Moroccan Soup Bar

Moroccan Soup Bar is notoriously difficult to get in to, with queues snaking out the door every nights they are open for only four hours (Tues - Sun 6pm - 10pm). My suggestion is to gather the troops and book for a table of six in advance, but make sure you are there on time, they get hella mad. Don't be expecting fancy pants service here, the popularity shows in the business and hopefully accidental inattentiveness of the wait staff. They will serve you with brisk curtness here, they don't have time for uncertainty or questions about the menu. But that's ok. We deal with it. 

The Banquet Menu for $28.0 per person is where it's at. I have heard there is a Verbal Menu and a freakin' cool take away menu where you bring your own boxes and they fill em up, but the Banquet has everything you need and then some. Dips like hummus and tzatszki and Moroccan style antipasti (sauteed eggplant, olives, spiced carrot and vegetable) make up the first course, served with pita flatbread and scooped up hungrily.

The next course is arguably the best course; multitudes of gorgeous small bowls filled to the brim with different dips, entrees and salads. 

Noone really goes through what is placed in front of you, but to be honest, it all looks delicious and tastes amazing. Look out for the beetroot and fried flatbread, and the baked potato with herbs.

What follows are the main dishes, packed full of flavour and consisting of a lot of carbs and lentils, chickpeas and nuts.

On paper it may not appeal, but trust me when I say you need to experience this vegetarian heaven.

The famous chickpea bake is a delicious mix of butter garlic chili yoghurt over chickpeas and almond slivers. It's amazing. You will probably have a lot of leftovers at this point, but remember they DO NOT give out take away boxes - it's all BYO and you shovel at the table.

Dessert consists of various fried doughs glazed with honey syrup; there's a crumbly pistachio baklava thrown in there for good measure, and a vegan tasting gluten free choc ball covered in coconut.

It ends with this tasty mint tea to refresh and cleanse your palate after the flavour onslaught.


TL;DR A damn good vego restaurant.
[Addit: some good news, the mastermind Helen Assafiri behind the Moroccan Soup Bar is set to open a new venue "Moroccan Soup Bar Deli-Cacy" in East Brunswick in late September. Huzzah!]

Moroccan Soup Bar

Let me start of by saying I am not a vegetarian by a long shot, but I do have a few vego friends so have sampled many-a good vego restaurant. Moroccan Soup Bar would probably now be at the top of that list – vego and vegan friendly. No meat? Who cares. IT. WAS. SO. GOOD.

 

This review may not be helpful to a lot of people and I apologise for that. The food came out quickly and those around me tucked in even faster. On top of that, we ordered the $25 Banquet menu and I have no idea what I was eating, but despite that, my foray into the unknown was a great experience. I do have a few tips however, which may help a few people who try this great place out.

1. Book ahead, it gets busy and they do need tables so move you out quite quickly

2. Bring your own take away boxes, there will be a lot of food left over and they encourage you to save it for later (but do not provide boxes)

3. Go in with an open mind, meat heads! You don’t even notice there isn’t any meat, due to the onslaught of flavours from every dish.

On to my weak dish descriptions: I believe there was some sort of chickpea dish, with crunchy-somethings on top which was a favourite amongst us all. There are also quite a few nicely spiced dishes which perk the tastebuds up. There are beetroot dishes, potato dishes, rice dishes and the dessert is really nice too (you get a nice sample plate to share. The complimentary peppermint tea or traditional Moroccan coffee you are served at the end of the night rounds the meal off. Love it. I will try to return to shoot individual photos of each dish (and hopefully a better description too!)

TL; DR Best vegetarian restaurant I have eaten at.