Chocolate Buddha

January 31, 2026

   

Weirdly, we're gonna commence our Cheap Eats 2006 two decades on reviews with a restaurant that we've never before blogged: Chocolate Buddha. Chocolate Buddha has never truly drawn me in on its own merits but it's very convenient for fitting dinner in around a CBD-based cultural event. It's embedded in Federation Square and turns around decent Japanese food, fast. It always seems bustling, and you can lock down a booking before your ticketed show. At the same time, their kitchen is open to a reasonable time and if you walk in as a small group there's a good chance they'll have room for you. Most recently, Michael and I tried walking up at 8:30pm after an ACMI Tony Leung Chiu-wai movie and squeezed into the bench by the window.

   

Vegetarian and vegan dishes are marked and scattered across the menu, and there's a dedicated column for gluten-free friendly items (with a contamination caveat). We grazed on some of the more shareable options: crispy-fried green gyoza with wasabi mayo ($15), a simple tofu katsu ($11; in lieu of their sold-out nasu dengaku), seasonal green veges in a garlic, ginger and sesame dressing ($12), and steamed rice ($5).

   

Agedashi tofu ($16) is a staple; this one came with lots of broth and a helpful ladle for sharing.

Prices have increased since 2006, of course: side dishes were once $4-13 and now sit around $5-20; mains were $14-20 and are now $23-30. The Cheap Eats reviewer warned that staff could be "harried and humourless" but we experienced the complete opposite in 2026: the four staff we interacted with kept pace with confidence and a smile. Chocolate Buddha might never make the where's the best? page, but it's undeniably handy to fall back on when you feel like a tourist in your own city.

   

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Back in 2006, Morsels & Musings loved the food, but like Cheap Eats they bemoaned the service at Chocolate Buddha. Since then it has received positive reviews on This and That, The Food Joy, Weekend Notes, and Mamma Knows Melbourne.

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Chocolate Buddha

Federation Square, Swanston and Flinders Sts, Melbourne CBD

9654 5688

food, drinks

https://chocolatebuddha.com.au/

Accessibility: There are both steps and a flatter entry point to Chocolate Buddha, but I'm not sure there's a way of avoiding the undulating, cobbled Federation Square. Furniture is densely packed with reasonably clear but busy walkways - mostly low tables with backless stools, some backed metal chairs outside and some backed chairs and booth seating toward the back inside. We ordered at our table and paid at a low counter. We didn't visit the toilets. 

Gochujang & tofu ragu with gnocchi & pickled cucumber

January 4, 2026

   

Cindy keeps a reasonably close eye on Meera Sodha's vego food column for The Guardian, and flagged this one as Relevant To My Interests as soon as it popped up. It really does tick all my boxes: chilli forward, carbs and protein and something you can throw together on a school night. I liked the idea of the fresh cucumber pickle as an accompaniment too, so I went all in on Meera's vision, and added some bonus broccoli. 

It's a fun dish - a kind of gnocchi ragu, with the blitzed tofu standing in for mince, but the flavours are not very Italian, driven by chilli bean sauce, gochujang and sesame oil. It works for me, and just writing this up has reminded me that I should cook it again soon.

Gochujang & tofu ragu with gnocchi & pickled cucumber

(based on this recipe from Meera Sodha)

pickled cucumber

1 decent sized cucumber

2 tablespoons rice vinegar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon sesame seeds

gnocchi

500g gnocchi

2 tablespoons olive oil

200g spring onions, sliced finely

1 head of broccoli, chopped into bite-sized pieces

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 tablespoon minced ginger

300g firm tofu, blitzed to a mince-like consistency

2 tablespoons chilli bean sauce

1 tablespoon gochujang paste

2 tablespoons tomato paste

1 tablespoon tamari

2 teaspoons sesame oil

2 teaspoons maple syrup

While your gnocchi cooking water is heating up, start making your pickle: combine the salt and cucumber slices in a bowl and then pop them in a sieve over a bowl to drain out the moisture.

Cook the gnocchi as per the packet instructions and drain.

Put your oil in a large fying pan over medium heat and add in most of the spring onions, the garlic and the ginger. Cook, stirring, for a few minutes, until the sting is out of the garlic. 

Add the broccoli and tofu and turn the heat up, stir-frying your mix for 8 or 10 minutes, until the tofu mince browns up a bit. Stir in all your sauces and seasonings and then add in the cooked gnocchi plus about a cup of water. Bring the mix to the boil and then kill the heat and stir through your leftover spring onions.

Take your drained cucumber and pop it in a bowl, along with the rice vinegar and sesame seeds.

Serve it all up and enjoy.

Terror Twilight

January 3, 2026

   

We had a couple low-obligation days in the new year before returning to work. Michael did a little online research and suggested we try Collingwood's Terror Twilight for lunch. Located on a corner, sunlight streams in from two sides, and there's a bit of a diner feel to the whole set-up. The menu's a little fancy: banana bread comes with burnt miso caramel butter, the ham toastie is actually mortadella, and eggs benedict is served on brioche with a green mango salad. Half of the menu columns are taken up with "build your own bowl" and "build your own broth" step-throughs. Vegan, vegetarian and gluten-free options are well-marked through the all-day breakfast, but less so in the build-your-own sections, even though it's potentially the easiest way to meet one's dietary requirements.

   

I love to see a house-made soda on a menu, too - at this time they were specialising in rhubarb, strawberry and mint ($7.50).

