London Hotspot: The Goodlife Eatery

Sunset Salad

Goodness Bowl

Chock Norris Shake



January. It's that time of year when everyone makes promises to themselves to eat less crappy food, consume more vegetables, drink less alcohol, and to be a better person.
Cue the onslaught of new gym memberships and all of the places on my thrice-weekly Legs Bums and Tums class being booked out. Brilliant.
So rather than squatting my way through January at gym class on Sunday, I took myself down to the Good Life Eatery in Chelsea to indulge in some serious health foods instead. It might not have been some aggro gym instructor screaming "PULSE PULSE PULSE" at you, but it beats caving into a roast dinner.
The tiny restaurant has only 25 seats and they don't take reservations, so it was lucky we managed to get a table for four within 5 minutes. We all know how completely boring healthy eating can really be. You come home from work to a plate of dry grilled chicken and bland steamed vegetables. But somehow The Goodlife Eatery have managed to make the food fun, fresh, and completely delicious (possibly through the extensive amount of ingredients used)
Being a sweet potato addict I had the Goodness Bowl. If you're the kind of person who loves variety on their plate then this one is for you: sweet potato falafel, a kind of asian slaw of cabbage, cashews and a fresh gingery dressing, a mixed bean salad, sweet potato dip, and half an avocado topped with seeds. Eating healthy never tasted this good. 
But when it comes to health food extras, I wont pretend that I like them. I'm actually still convinced that people who say they love healthy and green juices made with spirulina and wheatgrass are actually compulsive liars that want to look like they enjoy health food because being healthy is now tres chic. Either that, or they have simply burnt off their taste buds with all of the crazy juices they've been pumping down their throats and cannot tell that what they're drinking actually tastes very similar to licking a frog. 
With this in mind, what kind of idiot goes and orders a chocolate shake in a health food restaurant? Me. That's who. I'm that idiot. The Chock Norris Shake was pretty disappointing. Made with banana, almond milk, blended raw cacao, there's only so much faking indulgence you can really do before you realise what you're drinking actually tastes a bit like dirt. The food didn't compromise any of it's incredible taste by being so strictly healthy, but the shake tasted a bit like eating a Freddo you found in a backpack you wore to school when you were in primary school. At �6 I should have just reaped the benefits of an ice cold glass of water...
If you're on a new year's health kick and in the area then it's definitely worth popping in to for some food! Maybe even skip the gym for it... it might free some more space up for me at Legs Bums and Tums...