As a recent vegetarian, I am slowly making my way through every veg-friendly restaurant in Melbourne I can get my raw, green, hands on. The latest on my list is Madame K’s Vegetarian Cafe at 367 Brunswick St, Fitzroy. I ventured to Madame K’s on a very hot night last week and overall was quite happy with the experience. Being such a balmy night I would have liked more raw menu options but despite this, the five or so meals I shared were delicious.
The Gado Gado was the highlight of the night, the peanut sauce was so lovely that I had to restrain myself from licking the plate clean. The vegetables were crisp and fresh and the serving was HUGE! I would have been quite satisfied to have this dish as a main meal, but what sort of imitation restaurant reviewer would I be if I didn’t have several others.
The miso eggplant dish was also an absolute treat – as a newbie vegetarian, I am finding eggplant a great ‘meat’ equivalent. Before becoming ‘veg’ spaghetti bolognese was my all time favourite comfort food. I have since replaced minced meat with eggplant in my bolognese sauce recipe and I am absolutely loving it (I’ll post this recipe soon).
The other stand out dish I tried at Madame K’s was the vegetarian dumplings stuffed with potato and mushrooms (amongst other veggies I forgot to take note of).
In addition to the lack of raw options, my only other criticism was that the wait staff didn’t inform us that we ordered way too much food for only a couple of people. Although we stuffed ourselves silly, there were lots of leftovers that would have ended up in the trash and I am definitely not a fan of wastage.
Overall the experience at Madame K’s was very good but the food lacked the wow factor of Yong Green down the road – I look forward to trying Madame K’s again in winter when I feel more inclined towards the hearty curries and other hot dishes on the menu (which aren’t so appealing on a hot summers night).
Jenelle.
