MEALS MADE EASY

If your New Year’s resolution is to eat better, you’ve come to the right place

CORGANICS 2471 GOLD COAST HIGHWAY, MERMAID BEACH Open: Daily from 6am-8pm Call: 5578 6245

THIS week’s restaurant review reflects the new, improved, clean-eating me.

While my New Year’s resolutions historically unravel the moment I meander past a bakery, you’re stuck with me until then … and we’re eating organic. Corganics has opened at Mermaid Beach in a site still carrying fond memories of Ball Boys meatballs stacked on waffles and lolly-coated ice cream sandwiches (stop it).

The new venture is 100 per cent organic and it’s incredible what they’ve managed to fit in a tiny shop — grocer, heat-and-eat meals, a substantial chefprepared cafe menu, fair-trade coffee from Happy Farmer Organics, and a cold-pressed juice and smoothie bar.

A couple of tables fronting the Gold Coast Highway allow for dine-in customers, but if you’re after ambience you’re barking up the wrong tree. With the entire menu served in ecofriendly takeaway packaging, a short stroll down the road to the beach is a better option.

The purple-powered Love Elixir — berries, dairy-free ice cream, coconut water, acai and black maca powder — is a great place to start. The smoothie selection ($9.90/$12.90) is served alongside cold-pressed juices ($9.50) and kombucha — both pre-bottled and Corganics’ own brew.

Breakfast, served from 6.3011.30am, brings Buddha bowls ($15.90), eggs bene ($15.90) and maple, cinnamon and apple pancakes ($13.90).

The main cafe menu kicks in from noon, boasting beef burgers complete with sweet potato chips ($18.90) and chilli-and-coriander-laced chicken and lemongrass stir-fry ($21.90). I tried the Scottish Atlantic salmon fish cakes ($22.90). Served on a fresh, crunchy base of spiralled zucchini, pine nuts and chilli pesto, it’s quality over quantity.

Pre-made salads, including a satisfying pumpkin, fetta and quinoa combo ($13) I stashed for dinner, are an appealing grab-and-go option. A smattering of slices, scones, cookies, bliss balls and brownies await at the counter, but my dessert is avocado chocolate mousse topped with mango and dragonfruit ($10.50). Given it contains can-do-no-wrong avocado, I assume it’s all kinds of healthy, but it certainly doesn’t taste like it — it’s rich, creamy and oh-so-chocolatey.

With a steady supply of this stuff, my resolution may just last longer than predicted.

If you don’t mind paying a little extra for impeccably sourced and certified produce, the convenient Corganics will keep you on track too.