Let’s put some acai into our veins?! 🤩🥳
This was undoubtedly one of the best acai-tastic moments of my life! Why? For many many reasons.
First of all, the first place where I tried Acai Brothers was this very same places, over 2 years ago. I remember looking for reviews and opinions about which branch had the best feedback and because I actually wanted to visit Brighton at the time, it was just the perfect fit 🥳 I took the tram from Heidelberg and after spending still a significant time of transportation (DEFINITELY worth it) I went for an Original Bowl with added peanut butter. And I do remember that day like it was yesterday because the bowl was so simple in terms of ingredients yet SO delicious, that I obviously loved the whole experience
Not only did Acai Brothers Brighton with that found a little special place in my heart, but this time, when I visited it was my special little foodie sister birthday. And as true foodie and massive acai lovers that we are, I had some ideas planned and we had to set up something amazing (as usual 😂).
The place is located ideally at Brighton and clearly very popular with the locals (and non locals!) and it was fairly busy at the time we visited - which makes perfect sense because 1-who doesn’t love acai and 2- the quality service here is beyond your wildest dreams.
Even with costumers coming in and out to get their acai fix, Tara, the owner (and the most incredible person ever!) was able to work around it and set up us with a massive dose of 6 mouthwatering bowls of acai and some other treats. But hold on... we’ll get there 😂
I arrived at the venue a little earlier and I was so kindly received and welcomed that my day was already made 🙏 seriously, I feel like sometimes venues don’t see how important service and first impressions are to set up the mood and create a positive environment to what everyone wants it to be a great and unique experience. Plus not only does Tara and Keith have the biggest hearts but actually it was quite a cold day in Melbourne and it was so massively appreciated entering the warm and heartily venue and staying in.
This locations from Acai Brothers is possibly one of the biggest in Melbourne as not only do the have an area with some cosy pillows on the right and left side of the entrance, but they have a long table on the opposite side of the counter for seating and there’s even a backyard! And wow 👏 it is GORGEOUS! There is an enormous Acai Brothers logo on a brick wall that looks very impressive and gives to the area a slight classic Victorian touch. Definitely instaworthy for some incredible shots👌😂 on the side there is also a toll with the logo of the acai brand that they use - Sambazon Acai. Obviously it was winter (and it was even raining when we visited) but this is undoubtedly a delightful place to hang and enjoy some acai bowls on a summer day!
We revised the menu that we were already familiar but that occasionally have some seasonal and special additions and took a look at the treats they had - the range changes frequently but is quite impressive and certainly very VERY approved choices from Cheelful Soul Foods and the only and only ACE cookies. From the usual mouthdrooling Salted Caramel Slices to Twix and even more bold choices like Red Velvet cakes - you can never go wrong with your choice! We also noticed the lattes and were quite curious about them so here’s what we ended up having (side note, trying not to be even more extensive (😂), I’ll describe the bowl and the extra toppings, because all the bowls already come with 3 fruits of your choice and buckinis!):
- Lemon Meringue Bowl with added Vanilla Bean COYO ice cream, ACE cookie dough slice, chocolate sauce & cacao nibs - the base itself is made with a mix of acai, banana, vanilla vegan protein and lemon essential oil and the taste is superb! You can definitely taste the usual acai flavour with an extra hint of sweetness from the lemon oil and protein and I think it really brings up the flavour and makes the bowl really enjoyable! In comparison to chocolate I think this would be an option that many people would enjoy as it creates a simultaneous even more fresh taste to it and they won’t find it ‘overly’ sweet as it can happen when you add chocolate to the acai mix! I would say this is an option for those ones that are looking for a change to the usual original but are not really ready to commit with something more audacious 😂 the ice cream is INSANELY good and I loved loved loved it and could not recommend it more and because it is just (not just, but still, it is a more ‘basic’ flavour) Vanilla Bean, the combination with chocolate sauce and cacao nibs makes it ideal and a pure treat. (In fact, I even asked for more of it while still diving my way into the acai bowls 😂). Lastly but definitely not least - the ace cookie dough - WOW, I mean, WOW. I am a huge fan of ACE and I have tried a few different cookies from them and I actually had tried some pieces of this cookie dough the previous week and almost started drooling even when I saw that they had it in the store 😍🤤 of COURSE I had to ask for it. The consistency is not fudgy but quite firm-ish (similar to marzipan!) and at the same time it’s not too hard, making it very enjoyable and easy to break into smaller portions. The vegan chocolate pieces on it and inside the slice itself and delicious and it’s definitely a good cookie! 😂 loved all this combo and overall I would say this was my second favourite! (Obviously they are all AMAZING and we all have our own preferences, but definitely this was amazing and only surpassed by... 👇)
- Cinnamon Spice Bowl with chocolate sauce, chocolate granola, Chelles Soulfoods chocolate mint slice & red velvet cake triangles - okay, this was our absolute favourite. It is part of their speciality bowls and the base is made with acai, banana, cacao and cinnamon essential oil - if you are a cinnamon lover you will HAVE TO try this one. The flavour is AMAZING AMAZING AMAZING and on top of the acai you have a sneaky bonus of more cinnamon powder! It also came with chocolate granola that was as SO good that we make a mental note (😂) to definitely ask for it in future bowls. We changed the coyo for some extra treats and the again, they did not disappoint! This time we picked up some chocolate mint scours (that all fans will definitely love!) and the most decadent red velvet cake that not only looked beautiful but the fudginess level was beyond a 10/10! 👏 even the inside had crunchy bits! Seriously 👌 we also added some salted caramel sauce and chocolate sauce and if this isn’t a bowl of your dreams, then... I don’t know what is 😂 definitely try this one if you love cinnamon and salted caramel!