   

The spicy green eggs ($26.50) naturally caught Michael's attention - it's a modest round of Turkish bread stacked with folded eggs, spring onion and green chilli relish, a herb salad, grated haloumi and crispy fried shallots, and a little pool of parsley-salted yoghurt to drag it all through.

   

I was intrigued by the eggs kurosawa ($27) and ultimately loved every bite. Under a furikake-dusted rice cracker, I took my sweet time over folded eggs, brown rice, bok choy, avocado and fried tofu finished with dabs of pickled ginger, miso mayo and teriyaki sauce. 

   

Terror Twilight's staff were chipper and welcoming. The more-is-more menu seems to be executed well and there is nothing hidden about this gem, with a steady stream of customers flowing through. I'd be interested to come back to build a bowl or sample some of the sweet stuff.

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There's a positive review of Terror Twilight on Melbourne Lifestyle.

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Terror Twilight

11-13 Johnston St, Collingwood

9417 0129

food, drinks  

https://www.terrortwilight.com.au/

Accessibility: There's a ramp up to the door, a flat floor and a wide pathway through the centre of the café. Furniture is mostly densely packed regular height tables with backed chairs and benches. There are a couple of booths and a high bench with fixed, backless stools. We ordered at our table and paid at the high counter. We didn't visit the toilets. 

Coffee streusel slice

January 2, 2026

   

It would seem that, for the third year in a row, I've gotten nostalgic over my Christmas-new year break and pulled out the Australian Women's Weekly Big Book of Beautiful Biscuits. This isn't actually a recipe we ate back in the 1990s; my brother would not have accepted the walnuts and neither of us would have been interested in the coffee. My tastes have changed! A biscuity based covered in coffee caramel, walnuts and a streusel topping is right up my alley.

My adjustments were minor. Worried about spreading the biscuit base as far as I needed to, I used a smaller, square baking tray than what was recommended and ended up with a taller, chunkier slice than the one in the book's photo. I was not interested in freezing and grating the streusel, so I just lightly crumbled it with my hands. Given the accessibility of dairy-free condensed milk these days, this would be easy to veganise.

The outcome was sweet and golden, and the walnuts almost melded into it. (Maybe I'd enjoy a coarser chop for greater contrast?) The small quantity of instant coffee powder didn't make an impression and I'd gladly add a lot more. This was a pleasing interplay of what I've always loved with what I've come to appreciate over time.

Coffee streusel slice

(slightly adapted from The Australian Women's Weekly The Big Book of Beautiful Biscuits)

base

125g butter, at room temperature

1/4 cup caster sugar

1 1/4 cups plain flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

filling

400g can sweetened condensed milk

30g butter

2 tablespoons golden syrup

3 teaspoons instant coffee (or add more, to taste)

1/3 cup walnuts, chopped

topping

1 cup plain flour

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/3 cup brown sugar

125g butter, at room temperature

Preheat an oven to 180°C. Line a 20cm square baking tray with paper.

Make the base in a medium-large bowl. Use an electric beater to beat together the butter and sugar. Sift in the flour and baking powder and stir until well combined. Spread the mixture evenly across the base of the baking tray, and bake it for about 15 minutes.

While the base is baking, get a small saucepan out and set it over medium-high heat. In the saucepan, stir together the condensed milk, butter, golden syrup and coffee. Bring the mixture to the boil and let it simmer for 3 minutes, until thickened. Stir in the walnuts. When the base has baked, retrieve it from the oven and pour over the filling. Allow it all to cool for 10 minutes.

While the filling is cooling, prepare the topping in a small-medium bowl. Stir together the flour, cinnamon and sugar. Chop the butter into cubes and either rub it into the flour or (my preference) mix it in with a fork until well combined. Break the mixture up into uneven chunks and drop them all over the top of the slice. Bake the slice for 20 minutes, until lightly browned, and allow it to cool within the tray.

Cheap East 2006, 20 years later

   

We started where's the beef way back in 2006 when we moved down to Melbourne from Brisbane. That means, of course, that it's 20 years since we started exploring Melbourne veg dining options and posting low quality photos of delicious food. 

Our bible for the first few years was The Age's 2006 Cheap Eats Guide, a region-by-region guide to 473 cafes, bars and restaurants across Victoria that promised meals for less than $25 a head. We checked back in 2016, revisiting a bunch of old favourites and checking the stats. At that point, 282 (59.6%) of the places listed were still open, and getting blogged by us in 2006 or 2007 was associated with a very large benefit (around 80% of the places we had blogged stayed open compared with 56% of the unblogged places).

Another decade has passed, so it's time to update the figures! The decade since 2016 has been a tough one, with the number of places still open falling by about half - we're down to 144 out of the original 473 (30.4%). There are a range of factors that predict longevity, but the key finding: being blogged by where's the beef will boost your business' survival. 

   

Between arriving in Melbourne in late 2006 and the end of 2007, we visited and blogged 43 places from the Cheap Eats, and 21 (48.8%) are still trading two decades later, compared with just 28.6% of the places we didn't blog. Now that's influence. In a fully adjusted logistic regression model, getting a wtb review before 2007 was linked with a doubling of your odds of staying open for 20 years! Incredible stuff.

   

There's some interesting variation between venues. Pubs seem to have the most staying power. Vietnamese restaurants in particular have struggled through that second decade, with only one of the twenty places in the Cheap Eats still trading this year. 

   

This is echoed in the regional data - the Inner East (which has a strong Vietnamese history and community) experienced the most closures, but more than half of the listed places have closed in every region. It's a tough industry.

We're going to revisit a bunch of places from the early years of where's the beef this year and check in on how they've changed (or not) since the heady days of 2006. Stay tuned!