Healthy Hub Cafe, 100 Bridge Mall, Ballarat
This fabulous little café is a brilliant addition to Ballarat’s growing healthy food culture. Everything is organic and gluten free. Beautiful breakfasts, healthy lunches, daily specials, and a diverse range of beverages keep me coming back.
Promoting recycling and sustainability, the café encourages keep cups, uses no plastic, and even features pre-loved furniture (not all of it comfortable). The beer and wine is organic and preservative free, and I’ve been working my way through the speciality alternative coffees – mushroom latte and beetroot latte being favourites.
There’s also a wellness centre upstairs which offers classes, massage, and natural therapy.
The food servings are generous and everything is prepared fresh on-site. I like the Buddha bowls where you can choose salads and protein to suit from the daily options. I’ll definitely be back regularly to support this great café, and everyone I’ve introduced to it so far has loved it. The only down side is it seems to attracts mums with young children. But if prams and noisy kids are going to bother you, grab some take-away (bringing your own cup and container, of course), sit outside, and people-watch.
This is a tricky one to review, particularly as I haven’t actually eaten here yet. I’ve driven past a number of times and wondered what it was all about, and a few days ago I found out, and was so impressed I want to add my support to those who have known about this little gem for ages.
I took two work colleagues there for lunch a few days ago – warning them beforehand that it was a down-market venue and to not have high expectations, although the food should be good. Despite my warning, they were still surprised at where I’d dragged them. One colleague had apricot chicken on rice, and said it was very good, and he’d come back again (if it was in a more convenient location). His food tastes are very basic so I was sure he’d enjoy the meal. The other colleague ordered sweet and sour pork, which came without anything else, and when rice was requested, a mushy spoonful was added to the plate with the words “that’s all that was left in the pot”. Hhhmmmm. My roast lamb with vegies and chips was delicious. We then followed up, unnecessarily, with huge slabs of the spectacular looking passion-fruit sponge, which was perfectly nice, considering I’ve never liked sponge. There were lots of gluten-free options, and overall I think we enjoyed the food. None of us would go back in a hurry, mainly because of the venue itself, and in my case, the simplicity of the food. I like to eat things I couldn’t (or wouldn’t) make at home. But it was cheap and good and the serves were perfectly sized for lunch.
