Moroccan Soup Bar, Fitzroy by Bureaucrat

The Eat and Be Merry Crew convened at the Moroccan Soup Bar for dinner a little (i.e., long!) while ago.  With 12 or so of us, we were able to make a booking for a table and didn't have to join the queue of hungry diners and line up for a table.

I've known about the Moroccan Soup Bar for the longest time now... I know it's an institution and it's famed for its soups and vegetarian menu.  But unlike some of the Crew, I've had never gotten around to trying it - it's a local eatery for Foghorn Leghorn, Big Fil has been there before, and it brings back memories of her roaring 20s for Obelix.

There's lots of photos for this review but the review itself will be rather short.  Namely, because none of us really had a clue as to what we were eating as this was a "spoken menu" (i.e., whatever dishes they had prepared for the day).  Further, the rules of dining here are rather strict... (the Seinfeld character of "the Soup Nazi" was mentioned more than once).  There's basically three options for dinner: set menu A, set menu B or soup.  You can't mix or match the options; and as far as we can tell, the only difference between the two set menus is that you got may be one or two extra dishes for set menu B.  We chose set menu A, or rather, we were told by the staff that they will serve us set menu A.

So, without further ado, here are some colourful pics of various vegetarian dishes.

This was a selection of dips, pickled veg and flat bread...

Rather surprisingly for me, I quite liked this big bowl of warm chickpeas which was smothered in a warm yoghurt and roasted almond topping.

Ruby Grapefruit and I quite liked this dish, which was roasted eggplant served with some sort of ancient grain and salad.

This was a rice and potato dish...

A rice and lentil dish...

Some sort of mixed grain salad with fattoush....

A braised root vegetable dish...

I can't remember what this was...

A mixed grain and lentil dish served with yoghurt.

And finally we get to dessert, which was pretty well received by all.  These were my favourite - small pancakes stuffed with a ricotta filling and drizzled with honey.  They're just the right size for nibbling.

There was also a selection of pastries - deliciously sticky they were!

The set menu comes with fresh mint tea to start and end with.

Verdict

We liked it.

Overall

The food was nice but some of us felt it was overly carb-based.  I felt full after our meal but I also knew I'd be hungry soon after.  It's a great place if you're vegetarian (Ms No Meat was in her element here!).  Overall, the service is friendly but quite bossy at the same time. It feels rather odd to be told what to order, and none of us got the sense you could ask too many questions about what was being served.  Having said that, once you've "agreed" with their ordering decisions, the service is prompt and comes with a smile.

And I find it rather odd that we weren't allowed to order a few serves of soup to go with our meal.  I can't think of how this would have caused confusion or complexity to the staff.

Would I go back again to try the soup?  That'd be a "no".  I'd like to go to a place where I have bit more autonomy over my dining experience.

Find it at

Moroccan Soup Bar
183 St Georges Rd
Fitzroy North VIC 3068
Phone: (03) 9482 4240