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Australia's first 24-hour health food cafe opens in Brisbane

Natascha Mirosch

David Dowd at his 24-hour Liquefy cafe at Mt Gravatt.
David Dowd at his 24-hour Liquefy cafe at Mt Gravatt.Glenn Hunt

A new Brisbane venue is believed to be the country's first 24-hour health food cafe.

Liquefy opened in Mt Gravatt on Brisbane's south side earlier this month. The 24/7 cafe serves cold-pressed bottled juices, single origin coffee roasted at Burleigh Heads, raw food dishes and salads. Menu items include cauliflower and quinoa sushi, coconut ceviche salad, chia puddings, dried and activated nuts and chips, and raw tarts and slices.

The cafe is the brainchild of lawyer and health enthusiast David Dowd.

Raw raspberry tarts.
Raw raspberry tarts.Glenn Hunt
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Dowd said the response had been "overwhelming", with people travelling from as far away as the Gold Coast, and that business had been brisk until 1am.

"It's gone a bit viral. I've had to go to market to triple the work force to deal with the numbers," he said.

The menu is 100 per cent organic or biodynamic and no sugar is used. Everything bar the bread (which comes from Uncle Bobs baker Brett Noy at Belmont) is made on site.

Cold-pressed juices at Liquefy.
Cold-pressed juices at Liquefy.Glenn Hunt

Dowd employed a nutritionist to analyse the nutritional content of the cold-pressed juices, of which there are a dozen including the signature juice, "Green as it gets", made from kale, silverbeet, cucumber, dandelion root tea, lemon, parsley, ginger and E3Live, a wild harvested blue-green algae touted as a superfood.

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The juices are cold-pressed rather than the usual method of extraction which Dowd says heats the juice, kills the good enzymes and starts the oxidising process. Instead, Liquefy uses a hydraulic press which exerts three tonnes of pressure and extracts everything including the essential oils from the skin. Around one-and-a-half to two kilograms of fruit and vegetables are used per bottle.

Dowd is confident the current obsessions with superfoods and whole foods are no flash in the pan.

"Do I think people going to give up on being healthy? No. To go back to eating McDonalds? To stop going to the gym? No. More and more people are building their lives around exercise and healthy eating.

"They are concerned about what they are putting in their body. We are making available the option to eat healthy and clean, to have a calm, unpretentious, dining experience, with food that tastes really good."

Dowd has leased a further five sites around Brisbane and one on the Gold Coast, but says Mt Gravatt will remain the only 24-hour Liquefy outpost.

Liquefy Juice Co. 22-24 Carrara Street, Mt Gravatt, see liquefyjuiceco.com.au for other locations.

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