Here’s a very quick rundown of a restaurant I hardly ever hear about – Papasito in High Street, Northcote.
Tonight we found ourselves at a loose end with no kids to cook for, so we headed up to High Street for a quick dinner.
I’ve been trying to get B to come to Papasito for a couple of years, but he always finds a reason to go somewhere else – if we’re in Northcote he wants WesleyAnne. If we want Mexican, he always finds a way to get to Trippy Taco, so I don’t bother arguing, because I love them too.
Papasito is really good for vegans, because just about everything on the menu is either vegan or can be veganised. They have cashew cheese and cashew milk and it’s really, really good.
It was pretty quiet when we arrived, and we quickly ordered and enjoyed our pre-dinner drinks. Then the guy came out and said he needed to switch the lights off for a second. We were plunged into darkness for a moment and then we were back to normal…at least, we customers thought we were back to normal.
Then we noticed him speaking to people at the other tables and they got up and left. Apparently the power was out in the kitchen, so there wasn’t much they could cook! We were lucky because our dinner was already pretty much done.
I had the vegan Tapatia, which was filled with eggplant, capsicum, mushrooms and corn, and drizzled with spiced, savoury chocolate. You don’t get that in many Mexican restaurants!
A few minutes later a group arrived. They said they’d been at Pizza Meine Liebe, but had been told that the power was out, so they couldn’t cook pizzas! Sounds like it wasn’t just a problem at Papasito then!
We were concerned that our luck wouldn’t hold out for a cooked dessert, so we chose the cashew milk dark chocolate mousse topped with raspberry granita… oh my heavens, it was delicious! I always get excited about vegan mousse, because even when I ate dairy, I couldn’t handle cream and couldn’t eat mousse.
Just because I couldn’t get enough chocolate, I also had a cashew milk hot chocolate!
So that’s it. A quick post, to be sure, but better than waiting two months between posts, as I have been lately! Give Papasito a go – it’s not too cheap, it’s pretty quiet, but if you like chocolate and cashews as much as I do, I bet you’ll love it.
Papasito is at 219 High Street, Northcote. It’s on the west side of the road (the Loving Hut side), but it’s back towards the city, not too far from the town hall. You won’t need to book on a week night, and if you want a relaxing night talking to friends, it’s not too noisy and you can probably sit there for as long as you want. Which makes a nice change from all those places with bookings in two shifts!
The Lentil Institution 
this is another “can’t believe I haven’t been there” yet places, even though I pass it often!
Yeah, I can’t believe I’ve only been there twice. My friend and I celebrated our birthdays there this year. We’re both in May, so I shout her dinner and she shouts me. She’s an omni, so it suited us…and she had to eat a vegan dessert!
I haven’t eaten there but I remember the chocolate mousse from when this place used to be Coco Loco – it’s so great!
Yeah, I only went there once when it was Coco Loco. Our kids were in primary school and we were rather poor. We’d splashed out on a night out and then went to Coco Loco for drinks – I think it cost us $28 for our four drinks. We couldn’t afford to go back, but we still remember the iced cashew ‘mylk’ chocolate drink!
Indeed, it wasn’t cheap! I think I had a bit of price shock getting some of their (excellent) chocolate as takeaway.
Wow, I had no idea it was so vegan friendly! Definitely going to check it out asap. Savoury chocolate!
Yeah, I’ve made a chocolate mole once, but it was good to see how it’s supposed to taste, because I didn’t know what I was doing when I made it!
sounds like an interesting visit! it is great to hear about places that I have passed and never noticed – we are in Northcote occasionally so now this is on my list of places to visit – savoury chocolate gets me every time!
Yeah, I’m planning a family dinner there again soon – once all the family birthdays are over. I reckon the kids would love it – especially the desserts!
What a beautiful dinner and how lucky you actually got to eat! Kudos to them for handling it so well and to you for pushing your luck and ordering dessert!