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24 Beatty Avenue, Armadale, 9824 6678
My score: 4/5
Health is all very well but I hate tanking up on wellness-guaranteed juice to the extent that I’m too full for coffee or actual food. That’s one reason I love ‘power shots’ at The Beatt: they’re packed with goodness but they’re small, so you can gulp them in one intense burst of vitality and vim. The immune shot with germ-busting ginger, orange and turmeric is so energising and spicy that looking at it made me feel like doing star jumps. Bonus: it was downed and doing me good without filling me up.
Obviously, I moved straight onto coffee but The Beatt’s menu is interesting enough to wake a person up all by itself, stacked with organic food that’s also tasty and creative. They do such nice things with vegetables, chicken and salmon that you barely notice there’s no bacon or sugar. The cafe is run by ex-criminal barrister Ben Rozenes, who decided to clean up before he followed his colleagues down Heart Attack Parade. He sees The Beatt as a wellness hub; a yoga studio is about to open out back.
Anyway, food: the fruit platter is a berry nice artwork, the breakfast salad includes your daily dose of quinoa and kale, the green omelette would make Dr Seuss happy, and the nasi goreng is a nourishing lettuce cup piled with cauliflower rubble, black rice, seeds, spice and fried egg. It’s fantastic. Roast chicken and salad is the go-to lunch. Counter winners include rice paper roll with spinach and coconut pancake and quinoa: it sounds holy-health-freak but it’s actually fresh, crunchy and balanced.
Sweets are made by Citizen Cacao, a raw chocolate purveyor who supplies cafes around town from these premises. I don’t think raw chocolate compares to actual chocolate but if you think of it as a different food then it can be nice: the hazelnut brownie is glossy, smooth and satisfying.
The Beatt has just turned one. It’s bright, calm and as gluten-free as you need it to be. Prams cluster in the fig-tree-shaded courtyard, tradies slam flat whites out front, and active-wearing women debate the merits of bokwa (the new Zumba) and hip-to-strip (the new pole dancing) in the cheery front room. It’s an altogether upbeat place to eat, meet and feel replete.
See their website.
More Courtyards:
Dr Jekyll, 107 Grey St, St Kilda, 9525 5999.
The back deck in amongst the greenery feels miles from grungy Grey Street, and is a great spot to enjoy a classy brunch.
Archie’s All Day, 189 Gertrude Street, Fitzroy, 9417 0066.
It’s a diner, it’s a bar, it’s a cafe, it’s whatever you want, whenever you want. The courtyard is sunny but it’s also heated because Melbourne.
The Green at St Columbs, 5 St Columbs Street, Hawthorn, 9819 0890.
Run as a Jesuit social enterprise to train people in hospitality and productive gardening, there’s ample seating in lovely church buildings and grounds.
First published in The Age, February 14th, 2016.
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