I have to say that this was possibly one of the best days of my life. I had heard about the 1kg for almost 2 years now and I knew only Acai Brother’s Camberwell was the one single place that did that unique and special bowl.
Of course that being an acai lover, it HAD to be on my bucket list.
I have visited some Acai Brothers stores in the past and I have always had a good service - the staff is always very helpful and patient, happy to work around your preferences and even most weird requests. They clearly are used to indecision by the costumers and they are trained and they are genuinely uplifting and happy to assist people. That is definitely something very appreciated in any place and created such a good starting point straight away with the costumers!
However I must say that my experience at Acai Brothers Camberwell surpassed anything, ANYTHING, that I had ever dreamed of.
The venue is located at one of the main roads in Camberwell and very close to the shops, surrounded by many venues. Very accessible by tram and in fact the train line runs just a few meters away from the store and when I visited it had some construction going on.
The place is clearly visible from far faaaaaar way and the Acai Brothers sign is something that no-one can ever miss. There are some seats outside that I am sure will be very pleasant to hang around during summer time or even a more warm weather, but since it has been quite cold in Melbourne, we went inside and WOW. So warm! So comfortable to be inside!
Once you get inside, the cashier area is just in front of you, which makes it very convenient for people that just want to take away a coffee or a smoothie to promptly go in and out and leaves the rest of the store, that isn’t very vast, but definitely with enough room and very comfortable to stay around, with some extra privacy. I would definitely describe the place as cosy and they even have an area with a couch, which turned out to be our… perfect little spot to enjoy the food.
But before I start (ranting) about the food, I want to say a special and very hearty note for the team. I had spoken to Sheli, the store manager, and I could tell straight away from the way she replied to my texts and the way we chatted that she had that ‘cool, chilled, nice person’ vibe, you know? And obviously someone like that, behind a business, means that the ethos and how things run at the venue are obviously very uplifting and basically just… amazing! Because even though I did not have the chance to meet Sheli, the staff and the girls were amazing. More than amazing, really. Astounding! Staggering! Stupendous! SENSATIONAL. Just for you to see how wonderful they were, when the food started to arrive, we were moving things around and working our way inside the store to get the best angles and shots. Even with a few costumers inside they continued serving costumers and collaborated so well and patiently with us, making it seemed that we were even there just - when in fact even though we tried to keep it as low key as possible, we were obviously getting some extra attention from some costumers while shooting and making the whole set up for the pictures. Seriously, I cannot appreciate enough the PATIENCE, COOPERATION and KINDNESS of these girls.
Anyway, let’s get to the food! 😂 here’s what we got:
- 1kg Original Acai bowl: we asked for the original smoothie base with added vegan vanilla protein and it terms of the taste it was just on point! I haven’t tried the protein by itself personally but I must say that it blends very very well (even just by mixing the acai with the protein a spoon like it was done in this case), no granules and the consistency was still phenomenal - not liquid, not too chunky - just perfect. Like with any bowl, you can add some fruits along with other toppings and we asked for banana, kiwi, strawberries and some passionfruit (to give a freshness taste and balance the greater consistency of the banana). We also added some bee pollen (SO GOOD! I hadn’t had this in so long and I had forgotten how delicious it was!) and buckinis, a clear favourite of mine, that added some phenomenal crunchiness to the bowl. A scoop of vegan ice cream 🍨 was placed on top of it all, like a little crown 😂: I really enjoyed the fact that the ice cream isn’t too sweet, contrasting with the natural sweetness of the acai, and I also admired the consistency and how it didn’t melt easily - yes, by the end, we still had a little scoop of ice cream intact! We added some cashew butter sauce that OMG… was way more than perfect and way beyond your most wild dreams and didn’t make it too sweet at all - it paired EXTRAORDINARILY well with everything! 👏
Of course that I don’t have to say anything about the size - very very GENEROUS portion 😂 and certainly was filling (but we also had other things 😂 bottomless pit?) but we also decided to add a raw treat: a two layer cookie with some lamington filling! Regarding the cookie, the cookies themselves were a bit harder than I expected but still with great taste (I would say that if the consistency were to be softer, the whole cookie would be even better, but it was still delicious and you can definitely see it, when you break it into smaller pieces, as some kind of granola chunks!). The dough was soooooo indulgently sweet, like a cake frosting, and I think the quantity was just right making it not overly sweet and still giving that sneaky extra awesomeness between the cookies. It was for sure one of THE MOST INSANE bowls I have ever had and it certainly ticks ALL boxes.
