Food Review #5: Vibe Cafe
Vibe is a three-minute walk from the Russian Market, located in the eastside.
At first glance, Vibe looks like one of those small trendy hipster cafes, with its contemporary style and minimal interior design. With its blue walls and lush plants, it's hard to miss.
We ordered a total of five dishes in total, with two drinks.
The first dish we ordered was the Explorer Quesadilla. We expected a Mexican-style quesadilla that you would normally get at a Mexican place, but instead, we were surprised by mashed roasted pumpkin, topped with a variety of healthy ingredients - black beans, tomato salsa, fermented pickled beetroot, guacamole, and cashew sour cream, all a corn tortilla. The dish was quite difficult to eat alone, especially for someone who isn't all used to meals without meat. We wouldn't recommend this for Vegan Beginners.
We also ordered a Chickpea 'Tuna' Sandwich. Of course, it wasn't real tuna but it definitely tasted like tuna, which is great for anyone who's looking for a not-all-too-healthy-tasty-meal. The bread, however, was extremely hard, making it harder to eat (and it was huge as well).
The nomad burger was quite dry. The bun was dry and crusty, and the patty did not have as much moisture as we had expected. We liked the other components of the burger, though: avocado, tomato, and some sauce made by beetroot. If we had to choose between the vegan burger from Java and the one from Vibe, however, we would choose Java's burger. The salad was fine, but we didn't like how the majority of it was composed of bell peppers. The sweet potato fries were delicious, and we loved their homemade ketchup, which we believe was made from carrots.
The Buffalo BBQ Cauliflowers were mushy and lacked flavor, and left me disappointed. I would not recommend getting it, and it was decidedly not worth the price, nor the wait.
The turmeric latte, though, was interesting. The turmeric flavor wasn't too overpowering, but its taste wasn't lost in the almond milk, a balance very much appreciated. I wouldn't get it the next time I go, but it's most certainly a recommendation for those with curious taste buds.
The price is rather quite pricey (most food ranging from $5 to $7) but with the amount of portion served, I think it's quite fair to say that the money is somewhat worth it. They also have a program where they promote and educate healthy eating to 10,000 Cambodian schoolchildren. A large portion of the income gets donated to rural areas, so the price range makes sense.
We talked to Ms. Bawden about the food at Vibe, and she agreed - "there are a few good things on the menu, but you gotta know what to order."
We weren't familiar to a vegan menu and were served with only a couple of meals out of a diverse range of dishes, so our reviews on the place are not firm and absolute but are a reflection of our own subjective experiences. Overall, while the food we ordered didn't really meet our expectations, we like the message it promotes.
