vegan about town

vegan peking duck for cny

2012-01-23T01:18:00.003+11:00

Just home from an amazing dinner at Baihe for CNY. Mandarins for starters (and finishes, and prosperity), then noodles, potatoes, gailan, pipa chicken, and the most amazing duck and pancakes:

Highly recommend, would eat again.

On the way home I passed so many fireworks and firecrackers and one lonely red lantern, drifting slowly into the sky and out of sight. My camera's no good for capturing these sorts of things, but I leave you with this, from the driveway to our apartment complex:

恭喜发财！新年快乐！Reports of temple fair food tomorrow, after I've eaten it.

previous visit (includes Englishness, directions and accessibility details)

Baihe Vegetarian / Lily's Vegetarian / 百合素食
23 Caoyuan Hutong
off dongzhimen nei bei xiaojie
Dongcheng District
Beijing

东直门内北小街草原胡同甲23号

timezone 8 [798, beijing]

2012-01-20T00:05:00.003+11:00

I really like 798, the art district of Beijing. I've been there twice now (photos), and the second time was even more fun than the first, I came home with all sorts of art and had a really great afternoon. It's not the sort of place you can visit just once and be done with it, it's always evolving and it's massive and it's tiring.

On this visit we wandered in to Timezone 8, a gallery, restaurant, bar and bookshop. There's a soy latte on the menu and vegetarian pasta that I could get without the cheese, and given I thought I was going to be in a vegan wasteland I was happy already.

The pasta (eggplant, tomato and mushroom) was okay. It wasn't spectacular (the eggplant was a little tough), and the coffee was average, but Emilly said her pasta was good (vego not vegan) and her juice was excellent. We were seated at the bar and they juiced the watermelon in front of her! Service was friendly and helpful. I plan to take several of my visitors over the next eight months to 798, so it's good to know there's somewhere I can get food with minimal hassle.

The menu is in Chinese and English, the waitstaff speak a little English.

Timezone 8
4 Jiuxianqiao Lu (opposite UCCA)
798

Get there on the 401 bus. Steps to enter, nice lighting (during the day).

revolutionary tofu

2012-01-16T18:19:00.006+11:00

At my workplace we have some very traditional food coming out of the kitchen, traditional in the sense of since the Cultural Revolution. A lot of the dishes we eat at work became common during the CR because they're fast, simple and nutritious, making use of the ingredients to hand and the conditions available. I plan to make a whole blog post about the food that gets dished up in the work cafeteria, which has been integral to introducing me to a whole lot of Northern Chinese food that I'm just completely unfamiliar with (being familially from a Southern province; and worse, being more immediately South-East Asian).

I've become a bit obsessed with this tofu dish, which made an appearance on my first trip to the cafeteria. I eagerly look forward to each reappearance, and finally I gave it a go recently. It's so simple it doesn't need a recipe, though I found a reference to it in The Cultural Revolution Cookbook, a cookbook I would seriously consider buying except it's still got a whole lot of meat in it.

sesame tofu with spring onion
recipe helped by the cultural revolution cookbook

This makes a great side dish or salad to a flavoursome meal. I've been eating it in winter but look forward to serving it as a summer salad. I know it sounds plain and boring (and the picture doesn't help) but the sesame oil does something magical to the tofu that makes it very moreish. You may want to adjust the amount of sesame oil you use depending on your tastes, and you could also sprinkle some sesame seeds on the top.

ingredients
1 x 300g block of firm tofu
1 or 2 stems of spring onion
2 teaspoons sesame oil
salt

method: In the microwave, heat the tofu whole (and drained and rinsed) until it's pleasantly warm to the touch; should need no longer than a minute. Alternatively, soak the tofu in hot water for a minute or two. In the meantime, slice the spring onion small and on an angle, along the bias. Use the green and the white parts! Combine the sesame oil, spring onions and salt. Dice the tofu into chunks about half an inch across, and mix the oil through a little roughly - the tofu can break apart somewhat. Serve warm.

baihe vegetarian [百合素食] [dongcheng, beijing]

2012-01-14T22:32:00.005+11:00

After a long exhausting day out in the outskirts of Beijing (1.5 hours on the subway south of the city), no lunch, and three hours of facilitating a large group of people all on my own, I was so hungry I could barely talk, so Emilly met me at Baihe Vegetarian, less than a ten minute walk away from my apartment. We sat down and started picking food quickly, so I could eat as soon as possible.

