Phone 03 9642 2388
Open for lunch only, Monday to Friday, 12 to 2:30pm
It is not often you find a place that so completely delights and relaxes you. And I felt this way the minute I walked through the doors at Fo Guang Yuan – a Buddhist teahouse, temple and art gallery located smack bang in the Melbourne CBD.
Housed in a rather divine old building, Fo Guang Yuan does a short lunchtime trade on weekdays only. As is tradition with the Buddhist faith, only vegetarian cuisine is served. But meat eaters should not feel discouraged – soy textured protein based beef, chicken, pork, duck and seafood make for an interesting culinary adventure should you have not ventured this way before. They also serve the most wonderful range of vegetarian dumplings and steamed buns. I didn’t get to have any on this visit, but suffered order envy care of the table next to me. I will certainly order them next time.
EG and I ordered a revitalising tea blend which was served in a clear tea pot with cute little poppyseed shortbread cookies. The pot is bottomless as far as hot water is concerned, so it is probably a better option than single cups.
I decided on the chef’s lunch set, which rotates on a daily basis. Today was the Thai Panang curry with vegetarian beef and mixed vegetables ($8.50). This was my first soy beef experience, and I was intrigued. It looked somewhat like beef. It had the texture of beef. But it didn’t taste like beef. But then the curry sauce did such a great job of tantalising my tastebuds in other ways, that it really didn’t matter. Also in the bento was a lovely saute of cabbage and beansprouts (salty and smoky), and a fresh salad dressed with orange juice and a generous grind of ground black pepper. A bowl of steamed rice served to sop up all the lovely juices. Mmm…I was well satisfied with this feed.
EG went the stirfried flat rice noodle with shredded cabbage, carrot, tofu, vegetarian pork and bean sprouts ($9.50). It had a really good smoky wok flavour and was not too oily. Very tasty.
I only lament that this is on the far side of town from where I work. I want to go back, and soon!
Mellie, I love this place. It’s just across the road from where I work. I went there just last week! I also did a post on it. I usually have the noodles like what EG had, but I try to have different dishes when I go. When leaving, don’t you always feel that you have fed your soul as well as your tummy?
Oooh…you lucky thing! I wish it were over the road from my work. I just checked out your post, and yes, I agree, it is certainly a spiritual experience
Sounds yummmmm. I’m still a little ambivalent about “vegetarian” meat.. but I’ll give it a go if/when I head that way!
I like the “chicken” satay skewers. mmmm. – Leila
Sounds like the kind of place you shouldn’t rush in and out of. It’s around the corner so I’ll take my time.
Hey anna – there are a few places down that end of town we’ll have to explore. Perhaps we’ll do Cafe Vue first, as at the moment they have a scotch egg on the menu that I simply MUST try
And don’t worry about the vego-meat thing. Have I ever led you astray? 
Hi Leila – thanks for the tip…I’ll have to give them a go. Have you been there often? Next time you’re in the CBD, give me a hoy and we’ll catch up for a bite to eat.
G’day kitchenhand – nah, you can certainly rush in and out of this place (many do), albiet quietly. And they do have takeaway. The only bother is the short hours of operation – 12 noon till 2.30pm. The kitchen closes at 2.30pm on the knocker, and the entire staff, including Nuns, sit down for a shared communal meal. So you can pretty much kiss tea refills, food delivery etc. good-bye. They will serve if asked, but you feel a lil’ rude and imposing
Hi Mellie,
I just checked out this place with Serenity Later- and were pleased after a very enjoyable and tasty meal. Unfortunately by the time we ordered we also missed out on the dumplings
but tried out the steamed mock BBQ pork buns which were really good!
Thanks for the review!
Hi m’s nemesis and serenity later – I’m so glad you tried out FGY. Isn’t it just delightfully fantastic? You really feel like stepped out of the hurlyburly CBD and into the twilight zone. And I really found the food quite yum.
I so need to go back and try the dumplings too – they did look magnificent.
I have always loved going to this little restaurant, unfortunately today was not the case and we won’t be returning. The menu has barely any food items on it and what little they did have was terrible. We ordered the mixed vegetables ($7.50) and received a single bok choy on a plate. nothing mixed about that! plus it was lacking in any flavour. The rice had been overcooked or in the rice cooker too long as was dry. The pork buns were OK, but one of them was still uncooked in the middle and i asked for it to go back to the kitchen. I believe they microwaved it because it was my same bun just heated up a second time, rather than a replacement which i would have expected. The dessert that was meant to be included in the meal did come until we asked for it and was atrocious. It was a small purple jelly that had the smell and taste of Hubba Bubba chewing gum – grape flavour. One friends order never arrived. The only good thing continues to be the cumquat tea which is now strained so no more cumquats in the pot and no more refills. The wonderful lunch box as shown above is gone too. Over all the experience was extremely disappointing and the service was terrible. We asked why so little to choose from on the menu and they replied that they weren’t interested in running a restaurant anymore they wanted to focus on the gallery & being a tea house. So disappointing as it was amazing beforehand. Such a loss.
Hey Kazilla – oh dear, that is so sad
Kazilla- for the record the “service” and food is probably provided by nuns and monks.
Also you must really like complaining
http://www.menulog.com.au/fo_guang_yuan_art_gallery
http://www.mcity.com.au/melbourne/eating/828/fo-guang-yuan-vegetarian-restaurant
Please don’t go back.
[...] Fo Guang Yuan Art Gallery Vegetarian Restaurant: 141 Queen Street, Melbourne, 03 9642 2388. Open for lunch only, Monday to Friday, 12 to [...]