Warm and friendly with vibrant foods. Papasito is an undiscovered vegan gem.

Food Review: Papasito, Northcote

On a spur of the moment dinner decision and a simple ‘vegan Northcote’ Google search, Papasito’s ranked on the first page and caught our attention. Strangely having never heard or seen another vegan utter the restaurant name before, it was an intriguing chance to take on an early Saturday night.

Upon entering the restaurant, it was immediately warm but pleasant and dark but with enough downlighting that it created an intimate atmosphere. We were quite early and despite the restaurant beginning to fill up just prior to our leaving, it never once became obnoxiously loud—it remained easy to talk and felt private.

You’ll be looking at about $20 for a main meal and $10 for a dessert, while the drinks menu is elaborate.

The single staff member on at that time was timely, polite, helpful and lovely to speak too. We were promptly provided with two delicious beverages—a sweet but refreshing Cubano Mojito and a Michelada consisting of beer, lime and hot sauce with a ring of salt.

The first of several plates which arrived was the entrée of mini quesadillas. The Papas had roast truffled potato with a fiery citrusy salsa. They were gone in seconds—delicious.

Up next were the two main meals. First up were a serving of 6″ tacos—they’re listed as three per plate but Papasito’s were kind enough to make it an even four so we could have two each at no extra change.

The Rico tacos were made up of char grilled eggplant, roast potato, tomato, fresh crunchy corn, a creamy yet mildly fiery salsa and a little bit of their house cashew cheese. Great serving sizes, texture and flavours.

For the second main, the Marmarosa Cazuela came served on a hot plate along with three warm, soft corn tortillas. You could see generous amounts of their melted house cashew cheese and it was just incredible. The dish was full of black beans, fresh corn, sautéed mushrooms, roast tomato and salsa.

With a fairly expanded stomach at this point, it was definitely a solid commitment to make towards attempting dessert. My partner only managed to get through about half of her dessert so it was left up to me to get us across the line—and, indeed, I did.

The housemade cashew milk, pure dark chocolate mousse was smooth, airy, chocolatey while creamy and rich.

Like any vegan who absolutely loves their food, we really appreciate a restaurant who puts in the effort to veganise their menu and to veganise it well. When the time is taken by a restaurant to learn the variety of mouth watering ways that traditional meals can be veganised, it results in delicious food with a wide range of options available to patrons.

Be aware that their website menus are out of date, but you can preview the current one here, here and here. Their lack of Facebook activity and seemingly unknown presence in the vegan community inspired me to write my first food review.

The whole night was very impressive and this undiscovered vegan friendly gem of a restaurant is recommended to everyone.

Five out of Five.