Las Chicas II

Cheap Eats 2006, a decade on 

February 7, 2016

We decided to broaden out our Cheap Eats 2006 project by heading south of the river for a return breakfast at Las Chicas, a place we'd last visited almost exactly nine years ago. It's managed to maintain a healthy buzz over the decade, meaning we were confronted with a queue for a table at 11:00 on a Sunday. When we were shuffled in after 10 or 15 minutes we were slotted into the back bench of the courtyard, overlooking one of the most picturesque carpark views in town.

The menu is massive and well-stocked with vego items. Vegans have seven dishes to choose from, including coconut sago ($14) and shitake mushrooms with marinated tofu and miso broth ($16). Prices must have gone up since 2007 - our old post has the most expensive vego brekkie at $12, while nowadays you can get a vegetarian big breakfast for $25.

Cindy ordered something similar to the dish I had way back in the day - the pumpkin, polenta and sunflower loaf with avocado, feta, pomegranate, fresh herbs and lemon ($17). The presentation is a bit fancier these days and the dish itself was an improvement on my old baked beans-based version - the loaf was lighter and not as dry, with the feta and avocado serving as delicious condiments. The salad was basically all basil, which was kind of overkill, but that was the only minor complaint that Cindy had.

She paired the meal with a banana and honey smoothie with milk and yoghurt ($8). The two feature flavours were prominent and very sweet.

I opted for one of the vegan meals - Vik's vegan wrap, an overstuffed wrap filled with broccoli, marinated tofu, mushrooms, onion and vegan mayo and drowning in avocado and a tomato salsa ($16).

There's nothing fancy about it, but this is a massive and hearty plate of fresh, tasty food. The vegan mayo was great - not the low-fat Praise option that we usually fall back on - and the mushrooms and tofu provided the rich savoury flavours to balance out the bright freshness of the broccoli and avocado.

We were pretty impressed with our return to Las Chicas - the coffee's good, the staff are friendly and they've really got their systems together. Despite the crowds of people queuing up for tables, service was brisk and the coffee and food turned up speedily. They've stuffed so many tables and chairs in though that it doesn't feel like a very relaxed setting - you can't really avoid the feeling that you're being rushed through so they can clear the decks and cram the next group in. Still, the food is great, and the menu is huge and varied - there are heaps of things I'd love to go back and try. We'll just try to make it at a quieter time of the week.

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Read about our first visit to Las Chicas here. Since then it's reputation has remained strong, with positive write-ups on veg blogs Vegan Sparkles and Nouveau Potato plus loads of omni-bloggers: Eat and Be Merry, for Tomorrow We Die(t), Available All Day, Ichigo Shortcake, Fitzroyalty, The Very Very Hungry Caterpillar, Brunch Addict, Travelling in Mary Janes, msz knowitall, The Baroness of Melbourne, Yum Yum, Juganaut's Foodie Thoughts, KittyBaroque, Mr and Mrs Kong, The Melbourne Glutton, ps: I heart you, SouthSideBrunch, Painting Rachel Red, One Fat Cow, Melbourne Places, Tell Her She's Dreaming, Melbourne Din(n)ing Blog, A Food Trail, My Diet Starts Tomorrow and The World Loves Melbourne.

There are just a few people with less than rave reviews - see Howie's Melbourne Food Blog, The Epicurean of Southbank,Yellow Eggs, Juju's Gastronomy and two fat buns.

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Las Chicas
203 Carlisle St, Balaclava
9531 3699
breakfast menu, lunch menu, drinks menu, specials
http://www.laschicas.com.au/

Accessibility: There is a flat entry, but the space is crowded with people and tables. There are a mix of regular tables and higher benches with stools. We ordered at our table and paid at a low counter.

En Izakaya

Update 12/06/2023: En Izakaya is now closed.

March 19, 2014

We noticed En Izakaya while wandering Carlisle St a few years ago and made a mental note to come back one day. That day finally came this week as we celebrated some friends' upcoming move to the neighbourhood.

En's vegetarian options ran a little shorter than we remembered, and the vegan options shorter still. Nevertheless, our waiter cottoned on to our needs very quickly, steering us past the egg and mayonnaise and a dish that concealed fish stock.

