Sip Kitchen opened its doors at 25 Apollo Drive, Rosedale on Auckland‘s North Shore five years ago. With a philosophy that‘s firmly based on delicious tasting, accessible and genuinely healthy food, it‘s no wonder that customers keep flocking back. A second Sip Kitchen was opened in central city suburb, Newmarket, at the end of 2016 and success there continues to build.
Run by friends, Darren and Vicky, Sip Kitchen focuses on wholefood and, as its name suggests, smoothies have been a mainstay of its offering. “We work hard to stay ahead of the latest nutritional thinking,“ said owner Vicky. “People are moving away from sugar into low carb, good fats and gut-loving wholefood. There‘s a lot out there about what you can‘t or shouldn‘t eat but we focus on making authentically nourishing food accessible and enjoyable.“
Vicky is responsible for the research on health and wellness that goes into the creation of Sip‘s unique recipes - but she credits a lot of her inspiration to a network of health and wellness industry professionals and some talented chefs who have left a ‘recipe footprint‘ at Sip Kitchen.
“We are mindful of the key deficiencies within the New Zealand population and integrate that into our menu. The average Kiwi lacks selenium, magnesium and a big proportion of the population have gut issues. Everything on our menu has a component supporting gut health. We also offer kefir, magnesium and Good Green Vitality shots that can be added to our smoothies.“
Vicky and Darren have been using Nuzest Good Green Vitality and Clean Lean Protein as a base ingredient for smoothies and raw baking since they opened. “Nuzest was one of the very early plant-based protein pioneers,“ comments Vicky. “At that time, the options out there were very whey-based. The Nuzest products just stacked up for us. They are extremely high quality and ethically sourced. We love them - they fit in well with our philosophy and our customer base.“
A wide range of people call in at Sip for healthy snacks, meals and now they can also order catering or all-inclusive take-home fasting meal packages. “We serve everyone from high-performance sports people and people battling health issues to those who just want to eat well. Our menu has lots of options for coeliac, vegan and paleo diets - eat in or take away.
The latest development at Sip Kitchen in collaboration with The Boyd Clinic is a five-day super low protein, low carb, low sugar meal plan for people who want to reboot their system through fasting. “This plan is based on the Fasting Mimicking Diet (FMD‚Ñ¢) research out of the University of South California Longevity Institute and it‘s well-proven and tested. It has the potential to create significant metabolic change and is genuinely safe for most people. Fasting is mentally tough, so we‘ve designed this package to make things a little easier.“
Five years down the track and new ideas are evolving faster than ever at Sip Kitchen. So why not drop in for one of their best-selling smoothies and see what else they have to offer? “Our top three are the Sip-a-dee-doo-da (almond butter, cacao powder, cacao nibs, banana and almond milk), the Proconut (Vanilla Clean Lean Protein, avocado, hemp protein, greens, banana and coconut water) and the Dr Feelgood (cacao-based with creamy avocado),“ said Vicky.
