Healthy Spirit Didsbury Review

The Healthy Spirit is a health food store and holistic healing centre located on Barlow Moor Road in Didsbury. The store was established in 2003 and has grown considerably over the years and stocks quite a range of supplements, essential oils and alternative therapies. Personally, I am not really into holistic healing and alternative therapies but I do buy health foods on occasion and I also really enjoy some good home cooked vegetarian and vegan food and the Healthy Spirit cafe serves up just that.

Healthy Spirit Interior

The cafe itself is not very big with only 3 or 4 tables available so if you arrive right in the middle of lunch time you may struggle to get a seat. On the plus side, takeaway food is also available so you can still enjoy the offerings whilst sitting on a local bench or in Didsbury park which is only a short 5 minute walk away.

There is always a great selection of food available at the cafe and usually a soup of the day and a daily special. The soup on offer today was cauliflower and apple which sounded delicious but as tempted as I was, I was a little too hungry for just soup. The specials today were a squash and lentil stew served with brown rice or aubergine topped falafel bake with quinoa and a fruity salad which is what I chose. My friend Andrea, who is a strict vegan had a mixed salad with quinoa and cashew cheese. The salad was packed with carrots, radish, grapes and avocado.

Aubergine Bake

Andrea and I had been discussing vegan food prior to visiting the cafe and she had had told me all about the alternatives to meat, fish and dairy. Being a big lover of eggs and cheese I think I would really miss dairy food, especially the cheese but Andrea swore by cashew cheese as an alternative. Having had a taste I’ll be honest and say, I don’t think it is much of an alternative to cheese at all, it tasted nothing like cheese, what it did taste like is cashew nuts and nothing else. I am not really sure where the idea that this is cheese even comes from, perhaps it is the texture that vegans liken to some kind of soft cheese? but let me tell you my friends cashew cheese tastes nothing like cheese and I personally felt conned.

Quinoa Salad

Anyhow, cashew cheese aside the rest of the food was really very good, especially the aubergine bake which was hot and very filling. The service was a little slow if I am completely honest as our waitress was trying to serve three people at once, as well as wait tables and tidy up. I can only imagine how chaotic it may be at the height of a busy lunch time. However we weren’t particularly in a rush so no big deal.

Healthy Spirit Kitchen Staff

The prices in the cafe were quite reasonable with the lunch total coming to about £18 for two meals and two coffees. The same can’t be said for some of the products in the shop, but then these types of places are always expensive. As an example coconut milk is around £3.30 for a one litre carton whereas the coconut milk I buy in Morrisons is only £1.87. A big difference.

But its the food at the cafe that is under review and that is really very good. If you are vegan or vegetarian or just like vegan and vegetarian food then I can’t recommend Healthy Spirit enough.

Health Foods