A new healthy eating café is coming to Ely, cooking up “healthy, wholesome and delicious plant based foods” for vegans and people intolerant to gluten.

The healthy hotspot is the brainchild of Ely businesswoman Caroline Bailey and Little Downham chef Lucy Andrew. Together, they want to create a new “prime lifestyle venue”.

Lucy at 35 is the name and they’ll be based at 35 Forehill, alongside Spa Ely. The café opens on Saturday April 21.

Caroline came up with the idea after discovering she was gluten intolerant at the end of 2017. When eating out she was unimpressed by the limited selection of dishes and had a “light bulb moment”.

She said: “I decided to offer vegan food at 35 Forehill, to create it as a health and wellbeing lifestyle venue, catering for people’s health and beauty needs, both inside and out.

“The cafe perfectly complements Spa Ely and it is opening the same day that Spa Ely celebrates its 12th anniversary, making it a double celebration.

“I now love to eat vegan food on a regular basis – our food is not aimed just at vegans, but people who want to try delicious new flavours that are plant based.”

Lucy, 24, who is the creator of all the dishes on offer, adopted a gluten free lifestyle when she was 15-years-old due to her partner at the time being diagnosed coeliac.

She found it difficult to return to her previous diet, becoming very bloated after re-introducing the foods she had eliminated for so long, such as pasta, bread, biscuits and flour-based sauces.

She added: “I am very excited to be working with Caroline and taking catering into a new direction.

“The wonderful thing about these dishes is the purity of them.

“I believe we need to ‘nourish to flourish’, that this comes from within us and what we eat.

“We will serve gorgeous rainbow coloured foods packed with pure nutrients that are shown to have many health benefits, can increase energy and give you a glowing skin, as well as being very satisfying on the pallet.

“Lots of my family and friends now follow a gluten free or vegan lifestyle. We share recipes and tips, which is fun as it can lead to trying new recipes that I haven’t tried before.”

The cafe is open from 9am-5pm Tuesday to Thursday, 9am-6pm on Fridays, 9am-5pm on Saturdays and 10am-4pm on Sundays. It is closed on Mondays.