We started this by walking over to Ceres on Saturday morning, only to discover it was closed! Disastuh! So instead we took the 96 down to Fitzroy, and decided to give the Vegie Bar a go.
Now, I know many veg*ns do not like the Vegie Bar, but lately I have been warming to it, after an amazing lasagna and a quite good soup. And it turns out that Vegie Bar has a separate breakfast menu, which I didn't realise.
There aren't a huge amount of vegan options, but there are enough.
I went for the vegan french toast. This was good. It's a bit thick and heavy, so it's more pancake than toast in texture, but the flavour was interesting and just the right amount of cinnamon, and it didn't feel like it was lacking anything. I would eat this again.
Danni ordered the scrambled tofu with roti. This is on the menu with egg! When Danni asked if it could be made without egg, the waitress thought that the egg was an integral ingredient - fortunately it was not, and Danni got to have scrambled tofu, but why are so many restaurants so obsessed with egg? This is, I know, one of the things that bothers many vegans about the vegie bar - that they don't seem as vegan friendly as they could be! ANYWAY, this scrambled tofu was okay, but nothing exciting, and Danni coveted my french toast.
Christine ordered the vegie brekkie sans egg. It was okay, reports Christine, but she did worry afterwards about the vegan-ness of the mock bacon and mock sausage.
previous visits: one and two.
The Vegie Bar
378 Brunswick Street
Fitzroy
12 comments:
But she ate it anyway. Let's remember she'd not slept the night before and was on drugs. And sort of out of it.
Christine
I LOVE THE VEGIE BAR FOREVAHH
seriously. Its my fave veg restaurant in Melbourne. I used to live around the corner and ate there everyday. I know whats good and whats average so perhaps the reason why I still love it so much....
I love the vegie bar but I am not seeking veg foods - however I agree about the whole egg thing esp at brunch - as someone who doesn't eat egg - have you see all the interesting vegan 'egg' recipes that ricki at dessert, diet and dogs does - she did some chinese omelet recently that looks really good http://www.dietdessertndogs.com/2010/04/04/egg-faux-yung/
Well Christine, that's the best kind of brekkie then, surely...
Carla, I am totally coming around to the Vegie Bar, at least in certain areas! I love the fruit crumble, and sometimes their specials are amazing, and I'm totally sold on their soups. JUST FOR EXAMPLE.
Johanna, what do you mean you're not seeking veg foods...?
I do follow Ricki, she has some excellent recipes!
the faux duck stir fry is unreal
the burritos are unreal (though massive and arent that fun vegan)
I ALWAYS get the house salad with rice balls or roti dahl
spring rolls are great
the pizzas are pretty good too
the vegie roast with hommous is amazing
can vouch for the tofu and tempeh burger with satay sauce, the lentil patty isnt great nor the other sauces
recently had the gado gado and it was way better than I remembered
and yeah the specials are usually good too!
I'm one of the haters, I think it's kind of interesting that many of the fans are not from Melbourne, maybe it has just been around too long that us Melbourne vegies are over it or had one too many bad experiences.
The menu rarely changes I've been eating quite a few of the same dishes for about 8 years and even the specials don't seem to change very much at all.
As a new vegan I used to have the vegie roast constantly as it was marked as vegan (not vegan option) for a very long time before I discovered that the reason that the tsatski(sp?) was so yogurt like was because it was in fact yogurt. I complained and they didn't really care or change the menu for a while. Also, twice in about the last year I have ordered dishes that were supposedly vegan that were not and only discovered half way through eating in and again the waiters didn't really care.
The wait staff really do vary but generally are not the friendiest and I hate the whole not being able to get a table if one person is missing.
Also, I prefer to support smaller businesses that are struggling, and actually passionate and knowledgeable about what goes into each dish. So we have more variety and hopefully less veg restaurants close down.
Gosh I didn't realise how passionate my dislike was but having said there I do eat there and it does come in handy sometimes.
hi kristy.. I think most of their meals are "vegan on request" so you need to let them know you want them vegan... like the vegie roast... then they serve it with double hommous... so perhaps where all the wrong communication is going on...
Carla, the menu has changed now. So the vegie roast can be vegan on request but it used to be vegan and staff even said it was vegan when you asked.
kristy, i work at vegie bar, have for around a year and a half, just so you know, the vegie roast has always been vegan on request, not marked vegan.
yeah, the majority of our staff are arseholes to the customers. which is or the most part a shame, but put into account we serve well over a thousand covers per day.
the reason you're not sat as soon as you walk in if some of your party is missing simply resides in the turnover we have to accommodate. two people sitting at a six person table wastes our time and money and annoys the six that HAVE managed to get there together, or else wait in the back bar.
in saying that, the food quality has gone so far downhill, except the vegan chocolate cake. i will eat that until the end of days. world without end
Don't bother.
Staff very unfriendly, walked past between the bar and kitchen where there is no clearly visible no customers beyond this point signs and is a close access point to the courtyard and one of the staff yelled at me like I was a naughty child in primary school. Found the whole ordeal very embarrasing and considering the long waits for seating all our friends and I decided to give the food a miss.
What a jerk.
I'm going to Vegie Bar for the first time tonight, too bad I'll miss out on the brekky menu! Hoping a dinner and dessert is just as good :)
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