Little Sunflower Cafe

Little Sunflower goes beyond the wheatgrass shot and gluten-free option. The menu is littered with buzz words such as activated, raw, sprouted, soaked and fermented. It’s the sort of place you’ll either love or hate.

Husband-and-wife team Angie Robertson and Grant Waters have been in hospitality for 10 years, and it’s clear this isn’t a faddish venture – more the passion project of real enthusiasts. The philosophy behind Sunflower is healing, vitality and longevity.

The menu doubles as a nutritional guide, extolling the virtues of edible flowers, bee pollen, the Amazonian camu camu plant and other obscure ingredients. The duo’s commitment to quality is clear through its suppliers – All Press Coffee, Pepe Saya (butter, buttermilk, crème fraiche), Somage (tea), Yarra Valley Produce and Milawa Poultry.

The imaginative dishes range from curried soups and breakfast salads, to exotic piadinas and low-GI goji balls, hand-rolled on site. The juices and smoothies are full of goodness – the Brain Power Juice (turmeric, carrot, pineapple and apple) packs enough antioxidants to kick start a corpse.

The 36-seater has a Scandinavian freshness, hemmed with Art-Deco stain glass. The interior is accessorised with medicine bottles, quaint crockery and a wall of foliage.