Story & photos Matthew Michaelis
This one’s for the locals to take heed of.
I came here to meet with a coffee grower that I was featuring in last week’s issue . Robert Frater prefers to share the love of his coffee blends with locals and his recommendation to meet at Soul Bowl opposite the Surf Club in Byron was probably a shameless plug for his own coffee, but I can’t blame him for that – it’s on sale here and it’s a good brew.
The place started to catch my eye as we talked, not because it stands out; it’s a fairly standard concept juice and salad bar. It’s clean and shiny with a large windowed salad display, drinks fridge and stainless benches – all as you’d expect to find in similar healthy-food places. No, it was my ear that caught the endearing comments coming forth from a table of travellers.
I assumed they were from somewhere else as their accents were musical and not quite as jarring as our own can be. I sidled up to their table and asked these three where they hailed from, and what drew them to the Soul Bowl.
Betham, Holly and Steph are travellers from Wales who put me straight without a vested interest in sight. They were very clear about the fact that in Wales cuisine is a ‘pie and chips, pastry and pizza’ affair.
The praise went on as they explained that here they get ‘healthy stuff’ they just don’t get in Wales. A meal made from ‘super foods’ like quinoa, goji berries and kale, can be cheaper than the price you’d pay for the individual ingredients, particularly on Mondays.
This super salad is normally $13, but on Monday when everything is $8.50, it’s doubly a treat for these three wise travellers and now one wised-up writer.
‘It’s our kitchen away from home. We’re so sick of greasy takeaway kebabs and we love it here. They know our names and we feel right at home’, they told me. I regretted asking them about the choices available apart from salads as they were hard to quiet. Juices, wraps of fresh fillings, baked potatoes and freshly made muesli bars – enjoy!
At the Soul Bowl, it’s a casual affair, with healthy fresh produce and ingredients and without too much handling, fluffing about or travelling. We’ll leave the ‘food miles’ to our foodie flashpackers from Wales; it sounds like they’ll be meeting here again.
Soul Bowl
Eat-in/takeaway, 8am–8pm 7 days.
Byron Bay – 2/14 Bay St (opposite Surf Club), phone 6685 5252.
Burleigh Heads – 26 James Street, phone 07 5535 7007.
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