monk bodhi dharma
It was a busy eating day on Friday. I was in the city to see the Art Deco photographic exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria and I couldn’t resist another visit to Shandong Mama for some dumplings for lunch. I also tried the crunchy sweet and sour cabbage salad this time and it was a perfect foil for the dumplings.
But the evening was reserved for a long-awaited trip to the South side of town to visit Monk Bodhi Dharma. A group of eight fellow veg*n food obsessives gathered to eat and enjoy. The only downside with Monk is that they don’t do alcohol, so we grabbed a beer beforehand at a bar close by.
Monk does Friday night vegan dinners so it was nice to settle in and relax with no menu vigilance needed, just lots of choices and some regret that I couldn’t order it all.
I did get to taste it all though. Between us we managed to order everything on the menu and we swapped small tastes of every plate around the table.
I wasn’t hugely blown away by the entrees or main courses, I have to confess. Don’t get me wrong, they tasted good, but perhaps it was because it was a warm night and the food felt like it would be more at home in the middle of winter and not the lighter more chef-like refined food that I would have liked. Moussaka, stuffed cabbage rolls, hefty beans. The revelation came at dessert time. Deconstructed snickers, yum. Raspberry and white chocolate cheesecake also deconstructed, double yum. Really good ice cream and a chocolate mousse that was so deadly it took the table to finish it.
We all rolled away feeling sooooooo fuuuuuull.
I’ll let the pictures tell the story.
Entrees
Corn and tomato wrap
Chilli stuffed with a macadamia and sundried tomato filling with a mango, chilli oil and cucumber salad
Sweet potato with pesto dip
Mains
Eastern European platter
Moussaka
Felafel
Mexican Plate
Pad Thai
Desserts
Ice cream
Chocolate Mousse
Snickers – deconstructed
Raspberry and White Chocolate Cheesecake – also deconstructed
Monk Bodhi Dharma
Rear 202 Carlisle St, Balaclava VIC 3183
Aah, those desserts look incredible! What was in the Snickers? I think I’ll have to go there just for dessert.
I quote from the menu…”Deconstructed biscuit base with nutty nougat, chocolate, salted peanut caramel, white chocolate, chocolate sauce, and vanilla bean icecream”
As delicious as it was (and I’d give it a 10 out of 10) , I think the raspberry and white choc cheesecake was even better at about 12 out of 10.
Yep I could happily trough my way through the desserts!
That sounds like the BEST THING EVER. Damnit. Putting it on the to-do list.