milk and second with coconut milk) and perfect poached eggs and mushroom medley on crumbly, almond-y, white toast. Usually mushrooms are cooked within an inch of their existence and swathed in butter and herbs. This is delicious but isn’t exactly at testimony to the natural flavour of the mushroom. The ones at Patch, on the paleo hand, were fine sliced and tender. The kale and spinach side order was still crispy and fresh green. These vegetables were cooked, but gently… For lack of a better word… Preserving their natural flavour. Instead of salt and fat I tasted different “levels” (again, for lack of a better word) of mushroom. This blew my mind. Food that just tasted like food: uncomplicated, healthy and inspired food.

I’m not going to lie, I added salt… AND fresh chilli. Maybe I’m not ready to go full paleo, but I’d go back and order the exact same thing again. OR the baked eggs, which one of my co-eaters ordered and that I sampled. A second co-eater ordered chili eggs and was not disappointed, especially with the generous side of fresh chill and the fact that there was a great deal of bacon in his plate.

Because we all love food we ordered the pancakes. That is the banana and almond hotcakes with lemon yoghurt, which, by the way were, beautiful if a little dry sans yoghurt.