Martin FrimetBlunt Vegie Bar lacks a cutting edge
April 25th 2008 01:55
The credentials on the way to Vegie Bar, on Brunswick Street, were abundantly clear. Not only does this long-running Fitzroy staple share a border on one side with a plant and garden store (green produce from which blooms out onto the street as you walk up), but the billboard at the corner of its nearest intersection has even recently been decked out in an enormous poster for the local Green Party candidate’s attempts to become a Senator. As both vegetarian and organic get ever higher in many people’s everyday esteem, I wondered then what surely one of the greenest establishments in Melbourne could offer me.
From the very start, Vegie Bar seems to have taken its green theme with the utmost seriousness. Thus, as I sat down and stared at the high, slanted ceiling, at the slow twist of the overhead fans and at the assortment of plain wooden furniture, I frankly couldn’t help but get the impression I were eating in a shed somewhere. And with a heavy, hypnotic sun streaming in through the large window fronts and slow, languid music on play, I almost felt as if a selection of farmyard animals were about to wander through the premises at any moment. And somehow, in that setting, I don’t think I would have minded that.
Nevertheless, though both in ambience and audience the Vegie Bar may initially have felt more Woodstock than Western metropolis, its menu still read like much you might get from any well-set cafe across Melbourne or the world. Burgers, wraps, soups, curries, pizzas and pastas were all well-represented and, with such a busy menu, it was easy to forget that there was anything missing at all.
A daily specials board also looked entirely appetising and, at just $10, I felt certain a sumptuous sounding Macadamia Salad, to be served with roasted pumpkin, green beans, cherry tomatoes, avocado and a citrus fetta dressing, could barely fail to deliver in both taste and value.
Before that, a plate of mini-samosas arrived, and though the tiny triangles themselves were nothing out of the ordinary the home-made tsatziki and, in particular, the chilli sauce that they came served with attested to a kitchen with a keen ability to judge flavours. Ears pricked and tail wagging from the strong chilli kick, I waited excitedly for our mains to arrive.
As our waiter arrived, the frizz of anticipation grew ever stronger. Mine was a hulking mass of green leaves which I could not wait to deflower, while my friend's vermicelli noodles with mixed Chinese vegetables and chilli sauce came out looking fresh and hot and then flourished artfully with pillars of beansprouts.
Unfortunately, that was about as exciting as the Vegie Bar got. I am still waiting for the big bang I was expecting. Once my friend had dismantled her beanshoot empire, she found a rather uninspiring underneath, with disappointingly drab greens and a not-quite-far-enough glug of chilli sauce.
Mine, I soon realised, had possibly taken the Vegie Bar’s green motif rather too much to heart and, though big on leaves, was massively lacking in the macadamia, the avocado, the pumpkin and the fetta that I had been on tenterhooks for. Though what I could find of these ingredients was good, they were so scarce that finding any of them soon became an effort of needle-in-a-haystack proportions. The green beans, maybe unsurprisingly, were rather more ubiquitous and it is their flat, papery crunch that I will ever remember of that dish.
No doubt one of the first of its kind, Vegie Bar should be commended for trying to make vegetarian food accessible and affordable but it should also realise that this strand of cuisine has moved rather much more into the mainstream since it first opened its shutters some 16 years ago. Vegetarians and meat-eaters alike now go to places like the Vegie Bar for food they feel will be wholesome and healthy but also interesting and full-of-flavour. By contrast, the menu at Vegie Bar gives a rather more weathered, wearied impression (even the actual menus we ordered from were suspiciously dog-eared and ready for a re-print).
Whether by cutting down on its over-growing greens or perhaps refreshing its menu entirely, I felt the Vegie Bar needs to start thinking about how to appeal to a more modern audience that is much more willing to try new flavours and new ideas than ever before.
Vegie Bar
378 Brunswick Street
Fitzroy
From the very start, Vegie Bar seems to have taken its green theme with the utmost seriousness. Thus, as I sat down and stared at the high, slanted ceiling, at the slow twist of the overhead fans and at the assortment of plain wooden furniture, I frankly couldn’t help but get the impression I were eating in a shed somewhere. And with a heavy, hypnotic sun streaming in through the large window fronts and slow, languid music on play, I almost felt as if a selection of farmyard animals were about to wander through the premises at any moment. And somehow, in that setting, I don’t think I would have minded that.
Nevertheless, though both in ambience and audience the Vegie Bar may initially have felt more Woodstock than Western metropolis, its menu still read like much you might get from any well-set cafe across Melbourne or the world. Burgers, wraps, soups, curries, pizzas and pastas were all well-represented and, with such a busy menu, it was easy to forget that there was anything missing at all.
A daily specials board also looked entirely appetising and, at just $10, I felt certain a sumptuous sounding Macadamia Salad, to be served with roasted pumpkin, green beans, cherry tomatoes, avocado and a citrus fetta dressing, could barely fail to deliver in both taste and value.
Before that, a plate of mini-samosas arrived, and though the tiny triangles themselves were nothing out of the ordinary the home-made tsatziki and, in particular, the chilli sauce that they came served with attested to a kitchen with a keen ability to judge flavours. Ears pricked and tail wagging from the strong chilli kick, I waited excitedly for our mains to arrive.
As our waiter arrived, the frizz of anticipation grew ever stronger. Mine was a hulking mass of green leaves which I could not wait to deflower, while my friend's vermicelli noodles with mixed Chinese vegetables and chilli sauce came out looking fresh and hot and then flourished artfully with pillars of beansprouts.
Unfortunately, that was about as exciting as the Vegie Bar got. I am still waiting for the big bang I was expecting. Once my friend had dismantled her beanshoot empire, she found a rather uninspiring underneath, with disappointingly drab greens and a not-quite-far-enough glug of chilli sauce.
Mine, I soon realised, had possibly taken the Vegie Bar’s green motif rather too much to heart and, though big on leaves, was massively lacking in the macadamia, the avocado, the pumpkin and the fetta that I had been on tenterhooks for. Though what I could find of these ingredients was good, they were so scarce that finding any of them soon became an effort of needle-in-a-haystack proportions. The green beans, maybe unsurprisingly, were rather more ubiquitous and it is their flat, papery crunch that I will ever remember of that dish.
No doubt one of the first of its kind, Vegie Bar should be commended for trying to make vegetarian food accessible and affordable but it should also realise that this strand of cuisine has moved rather much more into the mainstream since it first opened its shutters some 16 years ago. Vegetarians and meat-eaters alike now go to places like the Vegie Bar for food they feel will be wholesome and healthy but also interesting and full-of-flavour. By contrast, the menu at Vegie Bar gives a rather more weathered, wearied impression (even the actual menus we ordered from were suspiciously dog-eared and ready for a re-print).
Whether by cutting down on its over-growing greens or perhaps refreshing its menu entirely, I felt the Vegie Bar needs to start thinking about how to appeal to a more modern audience that is much more willing to try new flavours and new ideas than ever before.
Vegie Bar
378 Brunswick Street
Fitzroy
| 96 |
| Vote |
Shared on
Subscribe to this blog
Comment by Morgan Bell
Deep Pencil
Current Business News
Movie Train
Artist Quirk
Comment by RubySoho
Music Zone
Thought Zone
the Vegie Bar is a weird place, sometimes the food is wonderful, sometimes it is painfully average. I guess it depends on who happens to be working in the kitchen.
Their sangria is a cheap way to get drunk.
Comment by Anonymous