What’s not to love about a smoothie bowl really? I fully admit that I have somewhat of an obsession with them and do seek them out on my travels. Not too hard to come by these days if you find yourself in a place with a surf crowd or surrounded by health conscious city goers, but they seem to be popping up in more unexpected places now as well.
In case this food trend hasn’t taken over your Instagram feed and you’re sitting there wondering what I’m going on about, smoothie bowls are effectively thicker smoothies served in a bowl with various toppings. The base is usually made with a blend of fresh or frozen fruits and vegetables as well as other healthy ingredients blended in and covered with delicious ingredients on top (check out my go to green smoothie bowl here). Acai is a common base in smoothie bowls, known as a superfood, these berries come from the acai palm tree native to South America. Absolutely delicious, quite a difficult taste to describe, you’ll just have to trust me on this one.
So here is my round-up, in no particular order, of some of my favorite places across seven countries to find smoothie bowls. Get your spoons ready!
Bowl’d Acai San Francisco, California / Food Truck
I can’t say enough about these guys, they are awesome and their food trucks are a must visit when you’re in San Fran. They’re serving up enormous portions of Acai and Poke bowls (tubs would be more accurate, don’t know why I went for the small). My go to is the Acai with the Green Goliath base & These Nuts topping.
If you find yourself in Bali, make sure to head straight here. All of their smoothie bowls are amazing, but the J-BAY was my favorite, it’s peanut butter heaven.
A paradise on the island of Koh Lanta, serving refreshing smoothie bowls and delicious food with a focus on superfoods. The Dose of Greens bowl was my absolute favorite, great way to start the day.
The Culinary Studio Huntington, New York / Food-shop
A gourmet food shop / deli in my hometown, the Acai & Berries bowl is usually my first breakfast when visiting, take it to go and eat down by the water.
More and more cafes are opening in Paris with a focus on organic and plant-based food, this one is at the top for me, try one of their wild-crafted Acai bowls, you won’t be disappointed.
If you’re not careful you’d walk right by this small cafe in Seville, a rare find in the city, it’s a healthy takeaway serving up Acai bowls (was very excited to find it in the 42 degree heat whilst I was there).
The Juice Shop New York, New York / Juice & Smoothie Bar
Multiple locations in New York it’s one of my go to’s when visiting, massive portions with loads of nutrients packed in. My favorite is the Coco-Kale Acai bowl with a generous amount of almond butter on top.
Incredible smoothies are served at the Energy Kitchen in each of the London studios, always such a treat after a spin class. Try the Revival bowl to get the most of the smoothie with the added benefit of the toppings to go with it.
I found this place on a business trip and after being out of the U.S. for awhile I was reminded of the customization culture. Can’t remember what I put in it, but it was delicious. Build your own!
Ahoy Coffee Bar Costa da Caparica, Portgual / Cafe
If you’re ever in or near Lisbon make your way to Costa da Caparica to check out Ahoy, it’s quite simply amazing. I think I’ve tried most things on the menu at this point and it’s all good so you can’t go wrong. The Acai bowl is a favorite.
Don’t let the photo deceive you, this is a damn good Acai bowl, I even remember after having it the first time going up to the woman behind the counter to tell her just how impressed I was.
Nourish Wellness Cafe & Juice Bar Northampton, Massachusetts / Cafe
Was delighted to try this place when I was in the area for a friend’s wedding, an Acai bowl after a night of dancing and drinking shouldn’t be underestimated.
Smoothie bowl in a pub? You can imagine my excitement, this became a regular spot I’d take clients for breakfast with a healthy start to the day ordering the Super Berry smoothie bowl.
I love this place in the center of Lisbon, excellent spot to chill, shop, or eat. From Poke to smoothies, all the bowls are good, but my favorite is the Peanut Gang smoothie bowl.
A few years ago smoothie bowls took over Instagram feeds (or at least mine) and I have to admit I’m pretty obsessed. In case this is a foreign concept, smoothie bowls are a thick blend of foods mainly made up of fresh and frozen fruits and vegetables. In my opinion, it’s like having ice cream for breakfast, but with a lot more nourishment. You can experiment with all different types of ingredients including your breakfast favorites and add your toppings of choice. All you really need is a blender and a few ingredients.
