Lunch review: Caffe Paparazzi
Sitting at a rustic sunlit table surrounded by children, food and vibrant conversation at Caffe Paparazzi on Unley Road is a bit like being at a family kitchen table.
Baked eggs with chickpeas at Caffe Paparazzi.
“It’s almost like I’m at home when I’m here at the café,” owner Mirella Morizzi-Tambakis says, while simultaneously fielding questions from staff, her daughter and her partner Michael behind the counter in the kitchen.
“We really just wanted a place for everybody.”
Inside the traditional Italian café façade, Paparazzi has plenty of options for diners seeking pastas or other Italian café-style food, but it has also recently introduced a new healthy and “clean eating” menu which is in line with food trends and caters to specific dietary requirements.
The dishes were developed by Adelaide personal trainer Leah Itsines. The author of health food ebook Eat with Leah, unofficial companion to sister Kayla’s internationally successful Bikini Body Guides, Leah Itsines is passionate about sharing her passion for health food and has around 227,000 Instagram followers.
In seeking to offer diners something different, Morizzi-Tambakis, formerly of Mesa Lunga, has also previously collaborated with other health experts, including osteopath and wellness coach Dr Andrea Robertson, author of The Nutrition Detective Solution.
Favourite dish: Baked eggs with chickpeas ($15). Two eggs baked in a fresh chickpea napoletana sauce topped with provolone cheese and served with sourdough bread. We all know we are meant to eat some protein with our meals, so this breakfast or lunch option ticks the health requirements and has hearty and familiar flavours with a little kick of chilli.
Chicken noodle stir-fry.
Other lunch options: Tasty-looking choices on the “clean eating” menu include chicken noodle stir-fry (wok-tossed chicken, capsicum, mushroom, broccoli, carrot and bok choy with an Asian-infused dressing – $20) and ginger chicken sliders (ginger chicken patties with lettuce and lime aioli – three for $20).
On the main menu, there is a large range of reasonably priced pasta dishes, pizza and traditional favourites such as salt and pepper calamari and chicken schnitzel.
Ginger chicken sliders.
Something sweet / to drink: Try the Anti-Ageing Berry Smoothie ($8.50), made with blueberries, banana, strawberries, almond milk, acai berry powder, maqui berry powder and cacao powder, or the Triple Choc Swirl Cashew Cheesecake ($7.50), made with macadamias, dates, raw cacao, cashews, raw honey, coconut cream and coconut oil.
Leah Itsines and Mirella Morizzi-Tambakis.
Caffe Paparazzi
291 Unley Rd, Malvern SA
Open Monday-Tuesday, 7.30am-4pm; Wednesday-Saturday, 7.30am-late; Sunday, 7.30am-4pm.
