I also applaud the new breed of healthy cafes entering the scene trying to give punters nutritious alternatives when dining out.

The problem I have is when these health-focused venues dish out “clean treats” which they claim to taste just like your favourite dessert, chocolate bar or savoury delight, but in reality have about as much in common as Barack Obama and Donald Trump.

At the new Mylk + Ko cafe in New Farm it’s all about putting wholesome, predominantly vegan, gluten and dairy-free twists on traditional dishes for breakfast and lunch, like acai bowls named Lamington and Golden Gaytime, plus a sweet all-day dish of Snickerz mousse ($17).

Despite how it’s spelled, if you call something a Snickers, I immediately want something that resembles that rich, goey caramel centre, salty hit from peanuts, sugary nougat that almost welds your teeth together and milky chocolate that will send your dopamine levels into overdrive.

When I’m presented with a bowl of runny, chocolate-flavoured chia pudding with some dry cacao-coated puffed rice, sliced banana and whipped peanut butter, I’m naturally going to be disappointed.

It’s all about managing expectations, you see. If the dish was called a choc-banana peanut butter bowl, I would have been satisfied.

The textures were contrasting and interesting, with coconut shards adding to the mix, while the dish was sweet enough without being sickly. But anything remotely close to the classic confectionery favourite this was not.

The same goes for the waffle nachos ($19).

Over the years nachos has been manipulated more than a politician’s expense account, but the one unwavering inclusion has always been cheese.

So what happens when you remove the cheese? You end up with a dish crying out for salty, fatty goodness, and that’s what happened here.

While the savoury waffles were faultlessly light and fluffy, and the cacao chilli mince satisfactory, the sliced avocado and sour cream couldn’t make up for the absence of fromage.

There are some decent vegan cheeses on the market and maybe the kitchen could look to those to add a flavour boost.

The carrot pancakes ($18) were the final deception. Call them fritters – that’s what they were.

Made from carrot, quinoa and chickpeas, they were a little on the stodgy side, but still flavourful, especially when smeared with some turmeric hummus and coconut yoghurt tzatziki.

Creating healthy food does not have to mean sacrificing flavour, but when you liken something to a richer, fattier, far more tasty dish, you set expectations and anything short of those expectations generally won’t cut it.

With friendly, efficient staff and a light-filled modern fitout, Mylk + Ko is a lovely venue, it just needs a menu that stops pretending to be something it isn’t.

This review originally appeared on couriermail.com.au.