Moroccan Soup Bar

My first visit to this Fitzroy North institution was on a Friday night.
Having researched the venue prior, I was aware that the place was extremely popular and to expect a wait for a table. I was also prepared for the «verbal» menu which I must admit, had me feeling rather tentative!
Upon arrival, we were unsure of the protocol for waiting to be seated. We encountered some staff attending to the outside tables and so stepped inside the door and waited for someone to acknowledge and/​or attend to us. After many staff walked past us whilst avoiding eye contact or giving us any direction whatsoever, and seeing two tables unattended for the duration of the time we were left standing there, we assumed that the protocol was to seat yourself and wait to be served. Shortly after being seated, one of the friendly staff approached and asked if we had been served and proceeded to tell us the menu options for the night.
There doesn’t seem to be the option for ordering dishes separately, but only the option for one of two banquets. We decided on the more basic of the options, which included dips and bread to start, three main dishes and then dessert and tea and coffee. It wasn’t advised to us at the time, but the basic option was $ 25 per person — more than reasonable for the amount of food that was provided. The same waitress delivered our bread and dips in no time and then returned shortly to the table to question if we had a booking. It turns out we had both gone against the protocol as the table had been reserved for a party that was due to arrive shortly — which was indicated by a napkin on the table (that was upside down) with a name and time on it. Thankfully the table next to us had finished and was preparing to leave at that very moment so they would have the space, but it seemed the waitress was also new (it was her second night) and so seeing us new to the table had taken our order when we should have been asked if we had a booking. She was more than friendly, however it seemed we received the bare bones of service from the other staff due to our mistaken jumping of the queue! We had to chase someone for water whilst people who were seated opposite us 10 minutes later were offered both tea and water without anyone so much as even enquiring as to whether we would like the same and having to seek out one of the staff for even some water to go with our meal.
However, the issue with the seating aside, the reason we attended was obviously for the food and I can tell you, it was more than worth it! The three main dishes we received were the chick pea bake, roasted vegetables with cous cous, as well as an eggplant dish, along with a plate of rice and yoghurt. These three dishes, which followed the consumption of many pieces of bread and dips was more than enough to fill our empty bellies and it was not possible to finish all the dishes. I have seem many people rave about the chick pea bake and whilst I agree that it was delicious, the eggplant dish was by far my favourite. This said, all three mains were full of flavour and fabulous.
The meal was finished off with some tea (finally we were offered some delicious mint tea with our dessert) and some Turkish delight (which I can confirm was delightful) and whilst it was a struggle to fit anything else in, the touch of sweetness was the perfect way to finish off the meal.
I would definitely recommend a visit here, but because there is no sign to tell you and the staff don’t seem to want to tell you, know that you should proceed to the counter to put your name down for a table — and expect a wait!

Great surprise veggie food. The place can be very busy so go early. To me the best option is the take away.

Great Vegetarian restaurant. They don’t have a printed menu, but if you order the banquet for $ 20 – 25 per person you won’t be disappointed. First there is a plate of dips and a mint tea, then they’ll bring you a few different plates for your table to share. The chickpea is the best, so is the lentils one. For dessert there is Moroccan coffee or more mint tea and little bites of Moroccan desserts. Lots delicious food, you won’t go hungry, and all for $ 20.
The only draw back is that they don’t accept bookings unless your party is more than 6 people. If not you’ll need to be really early (they open at 6) because the queues are long and the space is very small.

Had my first experience here tonight and loved it. We arrived at 5.45 so enjoyed a drink at the bar next door while we waited for them to open at 6pm.
We ordered the set menu and were stuffed at the end. Very satisfying food. The chickpea bake was a highlight as were the dips to start. I also loved the little dessert bites at the end with some more tea. For $ 23 each it is a steal! Will most definitely be back.

