You know I’m not usually one for diet or substitute anything. And yet, after a rather sinful start to last week, I was looking to redeem myself and strongly considered eating nothing but salad for the next few days.

But then I got invited to The Raw Chef’s latest pop-up restaurant… and I’m not going to lie, that was a much more exciting way to get my greens in!

The gorgeous Green Room of newly opened Tiny Leaf was the perfect setting for a night full of nature-filled discoveries.

The Raw Chef, Russell James, discovered raw food on a trip to Thailand back in 2004 and has since made it his mission to make raw food accessible everyday.

For his latest pop-up restaurant, he teamed up with natural drinks wizard Michael Isted of The Herball, who designed invigorating and revitalising drinks to match Russell’s wonderful raw creations.

Not only are the drinks actually doing you good, but they’re also incredibly tasty and beautiful.

Just look at that Crystal Botanical Water (Rose Quarz and Clear Quarz with Rosa damanesca & Boswellia sacra)!

Jun (fermented green tea with raw honey, botanical extracts & crystal essences)

Turmeric + (Wild harvested sea buckthorn, guggulsterones, piperine, ginger, long pepper, black pepper, withanolides, turmeric, vegetable glycerine, citrus, bitter, orange flower, sparkling water)

A stunning little number that one!

And a perfect pairing to the surprising dishes on offer.

First course of the night was Tree Nut Cheese Plate with Lychee Ceviche.

A cheese hater but nut lover’s (=me)dream came true!

A Cauliflower & smoked cashew soured creat with dehydrated parsnip chips and coriander emulsion followed (and I was so busy oh-ing and ah-ing that I complitely forgot to take any picture…)

Luckily, I didn’t make the same mistake with the main course.

Brazil nut sea veg croquettes with tartar sauce.

But my absolute favourite thing at The Raw Chef’s pop-up (and one that could convince me to look more into raw food in the future) was the stunning dessert.

Ishikawa matcha cheesecake with cacao soil and mango jam.

Made with cashew nuts and coco butter, this cheese-free cheesecake (!!) was one of the absolute best I’ve ever had (and so much lighter than the real deal!). very much going to try my hands at making something similar very soon (I’ll probably start with some sort of version of Russell’s own recipe).

All in all a brilliant introduction to raw food and a fascinating evening. Unfortunately, the pop-up restaurant is now closed, but I highly recommend that you keep an eye on the Raw chef’s website for upcoming events (and try some of his recipe in the meantime!)