The East Brunswick Club's vegan Philly Cheese Steak has been an elusive and tantalising beast. It has been on and off and on and off the specials board, and been unavailable on $10 Mondays and Mexi Wednesdays. Now the EBC seems to have revised its menus. In the face of rising food costs, Monday meals have risen to $12, Mexi Wednesdays might be no more, and the Philly Cheese Steak has earned a more permanent place on the standard menu.
At $17, and notably absent from the cheap Monday menu, you'd want this burger to impress. It does! Silky-tender mock duck pieces get sauteed with capsicum and onions in a light and lightly spicy sauce, then stuffed into a roll with some pleasant-but-unnecessary vegan mozzarella. I'd be as, if not more, happy if the cheeze was replaced with some leafy greens but it'd be a token stab at nutrition in what's a fundamentally junky pub meal.
On this Thursday night, the EBC was typically popular and the food took a little while to arrive. However it was well worth the wait, with our meals arriving at the same time, with a smile and crispy hot (an improvement on some past performances). The chips were probably the best batch I've had here. The food's neither refined nor nutritious but if that was what we were after, we wouldn't have headed down to the pub!
duuuude is it me or is $17 outrageously expensive for a fake meat sandwich with chips? maybe I've just been too poor for too long....
ReplyDeleteYes and no... for example, I doubt there's many pubs 'round inner city Melbourne that would serve an actual steak sandwich and chips for less. And I feel OK about spending a couple of extra dollars than I think the food is worth to support such a vegan-friendly establishment. On the other hand, Bowl of Soul offers equally good stuff for notably less $$ (... though the serving sizes are probably also smaller).
ReplyDeleteMy usual approach is just to take advantage of the EBC's cheap deals on Monday and Tuesday, which I think are good value. Then every now and then one of the exxy novelty items reels me in. :-)
I agree. I just compare things to bowl of soul and vegie bar a lot...
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