Soul Food Cafe (Fitzroy, Melbourne) - Review

273 Smith Street
Fitzroy, Melbourne
VIC 3065, Australia
PH:+61 3 9419 2949
Type of food: Vegetarian

Hours:
Monday to Friday 08.00 AM - 11.00 PM
Saturday 08.00 AM - 11.00 PM

Soul food is in the middle of the trendy Smith st in Fitzroy. Smith st is full of shops and the occasional batches of cafes. Even if you are not hungry there is plenty to check out on this street. It was close to 1 in the afternoon and my partner was yet to have any kind of breakfast. I couldn't last and grabbed a sandwich from the seven eleven shop on the way to Fitzroy, a choice which I was to regret later... After wondering up and down Smith st we decided to check out the Soul Food Cafe. It seemed well presented. Not too flash, but nice and comfortable. The service was good too. Even though it is a cafe, it felt more like a restaurant. We were seated right away and the waitress asked if we wanted a coffee while we thought about what food to order.

Anyway, I ordered samosa with a Greek salad, while my partner ordered a lentil burger. We waited for about 20 minutes before the food arrived, and all of it tasted great, particularly the samosa. The lentil burger tasted a bit dry, but then you can't really expect much from a veggie burger!

I was getting immensely full and not even half way through the samosa. I began to regret buying a sandwich 2 hours earlier however continued to stuff myself. It was clear the chef put some time and effort to perfect not just the taste, but also the presentation. The food portions were more than reasonable especially considering the meals were $15 AUD each. The price here range from about $13 - $25. The coffee was satisfying too. These guys use Jaspers Organic Free Trade Coffee, which I think is awesome and everybody should do the same. They also have a takeaway menu so you can ring them up to make an order and rock on up later to pick up.

My only complaint is we were seated right in the middle of people traffic, so at times there were people queuing up to the till right next to our table. They should really relocate this table to a better suited position. However overall this is an excellent place for food and coffee. I'm keen to come back here and try the rest of their menu.

Quality of food: 7.5/10
Quality of service: 8/10
Atmosphere and Presentation: 7/10
Value for money: 7/10

Overall rating: 7.4/10