Paleo Cafe chain comes to Canberra

We've got so many paleo cafes opening in Canberra that it had to happen eventually. The national chain Paleo Cafe will be opening in Canberra on Mort Street, next to Black Fire.

This particular franchise is owned by the McLaren family, who might be familiar to many families in Canberra - Jayne and Andrew McLaren ran the popular kids' entertainment group the Gecko Gang for 20 years. They sold up in September and are now bringing the Paleo Cafe to Braddon.

They'll be joined by their daughter Sarah, who works in hospitality and will be managing the cafe when it opens.

Jayne McLaren told us she never expected that she would be running a paleo eatery - but when she saw her own mother struggling with health issues and was diagnosed with an auto-immune disease herself, she took up a gluten free diet for three months and was amazed at how much better she felt.

"I had one of those lightbulb moments," she says.

They're still a little way off from an official opening but when they do, the Paleo Cafe will serve breakfasts and lunches with dishes such as beef cheeks with sweet potato puree, open lamb burgers, and barbecued pulled pork with poached eggs.

There's also a juice bar and paleo coffees made with almond and coconut milk. There are also a variety of paleo hot chocolates, including ginger bread, salted caramel and jaffa hot chocolates.