The Secret Healthy Lunch Spot That All The Yogis Are Raving About

emmakenneally

There is no way you have ever just stumbled upon this place, if you’ve been here before it’s probably because you’ve heard about it and sought it out. This lovely little café is a secret favourite of many of the area’s fitness fanatics and foodies.

Happy Food is the café situated in the Yoga Hub off Camden Place (basically down an alleyway behind Coppers), and it has as zen a vibe as you would expect from a yoga hub. I popped in yesterday in dire need of something healthy to counteract two weeks of roast potatoes and Leonidas. They had a nice little menu with plenty of options to choose from: freshly prepared salads; a frittata; avocado toast; falafel wraps; juices; smoothies and treats. I decided to go for what I could see in the display case- the assortment of brightly coloured salads and the frittata (€5.70).

I’ve read a few times before that the more brightly coloured your vegetables, the better in terms of nutrients, and that people should eat a rainbow of coloured vegetables everyday. This place made it very easy with beautifully roasted squash, red peppers, and a delicious beetroot and red cabbage salad. Even the frittata was stuffed with grated carrot and kale. I also had a scoop of the bean and celery salad which was really filling, so if you’re the kind of person that worries about getting hungry after a salad, fear not. Thankfully, the food tasted as good as it looked- it was very simple, but healthy and delicious which is just what I wanted. I decided to get a green juice (€3.50) with it which was super lemony, but really tasty too.

Before leaving I decided to try their chickpea blondie (€2.50) to take away as an afternoon treat because curiosity got the better of me and I thought it was better to wean myself off my Christmas diet of chocolate and red wine slowly. I wasn’t sure what to expect from a blondie made from chickpeas, but it was covered in a thick layer of dark chocolate so I was hopeful. Despite having a tendency to like all the ‘out there’ health foods, the chickpea blondie was a step too far for me. It was too mushy and wet, but the chocolate top layer was really good so I ate it anyway!

Happy Food is definitely somewhere I’ll go back to. They have great seating with lots of cosy couches making it a great place to catch up with friends or to read a book on your lunch break. They do early morning and lunchtime yoga sessions so you could always pop in for a class and get breakfast or a takeaway lunch there afterwards. It’s definitely a place to add to your list if you’re also on the January health buzz!