This is my go to recipe for a delicious Green Smoothie Bowl!
Ingredients (for two big bowls):
1 mango
1 avocado
2 bananas (1 frozen)
60g kale
400 ml coconut water
Handful of granola (I use Rude Health honey & nuts)
Directions:
I used a NutriBullet to first blend the kale, mango and coconut water (easily substitute spinach for kale if you prefer)
Once mixed add in the frozen banana and avocado until smooth (you can use frozen avocados, but I find the consistency smoother with fresh ones)
Pour into your bowl of choice and add sliced banana and granola (or anything else you’d like as a topping, I would recommend almond butter)
I provided exact measurements for this recipe, however you don’t need to be that precise, grab your ingredients, get blending and you can always adjust as you go.
This recipe is inspired by an amazingly refreshing one I had at Pure Koh Lanta in Thailand!
Some people are naturals in the kitchen, it’s a relaxing place for them, even therapeutic. I’m not one of those people. However, over the years and with practice I have actually started to enjoy cooking. I found the best way to learn was to experiment. The barrier I had, especially in college, was a lack of understanding of flavor combinations and use of seasoning, leading me to cooking very bland food.
I wouldn’t say I’m the most confident person in the kitchen, as in I wouldn’t jump at the chance to cook for a dinner party, however I love eating my own food now and do so regularly.
If you’ve had trouble getting started or looking for a bit of guidance, here are some tips that helped me when I decided to commit to cooking more.
Find inspiration – I love cookbooks, I have more than I know what to do with, but I found it essential to have a few of them on hand to inspire me and provide much needed guidance at the beginning. Some of the ones on my bookshelf are Jamie Oliver: 5 Ingredients, Green Kitchen Travels, & The Yoga Kitchen. Blogs and websites are also a great resource for this, as well as YouTube, but I’m more of a book girl. Some recipes I followed exactly, others I used as a base for flavor and adapted with ingredients that I had in the fridge or preferred over what was suggested. Most people would say follow the recipe exactly until you become more confident, but I learned in the process.
Basic equipment – You don’t need much to get started, a good knife, a non-stick pan, a chopping board and you’re in business. However, I highly recommend focusing on quality (doesn’t mean expensive), as it’s actually quite frustrating and dangerous to chop with a bad knife. Over time and as you progress, you may want to add to your kitchen tools, some of the ones I use most are my NutriBullet, spiralizer, and hand blender.
Plan ahead – With the busy lives we lead it’s so easy to put in an order with UberEats and not have to worry about cooking, so I found a bit of planning to go a long way. At the weekend I would look at recipes that would suit my schedule during the week, quick and easy with little prep and cook time after a long day. Making the process as easy as possible for yourself (the less thinking the better after work), means you won’t have to sacrifice on nutrition and cooking your own meals. For recipes that require more time, ingredients, and attention I usually skip during the week and maybe tackle when I have time at the weekend (that’s a big maybe, the meals I make still tend to be delicious yet quick and easy to cook).
Adapt to your taste – Although I absolutely recommend trying new ingredients, keep in mind you can adapt recipes to your taste. If you only cook with ingredients that are ‘healthy’, but you hate the taste then your time in the kitchen will be short lived. My approach was to introduce new vegetables or spices into my cooking slowly, and overtime my preferences have actually changed. Now I love cooking with chilies for example, a few years ago I would never have expected that.
Set the fear aside – Like many things in life it’s usually our own fear that keeps us from doing. Remember that it’s fine if the meal doesn’t turn out exactly as you expected. I can’t tell you how many dishes I cooked that didn’t look like the picture in the cookbook, but in most cases it still tasted great it just wasn’t going to win any awards for artistic merit. Have fun with it and if you’re really worried that the dish can’t be saved, then that’s what the backup pizza in the freezer is for.
“You don’t have to cook fancy or complicated masterpieces – just good food from fresh ingredients.” – Julia Child
