Buddha Bowl Business

25 February 2016 | 3:34 pm | Xavier Fennell

Creating a good Buddha Bowl is like putting together the building blocks of a healthy lifestyle. First you gotta choose your grain, then the sweet, sweet vegetable toppings.

Simple Seed Eatery — 4/9 Yarra St, South Yarra

Leading the march for Buddha Bowls around Melbourne is Simple Seed Eatery. Their menu pretty much consists of super healthy salads, smoothies, smoothie bowls, and raw desserts. Simple Seed keep their version of the Buddha Bowl simple yet substantial, with sweet potato, avocado, hummus, chickpeas, broccoli, black rice, spring onion with lemon and tahini. 

Down To Earth — 308 Queens Pde, Fitzroy North

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If you happen to be kickin' around the other side of the Yarra with a health fix craving get down to earth — seriously, that's what the cafe's called. Down To Earth has a few of these bowls on their menu. Their Buddha Bowl is a classic with roasted beetroot, pumpkin and all the other goodies. They also offer an Emma Bowl. It's not vegan, with poached organic egg and Meredith goat's feta making the cut. Nevertheless, you'll be wet-mouthed quicker than Pavlov's dog at the ding of a bell tanks to its sauteed kale, beetroot and asparagus with flaked almonds and chilli oil.

Little Sunflower — 15 Ormond Rd, Elwood

Little Sunflower have got four Buddha Bowl options to choose from: carrot, lentils, avocado, roast tomato, mushrooms, cabbage, pickled red onion, labne, spiced nuts, rocket; Ras El Hanout cauliflower, roasted pumpkin, black beans, kale, beetroot, quinoa tabbouleh, pomegranate, natural yoghurt, sumac; green tea noodles, edamame, bean shoots, sweet potato, watercress, avocado, kimchi, turtle beans, cucumber; freekeh, broccolini, chickpeas in kale and almond pesto, pickled purple cabbage, beetroot, chia hazelnut dukkah, kefir. Phewf. We feel healthier just reading the list of ingredients.    

Eatwell Cafe — 217 Carlisle St, Balaclava

Eatwell Cafe are another crew doing the Buddha Bowl justice for all. Eatwell offer a solid Buddha Bowl with sweet potato, spinach, edamame beans, sauerkraut, corn, avocado, sesame seed and dressing topped with crispy nori. These guys do all day brekky for those late risers and also offer a warm green bowl as an alternative to the Buddha, with quinoa, kale, bocconcini, edamame, avocado, almonds and poached eggs.