Friday, September 06, 2019

Bodega Underground

August 16, 2019


We had a big Melbourne International Film Festival this year, which gave us a chance to catch up on a bit of CBD eating. Towards then end of MIFF, we rocked up for a post-movie dinner late on Friday at vegan-friendly Mexican dive-bar Bodega Underground. It's buzzing on a weekend - you absolutely need to book - with lots of big tables throwing back cocktails and tacos. It feels as least as much a bar as a restaurant, so don't head there expecting a quiet, low-key vibe. We kicked off with drinks - a margarita for me ($20), a tequila, elderflower and aloe cocktail for Jess and a pineapple, mint and lime mocktail for Cindy.


The three of us shared a bunch of dishes, including one serve of each of the three vegan tacos: frijoles (black beans, salsa verde, shaved vegetable chips and pickled jalapenos, $11), ejotes (green beans, apple and mint vegan slaw, salsa roja and guacamole, $12) and batata (sweet potato, pickled beetroot, vegan jalapeno crema, toasted pepitas and coriander, $11).


These were a great selection of fresh and interesting tacos with a good range of different flavours.

Our other pair of dishes were the vegan mole chilaquiles (pulled mushrooms with mole sauce, tortilla chips, jalapeno crema, queso catija, pickled onion and coriander, $16).


This was probably my favourite dish - a big, smoky nacho-style mess with some excellent creamy jalapeno mush and tangy onion bits.

Finally, we had the charred cauliflower (salsa verde, salsa de dos quesos, annata pepitas and radish, $16).


You can't go too far wrong with a charred cauliflower the combo of sauces and extras on top of this one added some bite and creaminess to the tender cauli.

Bodega Underground is a buzzing, boozy option for a late night dinner, with an excellent array of vegan Mexican dishes. Service was friendly and pretty efficient, even with hordes of people there on a Friday night - book in and check it out.


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We found positive reviews for Bodega Underground at The New Fave and Aussie Coeliac (although they didn't love the noise), and a more unenthusiastic one at far fetched & fanciful.
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Bodega Underground
55 Little Bourke St, Melbourne
(03) 9650 9979
menus: drinks, food
Accessibility: Bodega Underground is down narrow stairs and is cramped and loud. According to their website, children are not welcome(!). We didn't visit the toilets.

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