Healthy Vegetarian & Tasty Food @ Samudra, Dunsborough, W.A.

On our last day down south, A decided to take me to Samudra for breakfast. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect however A had previously been and rated the food and coffee. On first glance, I was a little surprised and felt as though I had moved interstate. I grew up in a coastal town in NSW which had little cafés like this one. Since I moved to Perth I haven’t seen anything similar to the coastal establishments in NSW.

Samudra is split into four different parts – the Yoga Shala, the Eco Store, Surfing Retreats as well as the Kombi Café. The Kombi Café is an alfresco café which is surrounded by lots of greenery and features natural resourced furniture. The purpose-built space was made with a commitment to sustainability and has lots of different recycled elements. There is also a shell of a VW Kombi van inside which is used as a little coffee making spot and a vegie and herb eco-garden at the back of the venue, which you can stroll around and see what’s growing.

Samudra has an unique vision of binding the experience of ocean and body. They believe that you can do this by developing your Astanga yoga practices, deepening your awareness of the ocean, riding quality waves and nourishing yourself with nutritious, wholesome food. Some of you know by reading this blog that I can’t swim, let alone surf so “riding quality waves” was out of the question however I am very interested in nutritious, wholesome food.

Flipping through the menu, you can notice that Samudra makes a huge effort to provide its patrons with a nutritional breakfast or lunch. Samudra’s promise is to ensure their produce is organic, biodynamic, fair traded, sustainable and local produce and some of their ingredients come straight from the eco-garden out back. They also offer freshly-made juices and smoothies as well as a comprehensive dessert list that mentions that all Samudra desserts are gluten and dairy free. There is a lot of mention to what nutrients are evident in each dish, as well as raw food options and allergy-friendly dishes.

Before my first and only coffee of the day, I am slightly groggy. Upon sitting down in their lovely outdoor setting, I quickly ordered a mug of coffee for both A and I. My usual coffee order, Skim Cap with One came out of my mouth without a second thought. I was notified by the very friendly waitress that they do not offer Skim milk but I could choose from organic cow’s milk, organic soy milk, or fresh nut milk. I choose the organic cow’s milk and felt a little bit foreign for requesting skim milk.

Samudra is completely vegetarian and was voted Best Vegetarian Restaurant in WA by Lifestyle Food in 2009 and 2010. We went for breakfast on this occasion but if you can, try and go for lunch (and post your response on this page) as the lunch menu looks even better than the breakfast menu. For our breakfast, we decided to share two plates. I was enticed by the Yallingup Fruit Toast ($9.50), whereas A was interested to try the Breakfast Burrito ($14). A also ordered The ABC juice ($8.50) which is made with apple, beetroot, carrot & ginger, which she really enjoyed.

When the food arrived, it looked lovely. The chefs at Samudra put a lot of love and care in the presentations of their dishes. The Yalingup fruit toast came with raw, local honey as well as macadamia butter and homemade seasonal jam. The bread itself was really good as it was jam-packed with fruit and nuts. The “homemade seasonal jam” was half a roasted fig that was so soft it could be easily spread on the bread without too much effort. I loved this aspect of the dish, especially mixed with the macadamia butter.

The breakfast burrito was better than expected, with organic re-fried black beans, avocado, garden greens, tomato salsa all wrapped up in a piece of mountain bread. I have a strong love of beans, possibly from my Egyptian heritage as we often eat fava beans for breakfast (called ful medames, which has been called the national dish of Egypt). This burrito was so tasty that after A and I had our halves we were very tempted to order another. The bread was soft on the outside but the garden greens added crunch and the avocado and tomato salsa provided a lovely flavour mixed with the black beans.

A especially liked her coffee however mine was a little bit bitter as it had cocoa sprinkled on top instead of chocolate which left me with a very bitter taste. If I were to return, I will be ordering a Flat White instead as A assures me that the coffee was excellent. Samudra’s coffee is a Bio-Bean Organic Coffee which is organically grown and is roasted in Helena Valley. It’s also interesting to note that their chai is handmade in the traditional Indian way with organic spices, which would be lovely to try.

The service at Samudra was very relaxed. I often overheard the waiters talking together or to other tables about the surf for the morning or what they got up to the night before. The food and coffees took a while to come to our table though, which was a little disappointing. However looking back on it, there is no one rushing around or being impatient at Samudra, so the chilled atmosphere must pass through to the kitchen and coffee-making areas. There were a lot of tables drinking a juice and reading the paper, or playing with their kids around the garden. It was a very chilled and pleasant environment that was set amongst greenery. It was quite calming.

As mentioned above, I will be returning to try lunch as the menu looks phenomenal. This café also do a “live food line” which is availble at Samudra in Dunsborough to take-away but also available to purchase around Australia in other cafés or stores. For a comprehensive list of stockists, click here.

If you are in the area, I recommend checking Samudra out. Regardless of being a greeny or a surfer, there is definitely something for anyone interested in healthy food and an awesome environment to sit around and enjoy a lazy breakfast or lunch.