Tom Davidson felt Melbourne was lacking a great clean eating cafe, so he and Jacob Burke claimed their Patch of the Studio Nine heritage building in Richmond to open Melbourne’s first paleo inspired cafe.
Jacob lost 30 kilograms in 6 months under Tom’s personal training and clean eating regime.
The paleoithic diet is based on the idea that if our hunter gatherer ancestors didn’t eat it, we shouldn’t either. Tom has eaten this way most of his life, growing up on a farm in Tasmania, but emphasises he is not a ‘paleo nut’ and this is reflected in the menu, which caters to strict paleo devotees as well as those who want sourdough rather than paleo bread, for example.
He says:
We’ve meshed cave man style food with fine dining chefs, and met somewhere half way in producing some really good product.
They enlisted Ricky’s of Noosa ex-head chef Brett Tait, who has brought a little ‘patch’ of Noosa to Bendigo Street with the spanner crab omelette. 
The menu has hearty options like baked eggs, wagyu rump and pork belly, and lighter options like bircher muesli, grain salads and daikon tuna rolls, as well as a range of cold pressed juices and refined sugar free sweet treats you can take away. And 90% of the produce is sourced within a 100 kilometre radius of the cafe.
If you think clean eating means sacrificing on taste, do yourself a favour and go to Patch cafe, where the proof is in the pudding.
32 Bendigo Street, Richmond
03 9029 0328
Mon to Sun 7:00am – 4:00pm
