A new breakfast and dessert spot has set up shop in Ballarat, Victoria. New stores open all the time but what makes Namaste Nourishment unique is that they are the first vegan restaurant in the city. And not only that, but they’re bringing folks a variety of healthy and tasty raw foods.
Owned by raw food chef Markeeta Hines and her husband Scott Keating, they decided to focus exclusively on breakfast and dessert because the former was their favorite meal of the day while the latter was Hines’ specialty. Hines, who spent two years working in Bali, wanted to bring her unique skills back to Ballarat. Together, she and her husband came up with Namaste Nourishment.
Keating spoke to the Courier:
“Our menu is something pretty different that Ballarat has not really seen before.
“A lot of the food is raw, which means it’s not cooked above about 47 degrees.
“And a lot of people probably haven’t seen these foods before, but they’re extremely healthy.”
Keating explains that their focus wasn’t specifically on vegan food, but rather healthy food. “It’s got nothing to do with being a vegan, it’s just that we don’t cook with any animal products,” he explained. “We’re all about healthy eating and changing people’s perceptions of food, so there is definitely a niche for it and the market is certainly changing and Ballarat is changing.”
It’s important to clarify that Namaste Nourishment is not the only spot in Ballarat with vegan options — here’s a list of some of these spots, which are vegetarian and vegan-friendly. However, they are the only one location that is 100 percent vegan, with no animal products on their menu.
They say their opening and first few days have gone better than expected. “The response from the public has been absolutely amazing, we’re really taken aback and the feedback has been very, very positive.” Drawing in both vegans and non-vegans alike in its first few days, this breakfast and dessert spot appears to have a bright future ahead.
