15/04/2013
Maya Cafe Mediterranean Lifestyle
灣仔月街5號地下
G/F, 5 Moon Street, Wan Chai
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/mediterranean-vegetarian-delights-and-desserts-e2292559
Previously dined here and got invited to a tasting because the owner of Maya Cafe Mediterranean Lifestyle read my review on OpenRice.
I was allowed to bring guests, so I brought along some Openricers to this tasting.
On this visit, I was delighted to see so many new desserts in their cabinet.
Tried the Daily special which has French onion soup, Mediterranean toast, Ratatouille with red rice.
As well as that, also tried: Dhal soup, Quinoa salad, Mezze platter and desserts.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Daily special:
French Onion soup:
I was quite surprised they served Onion soup because I assumed all the foods would be Mediterranean.
Anyway the soup was really wholesome and there were so much onions in it.
The soup was lovely and sweet because of the natural sweetness of the onions and the chunky croutons gave it more depth and crunch.
Mediterranean toast:
It had three pieces of toast, Mantchego cheese slices, Mushrooms in herb and olive oil.
The homemade cheese with paprika and herbs toast was delicious, it looked like scrambled egg but the cheese was lovely light and fluffy sprinkled with delicious herbs.
The eggplant and olives toast was delicious because the pureed eggplants and olives tasted nice together.
After trying two pieces of toast I tried the Spanish Mantchego cheese slices which were hard and crumbly with a light cheese taste.
Then I tried the Tomato and oregano toast which was simple and appetizing.
Ratatouille with red rice:
The ratatouille was made with courgettes, eggplants, onions, capsicums and tomato.
I really liked this dish because it was wholesome and filling, the ratatouille was packed with delicious vegetables and it was gently spiced with cumin.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Dahl soup:
Tried this on my first visit and it still tastes as good as my first visit.
It is made with lentils, pulses, red beans, soybeans which are rich in fibre.
The soup is spiced with cumin and I love it.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Quinoa salad:
The presentation of this salad was colourful.
From left to right is: Orange salad, Mediterranean salad, Quinoa salad, Green Salad and Red Salad.
The orange salad was made with julienne pumpkins, carrots and buckwheat seeds and it really did have an orange citrusy taste.
The Mediterranean salad was made with beans and lentils.
The Quinoa salad was made with Quinoa and seeds.
The green salad was made with cabbage and cumin and again it was my favourite.
The beetroot salad was just beetroots which were natrually sweet.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Mezze platter:
The platter was served on a long dish which looks nicer than the square plate used on my first visit.
It now looks like a pretty Mezze tapas.
It has multigran bread made with Zaatar. Zaatar is a mix of spices which I have always wanted to try because I did not try that at Mana.
The platter had hummus, falafel, baba ganoush, Lebanese salad, feta cheese and black olives.
The hummus was delicious and the baba ganoush too, some might find it bland but I thought it was nice, they give you lemon as well to make it more appetizing.
The bread that came with it was flat and perfect for dipping with the hummus and baba ganoush and the olives give it extra saltiness.
I had the feta cheese last which was the best I have ever tried because it was so moreish.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Desserts:
I was really looking forward to this, especially the Halva.
The carrot halwa is made with water, milk, sugar, cardamon and almonds. The colour of it is very vibrant and the texture is moist, it is similar to pureed carrots.
The sweetness was just right for me.
The fruit cake is made with raisins, macadamia nuts, cashew nuts and apricots.
Next I tried the Brownie which is made with almonds, pecans, dates, coconut, raw chocolate and shredded coconut.
It was slightly different to the non vegetarian brownie because of the dates and coconut.
The orange muffin is made with grounded almond meat, orange, orange zest and contains no flour.
It tasted better than my first visit because it was not so bitter and the size was more managable and not so big.
The muffin tasted nice and citrusy with a moist texture.
Lastly I tried the Baklava because it was the sweetest, they had pistachio nuts with honey.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
The location of this place is closer to Admiralty MTR station's Star Street exit and Maya is just round the corner from Star Street next to Ciacoe.
