Unley-based restaurant Caffe Paparazzi have always focused on delivering hearty Italian food packed with flavor. However, with awareness about healthy eating growing rapidly, Caffe Paparazzi wanted to incorporate some healthier options into the menu. So came about their clean eating menu, extra additions to the already lengthy menu to give health-conscious people some tasty options. The recipes were created by owner Mirella Morizzi in collaboration with health guru Dr Andrea Robertson, who has recently released a book called The Nutrition Detective Solution, which contains 116 recipes that take traditional meals and remake them into healthier versions of themselves.
The new menu options are free of preservatives, gluten, processed sugar and cow’s dairy, and a few dishes are vegetarian. On offer are a selection of desserts, salads and snacks, and the lunch and dinner section boasts tasty options including Zucchini Slice and Fabulous Salad, Spaghetti Bolognese with Zucchini Pasta, I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter Chicken, Grilled Barramundi with Mediterranean Quinoa Salad and Broccoli and No Bun Burger and Fabulous Salad with Sunflower Seed Dressing.
For all who are curious to know how well zucchini replaces pasta in a dish, rest assured it is well. It was slightly crunchier than traditional pasta, but still had the same consistency and paired with a bolognese sauce created a hearty meal. The grilled barramundi was light and pulled apart easily, and came with a quinoa salad that was bursting with flavour. The butter chicken was decidedly less buttery and heavy than typical butter chicken, which was an interesting change, however it still had all the elements of a good curry.
The first round of dessert was a Banoffee Parfait which consisted of cashews, dates, arrowroot, vanilla, bananas and walnuts and was so refreshing and perfectly complimented the healthy meals we tried earlier. Next came a smorgasbord of bite size samples of each of the other desserts, which were the Triple Choc Swirl Cashew Cheesecake, Lime and Kiwi Cashew Cheesecake, Berry Delicious Cashew Cheesecake, Andrea’s Best Bliss Balls and Paleo Florentine Spiders. The cashew cheesecakes were all slightly less sweet than typical cheesecake, which was good as they can often be too sickly overpowering, and each topped with various fruits.
We left the restaurant feeling full and energised rather than heavy and sleepy, which was a nice chance since they packed us full of as much food as humanly possible. We’d like to give a special mention to the owner Mirella, who was constantly fluttering around making sure everyone was happy and had more than enough to eat.
For more information, you can check out their website here.
