I lucked up on Winter Park’s Sleeping Moon Cafe through a series of unfortunate events. If things had gone as I had planned the day before I took my most recent meat-free food adventure, it would have probably been months before I even heard about the cafe. But thankfully, two locally-owned vegetarian friendly restaurants that I had visited before and was excited about sharing with you, just did not display the type of customer service that made me comfortable to dine there. So, I left. Both places. Without hesitation. After my second “walk out,” I did a quick Foursquare search and Sleeping Moon Cafe popped up in the search results, and the rest was history.
Not only is Central Florida filled with great entertainment experiences and theme parks, but over the past few months, I have really come to find that we have a lot of really cute, locally-owned, coffee shops. To be honest, if you live or visit here, there really isn’t a good reason to even visit Starbucks, especially if you are vegetarian or vegan. Sleeping Moon Cafe has most certainly made it to my list of places to not only grab a great drink but also really good meat-free food.
Walking into Sleeping Moon Cafe late Saturday afternoon, I experienced pretty much everything that one would expect to experience in a local coffee shop: a lot of eclectic art on the wall done, I assume, by local artists, flyers promoting a live show that was to be held at the cafe, Christmas-like lights draped across the ceiling, a soundtrack complete with Indie artists that played softly throughout, and, of course, a list of different yet ultra cool sounding coffee, tea, and smoothie options. I felt at home.
Enough about the ambience. Now for the food.
So, let’s start with the drink that I ordered. I started off ordering some kind of chocolate cappuccino. Then, I heard another customer order the Thai Tea Milkshake, and I knew that I had to have it. What exactly is this wonderful concoction made of? Only three ingredients from what the young lady told me: Thai tea (made from brewed Thai tea leaves), sugar, and almond milk. That was it, and it was so good. I could not get enough. This drink made my visit beyond amazing!
Now for the food. I started things off with a simple plate of pita chips and hummus, which was made in house. I love when places make hummus themselves, but honestly, I’ve found that hummus is the same wherever I go. I should’ve ordered the bruschetta. Now, there’s something that can go amazingly right or horribly wrong, kind of. I’ll do better next time. Then there was the main dish: the Black Bean Burger Bowl. Now, Sleeping Moon Cafe has two vegetarian and vegan options. The Black Bean Burger Bowl was the vegetarian option and the vegan option was the Vegan Viceroy which had sautéed onions, spinach, jasmine rice, and in-house tziki sauce. The next time I go, which will be soon, I’ve already decided to try this rice bowl. Of course, I have more detailed information, but I’ll save it for the picture descriptions.
Enjoy!
Here is the Thai Tea milkshake with almond milk front and center! Talk about creamy, sweet, and yummy. I would drive the almost 30 minutes just for this .
Here are the fresh leaves that my amazing Thai Tea Milkshake was made with. I was so happy to know that my drink wasn’t some manufactured, syrupy mess. Oh, so happy!
Here is my appetizer of pita chips and their house-made hummus. Nothing to see here… just hummus and chips. But it was good.
A little up close and personal with the house-made hummus.
Here is the famous Black Bean Burger Rice Bowl. So, I was a bit on the fence between this rice bowl and the Vegan Viceroy Rice Bowl. I chose this one because the gentleman taking my order informed me that this was the customer favorite between the two. They received orders upon orders of this dish on a daily basis. I liked this but didn’t absolutely love it. I will tell you right off the bat that I really didn’t like that white rice was used instead of a whole wheat rice or quiona option. In fact, I didn’t even eat the rice. I took the toppings off, took it home, and put it atop some old quinoa that I had in the fridge. I’m not sure if I would order this again.
Here’s a close up of my Black Bean Burger Bowl. It had all the makings of a great dish: a crumbled black bean burger, tomato, onions, avocado, and some sort of cheese sauce. I liked the cheese sauce. It was tangy and added the flavor punch that this bowl needed. Okay, so maybe I will try it one more time… you know just to make sure.
One last close up before I close things out…
Inside this door is a great Thai Tea Milkshake with almond milk!
See! I told you this place was cool. The walls and even ceiling are littered with artwork. Oh, and they have free Wi-Fi.
