Growing up in Australia, a place where health and wellness has always been a thriving industry, when I first made the move to London almost 5 years ago the lack of healthy eateries was something that caught me completely off guard. Fast-forward half a decade and the availability of health food in all its guises has grown and remains to grow at an exponential rate! With a new healthy café, restaurant, market, food truck and product popping up every single week, London is fast becoming one of the worlds most notorious healthy foodie destinations.

Last week, we ventured to one of London’s newer additions, maple&FITZ for a taste of their seasonal, fresh and wholesome breakfast menu. Nestled away in London’s Fitzrovia, a borough that is quickly emerging as a London based healthy foodie destination of it’s own accord (The Detox Kitchen is soon to open across the street), we arrived with hungry bellies, excitedly anticipating what this small yet charming deli style eatery had to offer.

Upon entering, we were greeted by a team of lovely staff, busily brewing up matcha lattes and slicing up a loaf of gluten free banana bread fresh from the oven. Faced with a large selection of mostly gluten and dairy free breakfast options to choose from, we felt like kids in a candy store as we perused the options. Settling on a few of the yummiest sounding dishes, we ordered a couple of matcha lattes and eagerly awaited our food to arrive.

Served with a selection of the Salted Date Caramel Toast, the Avocado Chilli Toast, the Quinoa Kick and the Jet Setter smoothie, we were off to a delicious start. The Salted Date Caramel Toast was the first to receive a bite. A perfectly presented portion of thick-cut gluten free toast topped with creamy almond butter, salted date caramel, sliced banana and sesame seeds ticked every box in our breakfast book. Simple yet incredibly flavoursome, next up came the Avocado Toast. Featuring lashings of avocado garnished with lime-juice, chilli flakes, coriander, olive oil and black pepper atop the most delicious gluten free toast, this may well have been the best we’ve ever feasted on (and believe us, we’ve enjoyed our fair share). With our toast demolished, we moved on to the Quinoa Kick (pictured above), a high protein plant-based mix of quinoa, almond milk and cinnamon bejeweled with medjool dates, chopped pecans and banana. To top it all off, we savoured the most delicious berry smoothie, made rich and creamy by the addition of dates and almond butter. Needless to say, for the duration of our morning we were in healthy brekkie heaven.

Sweetly satisfied, we ventured back to the counter to stock up on some of their refined sugar and gluten free goodies (no trip to maple&FITZ would be complete without tasting their array of plant-based treats). As per usual, ‘one’ treat turned into a platter of tasters including an assortment of their matcha, cacao and fig energy balls and their ultimate granola bar; an appetizing array of not-so-guilty goodies jam packed with our favourite energizing superfoods!

A must-visit for healthy food lovers – next time you’re in Central London, add maple&FITZ to your itinerary. You won’t regret it!

Words by Zsa Zsa Vella

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