If you think the raw food movement is a peculiar trend started by the health freaks of LA and Hollywood starlets, who in public down cactus smoothies and at home munch on the Big Macs, then 42°Raw in the heart of Mayfair is here to change your mind.
Brought to you by the founder Jesper Rydah, 42°Raw at the Royal Academy, 6 Burlington Gardens is the latest addition to the cult dining concept of raw food. 42°Raw first opened in Copenhagen in 2009 in collaboration between Rydahl and Kofler & Kompanie, the creators of the hugely popular Pret a Diner fine dining concept. It’s all very simple at 42°Raw – all ingredients are 100% plant based with no dishes cooked above 42° – if cooked at a higher temperature the enzymes start to get damaged.
Reaching out to the local shopper in need of a dish mid-way through their spree and the trendy office folk in the area, 42°Raw offers a welcome change in the usual sandwich-and-a-cuppa lunch menu of the chain coffee shops. The fresh breakfast and lunch menus aim to reinvent sustainable gastronomy with a range of contemporary dishes, with initial recipes created by two Danish gourmet chefs Lasse Askov and Bo Lindegaar.
Try one of the wide range of 42°Raw juices and smoothies, named after different cities in the world, like London, Paris and New York. All coffees are served with either soya or homemade almond milk.Breakfast offerings include a creamy, delicious and completely dairy free raw yoghurt and muesli, served with fresh banana, apple and strawberries and organic chia-cacao pudding, served with banana, hemp seeds, chia seed and raw cacao powder. A combo of fibres and fructose is likely to keep you full and energised well into lunch time.
For lunch, 42°Raw offers and array of delicious and healthy options, with all dishes and salads available to take away. Specialties include their own take on Lasagne, which is a tasty combo of marinated courgette slices layered with a sun-dried tomato sauce with walnuts, parsley pesto, cashew cream and baby spinach. Other dishes include the healthy Thai noodles, and 4Raw special sandwich made with rosemary crackers! Top up your meal with a sweet treat from their dessert menu – try the famously rich and decadent completely 100% plant based chocolate cake. For a quick pick me up, 42°Raw42°Raw offers energy balls made with dried apricots, sunflower seeds, walnuts and raisins rolled in coconut and topped with spirulina.
If the tasty delight at the cafe (which in the warmer months offers a 60 seat area outside!) or to take-away is not quite enough, then you can try to recreate your experience at home as a wide variety of ingredients available to purchase in the shop.
42°Raw
The Royal Academy, 6 Burlington Gardens, London W1S 3ET
Monday – Saturday * from 8.30am – 6pm
Find out more here
(Images: 42°Raw)