The options that fit were fab. We started with a soba noodle salad ($12) with abundant fresh green leaves, cucumber, zucchini and tomato, all dressed in a killer wasabi & white miso vinaigrette.

The dumplings ($12) weren't the gyoza we expected: rather, starchy balls of sweet potato, carrot and mushroom in deep-fried batter. Your eyes don't deceive you - we ordered three plates of these!

The final kicker was this row of seared tofu and baked eggplant ($13) smothered in thick, sweet miso. Each molten mouthful was painfully delicious - I couldn't wait for it to cool down.

This is fairly fancy Japanese bar food with prices to match. While En's menu isn't designed with vegos in mind, what little we can order hits the high notes.

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En Izakaya has generated consistently positive blog posts since it opened in 2009, from 1001 Dinners 1001 Nights, Expounder with Cheese, doublecooked, One Fat Cow and Asian Restaurants in Melbourne; only :: GOINGKOOKIES in MELBOURNE :: has been unimpressed.

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En Izakaya
277 Carlisle St, Balaclava
9525 8886
menu 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
http://enizakaya.com.au/

Accessibility: We think En has a flat entry. Tables are densely packed but there is a clear corridor through the centre of the seating area. We received full table service and didn't visit the toilets.

Monk Bodhi Dharma V

October 18, 2013

On Friday night we headed south to revisit Monk Bodhi Dharma for dinner with some vegan friends. (Perhaps you've already seen the meal, posted with such speed on quinces and kale!) We previously knew this restaurant's Friday night dinners to be entirely raw, but they're now shuffling the sub-40°C fare with a few very-much-cooked dishes. Their consideration of special diets remains commendable, with vegan and gluten-free options not only clearly marked but positively dominating the menu.

We started out sharing a generous bowl of roasted and spiced sweet potato cubes ($10), a fine way to sully the silky raw pesto mayonnaise.

For my main meal I dipped into the uncooked end of the menu and ordered the Living Falafel plate ($20). The dehydrated carrot and almond falafel bore an impressive and tasty resemblance to the baked kind, and they were backed up with a refreshing tabouleh and diverse array of dips - beetroot and walnut, cashew zucchini hummus, olive sundried tapenade, tahini sauce and chilli oil. I didn't warm to the lavosh crackers, but they did their part getting those dips to my lips.

Michael had a hearty Bodhi Moussaka ($24), a dish layered with sweet roasted potato, eggplant, zucchini, brown lentils and tomato in cashew bechamel, topped with vegan cheese and a raw tzatziki, with a little salad on the side. This is pretty much his ideal winter meal.

The showstopper was without doubt dessert. The unforgettable raw Snickers of our previous visit has been upcycled as Monk's "Snickers" 2 ($16.50), a gorgeous glass of molten peanut caramel and chocolate sauce swirling around vanilla and chocolate ice-creams, with contrasting crunchy moments from biscuit crumbs and peanuts.

Monk's Friday night menu doesn't quite match the vegan banquet brilliance of, say, East Elevation or Shu, but its raw desserts are unrivalled. We can't wait to see what these folks have in store for their upcoming Abbotsford venture.

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You can read about this very meal on quinces and kale.

We've previously blogged about Monk Bodhi Dharma one, two, three, four times. Since our last visit for brunch, MBD's received more positive reviews for brunch (EATABLE, I Spy Plum Pie), the Friday dinners (The Yummy Blog,) and its annual peace dinner (Clean Eats Melbourne).

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Monk Bodhi Dharma

rear of 202 Carlisle St, Balaclava

9534 7250

veg entrees $10-12, mains $20-24, desserts $12.50-16.50

www.monkbodhidharma.com.au

Accessibility: MBD has a narrow entry with a small step and very cramped interior; most seats are small heavy backless stools.We ordered at the table and paid at a medium-low counter. We hear that the toilets are located outside and around the corner and sound difficult to access, particularly at night.

Monk Bodhi Dharma IV

August 11, 2013

Catching up with the Moody Noodles gave us just the excuse we needed to trek across town to Balaclava for breakfast. Despite Monk Bodhi Dharma's varied vegetarian menu, brilliant coffee and generally good vibes, we're lucky to make the trip more than once a year. We turned up pretty early this Sunday, which meant we could waltz right onto a table without the customary queuing (by the time we left 10:30 or so there was a bit of a line-up by the door).

