Vegie Bar, Fitzroy by Snooze

I’ve never made it a secret I prefer vegetables over meat, and how most restaurants ignore the accompaniment to the main attraction. And I don’t understand this … given where the world is heading. Not only is a primarily vegetable and pulse diet better for you but it’s infinitely better for the environment. So I personally had great hopes for Vegie Bar, which I’m not sure my meal delivered.


I love spicy Malaysian Indian food so I plumped for the Malaysian roti chennai. The roti was good ... definitely amongst the best I've had. But the lentils left me disappointed. It was cooked well but I expected more flavour from a dish sold as roti chennai . I conferred with my friend Ms J, who also had the roti chennai, and her experience was very close to my own.


Big Fil chose the generous Cajun vegetable stew. Cajun cuisine comes from the Arcadian's, a group of early French settlers to Canada significant numbers of which were chased out by the British and ended up in Louisiana. See, food and history together!

It was a generous serve of vegetable stew on brown rice, topped with sour cream and sweet potato swirls. The vegetables were firm and flavoursome but, like the roti chennai, the lack of seasoning meant it lacked real depth of flavour. Good and filling but it left the feeling it could have been better.


After Chewy's choice of field mushrooms at Affogato a few weeks ago, I eyed Miss Watching her Calories choice of the baked mushrooms with envy. Another dish that looked beautiful plated, especially the impressive looking salad with a cream-based dressing.


Just to show we're not all the same, Miss No Meat, our vegetarian has a preference for less spiced food. The burrito was basic but tasty nonetheless. It was also probably the largest serving of the day and unlike many vegetarian dishes, filling.


Overall
I'd looked forward to the Vegie Bar, and on a warm, sunny Sunday lunchtime it was a lovely place to while away an hour or two. Although I’d heard Vegie Bar described as feeling like a communal eating hall, I liked the ambience, the service was friendly and helpful and our food arrived quickly. But while Vegie Bar offered plenty of choice for vegetarians and vegetable lovers on the day it didn't deliver all I'd been looking for. But my view was by no means universal and I'm more than prepared to visit again ... the beauty of Vegie Bar is the its wide variety of vegetarian dishes and I can't give up on a vegetarian restaurant so easily.

Verdict
Food - 7
Ambience - 8
Service - 7.5
Price - 8

Address
380 Brunswick Street
Fitzroy VIC 3065
Tel:(03) 9417 6935