There are probably more pastries than you can count in Medan, tapi kalau dessert house Vegan, which basically omit egg and dairy products, meet Voi.
Voi, dari bahasa latin Voinic yg artinya sehat, bermula dari Randy yang mempunyai background jurusan hospitality dan kuliner.
Pengaruh dari keluarganya yang sudah bervegetarian menggagaskan ide untuk memunculkan segmen western Vegan, segmen yang dimana selama ini didominasi kuliner khas Chinese.
If you’re wondering apa bedanya Vegan dengan Vegetarian, Vegan itu vegetarian namun tidak menkomsumsi produk olahan hewani (termasuk susu, mentega, telur, dsb).
Voi is located in a humble ruko di jalan Kalingga. Since it’s rented, not much effort has been made in term of design and interior. Plus, it’s kinda warm, the heat from the sun was punishing that afternoon.
Greeting from Randy and his family who run this shop together gave a little breeze. Menus are plain text, tapi kami disuguhi menu yang akan launching, sekaligus menjadi tester perdana.
Fajitas mushroom, sebuah menu yang tampak sederhana. But the great thing is, semuanya homemade, bahkan sampai saosnya. Yep, that mayonaisse and the dressing. Jamur yang digunakan juga bukan kalengan, so the price can justify.
As someone who didn’t take vegetarian meal much, I’d say I’m impressed with this one. It’s good and guilty free.
The next meal is Avo Attack (35rb). Satu buah alpokat yang telah diiris ditaroh diatas sepotong roti olahan sendiri yang dioles dengan saos mayo, lalu ditambah dengan sauteed cherry tomato, oyster mushrooms, garbanzo beans, dan di drizzle dengan herb oil.
Personally, the avos were slightly too much and became a leftover, namun jika dikurangi sedikit, kombinasi semuanya menciptakan citarasa yang balance dalam plating ini.
Voi provide some dessert, notably Black Out (45rb) yang terdiri dari 70% dark choco sponge cake, 70% dark choco cream, 70% dark choco soil.
And my favorite jatuh ke Passion fruit & Chia Seed Cheese Cake (45rb). It’s a perfect combination of peanuts and dates base. And cheese, oh that cheese… sebenarnya terbuat dari kacang2an yang telah diolah.
The biggest challenge I see from running Voi is kitchennya yang masih tergolong lambat. For the most part, Randy selalu berkutat di dapur, and since it’s not a commercial kitchen with limited staff as well, menus could take a while to arrive on the table, apalagi kalo meja hampir terpenuhi.
But for the effort to bring vegan dessert and culinary in Medan, we salute!