Those of you already on the health food train (get back winter illness, we brandish a raw juice at thee!) may have already heard of Lola Berry, the nutritionist, author and yoga fanatic who's also pretty good at taking a mean Insta snap. But along with all that, she also has a health food-focused cafe at South Melbourne Market — and it's just as cute as it is raw. Berry has teamed up with Salvatore Malatesta of the hip and happening St ALi to bring us Happy Place, a small cafe that deals in breakfasts, smoothies and snacks of the healthy kind. The cafe is a sleek market stall, with an interior of clean white, stone and a charming Klein blue shopfront, accented with greenery. Happy Place is born of Berry's nutritional philosophy and, as such, features a menu heavy on juices and smoothies (a topic on which Berry has written a book, so we're guessing she might know a thing or two), tea (both kombucha and not), alternative hot drinks (such as beetroot and turmeric lattes, which somehow contain no caffeine, dairy or refined sugar), acai bowls and take away salads. It's a severe swing in the other direction from Melbourne's other food trend of heavy, American-style diner fare and polar opposite of Bibelot just around the corner. And while we're fans of both, we'll admit that a fresh juice may be just what we all need to counterbalance the former.
