About Eliane
Eliane is a café and holistic lifestyle business, anchored in good food, done properly.
What began in Hungerford in 2014 has grown into cafés, catering, cookbooks and retreats. Across everything we do, the focus remains the same: good ingredients, thoughtful cooking and food that people return to again and again.
Our Story…
Eliane began during a difficult period in Rafia’s family.
When her husband John became seriously ill, Rafia started rethinking how the family cooked and ate at home. She began preparing food differently — focusing on fresh ingredients, balanced dishes and meals that felt good to eat day after day.
At the time, they struggled to find places where John could eat comfortably when dining out. Menus were either restrictive or overly indulgent, and there were very few cafés offering food that could cater to a range of dietary requirements whilst still feeling enjoyable.
That gap led to a simple idea: to create a place where people could eat with confidence — food prepared from scratch, made with good ingredients, and with enough choice that everyone could find something that suited them.
What began in Rafia’s kitchen at home eventually became the first Eliane café in Hungerford in 2014.
A Quiet Influence…
Some aspects of how we cook are influenced by Ayurvedic ideas about balance and digestion.
In practical terms this means cooking food from scratch, using locally sourced and organic ingredients wherever possible, and preparing dishes in a way that feels satisfying and complete.
Our lunches are typically built around a balance of elements — protein, grains or other carbohydrates, raw and cooked vegetables, healthy fats and a small amount of fermented food. It’s a simple structure that produces meals that are both nourishing and enjoyable to eat.
You’ll also notice certain choices in the kitchen: juices are pressed fresh rather than bottled, raw virgin coconut oil is used instead of seed oils, and food is cooked using straightforward methods rather than microwaves or highly processed shortcuts.
These ideas sit quietly in the background. They inform how we cook, but they don’t define what appears on the plate.
ELIANE TODAY…
Today Eliane includes our café in Hungerford and our second café in Sunningdale, alongside catering for private events, retreats and celebrations.
The business has also grown to include a series of cookbooks sharing the food we cook in our cafés, wellbeing retreats, as well as an Ayurvedic clinic led by Cyrus.
Across everything we do, the approach remains the same: food prepared from scratch, made with good ingredients, and cooked in a way that people can return to every day.
JOHN
John, Rafia’s husband, was the inspiration behind the brand and one of Eliane’s most loyal customers. The café became part of his daily routine, and part of hers too.
He passed away in October 2025, but his place in the story of Eliane remains.