Catalyst is all about mindful eating and conscious consuming. Even the name speaks to this mission.

A ‘catalyst’ is someone or something that precipitates a larger event, and we believe this café is doing quite a lot when it comes to encouraging small changes that can have a large, ripple effect when it comes to caring for our planet.

Catalyst built their menu from the ground up with wholesome ingredients from local suppliers including Bay Road peanut butter, OCHO chocolate and Otis oat milk. From there they’ve created menu items that are equal parts sustainable and delicious. Check them all out with Catalyst’s innovative virtual menu. Simply scan the barcode on your table with your phone and explore the exciting options sans paper.

Confit oyster and field mushrooms with housemade seed butter and local watercress on sourdough is an example of dishes bursting with flavour while still being plant based. The buckwheat waffle, meanwhile, comes with spiced walnuts, seasonal fruit, dark chocolate, freeze dried fruit and generous servings of organic maple syrup and coconut whip. Another option, the Buddha Bowl, is an extravaganza of falafel, edamame, quinoa, mushrooms, leafy greens, pickled veg, avocado, kimchi, beetroot hummus and miso tahini dressing.

All Catalyst dishes are dairy free and many can be made gluten free too. The only dairy used on site is for coffees and even that is stored in a keg to cut down on plastic usage and waste. All of the meat suppliers, like Bostock Brothers, are organic and a local farm utilises the café’s waste for compost.

By using high quality ingredients in inventive ways, Catalyst has become the kind of place where you can try plant based dishes with zero fear that you’ll be left hanging when it comes to flavour and fullness factors. And with that experience, you just might find yourself changing a few of your own habits along the way.