Monk Vegan Degustation
We have been going to Monk Bodhi Dharma for a few years and have also been to the Friday dinners but we have never done the Degustation at the Cafe' or a Vegan degustation. It you have never been here it is a bit hard to find as it is hidden in an alleyway.
It is a very small rustic sort of cafe and has an amazing selection of coffees and teas.
We had no idea to expect so it was going to be an interesting night. We ordered the Strawberry and rock melon Smoothie with Maple Syrup. Is was sweet and creamy and very filling.
The first thing we had was a palate cleanser, it was a tomato , cucumber and spiced water. I don't like tomato juice so i did not really like it but it was interesting to say the least.
The next dish we had was a
Tarator and it had Coconut yoghurt with cucumber and pineapple.
I don't eat much yoghurt but it was a nice mix, it was sweet and a bit tart with some crunchiness.
The next dish was the Quinoa Cake, it had quinoa , dill butter and tomato.
It was very crunchy and buttery, the flavours were amazing and completely different.
We then had green olives with artichokes with a thyme mayonnaise.
The mayonnaise helped change the flavour of the olives so it was not as salty.
The next dish was my favourite Watermelon and Feta. It had watermelon, sharp feta and freeze dried raspberries.
I would have never thought it would have worked as well as it did. It was sweet and crunchy yet smooth and salty, it was AMAZING.
The next dish was chilli , macadamia and mango.
It was not a hot chilli but had a little bit of spice, the macadamia paste gave it structure and the mango gave it a fresh taste.
Most of the courses had bit smallish so the next course was quite big. We got a Persian Stew and it had vegetables, persian lime, barberries, rice and salad.
I mixed the rice in the stew and it was cooked to perfection. The potatoes fell apart as you ate them. The rice was soft and fluffy with a little bit of crunchiness. It was heavy from the potatoes.
The next dish was also a favourite, the sweet potato stack.
So it had sweet potato on the top and the bottom like a sandwich with a almond chevre. Almond chavre is cultured almond paste and used to replace goats cheese. The flavours worked so well together and i could go vegan if i had food like this. I was starting to get full and that does not happen very easy with degustations.
The next dish was melon caviar.
I just ate it in one bite and it was sweet from the melon and chewy. The flower gave it a slight bitter taste afterwards.
The first dessert was the Space Library
The reason they called it space library was because they love the movie Interstellar and it refers to a scene? Anyway it was layered sponge with fruit , berries, vanilla. It was sweet and i would never had expected it to vegan.
The last dish we had was a deconstructed snickers bar.
It had chocolate, peanuts and caramel. It was sickly sweet, crunchy and if you were still hungry this would fill you up. The menu said there was a Mignardises but we did not get one, maybe they ran out?
It did not matter as we ate so much and was amazing value for money.
We loved it all and we will do it again.
They are doing another one on Valentines day and if there is space DO IT..seriously.
Thanks for reading.
Kind E-gards
Dale Stewart
