Are you more of a carnivore, omnivore or herbivore? I am definitely a omnivore learning towards a carnivore 
I do love my veggies but I still like some protein with my meal lol the only time when I’ll happily go vegetarian is when I have dessert for breakfast, lunch and dinner 
Which doesn’t happen as often you may think hehe ~
Anyhow, the reason why I asked this question is because yesterday for the very first time I visited a vegetarian and vegan friendly cafe Monk Bodhi Dharma for brunch with fellow blogger Peach Water ~ which is named after the 5th century Indian monk Bodhi Dharma.
I actually didn’t know it was a vegetarian cafe until we got there ~ I have read some good reviews about Monk Budhi Dharma and according to The Age Cafe guide it has a 5 cup rating, so I did have high expectations, which unfortunately wasn’t met. Jan and I got there at around noon and was very lucky to get the last table in the corner all to ourselves 
Poor Jan was allergic to these flowers 
Neither of us had breakfast so we were pretty famished, we had a quick look at the menu and immediately ordered drinks.
Hot Chocolate with regular milk $3.50AUD
Peach Water got her signature hot chocolate, poor girl can’t have any strong coffees if not she can’t sleep But it’s okay ~ hot chocs can be just as good if not better Really liked the square cup they used, I had a sip too and thought it was a decent cup of hot chocolate, however, it didn’t really have the deep chocolate taste I like.
Chai Latte $5.50AUD
Thanks Jan for being a great helper p.s. can u see her pretty new ring?
I don’t know why, but I didn’t feel like my usual mocha or latte… instead I went for a Soy Chai Latte something I’ve never really had hehe I occasionally have a chai but never with soy milk. This chai latte had very strong cinnamon notes and was relatively spicy, compared to the regular chai lattes I’ve had, I think it would have helped tone down the spiciness if they had added some honey.
Umami Mushrooms on housemade pumpkin, spinach and sun dried tomato polenta bread with goat cheese $18.50AUD
We were pretty decisive and promptly chose the dishes we wanted for breakfast, but this was when the trouble started…we had to wait for a good half hour close to 45 minutes before we got our food. Jan got the Umagi mushrooms with polenta bread and goat cheese. The mushrooms were really tasty with a creamy sauce, but I found the goat cheese to be too pungent for my liking even though it was quite smooth ~ Neither of us liked the pumpkin, spinach and sun dried tomato polenta bread. I don’t think I’ve had polenta bread before, but found it really crumbly and really weird tasting.
Sweet Corn Ricotta Hotcakes with cherry tomatoes, basil pesto and sour cream $16.50AUD
The second issue was my sweet corn ricotta hotcakes…I’ve seen pictures of these hotcakes on some other bloggers posts and thought it looked great ~ I’m a bit crazy about pancakes, crepes and hotcakes lately, so I knew I wanted to try these. Even though it tasted alright, I liked the texture of the hotcakes, it was a little bit on the bland side and I found the cherry tomatoes to be very sour and the sour cream and pesto just didn’t match But the main problem we had was the long piece of hair in one of the hotcakes, we told the waiter, who apologised and said the kitchen will remake it. We waited for another half an hour before the same waiter came over again holding a raw piece of corn and said ‘we wanted to let you know, that it wasn’t a piece of hair, it was a corn beard, but yeah they’re remaking it now’. This didn’t make me feel comfortable, because I’m pretty sure we know the difference between a piece of hair and corn bread and they way he confronted me
It then took them another 15 minutes before they delivered a new plate of sweet corn ricotta hotcakes, by then I wasn’t very hungry and only had one of the hotcakes.
Avignon Apple Pancakes served with raw cinnamon ice cream maple syrup and raw vanilla bean whipped cream and dehydrated apple chips $18.50
Before we ordered our mains, I had persuaded Jan to share the raw apple pancakes as desserts, it was quite interesting with the raw cinnamon ice-cream and raw vanilla whipped cream both which I’ve never had before. It looks goods and I know Hannah (Wayfaring Chocolate) would love this type of desserts ~ but unfortunately, it really wasn’t my thing The apple pancakes were slightly burnt and you can really taste that ‘burnt’ flavour and were really dense and flavourless…while the raw cinnamon ice-cream had a really chalky taste and texture to it. We actually didn’t know it was cinnamon ice-cream until we reread the menu. I didn’t mind the vanilla whipped cream but it wasn’t what I was use to either, because it is a vegan dish they used coconut milk instead of regular milk. I thought the coconut overpowered the vanilla taste too much ~ It would’ve been a lot better if there were more maple syrup…but because service was so slow, we didn’t even bother asking for more
I personally wasn’t impressed with the food here at Monk Bodhi Dharma, maybe it was just me and vegetarian and vegan food isn’t my thing…but I really can’t forgive them for their service and it was quite expensive…we spent $35AUD each for brunch…while I’m sure we can get better food and service elsewhere.
