Member Review by aduki Magazine

Melbourne’s newest vegetarian offering. Slightly more expensive than other similar restaurants, Vegie Valley attempts to achieve a finer dining experience. Patrons are greeted by wait staff in black and white and seated at tables adorned with white linen. Unfortunately the ambience doesn’t follow through; background music would be welcome to drown out the voices of other diners. The menu is a fusion of Asian cuisines featuring Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese and Singaporean dishes. Entrees start at $3.90 and include spring rolls, curry puffs and satay skewers. The steamed dim sim are fantastically flavoursome with a filling of minced mock ‘chicken’ (or it may have been tofu) and mushroom served with a light soy dipping sauce. Mains range from $13-18 and include a speciality dish of Singapore Hainan ‘chicken’. It is a light and tasty dish that really focuses on the great quality of the mock meat. The deep-fried spicy tofu with lemongrass is a truly delicious Vietnamese-style dish. The fried rice lacked flavour, but that could have been due to a new wok being used that hadn’t yet absorbed all the delicious flavours and aromas. All dishes are made without onion and garlic, and you can ask your waiter to leave out the egg to make your dish vegan. It’s not the food that lets this new player down, it’s the little things. Although the restaurant is licensed, none of the beers are vegan-suitable and it’s probably safer to take your own wine to be sure. Service is rather slow and disorganised but this could also be due to opening-week teething problems. The overall experience was somewhat disappointing, but there is certainly the potential for Vegie Valley to develop into one of Melbourne’s fine vegetarian eateries. A reassessment in three or so months is definitely in order.