Move Over Porridge Café, Here Comes The Açai Berry Bowl Café

Ben O' Norum
By Ben O' Norum Last edited 107 months ago
Move Over Porridge Café, Here Comes The Açai Berry Bowl Café
An acai berry bowl...
An acai berry bowl...
... And another one...
... And another one...
...Yep, this too...
...Yep, this too...
.... And one more
.... And one more

London has had so many faddy cafés of late that we’re getting a little bored, but this latest one takes the biscuit berry.

When The Porridge Café in Shoreditch pops down next week, it will be replaced by The Oshun Café, which is describing itself as London’s first acaí experience. We dare say it probably is.

For the uninitiated, the acaí berry is a purple fruit indigenous to the Amazon rainforest. They look a bit like blueberries and taste like a cross between these and dark chocolate. The berries are considered a superfood due to their high level of antioxidants — which can help fight cancer among other illnesses — as well as high levels of manganese and Omega 3.

True to its name, the Acai Berry Bowl Café will trade almost exclusively in the berries, serving four different bowlfuls based on them, to either eat in or take away. These will include the Oshun Native made with acaí pulp, banana and honey; the Oshun Kong featuring acaí pulp, banana, lemongrass, ginger, coriander and honey; and the Oshun Maya with acaí pulp, raw cacao, cinnamon, orange and avocado (all £6).

The café’s founder Liane Holey says:

“Brazil’s streets are filled with vendors blending acaí pulp with fresh bananas and then topped with honey and granola to create an innocuously addictive berry bowl. Oshun Café wants the UK to celebrate this way of eating acaí, not just as powder, dried supplements or in smoothies.”

Is your mouth watering? No, we're not sure either.

There will also be smoothies and sorbets to try and tempt us to the acaí way of life, while the music and look of the place will apparently take inspiration from ‘the origins of the ingredients and flavours' to 'complete a multi-sensory corporeal experience’. Erm, OK.

The Oshun Acai Berry Bowl Café opens on 5 April and will run until 27 April at 70 Paul Street, EC2A 4NA.

Last Updated 01 April 2015