Unfortunately, I can’t say that I will return to Monk Bodhi Dharma anytime soon…but I know Mr Bao is really interested in trying the coffee so may be we will… just hope the service is more efficient next time.
Tagged: Breakfast, Brunch, Cafe, Pancakes, Review, Urbanspoon
*sigh* Your blog is spot on. I will
Oops. Pressed post comment.
Definitely not impressed. I’ve never felt so depressed over a breakfast before, and I think they’ve managed to do it >__<
Great photos btw
x
Thanks love
You were a great helper pouring the chai latte hehe
I couldn’t agree with you more! I haven’t been SO upset and depressed for such a long time
Seriously I’d rather just have my boring yoghurt and muesli than to go back again 
what a pity that the food and service didn’t live up to it’s name. But that chai soy latte looks good! Normally, cafes would ask if you want honey with it? Funny how they didnt! I have to bring you to Galleon Cafe to have their chai, best yet! hehe I actually did put this in my list of to-go brunch places, but took it off after you said it wasn’t good. haha ah well! I still got heaps of places to try out! hehe
Yes please!!!! Where is Galleon Cafe? Take me take me hehe
Are they open on the weekends? ~
I was really upset that service was so bad and that food wasn’t great either…the burnt pancakes really turned meoff…but doesn’t matter like what you said there are so many other places we can explore hehe ~
hehe it’s at St Kilda’s! Yes it is open in the weekends! And always long queue! hehe Maybe we can go together with the mr one of the weekends after I’m back from Brissy!
That sounds good
Ricky was complaining it’s always girls day out and girls night out hahaha and i have a feeling the boys will get along with each other really well 
they both each SO MUCH hhaha
haha (: both love food! well we all do! hehe Sounds great! we will decide on a date after I’m back! hehe
Perfect
have a great time away ~
thanks dearie! (:
Oh Daisy, that just doesn’t sound good. To have to wait so long for simple dishes to appear and then to have a hair in your food and then to be challenged about it and then for sure those pancakes are burnt. That is really terrible. I think you’ve been very fair in your review and this restaurant needs to definitely improve in its service, cleanliness and timing xx
Hello Charlie
Unfortunately, it really wasn’t a pleasant brunch but i did like my company though hehe ~ I’m still quite upset that they tried to defend themselves by bringing me a raw piece of corn…
I really hope I wasn’t too harsh in my review because I just like being honest and think all customers have the right to voice out
burnt pancakes… make me sad
I won’t rush here even though it’s on my to eat list!
They were so black
i swear i didn’t edit the photo lol doesn’t matter there are so many other places to check out ~ maybe only go for a coffee if you’re ever around that area 
Even though I’m half vegetarian, I don’t really go to pure vegetarian restaurans… Nowadays most restaurants have good vegetarian dishes anyway especially when it comes to brunch options. It’s not nice for them to come specifically to tell you that it was a corn husk too….
Though I must say Jan’s dish looks kinda interesting, but you can get similar version at Mr Tulk and I can assure you’ll like their version of fried polenta. Hehe.
I’m actually surprised non-vegetarian places seem to be serving better vegetarian dishes than pure vegetarian restaurants and cafes. I have nothing account eating vegetarian and I know that it’s probably better for me that way…but the food here just wasn’t very nice at all
Jan’s mushrooms was probably the best dish out of all three of them and now you’ve got me interested in going to Mr Tulks hehe
Wow besides the square cup I don’t what else to be happy about for you – so sorry
You deserve way better!
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
It’s alright Uru
not your fault hehe it just wasn’t a nice cafe but maybe it was just be and I don’t like vegetarian food?
Anyhow hope you’ve had a nice first day back at school ~
Carnivore trying to move to herbivore… too much meat lately… and been making one too many desserts… so sugarvore too?
HAHHAA I Couldn’t stop laughing at the sugarvore! I LOVE IT! Can i use it in my other posts?
PLEASE hehe
Yes you can use “sugarvore” but you must credit me for coming up with it
Sure thing
will credit you when i use it next thanks!
Oh what a shame that it didn’t impress but thanks for the honest review Daisy!
