A couple of months ago, @daveplusfood drew our attention to a new raw vegan cafe opening up in Northcote. We've been a little lazy about hitting High St lately but K motivated us to visit Shoku Iku for a weekend lunch.
Shoku Iku is sparsely but stylishly decorated, seemingly optimised for mindful eating. Service was warm and attentive where I imagined it might be austere. The menu starts with a range of smoothies ($7.50-10), teas and cocoa. I gather that the 'hot' drinks warmed within the parameters of the raw food philosophy, and I doubt that there's a speck of gluten in the place.
At lunch time, you can select between a small ($10) or large ($15, pictured above) plate that includes all the savoury dishes of the day. For us this comprised three salads and a 'calzone'; the latter was nothing that Ben Wyatt would endorse, but the dehydrated shell added some welcome crunch.
There's more room to pick and choose for dessert. The black cherry 'macaron' ($5) was delightfully sweet with a touch of sour, and grainy with almond meal. Meanwhile the chocolate-orange tart ($8) was the epitome of smooth, with a matching nutty base.
The kitchen's last lunch supplies were served around 1:30, indicating that they're successfully luring in the locals. We're not raw food aficionados, but agreed that we prefer Yong's savoury raw dishes while Shoku Iku excelled at the sweets. I gather that the dinner menu tends more towards artfully arranged a la carte plates, and these might be stronger competitors all round.
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Shoku Iku's dinner menu has been reviewed on The Good Hearted.
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Shoku Iku
120 High St, Northcote
0403 569 019
veg lunches $10-15
http://www.shokuikuaustralia.com/
Accessibility: The entry has a small lip to accommodate the sloping street, and a shallow ramp into the restaurant. There's higher-than-average space around tables. We ordered and paid at a low counter, and our food was served to us at our table. We didn't enquire about toilets.
I finally went to yong's recently and found it really interesting so would love to go here - though am not sure I would convince E (he who would even like his salad heated)
ReplyDeleteHa! This is probably not the place for E. He might warm to the sweets for afternoon tea, perhaps..?
DeleteI'm so thrilled by knowing more raw vegan places are appearing in Aus that I don't even mind that you chose the horrible devilfruit dessert.
ReplyDeleteHannah, raw is really rising in Melbourne! Devilfruit aside, I reckon you'd really take a shine to the raw macarons, which came in several flavours.
DeleteI love love LOVE the idea of paying a lump sum and basically getting a tasting plate - brilliant!
ReplyDeleteHi AA - yeah, it does take the pressure off choosing at least. :-)
DeleteIt looks quite interesting. Raw places always seem to be able to pull off the sort of rustic decor that vegetarian places in Brisbane can never manage. Looks quite interesting. Good desserts always seem to be a challenge in raw places, so it's good that theirs were. Next time: DINNER!
ReplyDeleteJames - I must admit, these guys made minimalism look awfully, rustically elegant! And I know I should be interested in their dinner menu, but part of me just wants MOAR MACARONS.
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