Solomon's Cafe, 6050

This city may not be foreign to clean eating and alternative food philosophy (organic, paleo, vegan and raw), but what we haven't seen before is conscious eating dispensed in a sophisticated setting. While nearby PAWS and Veggie Mama (who I adore!) make great places for a no-frills healthy and ready lunch, Solomon's provides the ambient surrounds to enjoy this kind of food from sunrise to duskiness. Waited service, careful plating and attention to detail. Its all very California.

Solomon's by night

From the street, Solomon's looks small, quaint. Inside you'll discover the restaurant stretches back into real estate you didn't know existed. Its spacious without losing intimacy and a sun-lit courtyard surprises you at the back. Walls are mostly of exposed brick and wood, dotted with trinkets the (very sweet and passionate) owner has collected on his world travels. The staff are SO lovely. Its their passion and vested interest, which makes you want to return again. Even the chef said hello when I passed the kitchen.  

An earlier dinner date at Solomon's saw me sample a trio of sides; Crsipy Kale Chips, Sweet Potato Gnocchi and Blanched Mixed Greens. I wanted more and so backed it up with a solo lunch treat the following week. To start of I had an order of the Crispy Beetroot Chips, $6. The wafers of beetroot are dehydrated and served with salt and wedges of orange.  A tasty light starter.

Crispy Beetroot Chips with orange and salt, $6

I followed up with an entree serve of Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Coriander Pesto, $16. Oblong pieces of light dumpling were buttery, nutty, delicious, but the lack of pesto made the dish a bit dry.

Sweet potato gnocchi, entree sz, $16

Food is inventive, but the prices don't fit the quantities. If you have a big appetite, be weary. The mains are small, but designed to be enjoyed with one or two of their interesting all-vegan side dishes. The menu changes slightly depending on what could be bought fresh from the market that day.

Bottom line: healthy new-age food, in a comfortable setting. Passion and heart flows through the decor, the people and the cooking. Ah dear, two visits in and i'm already sounding like Portandia.

Food: 3.5/5 (Healthy, appetising, different)

Ambience 4/5 (Welcoming, relaxing, ZEN)

Service 5/5 (Heartfelt, sincere and the owners are there)

Value 2.5/5 (Prices are a bit excessive)

Genesis In The Hills, 6111

I love a good vegetarian find, and I'm generally willing to clock up a few kms to try it out, so it was a warm Autumn day that I made the drive out to the Hills for this Genesis.

Quite literally nestled among the Perth Hills, the tranquil and charming Australiana surrounds are the real drawing card here. Fronting the cafe is a beautiful veranda with wooden tables and chairs. The veranda wraps around the side of the cafe, hovering over pretty bushland.

From the small menu of meat-free dishes I chose the quinoa salad. A rainbow of both fresh and cooked vegetables with a herbed yoghurt dressing and a smattering of almonds. I feel healthy just looking at it!

Whilst the light and healthy meals were fresh, they were a bit overpriced and not really day trip worthy - the charming destination however, certainly is.  Dining amongst green bushland, patchwork homewares and a resident labrador, you can easily feel at Home Sweet Home. 

The warm and friendly owner will take the time to come around to each table after your meal to see that you enjoyed your lunch, which is a heartfelt touch.

Luscious cakes. Front: Banana, Halva and Almond. Right: Baked Ricotta Choc

If you're a sweet tooth, you could argue the cakes are worth the trek also. Moist and sticky, yoghurt and fruit based cakes. I managed to pass up on a piece of the Banana Halva Almond. Oh my goooodnessss!

Food: 3.5/5 (fresh and healthy but no wow here. The cakes however? To-die)

Service: 4/5 (genuine and friendly)

Ambience: 5/5 (Supremely tranquil and quiet surrounded by natural bushland in a homey establishment)

Value: 3/5 (Prices were too expensive) 

PAWS City Cafe, 6000

I had put PAWS on the back burner after being rather put off by the animal smells that permeated the space. I returned more recently to find that PAWS no longer smells like a farm and the food offerings have swelled.

