Borsch Vodka & Tears Prahran

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Elliot. R

I eat therefore I am, I am therefore I eat

Reviewed on: 30/09/2009

This Vodka bar/cafe/restaurant at 173 Chapel St, Prahran has about 90 different varieties of infused and straight vodkas which are served ice cold in small shot glasses. Priced from $6 to about $9.

Their "Modern Polish Cuisine" is a mixture of Polish, Russian and Hungarian dishes but who cares - they are very good.

Moderately priced entree's may be served as mains

Bigos - pardon the spelling a cabbage and smoked meat entree

Gnochi with ... read more porchini mushrooms really fine and soft I haven't had betterPork loin with cabbage and mashed potato - super the dish made specially tasty by the addition of sweet pickled Polish style cucumber We also enjoyed the pirogi though I found them a little bland

Very busy very noisy specially on Wednesday nights when there are a couple of fellows belting out a variety of old favourites on a guitar and violin

Comments A fun place if you can stand the racket with very good food and lots of vodka too! read less

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Elliot. R

I eat therefore I am, I am therefore I eat

Reviewed on: 28/09/2009

Sister to Vodka Borscht and Tears in Chapel St. this restaurant has taken over from the former Sinatra's adjacent to the Classic Cinema. The food is the same as VB and T and so are the large range of vodkas'. Quite cheap, specially if you like borscht ($9.50).

There are a range of soups and I found the Russian borscht with smoked bacon extremely satisfying and filling. Apart from the beetroot, cabbage and smoked bacon it had fruit, dill and sour cream and was served with a basket ... read more of rye bread. They have a vegetarian version as well as barley and chicken soup which suffers from having been frozen and thawed leaving the pieces of potato in it with a displeasing texture and so on.

Pirogi are another prominent feature on the menu either as entree - four ($13.50) or main, six ($19.50) meat or potato filled they came fairly dry and failed to excite. Veal goulash, wrapped in a large potato cake, had plenty of sauce and good taste - a very pleasing winter dish. ($21.50).Crockery is hand painted Polish peasant style and goes perfectly with the bare wooden tables. Desserts are solid, domestic style serves.

The place looks like it has been decorated out of a garage sale at a railway yard. The massive lights are quite extraordinary, read less

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Caithlin. F

Reviewed on: 08/09/2009

So you've set out to impress a date and want to deliver an exotic, delightful gastric experience and move onto sophisticated cocktails by candlelight... Borsch Vodka & Tears (BVT) delivers both in the same location with a magic transition from cosy little Polish day restaurant-cafe into buzzing bar by night with more varieties of vodka than you'll ever be able to fit in your house, let alone in your, ah, veins.

You're strolling down Chapel street, your stomach murmuring anxiously ... read more for something hearty, when you sidle past BVT's beckoning warm and cosy allure. The walls are artfully distressed paint, foreign posters and signs, antiqued wooden chairs and a high, high, high wall of tempting spirits and liqueurs.

The first time I looked at the menu I was set back slightly. Rye bread? Beetroot soup? What the hell is uszka? I tentatively ordered a bowl of beetroot broth and beef uszka, hesitated over the wine-coloured soup and took a sip. Never has a humble, fluro-coloured vegetable been made to taste so good. Uszka? They turn out to be little pastry dumplings filled with goodness, in this case beef, dropped into the broth. Later I would try the various hearty breakfasts, delicious array of pierogi (polish dumplings), soups, tapas and for the less adventurous snacker, sandwiches and stews. Meals are from around $13 - Broths start from around $13.50, the big breakfast (eggs, bacon, sausage, potato blintz, baked whole tomato, rye toast, chutney and mushrooms with optional extras) a modest $15.50, considering it will probably last you till dinner.

The nature of Polish cuisine is quite hearty, creamy and heavy, designed to guard you against biting frost, so it is recommended to enter on a growling stomach.

BVT looks more like a kitsch restaurant than cafe, so it's easy to glance past and end up somewhere else for your afternoon latte, but they DO do takeaway coffee and they do it well.

It's rare to come across somewhere that sports a full menu of delicious cuisine as well as a huge array of cocktails, but BVT has managed to attempt this and get it so, so right. The drinks menu starts with over 50 types of vodka ($7.50 a shot) and ends with a constellation of cocktails starting from around $14. Staff are ever friendly and helpful and will guide you through your first dining/drinking experience, suggesting drinks based on your favourite sweets, fruits or flavours. Nom nom nom!

Grab a table for you and that special someone early on in the evening, share tapas and pierogi and muse over good coffee. By the time the evening buzz begins and the cocktails come out, you'll be settled and your stomach well prepared for hard-hitting polish vodka! Na zdrowie!

Service: Friendly! Hooray!
Music: Mellow by day, playfully exotic by night
Location: Close to Prahran station, two trams whizz past.
Prices: Good price range, hearty servings.
Food: Exotic, hearty. Not for the reserved salad-picker. Note that breakfast and lunch finish by 3pm, dinner by 10pm.
Atmos: Cosy by day, buzzy (but not rowdy) by night read less

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Rachelle. T

mmm big mac

Reviewed on: 25/06/2009

Do you want something different, something a little more alternative than to the same old pizza, pasta, steak and parma? Then this is the place to dine at. This cutely presented café bar provides a laid back feel, a chilled out atmosphere and staff always at your service. The music played (which in my opinion is very important) is never too loud and are generally classic tunes that you can eat your meal to, talk over and not be bothered by that annoying doof doof stuff that disrupts your ... read more meal.

Borsch provides a menu full of modern polish tapas that are awesome to share with friends, so you can order everything and try it all :P. I've had coffee, breakfast, lunch and dinner here and I'm always satisfied. Hands down it's my favourite place to eat at.

Rach recommends:
The fries!!! They're not just fries!
Soy chai latte (I'm not the biggest fan of soy milk but they do it so good you can't even tell it's not milk, infact it probably tastes better as soy than regular milk!)
The calamari
And you have to try one of their cocktails, they are like no other! Seriously. read less