We ordered the satay noodles, the chicken curry, and the dry roast potatoes. These came out rapidly, delicious and warm. The dry roast potatoes, despite being neither dry nor roasted, were my favourite. They were served in a tasty, mild sauce, in a platter with a flame underneath to keep it bubbling away. The noodles and the chicken were nothing to scoff at, though the potatoes in the curry were a tad underdone. They all were delicious though, and exactly what I needed after a long day of no food.

I really enjoyed Baihe and, with its close proximity to my house, is a place I plan to revisit for sure. Prices are moderate, about 130Y including fresh juices. Service is friendly and helpful.

Baihe Vegetarian / Lily's Vegetarian / 百合素食
23 Caoyuan Hutong
off dongzhimen nei bei xiaojie
Dongcheng District
Beijing

东直门内北小街草原胡同甲23号

Take line 2 to Dongzhimen station, exit D or B, walk directly West along Dongzhimen inner, at the first major intersection turn right. Caoyuan Hutong is the second alley on your left. The menu has English subtitles (and pictures!), access includes a step up and a step down and several ledges in the way. There is a toilet on the premises. Staff don't speak English.

veggie table ii [lama temple area, beijing]

2012-01-07T20:06:00.002+11:00

After a massive NYE and needing to recover all day Sunday, we ventured out to nearby Veggie Table for a continuation of the recover process on Monday for lunch. I'd been hoping for the mushroom burger, all burgery and chips and mushroom is my hangover meal of choice, but alas it was not to be, for in the new year's rush they were all out of mushroom burgers.

So I went the pizza route instead (spurred on by Lainie and Alaine who had stayed in the entirety of the previous day, and ordered in two large pizzas they ate by themselves). The pizza at Veggie Table is eggplant, potato and onion, with the eggplant present in the form of baba ghanoush spread across the base, giving it a thick, moist underlayer underneath all that onion and potato. It was greasy and rich and delicious. I've never even considered such a thing before, baba ghanoush instead of tomato paste, and I would eat it again for sure, but maybe I will share it with someone. I had to go for a walk afterwards to work it off.

I supplemented it with a coconut milk latte. Served in a massive mug, this coffee has just a hint of coconut to it, beautifully supplementing the coffee, and it was exactly what I wanted.

previous visit (includes accessibility and english details)

veggie table
19 Wudaoying Hutong
Lama Temple Area
Dongcheng District
Beijing

grilled vegetable pasta

2012-01-03T19:13:00.003+11:00

One thing I don't get a whole lot of in Beijing is pasta - vegan pasta is difficult to come by in restaurants (though Veggie Table has a couple on the menu that I'd like to sample), and it can be hard to purchase dried pasta. A lot of the really big supermarkets stock a little, though, if they have a 'foreign' section, and of course there are my semi-regular visits to April Gourmet (a Western supermarket near my Chinese school).

Craving pasta, I recently put together this from things mostly picked up at April Gourmet: spirals, a tin of tomatoes, and a small takeaway container of grilled vegetables. It's pricy for a home-cooked meal (about 17Y for the pack of pasta, 15Y for the tomatoes, and 22Y for the veggies), but it was exactly what I wanted. Sometimes a little pasta when you're far away from home is what you really want.

grilled vegetable pasta

Super simple! Set enough pasta for two people on to boil. Slice half a spanish onion, and fry in a little olive oil. When it's softened, add some dried oregano and a little dried chilli, a minced garlic clove, and quickly follow it up with a tin of tomatoes, and leave to simmer for five minutes. Then add all your grilled vegetables, heat through, stir through some nutritional yeast, mix it through with the pasta and serve it all up.

It was worth it to cart that packet of nutritional yeast flakes all the way from Melbourne.

japchae

2011-12-30T23:36:00.004+11:00

Being a big fan of sweet potato, not only did I order (and love) the japchae at Saveurs de Coree, but when I saw sweet potato noodles in the shops a few days later I immediately purchased a packet. And I have no regrets. Sweet potato noodles take a little longer than wheat noodles to cook, and I went really light on the sauces because I didn't want to overwhelm the awesomeness of any sweet potato that might make its way through.

