HONESTLY’S VERDICT

In a word: Rawgasmic!

Food: Raw, organic, locally-sourced plant-based and worth every penny.

Service: Friendly and effective.

Presentation: Boho-chic.

Ambience: Love-love.

Location: Close enough to the centre of town to walk, far enough away for space.

Value for money: The time intensive nature of raw food preparation and the quality of the organic ingredients used makes this style of eating more expensive.  Go for quality over quantity every time – your body will thank you for it.

Worth a visit?: For a health nut, yoga head and anyone else willing to step outside of their comfort zone, absolutely – you’ll love it.

Unfortunately, Kombi Cafe is no longer. Sad days. 

Located in the laid back holiday town of Dunsborough, three hours south of Perth, Western Australia, Samudra is my idea of heaven; plant-based raw food café, yoga studio, surf lessons and eco-clothing shop.  Founded by Sheridan Hammond, Samudra is the picture of sustainability and eco-responsibility.

I love being able to step off the mat after a challenging class in their beautiful airy studio, wander down the corridor past Ganesh, surfboards and walls adorned with local art, to pick up a fresh green smoothie and minty spirulina ball from Kombi Cafe, the beautiful rustic garden cafe at Samudra.

There is more to Samudra than meets the eye, tucked out of sight behind the Kombi café, the eco-shop and beautiful yoga studio, there are admin and design offices, a working garden, and super busy production kitchens where they churn out their own range of bio-live foods; superfood elixirs, granola, nut & seed mixes.

Samudra’s products come with their own bio-live certification which “guarantees the high quality of all our products used and sold, incorporating fair-trade, organic, biodynamic, sustainable, spray & preservative-free produce, sourced as locally as we can find”…me like!

Food:

Every day after class, I treated myself to a takeaway breakfast: a refreshing Green smoothie of pear, apple, lemon, banana and kale, topped up with a shot of Samudra’s Spirit Warrior Youth Elixir or Greens for Life (aka green speed!), together with a raw spirulina and mint or goji berry ball…I just wish I could practice there everyday; for me it’s the perfect way to start the day.

Breakfast in the gardens of Kombi café (after morning yoga of course!) consisted of Samudra’s own museli with seasonal fruit, the breakfast burrito and a couple of smoothies.

The museli is made onsite, it’s raw, live, gluten-free, packed full of activated seeds, nuts and dried fruit.  It’s more granola in texture than a traditional museli, and it’s utterly delicious without being overpoweringly sugary as I find many granolas.  The museli comes served with a cute little jug of nut milk, and topped with banana and strawberry in a little rustic bowl.  Perfect portions.

For me, the Breakfast Burrito was exactly what I needed after an energetic Ashtanga class.  I love the idea of beans for breakfast – the perfect way to start the day, especially when wrapped in flat bread with greens, guacamole, and a mildly spicy tomato salsa.  Delicious and filing, with this in my belly there was no stopping me!

As if the smoothies, museli and burrito weren’t enough to fill us up, we topped off breakfast with a couple of their raw superfood balls; spirulina and goji, AND the raw carrot cake.  These indulgences were purely for the sake of research you understand?!

Presentation:

Rustic.  And we wouldn’t have it any other way!

Pricing:

Yeah, it’s not cheap, but you’ve got to remember that you’re eating a style of food that involves LOTS of intensive loving care in it’s production, which we know cost more than the crud you pick up in those nasty coffeeshop chains.  Samudra’s insistence on using ingredients which is as locally-sourced as possible, of the highest quality, organic, and biodynamic is admirable, for me it shows a commitment to standards and their philosophy.

I’m more than happy to pay more for something I know is going to energetically nourish my body and mind.  I’m also more than happy to support anyone who takes steps away from the mainstream and those who do their bit, and more, for the environment with their sustainable and eco-conscious standards.

I’m definitely not the only one who feels this way, as both yoga classes and the cafe are packed out at weekends and over the holidays.

Service:

The service is friendly and effective.

I did have a negative experience during our weeks stay in Dunsborough, where on one occasion I waited very, very patiently for the best part of an hour to be served my takeaway green smoothie.  My first few attempts to enquire as to the whereabout of said smoothie were met with “we’re very busy, it will be with you soon”, the tone of which got increasingly more irate the longer I waited…it eventually turned out that my order ticket had gone astray.  I then waited for a further 15 or so minutes until I finally got my smoothie, by this point my post-yoga zen had definitely worn off and my just smoothie didn’t taste so good, like it had lost the love and tlc that usually go into their making.

I have to say, that this was just one negative experience in my ten or so visits during our stay in Dunsborough (yes, I loved it that much!), on the whole the service is good; it’s welcoming and friendly and you get what you order.

What really sets Samudra place apart from the rest is the concept: the combination of a raw plant-based menu, with yoga, eco-clothing and a sustainable work ethos in a pretty and relaxed setting.  You’ll feel like you’ve feed your body, mind and spirit!

Contact:

**Unfortunately Kombi Cafe at Samudra is no longer, it closed it’s doors in June 2015**

Tel: +61 08 977 99977

Website: www.samudra.com.au

Email: info[at]samudra.com.au

Opening hours:

Daily 7.30am to 4pm

Friday & Saturday evening 5.30pm to 8pm