Do it.
If you’re unfamiliar with the Moroccan Soup Bar, you just need to go — reasonably priced, generous portions of tasty food without any pretence. It’s noisy, it’s crowded, the staff are rushed off their feet and you won’t get an intimate dinner for two that feels like the world has disappeared around you. But it’s a restaurant that has stuck around for years with no fancy design or menu gimmicks, and is still packed on a tuesday night. Not to mention a wonderful attitude towards shared dining and takeaway-​by-​volume in BYO containers. You can even google «that chickpea bake» and the internet knows what you want — recipes will pop up so you can try (and probably fail) to recreate That Chickpea Bake that you’ll get here.
Stumble out (or be pushed out so they can use your table!) full of food and happy with the world.

The set menu was well priced and plentiful. It was ridiculously delicious I was dreaming of the food all night!
Although the restaurant is small, the atmosphere and busyness was brilliant. There are some tables outside and the staff are really attentive.
The food is so tasty I would highly recommend this place.

I love the food here. But the service is awful!

Delightful, just delightful. There is a reason why every raves about this place. Because it is just that good.
Cheap, quick, tasty and a good night out. Gaurenteed to have you rolling out the door with the amounts of food you recieve. The food is done in a banquet style menu. So you have a couple of options which is the basic $ 23 pp and then you can add a few extra dishes to the menu for $ 28. The best part about it, regardless of which one you choose they make sure you are well looked after. For big groups they adjust portions and dishes. Very friendly and all vegeterian.
The food itself was great, some real good authentic taste here.

Before I begin, let me highlight that the name is a misnomer; the Moroccan Soup Bar isn’t a soup restaurant.
The food at Moroccan Soup Bar is really good, and it seems quite healthy. The dining experience is a little like a degustation menu: they choose the dishes that they serve and you have no choice over what you get. What you do get though is richly flavoured and diverse.

Booking a table for 8 was very convenient and although they we’re closed for remodelling or something, I had a reply the next day!
Boyfriends birthday so brought a cake and they offered to put it in the fridge, but I was happier that they didn’t mind it was on the table.
They really take care of everything, table service is great, all courses were delicious and diverse, so there is something for everyone. (Except meat lovers, obviously).
Would have liked explanations of every thing since it was the groups first time here. But we sussed it just fine and dug it. Not much was left ;)
All other patrons were very friendly; we had the whole restaurant singing along. There was another birthday there too so we all joined in again.
Good times had by all!
Cheers and see you soon, Moroccan!
XX

Yes. Yes. Yes.
We went with a really large group, which was great since we got to try so many dishes – so many that it was hard to pick a favourite, but if pressed I would say the chickpea bake. The food was great and by the time dessert came, I could not eat one more bite.
Pro tip: There’s a supermarket just up the road which sells takeaway containers if you think you’ll have any leftovers you want to bring home.

Tired? Famished? Indifferent? Venturesome?
Come here. You’ll have no control of what, where, or how much you eat, but you know it’ll be warm and vegetarian and while likely highly delicious, it won’t likely be served with a smile. You’ll sit, you’ll be fed. You’ll be told how much to pay, you’ll leave.
Picky? Sensitive? Opinionated? Like to be in control?
Turn and run. Immediately.

I’m not vegetarian (because I like making good food choices) but I am 100% willing to say there is delicious vegetarian food out there — but this ain’t it.
If you are an Australian vegetarian and thus accustomed to paying ridiculous amounts for bland disappointing food — then go for it. Moroccan Soup Bar is just a bunch of Fitzroy recycled tire shoe sole wearing yuppie hipster hype and not nearly worth the money you have to spend and the frenzied service you receive.

