Clean Eats: An exquisite clean feast

Clean Eats, a healthy new clean-eating cafe, has only been open five weeks but already has a solid number of regulars.

That's result is testament to the fresh tasty food served at the eatery on Mount Maunganui Rd.

Aisha Paringatai, co-owner of Clean Eats cafe, says after four children she had put on 27kg so she started to research healthy ways to lose weight.

"I came across a 'clean eating' article, which I followed and lost all my baby weight plus I had more energy than usual."

Moving home to New Zealand late last year, after five years abroad, Paringatai says her clean-eating revelation promoted her to open a new cafe in the heart of the Bay.

I tried a few things on offer.

The alkaline green smoothie was very green but also very thick and dense looking.
From my experience with green smoothies I was expecting an earthy-dirty-tasting concoction but I was pleasantly surprised.

Made from coconut water (straight from the coconut), spinach, kale, avocado, frozen banana and honey, the smoothie was fresh and sweet tasting (not bitter like other green smoothies), which left me wanting more.

I've never been a fan of buckwheat as the flour can often be quite heavy and overpower other flavours in a meal. But the buckwheat and chia seed pancakes were superb. Served with whipped coconut cream (wow and very delicious), sliced banana and maple syrup, the pancakes were light and nutty tasting.

Next was raw Pad Thai, a fresh light alternative to a normal fried Thai dish with no noodles or cooking.

The vegan salad was made from tiny strings of vegetables such as carrot, courgette and cabbage.

Mixed into a sauce of an array of different nuts and spices, the mix was zesty and had a real Pad Thai zing to it.

Dessert followed and all I really need to say is, wow. Both the avocado and lime cheesecake and banoffee pie were exquisite.

The cheesecake was smooth, refreshing and full of flavour and the banoffee pie similar to the real thing minus all the sugar and guilt.

The cafe also offers an array of drinks including smoothies, organic coffees and juices and it's good to know that both the chefs at Clean Eats are nutritionists.

I will definitely be heading back again.