First time Chris joined me to a vegan restaurant. He is vegan since two months. He doesn’t really have an option though. I love to cook and he doesn’t. Lara, an enthusiastic young woman, warmly welcomed us at Moon. She took a lot of time to explain us the whole menu and the reasons for opening the Moon. Barbara, the owner, wanted to create a culture center. A place where travellers and locals meet and that encourages an environmentally-friendly and sustainable lifestyle. A dream I had myself five years ago. At the moment Moon is a gourmet vegan restaurant with a stage for live music. Lara showed us a video of a past night with jazz for dinner and later electronic music. We were stunned by the sophisticated vegan menu. Everything sounds so delicious that I wanted to try everything. We started with an aged cashew cheese with olives, served with pears and agave syrup. The combination was simply amazing and the cashew cheese one of the best I ever ate. For weeks we got asked if we already tried the typical Sicilian salad with orange and fennel. Since it was on the menu we gave it a shot. It also included onion, olives and capers. It was nothing very special to me. But to be fair I actually don’t really like fennel. Especially not raw. I guess my unconscious hoped it would be streamed or with so much sauce that I wouldn’t taste the fennel anymore.

Lara let us choose three different entrees. Chris wanted to try the Moon Carbonara Pasta since he loves the one with bacon. So I was very curious to hear his opinion. He loved it so much that he wants to come back to this restaurant with some filmmakers who are visiting us in some days. It is a real pleasure for me to see him so happy enjoying vegan food. My favourite entree was the black rice topped with a red cabbage and leek sauce. The rice was cooked in Nero d’Avola wine. The sauce on top was incredible delicious. Better than ice cream 😉

Our third entree was grilled tempeh on Modena Balsamic vinegar with a Bronte pistachio crust on stewed onions. It was an interesting taste. As dessert we had a Tarte Tatin cake with vanilla ice cream. Burnt apple caramelised in cane sugar. The ice cream was too sweet for me. To be fair I barely eat any sugar and therefore my taste buds are very sensitive.

Overall, the dinner was outstanding, the atmosphere great, and Barbara an amazing, charismatic woman with big dreams. Her husband works for an Italian airline and brings back food from all over the world. I asked her from where she gets all those ingredients. So be prepared for a unique dining experience.