Been here once, and can’t wait to go back! One of the most flavorful restaurants I’ve been to in a long time, and I don’t care if it’s vegetarian or not, but it’s gotta taste good.
This soup bar is very Fitzrovian with mismatched furniture, feeling like you’re in a large living room of a bed and breakfast. As two, my partner and I were seated promptly at a communal table and provided moroccan mint tea with sweetener in it. For free! And Lord knows we all love free stuff.
We were told we had about 90 minutes to eat before the table was reserved for a large party.
There’s a set menu for the day, and you’re allowed to order a regular or deluxe feast for $ ²⁰⁄₂₅ per head. With my high metabolism, I hear «deluxe» and I know I have to go for it.
The appetizers were served as a large plate with plenty of pita bread for dipping and grabbing roast cauliflower. My partner was full after the appetizers, but I was ready for more!
For the mains, we had a roast veggie curry, a plate with lentils/​rice/​hummus/​yogurt, and a big bowls of chickpeas in yogurt with fattoush on the bottom. AMAZING, especially when it’s topped with toasted almond slivers. I pretty much ate the two servings.
Fun fact: the larger your party, the larger the bowl! For a party of six, the bowl was larger than my head!
To top off the deluxe feast was more hot mint tea and lemon panacotta/​tarte sprinkled with pistachios and honey-​glazed donuts. Delicious.
With the set menu, you don’t really know what you’re going to get, but it will taste amazing.
In my opinion, it lives up to the hype and I definitely recommend it to anyone who loves moroccan food.

I am not a vegetarian but I do enjoy venturing out and accepting my hippie side sometimes.
They don’t take bookings for less than 6. but when we rocked up at 7.30pm on a Friday night, we only had to wait 30mins. There is a cool bar next door where we had pre dinner drinks (WIN).
I must admit the service was not the friendliest, but the food was amazing and good value for money. There is no menu and there are 2 options to choose from. A $ 20 set menu or a $ 25 set menu. $ 5 more — what the heck. Oh and if you don’t like sharing your food, this ain’t for you.
Food comes out and they don’t tell you what anything is, so you just pick and hope for the best. They also ask for intolerances and allergies, so don’t panic.
We got the $ 25 set menu.
They serve you complimentary peppermint tea when you sit down. TIP. It’s very sweet, ask for a no sugar option if you feel so inclined.
Started off with dips, breads and some spicy starters. There was a hommus like dip, tzatziki, some capsicumy/​almondy dip, crunchy falafel tasting things, some very hot chilli, an eggplant type dip that was so smoky you felt like you were eating a flame and some other tasty things.
Mains were a chickpea bake — amazing. To die for. But you couldn’t just eat that all night — too rich. For me anyway. Some chickpea curry thing, roasted veges with cous cous and lots and lots of rice. Cooked in different ways.
Dessert was a few little (and literally, it’s pretty small — but you’re so full by this point you don’t even care). Some donuts, baclava and some fruity/​nutty thing. And dessert is served with Moroccan coffee. STRONG and SWEET.
The best thing? If you can’t finish your food, you can take it all home. On one condition you bring your own takeaway container. Smart? Weird? Your call.
The other interesting thing I saw was people coming in with pots and pans, ordering food and taking it home in their own containers. A different experience but I think I like it. We did not know about this little quirk so we didn’t bring our own containers and ended up leaving nearly half the mains.
All in all, although I had to roll myself out of the door, the food was great, lots of different flavours and I love small plate eating so this one was a win!

I will start this review with a disclaimer that I am about as vegetarian as the legendary internet pirate Maddox (if you don’t know who this is, google it)
But somehow I was «convinced» to going to this place by a friend of mine who thought I should just try it and *maybe* I would like it. Never the one to disappoint, I decided to brave it so there we found ourselves for dinner on Saturday night. I’ve been to two other non-​meat restaurants before in my life — Enlightenment and Lentil As Anything but neither of them was as annoying as this restaurant.
My first thought upon sitting down was why don’t they have a meat eater’s menu inside these vegetarian restaurants? As they didn’t bother providing a menu, I glanced around to look at what other diners were eating in the hope that my eyes would spot something that may look even slightly appetising but unfortunately my spirits were unable to be lifted. There didn’t seem to be any variety as the dips and other vegetables all looked like they were prepared with the same ingredients and with the same consistency.
I must repeat, there was no variety of flavours at this place. The 4 dishes we had all tasted the same although only increased in spiciness. With each dish as unmemorable as the next, I looked around annoyed at myself for not stopping by and picking up some wicked wings. The décor was the kind of cheap-​but-​we-​are-​trying-​to-​look-​funky look which was boring and left me uninspired. We had 4 on our table and all of the dishes remained half-​eaten so I don’t think I was alone in my opinions. After dinner we were met with unedible desserts that consisted of 99% sugar.
Vegetarian food is supposed to be healthy. Vegetarian food is supposed to be tasty. This place was neither — the food was poor but not only that, it was also heavy and my parting wish was that they adopted the Lentil as Anything policy to pay what you think it was worth. Sorry, but I don’t think $ 25 per head for a bunch of vegetables is anything close to good value.

