Advieh has been on my mind recently, firstly because I keep reading the ingredient in some of my cookbooks (mainly The Jewelled Kitchen) and also a highly rated Middle Eastern venture in Seddon. I was surprised pleasantly to find a little offshoot a little way down the road in the next suburb of Yarraville. I haven't (yet) been to Advieh, but after this testing of Little Advi, I can't wait to.
The concept is similar to Kastner & Ovens in Spitalfields or my visit to the original Ottolenghi, in that there's a bunch of delicious salads to pick from and you can also choose a main to complement it. Of course there's some full meal options to keep things more standard. The soy chai pot had a solid 4 serves in it ($6.5) with some nice spice and cardamom aftertaste and not too sweet.
- Homemade baked beans (with cumin & coriander, sprinkle of dukka & finished with a dollop of Tzatziki & sourdough) $13.5 - a wonderful warm and savoury set of beans lifted by the tzatziki, fresh coriander and dill. One of the best renditions of breakfast beans I've had anywhere;
- Falafel Plate (with 3 salads & hummous) $16.5 - warm slightly crisp (could have been more so) falafels with a grainy palpable texture, the best hummous I've had with a deep, savoury and exceptional flavour, a delicious barley salad (very similar to Hellenic Republic's), tabbouleh (using whole parsley leaves rather than chopped and well balanced) and a chickpea salad with eggplant (and a bit too much cumin I think).
I wanted the Moroccan meatballs initially but they were sold out. I'm not sad though as the falafel plate exceeded my expectations. The food was very good. I'll certainly be back (or to try Advieh first).