The menu is all vegetarian and egg-free, with plenty of vegan dishes (in fact, they'll do a vegan version of nearly anything on the menu). It's a pretty sweets-focussed menu, with apple pancakes, breakfast trifle, fruit salad and muelis. So it was somewhat surprising that Cindy went savoury, ordering  Marlo sweetcorn ricotta hotcakes with slow roasted cherry tomatoes, basil pesto and sour cream ($16.50).

I think of ricotta hotcakes as being served up with syrup and fruit, so this seems like an odd combo to me. It hit the spot though, with three thick corn-stuffed fritters and abundant condiments she stoically polished off every skerrick seemingly hours after the rest of us were done.

I made speedier work of the umami mushrooms (slow roasted king, shitake, oyster and Swiss brown mushrooms on pumpkin, spinach and sun-dried tomato polenta bread with goats cheese, thyme and red chilli oil, $18.50).

This is all about the mushrooms - rich and hearty with really satisfying savour flavours. The goats cheese provided a bit of salty pungency to cut through, and the dryish polenta bread served as a good mop for all the mushroom juice. An excellent winter brekkie.

Monk Bodhi Dharma is a consistently excellent brunch spot - the coffee was great as always, and the food top notch. Staff are friendly and pretty efficient, churning people through the tiny space without too many problems. We'll be back again... in another year or so.

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Our last trip to MBD was for dinner, but we've been semi-regular brunch visitors as well. Since last time, Monk Bodhi Dharma has been enjoyed by Mel to NYC, alextroup, Twelve Days, The Good Hearted, The Coffee Guide and Kish and Co.

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Monk Bodhi Dharma

rear of 202 Carlisle St, Balaclava

9534 7250

breakfasts $8.50-$18.50

www.monkbodhidharma.com.au

Accessibility: MBD has a narrow entry with a small step and very cramped interior; most seats are small heavy backless stools.We ordered at the table and paid at a medium-low counter.

Monk Bodhi Dharma III

July 13, 2012

   

Once back at home it's always wonderful first, to settle in at home (with the cat!) and second, to see the people and places we love. In the latter case we began by booking dinner at Monk Bodhi Dharma with the Moody Noodles. MBD's developed a reputation for excellent coffee, tea, and brunch and for almost a year now they've also been offering dinner on Friday nights. The menu varies from week to week but you can expect it to be almost entirely vegan and gluten-free, with many raw options.

   

Michael arrived early and passed the time with a blackberry smoothie based on cashew milk ($9.50).

   

Once I'd settled in we shared the Sweet Chile Love ($12), a crunchy chile filled with a macadamia and sundried tomato cream and topped with chile oil, augmented with fresh mango and a lovely pickley cucumber salad.

   

I was a little wary of a mid-winter raw main, but the cannelloni ($22) was surprisingly hearty. The zucchini 'pasta' didn't do much for me, but the minced-nut tomato sauce and broccoli-'cheddar' filling were impressive.

   

The Mexican enchilada plate ($24) was more conventional though no less tasty. The corn tortillas were stuffed with all manner of vegetables and topped with thick dollops of guacamole; I ate more than my share of the accompanying salsa.

   

Monk Bodhi Dharma had a spectacular finale in store for us - while the savoury dishes were good, the desserts were the stuff of fine dining. The raw white chocolate cheesecake ($14.50) was delicately flavoured, set off nicely by a smear of tangy raspberry and crest of dehydrated apple. It was at its best with only a little of the caramel sauce.

   

Monk's raw 'Snickers' ($16.50) is much bolder, and perhaps best suited for sharing between two. The fudgy peanut nougat base, salted caramel and raw chocolate are taken right over the top with metallic decorations and a shot glass of more chocolate to pour over. It's an incredible imitation but quickly becomes heavy and rich, and the nut-based raw vanilla cream offers no respite.

Monk Bodhi Dharma's Friday night menu is somewhat expensive and very rich, and it feels a little unfortunate to be eating such special food in such cramped conditions. What they're whipping up with is exciting and quite unique in Melbourne; I'll look forward to trying another permutation in a few months.

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MBD's Friday night dinner has also been enjoyed and blogged on JMAC .:.STEPBACK.:..