This recipe is not strictly japchae. I should have added some mushrooms or something, and I didn't add a sweetner. But it was so good, and I am looking forward to trying this again soon.

japchae
serves two people

ingredients
200g dried sweet potato noodles
1 clove garlic, minced
1 carrot, julienned
a little bit of broccoli
little bit of chinese cabbage (just the leaves, cut tiny to wilt fast)
a dash of light soy sauce (or gf tamari)
a small amount of sesame oil (about a teaspoon or so)
some sesame seeds

method
Boil the noodles until they are delightfully soft, about five minutes or just over. Drain and cut (or cut in the wok, just know they come long and you have to cut them).

In a hot wok, add some cooking oil then throw in the garlic and the carrots. Fry about for a minute or two, then add some water and the broccoli and wombok, and put the lid on to steam. After the broccoli has gone beautiful and bright green, lower the heat and add the noodles, soy/tamari, and the sesame oil. Toss to combine, let them all cook together for a minute, and plate. Sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Delicious, fast, made from sweet potatoes. No regrets.

saveurs de coree [dongcheng, beijing]

2011-12-30T01:20:00.004+11:00

The only reason I tried out Saveurs de Coree is because Happy Cow told me they knew what the word vegan meant. And this is sort of true!

I love the atmosphere of the Ju'Er location, though its poor lighting meant I was unable to get any nice photos. They have a lovely looking outdoor section that I look forward to trying when it's not -4C, and lots of fun Korean books inside, and an awesome water feature in the back room that I really enjoyed.

The menu is extensive, filled with all sorts of things, and a little leaf indicates things that can be made vegetarian or vegan. It says so, right there at the bottom of the menu! Sadly this is where things got a little complicated for me. The menu clearly states that things with leaves can be made vegetarian or vegan, however our waitperson (who spoke some English) clearly had no idea.

We ended up ordering a whole bunch of food, and it was all really delicious. We went for these gamja jeon (potato pancakes), and some japchae and ttekkdokki to share, and then a plate of mushroom rice each. These three dishes pictured were amazing. I was so excited by the japchae (sweet potato noodles fried with sesame oil and vegetables) that when I saw sweet potato noodles in the shops on Monday I purchased a pack immediately (more on that tomorrow). The ttekkdokki was delicious but spicy, as always.

Dessert was tofu chocolate mousse, good but a bit pricy and tiny (and all the pictures were blurry).

I'm mostly confident of the vegan-ness of the meal except for one factor: they don't use dairy at all, and there were no eggs in any of the dishes I ordered. However due to the waitperson's confusion, I'm not sure if they went to the kitchen and said 'these dishes need to be vegan' (which based on the menu I think they'd be clear on), or if they said 'these dishes can't have seafood'. If it was the former I'm all good; if it was the latter then maybe my kimchi was of the non-vegetarian variety.

The menu is available in English, Korean and Mandarin. There are some pictures. Cost is a bit high, this was the most expensive meal I've had since arriving in Beijing, but the service is attentive (when the waitperson stops texting) and they let us hang around even though we were clearly the last people to leave, and when we left one of the waitstaff had their coat on.

Saveurs de Coree
20 Ju Er Hutong
Dongcheng

There is a second location at 128-1, Xiang Er Hutong off Jiaodaokou, no more than ten minutes walk from the Ju'Er location, that specialises in 'fine Korean grill.'

A step up to enter, poor lighting. An obstacle course to get from the front (tiny) room to the rest of the restaurant. About 10-15 minutes walk from Beixinqiao Station (line 5, exit D). Some English spoken. Not sure about gluten free. Meals: 100-200Y (including dessert and alcohol).

christmas disaster

2011-12-26T01:45:00.003+11:00

so even when you're celebrating a low-key christmas in china with five of your friends, and all the food has been cooked by someone else and you just have to pick it up, there is still room for a christmas day kitchen disaster:

merry christmas if that's your thing! and remember to put the lid on your pumpkin puree, even when you're only heating it up for five minutes. although who has pumpkin puree at christmas? i mean really.

shenton park cat haven (and the dog refuge, too)

2011-12-24T14:15:00.004+11:00

Shenton Park Cat Haven is looking for forever homes for some adorable but homeless cats! They are seriously oversubscribed and though since that news article went up they've had a whole heap of cats adopted, the oversubscription continues.

If you can't give the gift of a home but are looking for a present for someone, you could also consider making a donation to the Cat Haven or to the Dog's Refuge (also in Shenton Park).

If you want to make a Victorian-based donation, there's The Lost Dogs' Home in North Melbourne or Edgar's Mission.

