Power Plant Cafe
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Vegetarian
Contact
03-88381282
Find
2-6 Swilk St (at Westerfolds Sports Centre), Templestowe, Victoria, 3106
Plant based cafe with Wi-Fi, opened Oct 2015. All vegan except dairy milk option for drinks. Described as a bit of Brunswick Street in the burbs. Makes cakes and sweets in-house. Has a menu of sweets, cakes, raw, salad, and mains. Open Mon-Sun 8:00am-3:30pm.
Category: Vegan-friendly, Raw, Western, Take-out, Bakery, Fusion, Australian
Reviews (7)
First Review by verbosityContributions +1947
Very good, reasonably priced food - Edit
This place was quite different from what I expected: part of a day spa complex, not a very attractive building but with nice views of trees from some angles. My companion had seen the Reuben sandwich on line and wanted to try it. We also decided on the omelette with crème fraîche because we thought a vegan version of this would be interesting. Turns out it was more than interesting - quite delicious, with a filling of asparagus and mushroom, with fresh, lemony vegan crème fraîche - and not a bad imitation of a real egg omelette. It came with a side of herbed potatoes with a lovely vegan sour cream. The Reuben was also beautifully done: tempeh tender and marinated, complemented perfectly with deliciously sour beetroot sauerkraut. At $15 for the sandwich and $16 for the omelette, prices were very reasonable.
Pros: Delicious Reuben sandwich, Omelette interesting and delicious, Very reasonable prices
Contributions +25
yummo - Edit
Had the chickpea burger and French toast. Everything was divine. Can't wait to return
Contributions +18
Hallelujah - Edit
So many great options for vegan breakfast/brunch/lunch -- have been here twice and will definitely be returning to eat through the entire menu.
Good atmosphere, friendly staff..... plus I can walk here from my house.... never thought I'd see the day! What a win for vegan (and non-vegan) eastern-suburbanites!!
Contributions +17
vegan food comes north - Edit
I had brunch with my daughter here today. Friendly staff, yummy food and coffee and reasonably priced. Really nice venue... Very comfortable. So pleased your here Power Plant! I'll be back for sure.
Cons: none!
Contributions +464
Cakes - Edit
We tried the raw peppermint tart and a raw Turkish delight cheesecake. I also had an iced coffee with almond milk. The cakes were tasty and similarly priced with other vegan cakes in Melbourne and the flavours of the cakes were strong enough without being overwhelming. The iced coffee was nice and strong and the staff were nice.
I'd like to try their breakfast menu next time.
Contributions +2901
The plant needs pruning - Edit
Pricey cafe lunch options which almost deliver but are just off the mark. Dine in coffee cups are miserly and the coffee itself is on the weak side. The chai latte however, is better than most. Enjoyed the *meat*balls but found the fettuccine it was served with to be a little gluggy. Something lighter would suit this dish better.
The big breakfast my boyfriend ordered, was anything but big and its various components were under-seasoned and over priced.
Hoping to see some fine tuning of the menu over time and dairy options removed altogether.
Pros: Mostly Vegan menu, Location
Cons: Serves dairy for drinks, Pricey
2 Responses
PowerPlant 29 Nov 2015 - Hi Karlaess. Thanks for your review and glad you got to visit us. The default coffee cups are small so there is less milk and thus a stronger taste of coffee. There is the same amount of coffee as anywhere, just less milk. If you like a milkier coffee we have the more common boat cups. Thanks for the feedback re the fettuccine and the big breakfast - we will look at that for sure. The only dairy option is for cows milk in coffee and will likely remain due to the demographics of the location. This was our first full week of opening and we hope you will return as we develop and grow. Thanks for visiting. Power Plant
karlaess 29 Nov 2015 - Oh, so I take it the boat cups are the same price?
With regards to the continuing use of dairy...I heard a rumor you were Vegan but I must be mistaken. Perhaps you just follow a plant based diet.
Contributions +2024
Early days - Edit
Large & well lit establishment with 2 alfresco areas.
Hours are limited (weekdays only), as is the new menu, but there are a number of very interesting looking cakes and slices on offer.
Coffee cups are surprisingly small, the take away cup may be a much better option? Vitasoy cafe and Bonsoy are available as is Almond milk (and unfortunately cows milk... listed before the plant milks on the menu, hopefully not the default option :/ This is apparently the only non-vegan item on the menu)
Prices are generally a touch higher than usual and the big breakfast ($17 or $18 from memory) is far from big, consisting of scrambled tofu, baked beans (these were cold), cherry tomatoes (warm on the outside, but mainly raw), roast potato (unflavoured), wilted spinach (under done in my opinion, but may appeal to some) and 2 slices of toast (decent sized sour-dough or similar). Mushrooms are an extra $3 and Avocado is an extra $4.
hopefully Power Plant develops well as they probably have a lot of potential and are in an area with very few ethical options.
Pros: Location
Cons: Small menu, prep issues, Price verses serving size, Dairy
5 Responses
PowerPlant 29 Nov 2015 - Hi Verbosity. Thanks for visiting Power Plant in our early days - we are now entering our second full week with full menu and we hope you can come back again and visit. Coffee cups are small compared to traditional but similar to city size - the coffee volume is normal, it's just less milk so that the coffee flavor is strong. We have larger boat style cups if you prefer a milkier coffee. Cows milk is an option for coffee and tea due to the demographics of the location and our desire to introduce locals to vegan food. It is not the default and in fact we specifically ask customers when they order a Latte, for example, if they want plant or cows milk. The milk we offer is from Sungold - the one we felt treated the cows with most care and respect. All food is vegan and made in-house. Sorry to hear the big breakfast wasn't as big as expected - we will look at that for sure as well as the other feedback. Thanks again and please come back sometime. Power Plant
verbosity 29 Nov 2015 - Yet to have or see a coffee cup that small anywhere offering that style of coffee, which was not actually strong in flavour.
Perhaps you could consider not listing cows milk first and also not listing your business as vegan on sites such as this as well as on social media. The flurry of 5 star reviews on facebook from staff, family and friends were probably not a great idea either. A little bit of honesty goes a long way.
Hopefully the management makes the right choices and the business has a good future, the potential is there no doubt.
PowerPlant 29 Nov 2015 - Your points are noted however we will differ in opinion on some things. We have nearly 1000+ likes on FB and we only know a fraction of those people. Yes, reviews from our friends and family are good but we can't control that and didn't ask for it - that's just friends and family supporting us and they genuinely appeared to like what we offered. Regarding listing Power Plant as vegan in Happy Cow - I travel all over the world and use HC to find all the vegan places closest to me. I'd hate to miss out on a place close by because it wasn't in the vegan category just because it had cows milk for coffee. That's the rationale. All our food is vegan - one of our drink options is not.
verbosity 29 Nov 2015 - You sell/profit from dairy, dairy is not vegan.
verbosity 29 Nov 2015 - Advertising yourself as vegan when you are not is deliberate and misleading as well as detrimental to veganism.
You do not "miss out on a place close by because it wasn't in the vegan category", you have the option to go to vegetarian establishments and request the vegan items. I would much rather do that than go to a place believing that it is vegan, when it is not. Why would a vegan trust an establishment that lies about being vegan and then tries to justify it?
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