Filling $8 Small plate with beetroot salad, zucchini salad, chickpea curry and stir fried Asian veg

The unclassifiable exterior helps PAWS keep a low profile.  Inside doesn't exactly scream 'cafe' either. PAWS is very basic (yet warm and relaxing), furnished in what feels like donated furniture and 80s carpet. This is completely acceptable however, as the value for money lunching, can't be beat. Just don't bring your hot date here.

For $8- which they're calling 'Small', you can get a heavy serve of mixed salad and hot food. Boost your serving to a 'Large' plate for $12, and you may well be set for lunch today, and perhaps tomorrow.

Small mixed plate, $8

The prices are great, the selection is interesting, service obliging, and it's a non-profit. Cheap eats don't get much better than this.

Raw Food Café at Fern Community Centre - 6160

Happy World Vegan Day! 

This a new raw food and vegan café that has sprouted inside the jungle that is the Fern Community Centre in Freo. You’ll walk through a curious overgrown garden, strewn with odd bits and bobs, including a Tweety Bird cut out and an unexplained collection of bicycles – adult bikes, toddler tricycles and most of them missing parts. It makes for an amusing excursion. 

Pick from a list of raw and vegan meals that use nut ‘cheeses’ and dehydrated nut and seeds, in place of wheat bases, like bread and pastries.

Daily menu

Feeling in the mood for a bit of chili, we went for the ‘Mexican wrap’ and ‘enchilada’, each $12. The dishes were made as we ordered, in the makeshift sort of kitchen. The capsicum nut cheese in my wrap was scrumptious but the salad could have been fresher. The meals were a bit thrown together, but in a simple homemade sort of way.

Raw Enchilada $12

Raw mexican wrap $12

If I'm honest, the food is not on par with The Raw Kitchen, but definitely good for you and not to mention, more wallet friendly. 

Fern Café, in a nutshell - come for the healthful food and linger in the wilderness.

Yays: Reasonable price, the relaxing and curious surroundings, friendly people
Nays: Avocado was less than fresh

Raw Food Cafe at Fern Community Centre

Corner of High Street & Montreal Street, Fremantle

Tues- Sun for lunch

0418 742 917

Manna Wholefoods and Cafe, 6162

I freaking love this place. You cannot discover Manna and tell me vegetarian food is unsatisfying or boring or "rabbit food". I would eat here everyday if I could. This is vegetarian comfort food at it's comfiest! 

Order counter

 

Spelt pasta veggie bake and 7 salads $14

The selection is vast. When I popped in for lunch last week I counted; 7 different kinds of fresh salads, 8 varieties of sweets including 4 different kinds of raw cake (lime, coconut and goji berry), 3 kinds of pizza, 2 different quiches, 3 choices of vegetarian patties, 2 veggie pasta bakes, 2 types of wraps, plus a soup of the day and a curry of the day. Phewf! I was spoilt for choice! I ended up going for a piece of the veggie spelt pasta bake ($7). I couldn't resist the look of that cheesey crisped top and layers of roast zucchini and capsicum. 

L-R: beetroot, greek, carrot and mixed leaf on top

Veggie spelt pasta bake

I ordered my pasta bake with salad ($14 total) and asked for a bit of each. There was a rainbow on my plate of curried chickpea salad, beetroot and carrot, greek salad with capers and dill, mixed leaf, quinoa and a sweet carrot salad.

Curry of the day - chickpea and sweet potato

My favourite was the sweet carrot one which tasted like it had cardamon through it. The greek salad, jewelled with bright red grape tomatoes, was taken to another level with the addition of capers and dill. The quinoa, all garlicky and such, had sneaky twine of smokey mushroom - big yum.  On my last visit I got a roast capsicum stuffed with mushroomed wild rice and spinach plus salads. The potato salad is popular. We also tried the chickpea curry of the day. The Moroccan style curry was flavoursome and not oily in the slightest. 

stuffed capsicum, mix salads

I am always stuffed after eating here but feeling good about it and I usually take home half for dinner (thats if I can hold back). I essentially get two meals for the price of one :D. I managed to savour half my salads for later to make room for a slice of their intriguing Gogi berry raw cake, $6.50. 

Raw gogi berry cake $6.50

Raw goji berry cake

It had a distinct gogji berry taste, gently sweet and subtly tart. The "cheesecake" was silky, yet grainy and moussey all at once; propped on a crumbly cacao and nut base. A symphony of flavours and textures, if you will. Divine. 

