The Mushroom Butcher takeaway review: Clever cooking and crème brûlée doughnuts worth travelling for

What’s on offer?

Mark Senn, an Australian chef from Melbourne, and his Lithuanian partner Ingrid Baceviciute, opened Veginity restaurant in 2016 and followed it with Vish. Post-Covid, when costs soared to an unsustainable level, they closed shop.

A year ago, they started trading from a bright green food truck on South Circular Road in Portobello, operating on Saturdays only. It’s all about mushrooms, and they grow a number of varieties in dark humid conditions in a former retail unit beside their parking spot. After numerous trials, they identified the species best suited to the conditions and the right substrate to grow them on. They found that a combination of oak mixed with coffee grinds from Full Circle, was most suitable. They supply a number of restaurants including Bastible, Saucy Cow and Cornucopia. The mushrooms are also available for sale in The Fumbally.

Their menu changes weekly and, in the past, has featured crepes and sushi. When I visit, it is the first week of stuffed flatbreads and doughnuts, that are made from a slowly fermented, high-hydration dough.

What did we order?

A mushroom fillet roll, a hand-rolled flatbread stuffed with oyster mushroom stroganoff, a tandoori flatbread, a chestnut Bolognese flatbread and a crème brûlée doughnut.

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The Mushroom Butcher takeaway review: Clever cooking and crème brûlée doughnuts worth travelling for

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How was the service?

Wonderful. Everything is cooked to order and you can have a good chat while you wait.

Was the food nice?

The mushroom fillet roll is a fresh baguette, filled with oyster mushrooms that have been dipped in Cajun spiced breadcrumbs and deep-fried, with pink oyster bacon bits, lettuce and tomato. It is good and considerably better than intensively-raised chicken that has been fried Kentucky-style.

The oyster mushroom Stroganoff flatbread is savoury, creamy and delicious. So too is the tandoori flatbread, which has oyster mushrooms in an Indian-spiced sauce, lifted by mint-cucumber pickle. Our third flatbread, the Bolognese, is filled with savoury tomato flavours and earthy mushrooms.

The crème brûlée doughnut is amazing, with dark caramel on top, filled with a vegan creme patisserie.

What about the packaging?

The food is packed in a paper bag and the flatbreads and roll are wrapped in tinfoil. The doughnut is on paper.

What did it cost?

€38.50 for lunch for four people: A mushroom roll, €10; three flatbreads at €8 each; and a crème brûlée doughnut, €4,50.

Where does it deliver?

Takeaway only, Saturday, 10am-3pm.

Would I order it again?

Most definitely. This food is absolutely delicious and it just happens to be vegan.