Healthy alternatives at Nawaloka Hospital’s Café 77

Saturday, 6 October 2012 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

A new ‘healthy alternative’ restaurant recently opened on the first floor of Nawaloka Hospital. Named Café 77, this newly opened eatery is run by the Nawaloka Hospital kitchen and it now offers those visiting the hospital a healthy eating alternative between 7.00 a.m. and 7.00 p.m.

Visitors to the Nawaloka Hospital can now indulge in an array of nutritious, yet tasty food items, including healthy breads and beverages, soups and a salad bar, in addition to breakfast, lunch and dinner buffets. Café 77 has also introduced a live cooking station for local favourites such as hoppers and koththu roti for the added pleasure of customers.

But, most important of all, none of the food prepared at Café 77 has been deep fried and dishes are baked instead to offer a similar taste to frying, while the nutritional value of the food is also preserved. Even when minimal frying is needed, vegetable oil is used rather than less healthy alternatives.

In addition, rice flour and brown bread is utilised when possible for better nutritional content. At the same time, to ensure freshness of the food, almost all dishes are prepared on site, in the presence of customers, with the restaurant featuring a station for baking, hoppers, koththu rotis, etc.

“Café 77 will offer a new food experience to our customers who will, by necessity, be more health conscious. Because of this, we have also ensured all our dishes are prepared in the most hygienic conditions and using the best in terms of healthy ingredients and cooking materials,” explained Nawaloka Hospital Executive Chef Allen Gerreyn.

A veteran of the local hospitality industry, having served as food and beverages manager, executive chef and general manager at many leading hotels, Gerreyn has spent the past nine years in the area of hospital food preparation.

In addition, the Nawaloka Hospital kitchen has also been awarded time and again for its high quality standards, most recently receiving the “Five Crowns” certification for food hygiene, the highest local recognition for food hygiene issued by Ind-Expo, a public private partnership between the Ceylon National Chamber of Industries (CNCI), the National Chamber of Exporters (NCE) and the Colombo Municipal Council (CMC).

This was made more significant because it is seldom that all five crowns have been awarded. Additionally, the kitchen was also further certified as part of the hospital’s ISO 9001 quality management systems certifications in 2000, 2004, 2007 and 2008, with the 2012 certification in progress.