You’re welcome Lorraine
i hope I wasn’t too harsh, because I just like to be honest 
It’s so much about attitude. I don’t mind if something goes a bit wrong in the kitchen – we all make mistakes – but if the waiters are rude about it, I won’t go back.
I definitely agree Hannah ~ it’s fine if they’ve made a mistake or maybe it was a piece of corn beard but I just think they could’ve been nicer about it
Aww sorry to hear it wasn’t a great experience – well at least you know and you’ve given us an honest review of the visit… that’s all anyone can expect
.
Thanks Ames
I was really worried that maybe i was being too harsh and that maybe the food isn’t too bad…but I really didn’t like it >_<
Restaurant review includes the whole experience and if you didn’t feel comfortable and enjoy as much then this restaurant wasn’t good enough. You are not harsh at all. I think good vegetarian dishes should be tasty for non-vegetarian too! Good honest review!
Shame you didn’t have a good time.. the umami mushrooms look good!!
Yeah unfortunately it just wasn’t as nice as it looks >_<
What a shame about the poor service as like you I have heard some good things about this place. The hair story in particular is pretty bad – not a good way to deal with a problem like that.
Hi Cara
A shame that we’ve both heard good things about MBD, I didn’t like how they dealt with the corn issue either…i felt like they were challenging me and that i was a trouble maker lol
That is a shame. The apple pancakes are really burnt. That’s something I would do (burn stuff), not something you should put up with in a restaurant.
looking real good… never had a chance to go when I was still in melb.
It looks better than it tastes though
unfortunately
What a shame about the pumpkin dish – it looks really yummy
Its a shame you didnt like this place we thought it was great?! Our friends had raved about it all the time so we decided to try it and we loved it!
Thanks for dropping by Madison Jane!
Definitely a shame
I’m not sure if it was just that day that they were so busy and that’s why they weren’t up to standard. And the attitude of the waiter wasn’t very nice 
But maybe I need to go back and give them a second chance ~ Glad to know that you enjoyed it hehe
I am a regular and find the waiters to be extremely friendly so they must have had a bad day and taken it out on poor you
the hair issue doesn’t sound good but worth giving them another chance I think . Their coffee is one of the best in the area too ..
Hello Froggy Legs thanks for dropping by my blog
Maybe it was just that day and maybe I ordered the wrong dishes ~ unfortunately, I just didn’t enjoy my visit as much as I had anticipated. However, i do believe it may have been a one off experience 
Hey Daisy, my name is Kirk and I am said controversial waiter. At the risk of pulling hairs (pardon the pun) may I shed some light on this scorching monologue.
Finding hair in food is gross. It’s happened to me whilst eating out in the past and creeps me out. So naturally when you brought your little situation to my attention I didn’t hesitate to have in having it remade. My co-workers in the kitchen felt the same. When the kitchen showed me it wasn’t a hair, but a stringy piece from the corn husk it was a relief for all; no gross hair in food situation aka good news. I didn’t even realize corn had such stringy pieces in their shell (”corn beard” as you put it). By this stage your lunch was already being remade, no problem, but I thought you might like to know about this mix up to put your mind at ease if nothing else. It was a reasonable and understandable complaint you made and in all honesty there was no ill feeling from myself or co-workers. Showing you the corn string was my quick albeit clumsy way of trying to make you feel better about the situation, rather than worse. For what it’s worth, there was no desire to defend or to challenge or to make you feel uncomfortable. It was an extremely busy day from memory and I don’t remember having any attitude toward your situation beyond brief concern. Now that I’ve read your essay though I have to say that I’m confused how a simple mix up could cause you to feel ”so upset and depressed for such a long time”, or why you’d spend hours writing about a lunch you didn’t enjoy.
Fair call on the wait. 30-45 minutes is a bit long to wait for food, even if it’s that busy.
Good luck with the blog I hope it works out for you!
Hello Kirk,
Thank you for your comment and spending the time to reply to my review of the cafe that you work at.
I hope you understand that my review was intended to share with my readers my experience at any cafe/restaurant at any given one time. And not to attack or cause you or anyone any distress. As I can only speak from my own experience and my experience may be different from someone else.
It is true that I found your act of showing me the ‘corn’ rather confronting and the wait to be a little long hence, that was what I wrote in my review. I have always been completely honest with all the reviews I write.
I also clearly stated in my review that it may have been an issue of personal preference and not necessarily an issue with the food MBD served.
Really hope this will clear any confusions or misconceptions you may have.
Once again thank you for your comment.