- Lemon Bowl with added Vanilla Bean COYO ice cream, chocolate sauce & non edible dandelion (😂): I would possibly rank this as my third favourite. The ingredients of this one are similar to the Lemon Meringue Bowl but just missing the vanilla protein! Again, the taste is quite fresh and every spoon is a pure delight but - and here’s the difference - the taste of the lemon is more intense! It’s very veeeeeeery similar to the other bowl, yes, but for those people that don’t want to add protein or that just fancy a stronger taste of lemon (not bitter - just pure lemon scent and flavour!) this would be a good option. Again, we added a little of ice cream (because it’s never enough right? 😂😇) and the chocolate sauce.
- Mango Passionfruit Bowl with goji berries - I would take this one as my least favourite but I have to say that it was still a good achieved bowl and that probably only happened because we had all the other acai bowls competing with it. The base itself doesn’t actually have an acai and it is made of mango, banana and passionfruit. Sounds like a winning combo right? But actually the taste isn’t like the usual sweet mango smoothie bowl and it was slightly (and unfairly!) bitter in comparison obviously to the others. Still, the passionfruit seeds were very enjoyable and gave a little crunchiness to it and that was definitely a strong aspect. We kept it fairly simple with this one and just added some goji berries - that pair with the base really well - as well as some passionfruit sauce! Actually the sauce is REALLY good and a little more sweet so I would certainly recommend!
- Raw Notella Bowl with COYO natural yogurt, MASSIVE peanut butter and cacao nibs - possibly the bowl that left me with more mixed feelings 😂 I am not a huge fan of coconut yogurt and obviously it is hard to find a yogurt that I actually enjoy but in this case, with that massive extra large spoonful of peanut butter - well, who even cares? 😂 kidding, kidding. Still, even though I can’t say I enjoyed the COYO, my friend did, and the peanut butter was obviously LOVED by both. Seriously when in doubt for toppings, ALWAYS go for the peanut butter. It never fails! Because obviously the bowl was already quite full and overloading, we just added some cacao nibs to it and it was also very much approved. Even not being a fan of coconut yogurt I would pick this as my number 4 because obviously that amount of peanut butter conquers every heart 😂
- Grapefruit Bowl with extra buckinis & coconut shreds - finally the most intriguing and curious bowl! Just a little add of grapefruit essential oil to the base of acai and banana and BAAM. So. Much. Flavour! So so so good! It isn’t bitter at all and for me basically it felt like it was an acai-grape smoothie bowl which I am a massive lover because it always adds that extra natural sweetness to the smoothies! We paired it with some coconut shreds and I think that for next time we can be even a little more bold with the combo and add something like a sauce to see how it works. Either way I did love this base and the whole combo and specially the apple slices were a really good pair here!
- Jaffa latte - we were curious about the new drinks they had on the menu and it’s not frequent to see alternative lattes like these guys have so although we were very tempted to ask for an acai latte, even with so much acai going on already 😂, we felt that we could see how the jaffe latte was and seriously - such an incredible drink! I had never had one of these before and WOW! I didn’t recall the exact ingredients before I tried it and I was completely in love with it after the first sip! It basically is a blend made with acai, chocolate and cinnamon and... orange essential oil!, blended with coconut and almond milk. And I know what most of you can be thinking - ‘meeh, I don’t like chocolate and orange combined’. Well, guess what? Me neither! But it doesn’t really taste like some weird combinations of chocolate orange, which obviously I am not the hugest fan and really can’t eat them without feeling sick. Actually it didn’t even taste like orange at all! It tastes quite similarly to a hot chocolate without being too intense and without too much of a dark chocolate taste - which is very appreciated by me as again I enjoy non-dark chocolates more. I think the touch of acai in there definitely does the special trick here and not only did I throughly enjoy it but also, I will definitely ask for it again! Very well done!
This was possibly one of the best meals I’ve ever had because not only am I a huge acai lover and all the bowls were definitely delicious and incredible but the Acai Brothers Brighton team was BEYONG AMAZING 👏 I won’t wait so much time like last time before visiting this store again, definitely not! I even feel like I want to go back now 😂 pay them a visit for sure!
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