Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Sweetwater Inn

There are still a few posts to be published about my recent travels to Western Australia, for now I’m taking a break to write about a new bar/eatery in Melbourne. After returning from my month away I was sad to hear that the popular vegan soul food stall South had departed from The People’s Market in Collingwood. The good news is that head chef Shannon Martinez has moved onto a new venue and developed another vegan menu for us hungry folks.

Sweetwater Inn is located in South Yarra near the Jam Factory. The small eats side of the vegan menu includes snacks like baked bean and cheese jaffles with soup of the day, bubble and squeak croquettes, beer battered chips with gravy and strass and tomato sauce sandwiches, a lunch box item you may recall from childhood. BBQ prawn skewers with aioli, chipotle ham steaks with pineapple and a crispy chicken salad are amongst the choices in the vegan main meals.


The man and I headed straight for the bigger plates, his belly could not be swayed from the beer battered fish and chips ($16). The soy based faux fish wrapped in seaweed and battered was the closest thing he has encountered to the real deal in years. The accompanying tin of salted, crispy beer battered chips rivalled the ones we are so fond of at Gasometer. A quarter of iceberg lettuce with dressing didn’t really capture his interest but overall he loved the meal.

Apologies for the blurry picture of my meal as it doesn’t do it justice at all. The rissole sandwich ($16) contained a robust pattie bursting with fantastic smoky flavours and a Tofutti cheese slice slathered in lip smacking gravy between two slices of white bread. This also came with a tin of beer battered chips and some tastefully dressed mixed lettuce leaves. These meals were perfect for sharing, I passed over half of my sandwich in exchange for a piece of fish.


Sweetwater Inn has a country theme going on with the interior decked out to suit that vibe. A word of warning is recommended for veg*ns that may find some of the ornaments disturbing. If you can grab a table outside or avert your gaze away from the hanging cow hide, horns, stuffed hawk and skull cabinet I’m sure you will enjoy a nostalgic meal if you mosey on down.

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Sweetwater Inn has also received positive reviews from The Good Hearted and where's the beef.


Sweetwater Inn
1/60 Bray Street, South Yarra
Open 7 days for dinner and on weekends for lunch

15 comments:

  1. How odd that they serve vegan food with dead animal ornaments!! I'm glad you enjoyed your meals despite that though, and finding vegan 'fish' and chips is pretty impressive.

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    1. Oops, I should have made it clearer that it's not a solely vegan establishment! Vegan fish and chips is not something you come by every day so it was worth going there for the food.

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  2. When you say strass and tomato sauce sandwiches, you mean really thinly sliced strasburg (we called it German sausage)? I could almost be tempted to go some mock meat for this sort of childhood nostalgia. Sounds like an interesting place though the wrong side of the river for me :-(

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    1. I'm pretty sure it's supposed to be like the slices of strasburg you would buy from a deli. German sausage sounds more posh than good old strass! It's amusing the different types of meals people can be nostalgic about.

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  3. Battered chips? There is not enough 'oh yes, now please' in the world for that. What a truly great sounding menu! Not sure about the lettuce either, but I'd forgive anything for some good bubble and squeak!

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    1. The chips are phenomenal! I've recently seen a photo of the bubble and squeak and am very keen to give that a try next time.

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  4. Wow, Sweetwater Inn sounds amazing!

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    1. It is pretty amazing, I'm looking forward to another visit!

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  5. Wow, Sweetwater Inn sounds amazing!

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  6. Went there on the weekend and also had the rissole sandwich, plus the faux prawn skewers and the bubble and squeak croquettes. Was all delicious, with the usual heaviness of South/Gasometer-type food to be expected. I thought the Tip-top white bread (or whatever it was) that accompanied the rissole sandwich could have been subbed for something else, though. But I'm sure I'll go back when I'm in the neighbourhood.

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    1. Thanks for stopping by jh! I wasn't the biggest fan of the white sandwich bread but it had some novelty value for me as it's not something I usually eat. The bubble and squeak croquettes look delicious, I must try them next.

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  7. I can't wait to check this place out! I hear they're open for most of the Easter weekend too.

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    1. Good to see you made it down there and enjoyed your meals too!

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  8. Nice to see a review the tells it like it is, i have eaten at Sweetwater Inn but im not a vegan and the menue is just as exciting for us people to, but i will say we did try the fish and chips and loved every mouth full.

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    1. Thanks Mark, I try to keep my words honest! Good to hear that you have enjoyed a nice meal at Sweetwater too.

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