Otherwise, we've blogged about MBD's brunch menu here and here. Since then it's had positive reviews on good cafe coffee, This Food Guy, In The Dough, Chizelle's Self-Delight Shake-down, soya & chocolat (in French), Short Mac Mark, Andrew Breese, Dave Plus Food, The Chronicles of Ms I-Hua, Ruth eats the FODMAP diet, mochii eats, cotolier, Little things, Black Garlic, Bitch, I Like It Hot!, Short Black, tth.am, Cherry the Chef, available all day, MEL: HOT OR NOT, Red Robyn Guide to All Things Awesome, shade of a whim, La Melbournienne, Gretel was getting fatter, the spy machine, The Tea Diaries and from the passenger. Folks are less impressed on nevertoosweet, eggswithsides and Let's Get Fat Together.

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Monk Bodhi Dharma

rear of 202 Carlisle St, Balaclava

9534 7250

Friday night entrees $12, mains $20-24, desserts $14.50-16.50

www.monkbodhidharma.com.au

Accessibility: MBD has a narrow entry with a small step and very cramped interior; most seats are small heavy backless stools.We ordered at the table and paid at a medium-low counter.

November 2, 2010: Monk Bodhi Dharma

It's rare that a vegetarian cafe generates buzz amongst the omnivore set, but Monk Bodhi Dharma has done just that (see, again, an extensive link-list towards the bottom of the post). This is most likely due to their coffee chops - it's another third wave joint with a fancy bean rotation and even fancier set of coffee preparation methods.

It's consistently crowded, and densely designed at that. I have rarely felt this cramped while eating out, having to leave my seat and shuffle round the cafe in order to let some other customers depart. BYO collegial attitude!

However Monk Bodhi Dharma has some other features that endear it to this finicky breakfaster - an extensive tea menu and a complete lack of eggs. Yes, folks, they have a page-long breakfast menu where the only thing that's poached is a pear. I was spoilt for choice - the cereals had luscious-sounding fruit accompaniments, toast came with beans or bruschetta toppings or kicked-up avocado and the ricotta hotcakes were pesto-topped savoury temptations.

I tried out their soy chai and it was not only one of the cutest ones I've been served around Melbourne; it was one of the tastiest and best prepared.

Michael ate the Yucatan "Peasant" Beans ($14.50) - slow cooked chile beans served with feta, toasted sourdough and house made chile jam. Michael found the presentation awkward - there was no room to slather the beans on the toast, and a fork wasn't the best tool for scooping up such a runny sauce - but he spoke highly of the flavours.

I ordered the extremely popular Madagascan French Toast ($15.50); this saffron French toast came with a cardamom, vanilla and cinnamon-poached pear, lemon ricotta and crushed pistachios. Between the saffron, the poaching spices and a suspected hint of rosewater, this was a very fragrant dish; I'd almost warn folks who dislike floral flavours against it. I loved it, and the crusty baguette too - it was almost easier to eat the toothsome toast by hand than use cutlery. The ricotta was a funny one - utterly smooth, none of that usual velvety texture, and intensely sweet. It's a very memorable dish and I'd rate it with Ray and Gingerlee's French-inspired toasts as a personal favourite (all the better that it's egg-free and vegan-friendly!).

Having heard good things about their cakes, Michael ordered one to takeaway - it was an enormous iced wedge of cakey brownie goodness, with a nice coffee kick.

Service was reasonably efficient given the demands of the crowded space; some staff were notably more cheerful than others.  I'd like to try more from the very appealing menu but it's rare that we make it across town; I haven't sampled enough from nearby Las Chicas or the Galleon either.  There appears to be no end of southsiders frequenting these great cafes, though, and I look forward to at least experiencing a few more of their dishes vicariously online.

