If you’re a vegan in Cape Town looking for a feel-good restaurant I highly recommend Nourish’d in Lower Main Road, Observatory. Recently voted the 13th most Instagrammable cafe in the world by Big 7 Travel this welcoming space invites you into the Nourish’d ‘familia’.
This is the second Nourish’d Natasha Napoli has opened, the first is still going strong in Kloof Steet, Cape Town.
Tash explains her Nourish’d journey. “In my early 20s I was working on super-yachts but I had an ‘aha’ moment on board a yacht one day when I was asked to chop up 40 orchids because the owner of the yacht didn’t like the colour.
“I’d been on yachts for four years and I decided it was time to head for shore.”
Tash “ran away” to an eco-village in Costa Rica where she lived on a permaculture farm and completed a yoga teacher-training course.
When she got back to Cape Town she persuaded her father to let her open a juice bar in the garage space below his restaurant, Baccini’s, and the Nourish’d brand was born.
The small cafe was soon churning out vegan and vegetarian food and drink for health-conscious travellers from around the world who shared Tash’s highly-photogenic smoothies and breakfast bowls on social media. @nourishdcapetown has 17,3K followers thanks to professional ‘grammers who nourish themselves there daily.
Keen to offer a broader menu and frustrated by the lack of space in Kloof Street, in late 2018 Tash opened the second café.
While the Kloof Street branch serves breakfasts and light meals the menu at the Observatory branch offers more hearty dishes .
My sons and I ordered three different dishes when we met at Nourish’d for a late weekday lunch.
The eldest son’s lentil burger was our favourite. Served with a side-order of fluffy-on-the-inside, crunchy-on-the-outside sweet potato fries and two sauces (cashew-nut aioli and tomato relish) the substantial patty was scrumptious.
Vegan burgers can be disappointing if the patty is too soft but the burger at Nourish’d is just right: the outside gives way with a satisfying crunch as you bite into it and it’s well seasoned with an earthy flavour from the wholesome brown lentils and beetroot.
It’s served with homemade vegan cashew nut cream cheese, avocado, caramelised red onions, fresh tomatoes, krispy kale and the whole lot is topped with microgreens.
I tuck into my colourful Galaxy salad bowl, bursting with bright goodness and dotted with golden nuggets of perfectly fried tofu. There’s also chewy, nutty coconut black fried sprinkled with sunflower seeds and it’s drizzled with a delicious ginger miso dressing.
The youngest son orders a wrap called: “I Falafel in Love with your Wrap”. This is as substantial as the lentil burger and includes “four crispy falafels on a bed of homemade beetroot hummus, avocado slices, balsamic slow-roasted cherry tomatoes, spicy Mexican black beans, coconut sautéed kale and crunchy red cabbage”.
We order a stack of multi-hued hotcakes to share. The four vegan Rainbow Flapjacks that arrive are drizzled with creamy date caramel, almond butter, coconut yoghurt, cinnamon, berries and chopped nuts. You need to taste the vegan caramel to believe it’s not sugar and fat-laden: this is sugar-free, fat-free caramel.
We also ordered some of Nourish’d’s homemade kombucha, a cold-pressed juice and a dirty chai made with the almond “mylk” that’s made on the premises.
Interested in finding more vegan and vegan-friendly Cape Town restaurants? Take a look at The Cape Town Vegan‘s website. He’s great to follow on Instagram because he doesn’t take himself or veganism too seriously and he’s done a brilliant job of organising his restaurant reviews according to suburb. Here are Garth’s Top 5 vegan restaurants in Cape Town.
Full Nourish’d review originally appeared on Daily Maverick Nourish’d mind, body and soul greens up Obs.
NOURISH’D also serves up a healthful Canna Coffee – similar to a bulletproof coffee, CBD oil replaces the butter.
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