Ah Manna. One of my fave places for lunch in Perth and definitely my top pick for vegetarian eats.

Food: 5/5! (Fresh, healthy, variety, hefty portions)

Ambience: 4/5 ( simple fit out for a quick lunch, nice sitting on South Tce on a sunny Freo day)

Value: 4/5 (home cooked, organic, generous and good prices)

Service: 4/5 ( super quick and helpful)

Feast, 6010

Feast is like a celebration of nature's harvest. Bowls of roast root vegetables and sprite, leafy greens. Spiced legumes, picked herbs and grainy nuts and seeds; all in wholesome and vivid array!

Feast offer plenty in the way of gluten free, vegetarian and healthy wholefoods. They have the best array of lentil/chickpea/tuna patties and salads around.

Tuna pattie and mix salads

Everything sings fresh, varietal and good for your heart!

Chickpea pattie and mix of salads

There is a bit of room for improvement at Feast. Coffee is passable but would not stand a chance against some of my cafe favourites. Prices don't match up to the experience either - $17-$19 for a pattie and some salad is a bit much. The strangely small, rectangular tables, are a mystery too me too.  I wouldn't recommend bringing a laptop for a working lunch here, for this reason.

On the other hand; the cakes and bakes are fairly special. Delightful selection of sweets, obviously made from scratch. 

Average coffee, sorry

Food: 3.5/5

Coffee: 2.5/5

Ambience: 2/5

Source Foods, 6000

In a word: fresh. In two words: wholesome and fresh. In three: hearty, wholesome and fresh.

T Burger

Source are champions of the low food miles concept and I love it. All produce is bought from the nearest source possible (Ah, I just got the name now!) and meals are reproduced as close to their original, raw form. Yes there's lots of colourful vegetarian and vegan options but the dishes are hearty and you wont notice they're removed of meat (the bean quesadilla is a little bit awesome!). Don't be mistaken - Source are not exclusively vegetarian; they make some mean beef burgers too!

My favourites at Source are the Satay Tofu burger and the T Burger. The T stands for tempeh - a less processed version of tofu, derived from soybeans. The texture of the unprocessed soya beans give it a hearty and satisfying taste. I just love this burger! Stacked high with mixed lettuce, grated carrot, fresh tomato, roasted beeteroot and the best caramelised onions; this monster is then wedged between two soft, organic buns and some homemade hommus. It is one of my favourite lunches. This burger is on the menu ever day.

T, dissected

The satay burger is rarer to come by, but you can get it on Friday nights when Source lives its double life as a burger bar. These burgers are my favourite of all the burger joints I've tried in Perth (I've tried A LOT), mainly because they're just so fresh and overflowing with nutritious produce.

Satay Tofu Burger - you wont want it to end

Breakfast is also delicious as well as quite generous for the price. Coffee won't knock the socks off a connoisseur but its certainly nothing to complain about either!

Vego breakfast - toast with hommus, tomato, shrooms, spinach and great home style beans

The services is genuinely friendly, the cafe is drenched with light and the furnishings pared back and raw - much like the philosophy on food. The cafe has passed through a few different owners since its foundation but quality has't waned. If anything, it's gotten better.

T Burger

I love Source.

Food: 5/5
Service: 4/5
Ambience: 4/5

The Juicy Beetroot Cafe, 6160

Tricky to spot, The Juicy Beetroot Cafe is buried down Tum Tum Tree Lane (can you get a more adorable street name?!) that runs off High Street.

It's vegetarian, vegan, healthy and well priced! 

The Juicy Beetroot display a confetti of salads that get snapped up for take-away lunches by nearby workers (myself included). It's $7 for small and Juicy put no limit to how many different kinds you want to stuff into that plastic container.

beetroot, lentils, broccoli, carrot!

If you want something a but more filling and warm  - go for one of the hot dishes that rotate from the bain-marie. Last week I eyed off some Dahl and a Cauliflower curry.

Theres dine in seating provided - set to the backdrop of some cross-cultural decorations.

If you're tempted for something sweet - pick up one of the Chocolate Brazil nut slices. They're crumbly, chocolately and delicious and only $2.50.