- Lemon Meringue bowl with raw donut: we thought about asking for a smoothie or a juice but, well, what is better that one acai bowl? More acai bowls 😂 okay, okay, jokes ‘acaide’ we thought that it terms of photography the final shots would work better with other bowls versus the drinks and we could also feature other treats more easily and create things with better frames, so we ended up having one bowl each of our choice. They have two size options available (and I would recommend that EVERYONE gets the regular size because like I said and you can clearly understand, there’s no such thing as too much acai 😂). They have a display with different cakes and vegan desserts from The Compassionate Kitchen (I had seen the most amazing two tower raw cake and even though they didn’t have it at the time, all the other treats looked soooooo tasty and decadent! It’s like when you look at something and you just KNOW it will be insanely good and will not disappoint! And it is FOR SURE😍) as well as Ace Cookies (that I love love love! I’ve tried them a couple times before and I have also met the people behind the business at some events - I love supporting local brands with the most ethical and passionately creations!). Anyway, let’s get to the bowl 😂: the base is acai and banana mixed with vegan vanilla protein- so, nothing to say besides, HELL YES 👏, and there’s actually a lemon essential oil mixed in that I personally couldn’t tell the taste (but with so many toppings and acai game going on, I think that’s fair enough 😂 and besides like I said the taste is just AMAZING 👏). It came topped with buckinis - winner!, banana - of course, strawberries - how can it not?, and passionfruit - loooove!, along with a raw donut that O.M.G. I seriously cannot describe how insanely delicious this donut was! 👏 It’s not soft and light, but instead, slightly gooey and INSANELY chunky, more of a brownie consistency. It does have a sweet taste but not overly sweet - definitely ideal in terms of sweetness balancing perfectly with the frosting. I actually didn’t ask what the flavour of the donut was but it seemed to be chocolate nut based with crunchy nut pieces inside and my final opinion is: DEFINITELY recommend! And of course that I recommend this specific bowl as a whole too! Loved it! ❤️
- Ain’t Nothing Butter bowl with peanut butter cup: my friend had this bowl and madea mix between two bowls, kind of a two-in-one 😂 basically she asked for the base of the Choc ‘Treat Yo Self’ bowl that has acai, banana and cacao, and the toppings of the Ain’t Nothing Butter bowl. It came with choc buckinis (something I so need to ask next time!), cacao nibs, coyo, peanut butter sauce and then the 3 fruit choices were orange, banana and strawberries. She really liked the combo and on top of that we added a raw treat of a peanut butter cup that was really good as well! And actually so cute - it looks like a tiny crown too 😂
- Vegan waffles - we were a bit indecisive between the waffles and the pancakes and beause we had seen that the waffles were relatively new to the menu we opted to go for them. These are vegan DF waffles that come with COYO icecream, one fruit (we actually added a few more: strawberries, banana and apples) and one sauce of choice (cashew butter in our case) and we decided to add an extra scoop of icecream and also... some acai! The most amazing thing about this place and the ethos they have, like you can understand by now, is that the team is so happy to accomodate and work with you, aiming to deliver the best service and create something epic that satisfies your wildest dreams cravings. I am pretty sure that if we tried to to a tower of acai on top of the waffles, that could even actually happen (🤔 maybe next time? 😂).The waffle dough itself is not very tall but relatively soft and with good consistency. And here’s what you need to know: combining in a mouthful a: piece of waffle with acai + icecream + cashew sauce + fruit is something you NEED to try in your life. IT IS SO GOOD! It came to the point were we were even dipping the waffle in the 1kg acai bowl and pairing it with everything 😂 just puuuuure lush 👏😍
It was such a phenomenal experience, one that I certainly want to repeat. And again, I want to thank and congratulate the whole Acai Brothers Camberwell team and especially Sheli who is being such an amazing manager and truly caring about costumers. You are in one single, very well deserved, word: ACWESOME!
An error has occurred! Please try again in a few minutes