Friday, August 5, 2011

Vegie Bar

I've been pretty critical of Vegie Bar in the past. I have a theory about why: I have noticed that new vegan or vegetarians or new Melbournians tend to love vegie bar whereas vegetarians and vegans who have been living here for while tend to be more critical of Vegie Bar. I think the reason is that menu hasn't changed much over the years and people who have been going for years have too many bad experiences. I have had several experiences of accidentally eating dairy there over the years and some bad customer service experiences too. I have gone a few times over the last few months though and had much better experiences.

When our friend Yuanna was down from Hong Kong we took her there the first night and again on the last night. Yuanna is an omni but loved her food there on both occasions. The first time we had some raw crackers with a raw cashew based dips. It was so pleasing to have crackers and dip that I could eat. The dip was creamy and the crackers were comparable to the ones at yongs greens food. Btw, all photos were taken by Yuanna.


I then had the mostly greens with tempeh and satay sauce. Healthy but satisfying.

 and we had a piece of the vegan chocolate cake. I didn't realise that it was guten free. This was great served there, as it was warmed and kind of gooey, whereas if you have it take away it tends to be a bit hard:


The second time I had the vermicelli noodles, this is my fav dish. Slightly fried and lots of flavour. I guess it is a lot like what we make at home but without the effort and dishes.

The second time they had a special dessert, a avocado based chocolate mousse with poached pear and pistachios. I really liked this, you couldn't tell that it was made from avocado and Yuanna said that it reminded her of Indonesian desserts and so she tried to order two but they had sold out by that stage.

380 Brunswick St
Fitzroy
 9417 6935

Recently reviewed by carla, steph and healthy party girl.

6 comments:

  1. I just hate that they give you such huge portions and you can't take away what is left over. This makes me always, always order less than what I would if they would just give you a damned box or piece of foil at the end so you can wrap up and take away leftovers instead of wasting them...

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    1. They told me I couldn't take away because of food safety laws. I looked it up and they're 100% lying so the last time I went I took my own container and had the leftovers for lunch the next day. We waste so much food, it's disgusting that they say they can't do takeaway.

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  2. I must check out the vegie bar again - it is ages since I was there - I think the last time was for the chocolate cake in the afternoon which I love - but I love the choice of dishes and probably don't go there enough to get sick of it

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  3. I think the Vegie Bar was awesome, went bad for a spell and is now back to near-awesome form.
    I agree with Louise though, the huge portions are a bit of a problem and not very environmentally friendly when considering how many half-eaten meals they throw out.
    The avocado-based chocolate mousse looks amazing! :-)

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  4. Veggie bar has some good staples - I love the mostly greens! I tend to go there once or twice a year; I know what everyone means about the portion sizes. They're pretty crazy! I've also had some pretty bad expericnes there - the staff are generally pretty good, but I found a chunk of plastic in one of my samosas one day which horrified me and when I told the waitress, she didn't even offer to give them to me for free! On top of that, they serve non-veg beers like Carlton Draught. :(

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  5. I found some plastic in my seitan burger once. They said it was from the satay sauce package. The waitress and manager were very apologetic and took the burger off our bill.

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