Food is singular and always high quality. Soups, only served if you ask, are really good. But, well, it can be noisy for some and the takeaway process is painful. And the proprietor is just unpleasant.
Takeaway: you bring your own containers, then wait 15 minutes or more. No phone orders. Went three consecutive weekends and each time ordered the same — food for four. First time, what a deal! Only $ 30. Second time, $ 40. Tried to pay the additional $ 10 from the previous week, but was told not to worry.
Then, the third time, the owner/​proprietor seemed not to like that we waited the last few minutes indoors, looked at the containers, said this was enough food for eight, and charged us $ 60. And we actually had less food than previously. And when she checked the number of containers, she replaced them in such a way that the lid to the bottom container broke.
Yes, three weeks, same food, three very different prices!
And this was not the first encounter with her and each has been rather unpleasant; for me and for my friends, even separately.
Go for the food, not the service. Or hope that you avoid her. The rest of the workers are pleasant.

Mmmm. My friend and I could barely move after this meal, it was so good! I came here while on vacation, on the recommendation of a sales girl on Brunswick St. It did not disappoint! My friend and I showed up at about 6 PM on a Wednesday (we were told to come early!) and there was already an hour and a half wait. They took my name and we went to the bar next door for some wine and to wait (I think it was called Monkey Bar — it was cute and a nice place to wait). We came back at 7:30 and our table was ready with a napkin with my name on it (spelled «Jenner,» which was hilarious to me — I guess that’s «Jenna» with an Australian accent!).
My friend and I both got the dinner banquet for about $ 20, and it was SO delicious an SO much food. I can’t tell you exactly what it was, but lots of flavorful veggies and this delicious hummus-​type dish with pita chips mixed into it. It also came with dessert and coffee. A great value for $ 20 and a cool, laid back atmosphere!

Just do what the lady tells you. The lady of the house that is. All you have to do is turn up, sit down — if you can find a seat, this really is the hardest part… not the seat itself, but finding one — and she’ll take a look at you, size you up, and she’ll still serve you.
It’ll be delicious and there will be more of it than you can eat, even if you’re a complete pig. I’m still trying to figure out what’s in that chickpea dish, other than chickpeas of course. I had aspirations of going home and creating the same magnificently flavoured dish for loved ones, but if I truly loved them, I’d just bring them here.

The word ‘Bar’ here is a slight misnomer.
Every time my girlfriend suggests we go to Moroccan Soup Bar for dinner my heart drops. But why? I say. I mean, there’s heaps of other good stuff around and we can make soup at home. Then, every time she makes me go I say ‘why don’t we come here more often lady, this shit is delicious’. Invariably this is followed by my beloved informing me that I am in fact a cock brain and not worthy of being granted licence to function as a regular human being.
But c’mon, soup for a dinner out? It hardly gets the juices loose does it?
This place puts the excitement back into soups with a fine array of soup variants and all manner of spicy delights. An added advantage is that you can take your own (extra large) takeaway container and they’ll heap it full of steamy goodness. Believe me, don’t doubt the power of this joint. They do pretty much one thing, but they do it pretty much better than any other fucker in town. Yum.