TOFWD is a mouthful of a name, but at least there’s no second-guessing what’s on offer at a place called The Organic Food and Wine Deli.
This Degraves Street café and mini-health food shop serves organic food to the lunch masses, with pies, rolls, sandwiches, bowl food and sweet things on offer. I had a pumpkin and tofu pie with salad and relish ($11) and an irresistible slice of chocolate and sour cherry cake ($6.50).
The pie contained a fragrant Indian-spiced filling of pumpkin and tofu, but the pastry had been microwaved within an inch of its life to a chewy cardboard texture. Apparently, the pies are normally reheated in the microwave and then baked in the small grill oven, but the waitress admitted that she just hadn’t bothered to do it for me and apologised. A shame really, because if I hadn’t raised the disappointing pastry issue, I would have gone around pronouncing to everyone to avoid all pastry products from TOFWD. The pie was accompanied by a big, colourful mound of super-fresh salad of lettuce, grated beetroot and sprouts, plus a chilli relish which worked well with the spicy flavours.
The organic, vegan and dairy-free cake was quite rich and could easily have been shared between two. There weren’t many actual sour cherries in my slice, but you could still taste subtle cherry flavours, taking the cake beyond your standard chocolate number. The icing was also particularly delicious.
There’s definitely a place in my eating for more tasty, healthy, organic vegetarian food from TOFWD. The bowl food seems the most popular lunch option and given my microwaved pie experience, I think I’ll be sticking with that next time.
- TOFWD The Organic Food and Wine Deli, 28 Degraves St Melbourne +61 3 9654 5157
She ‘hadn’t bothered’ to do it for you?! That’s awful – talk about inept staff! You must’ve been pretty annoyed at her! Congratulations on the upcoming nuptials by the way! =o))
Hi Vee
To be honest, I wasn’t annoyed at her – it’s common for a lot of cafes to microwave pastry and the waitress apologised and was quite sheepish when I asked her about it.
Also, Jeanette Taylor, the owner of TOFWD, said that next time I can ask for the pie to be reheated entirely under the grill. They don’t have an oven due to the size of the shop so do the best they can while abiding with the food safety rules.
Jetsetting Joyce
pumpkin and tofu pie sound delish. Although it is hard to find a lunch spot around town that actually grills the pie for you. Too bad though as there’s nothing worse then chewy pie. LOL
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