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Here are many other blogged accounts of Monk Bodhi Dharma: 1001 Dinners, 1001 Nights, multi-faceted fragmentation, vegan about town, The Coffee Guide, Lost At E Minor, The Healthy Party Girl, table to tummy, Espresso Melbourne, Backseat Baristas, 6lumens, eat, drink, stagger, In the Mood for Noodles (twice), Ballroom Blintz (twice), Gretel was getting fatter, Ronnie's Spots, What's For Tea, Melbourne Coffee Review, Pocket Carnival, Eat More Vegies, The Belly Rules the Mind, Melbourne Cafes Photo Blog, 101 things/1001 days, Eat and Be Merry, Easy as (vegan) Pie, Uproar

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After breakfast, we continued to explore Balaclava.  K recommended a visit to Rishon Foods, a specialty kosher store - in their efforts to avoid mixing meat and milk, the Jewish community have developed many vegan-friendly products.  Rishon has shelves full of vegan sweets and freezers well-stocked with dairy-free icecreams, a few faux-meats and the like.  For us non-vegans, the collection of rennet-free cheeses is impressive too.

We enjoyed observing the mix of old and new along Carlisle St, picking up some bagels from Glick's and checking out an izakaya menu before heading into Coles, where another wealth of kosher specialty products awaited.  It's a facet of Melbourne we've not really experienced before and one I'd certainly like to revisit.  As Carla wryly noted, this is the southside that us northsiders are allowed to like.

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Monk Bodhi Dharma

rear of 202 Carlisle St, Balaclava

9534 7250

unlicensed

veg breakfasts $7-15.50

www.monkbodhidharma.com.au

Rishon Foods

23 William St, Balaclava

9527 5142

www.rishonfoods.com

Glick's Cakes & Bagels

330 Carlisle St, Balaclava

9527 2198

www.glicks.com.au

January 26, 2007: Las Chicas

With the weather for Australia Day forecast to be superb, Cindy and I planned an outing to some parts of Melbourne we'd yet to visit: breakfast in Balaclava to get us started, and then a wander around the bay from St. Kilda to Brighton. Cheap Eats and the breakfast blog had made me very keen to try out Las Chicas - anything that gets both a V (for vegetarian friendly) and a little toast picture (for good breakfasts) in the Cheap Eats Guide is always going to excite me.

Despite some Australia Day Parade-related tram confusion, we made it to Las Chicas without too many difficulties. It's directly across from a tram stop and about fifty metres from a train station, so there are no problems with accessibility. And, luckily for us, there were no problems accessing a table either - we were seated straight away at a communal table in courtyard area out the back. Cindy quickly ordered an iced coffee to boost her failing system's sugar levels - 11 o'clock is a bit late for her first nutrients of the day.

Once the remnants of the previous customers' breakfasts had been cleared and our drinks had arrived, we settled down to study the menus. The heading 'Vegetarian Favourites' was a good sign! Cindy mixed and matched, combining a breakfast bagel with a half serve of porridge, while I almost put together my own breakfast combo, before realising that my choiced added up to about $20. As a compromise, I opted for the baked beans brekky: pumpkin and polenta loaf with beans and spinach, topped with a poached egg. The loaf was thick and tasty - I knew straight away I was going to be satisfied for hours after getting through it all - but probably a little on the dry side. A second runny poached egg would have solved this problem, but probably killed me in the process. The beans were delicious and the spinach provided the illusion of healthiness - a great combination. Cindy wouldn't stop raving about her toasted brekky bagel, topped with citrus pistachio ricotta, so I made one last effort and squeezed in a mouthful. The ricotta mix was tremendous - sweet with a slight citrus tang. Cindy enjoyed it so much that she was basically licking it off the last bit of the bagel that she couldn't fit in. Her porridge sounded good too, with fresh bananas and strawberries stirred through along with almonds and maple syrup. It disappeared before the bagel, suggesting it was well enjoyed. While all the food was tremendous and the service was friendly and efficient, the most exciting thing about Las Chicas was probably the menu - it's a fair way to go before eating, but with so many fantastic sounding options available, we'll almost certainly be returning soon.

The rest of the day was taken up with the walk around the bay - it was a beautiful day and an extremely pleasant stroll, despite the fact that we under-sunscreened and both ended up burnt in various places.

Some pictures from the walk:







Address: 203 Carlisle Street, Balaclava
Ph: 9531 3699
Licensed
Price: veg breakfasts $9 - $12

P.S. This post would not have been possible without the kind and honest staff of Melbourne Central Lion Hotel - in a sunburnt and tired haze after our long wander, I foolishly left the camera on a table there, after enjoying a much-needed cold beer. Luckily, they picked it up and kept it behind the counter until I shamefacedly returned - they seemed quite bemused by all the pictures of fruit on it.