Health Nuts opens spin-off cafe in Kings Cross area

Hold the bourbon triple shot, glimpses of a post-lockout laws Kings Cross are surfacing and it is a sea of health shakes, vegan dishes and hot yoga. Health Nuts opened a store nine years ago selling vitamins to gym junkies, it has now opened a cafe selling organic, no carb sushi, vegan versions of popular chocolate bars and a green vegetable quiche.

"If you'd told me when we first moved into the area that I'd eventually do this sort of thing in the middle of Kings Cross I'd probably have laughed at you," says Health Nuts owner Elie Rochelle.

Rochelle is part of a new movement snapping up the casualties of the Cross area - in his case it's a space long unoccupied after a Japanese restaurant vacated - and argues the new style of resident moving to the area is helping drive demand for healthier product.

The former site of Bayswater Diner now mixes clinic and retail, and O Bar owner-chef Michael Moore once toyed with opening a cafe spin-off to his Blood Sugar bestseller in the neighbourhood. Over on Kings Cross Road English chef Tom Kime recently opened the healthy-leaning Ceru.

"We favour sustainable fish and have lots of vegetable dishes," Kime says. "People are much more aware of what's in food. It's a trend that's not going to go away."

4/82-94 Darlinghurst Road, Potts Point, facebook.com/healthnutspottspoint