Archive for the ‘Melbourne City’ Category
V Rating: Super V Reasons for my excitement are enumerated as follows (I am doing it this way cos otherwise this post will turn into babbling food-related happiness) 1. It’s on Degraves St, which is one of my favourite of Melbourne’s cafe alleyways, coming off one of my favourite of Melbourne’s shopping lanes (Flinders Lane). 2. The food is, good, interesting, quick and affordable. It is also organic and largely vegetarian in combinations that I can handle (i.e. not everything has eggplant in it, and tomato is not a substitute for innovative spices which it often is in vegetarian cooking) 3. They have sourdough PIES, my friends. PIES full of mushrooms and tofu, or if you like, a vegetarian shepherd’s pie made from a wholemeal pastry. PIES. 4. The sandwiches come on a range of different breads, none of them white. I was very happy with my spelt bread sandwich with salad, tuna and soy herb mayo. 5. There is a range of food combinations to suit pretty much anyone’s food allergies or detox diets (mine included). They have wheat free, gluten free, sugar free, you name it. However I tried one of the sugar and wheat free apple and cinnamon muffins and it sadly wasn’t that good. I think the problem with muffins is that they kind of need something to soak up all the sugar replacement pear juice. But the vegan chocolate fudge is good according to all reports. 6. They do the all important LSD (latte soy dandelion). Las Chicas in Carlisle St, Balaclava still do the best, followed by Bare Pear (CBD). But TOFWD are now in third place. 7. They also sell their own range of organic wholefoods and products, like flours, sauces, jams, pasta, wines. 8. TOFWD naturally has a good selection of salads too. I am still getting through the deli goods though (like you know, the PIES), lost in the excitement of being able to eat them! Triple thumbs up for this little cafe. Go there go there GO THERE!
V Rating: VVVV This is a tres groovy restaurant. I am not sure but I think the inside of the restaurant must have been designed to maximise the sound system, what with all the angled timber and oval shaped slits in the ceiling and the speakers sending out some of my favourite toons to waft around me. The door is tucked away in a corner of Level 3 of Melbourne Central - a black, wooden affair which slides open as you approach, admitting you to the world of SOS. Down the black and timber gold corridor and you enter into the restaurant proper, passing a stylised forest on one side. The walls are tastefully covered with the repeated image of the Napoleon Bee, which I think is the insect which Darwin first used as an example of his natural selection theory (but this brainwave factoid visited me after three hours of dining, so I am most likely cleverly wrong about it - at first I have to admit I wondered out loud why the moniker of such a chic restaurant was a squashed fly). Ok and now to the food. The restaurant’s menu philosophy is based on sustainability, so the only things on offer are sustainable vegetables and fish dishes - no red meat, no chooks. The vegetables are unique and beautifully combined. As a fish eating vegetarian who doesn’t do dairy, I was pretty punchdrunk happy with the menu. I had the calamari with pea puree and squid ink sauce for entree, and the goldband snapper served with zucchini flowers, vongole and oak leaves. Mmmmm. The straight vegetarian options were also appealing (I was going through a protein day so stuck to the seafood, but otherwise the risotto or cannellini ragu with ricotta gnocchi balls would have been MINE). Overall, I enjoyed the experience. There was something a bit new and off-puttingly expensive about the place - some part of me still thinks that eco friendly should also be generally affordable in order to be truly morally OK. But the excellent food turned a work lunch into an enjoyable afternoon.
V rating: VV ‘Bare Pear’ opened three months ago near the corner of Queen and Bourke Streets. It has a short but carefully designed menu of sandwiches using organic meat and vegetables and cheeses, breakfast muesli and toasts and a lunch special of soup (generally something vegetarian - today’s were tomato and bean or pumpkin, broccoli, lentil and spice) and a slice of sourdough bread for $4.90. Sandwiches are in the range of $6-8, which is pretty standard in the CBD. They use Bonsoy, which is the best tasting soy milk around as well as being, you guessed it, organic. They also offer muffins and organic coffee which people actually seem to drink and like (I am no coffee aficionado but am a reasonably well, if self-taught, people watcher). One of the muffins they offer has no gluten or added sugar. It is apple and cinnamon. I tried it and it was somewhat mushy - I was not keen on the texture, but the concept is good! So if you are looking for a healthy alternative at a reasonable price in the city, try it out. I am giving it a VV rating.
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