There is a possibility I have left my donation-presents until the last minute.

the first curry

2011-12-22T01:21:00.004+11:00

My kitchen here is pretty limited, so I was a bit nervous about trying curry for the first time. I should not have worried, though: I don't think I've ever had a curry disaster, for I am a Curry Master. I made this one up as I went along, and had to use curry powder because I haven't been able to find turmeric, and red onions because I didn't have any shallots, and it still all came out okay.

I served this on noodles, because I don't have any rice.

pumpkin curry

ingredients
quarter of a red onion, diced tiny
inch of ginger, minced or shredded
little bit of garlic, minced
1 large tomato, diced large
300g pumpkin, diced larger still
some curry powder
some chilli flakes
some cumin
little bit of extra water

method
in a little oil, fry the onion until it starts to colour, then add the garlic and the ginger. after a minute or two, add the curry powder, chilli flakes and cumin, and fry until they become fragrant, then toss in the tomato and the pumpkin. allow the tomato to soften, and ensure it's mixed a bit with the pumpkin, then add in some water, bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and cover, leaving to simmer for about half an hour. check on it every now and then, adding a little bit more water if it's soaked it all up. keep simmering and adding water until the pumpkin is nice and soft.

serve on rice or noodles or roti.

(i would pay a lot of money for roti right now)

the bookworm [sanlitun, beijing]

2011-12-19T23:15:00.003+11:00

The Bookworm is an English-language lending library, bookstore, cafe and bar. I went there recently for Green Drinks after work, and I also dropped by for their booksale last weekend. Before perusing the books, however, I stopped for a mid morning meal.

The menu is not very vegan friendly, and they don't carry soy milk so no coffee for me. I was assured that this would be suitable - it's one of three items that can be modified or should be okay for vegans. My dining companions all loved their meals (brunches) -they were massive and filled with things they found exciting. This salad was okay. It was nothing exciting, and I dislike cold tofu puffs, which is personal preference. It was actually nice to have some lettuce, I haven't had any since I arrived in China.

I'm not 100% sure about the veganinity of the dressing.

Service is okay, there's usually someone who speaks English and the menu is in Chinese with English subtitles.

the bookworm
Courtyard 4, Gongti Beilu / Nansanlitun Road
Chaoyang District

get there on line 10 (gongtibeilu) or line 2 (dongsishitiao) and walk down Gong Ti Beilu. The Bookworm is not accessible for people with mobility issues, it is up a very steep flight of stairs with no elevator access. There are also internal stairs. Brightly lit during the day, poorly lit in the evening. Confusing double door for entry which is difficult to get the hang of.

朝阳区工体北路4号院

white nights / 白夜西餐 [dongzhimen, beijing]

2011-12-17T12:17:00.004+11:00

My first ever visit to a Russian restaurant!

It surprises me how many people think they've never had Russian food, or don't know what Russian food entails. A number of my friends (not my housemate, whose family is Russian and was the one to suggest the restaurant) paged through the menu, unexpectedly discovering they actually knew many Russian dishes, such as stroganov, or Chicken Kiev.

Russian food is pretty cream and meat heavy, so I went for two things that V was pretty sure I could eat: pierogi, and vareniki, both filled with potato, and when I asked the waitstaff, they said there was no dairy so I went for it. The vareniki were fried and looked like curry puffs, and the pierogi were steamed, and they were all delicious. An entire meal of potato and pastry and I have no regrets.

The photos didn't turn out, little white things on little white plates in a dimly lit, smoke-filled restaurant, so here instead have a photo of our refreshments for the evening:

a bottle of vodka and some strawberry nectar, ordered from the menu. We were expected to drink the entire bottle, and we did, just five of us, and I desperately wish I'd brought Berocca to China with me when I woke up the next morning.

The meal was good, stodgy and filling on a very cold evening. Service was a bit average, but the prices were good (including vodka it came to about 60-70RMB each) and it's no more than a ten minute walk from my apartment. A definite revisit.

White Nights / 白夜西餐
13A Beizhong Jie
off Dongzhimennei Dajie, near the Russian Embassy
Dongcheng District

on PT: Take the subway to Dongzhimen Station, exit A, walk East along Dongzhimen Outer Street and take the second right. Stairs to get into the building, poor lighting, and the toilet is down some stairs and around a corner. Ordering and payment at the table. Menu is in English, Russian and Chinese with pictures. Waitstaff speak Mandarin.

Was it vegan rating: probably. I asked and was told what I ordered had no dairy, and I didn't get sick afterwards. I didn't ask about egg because V thought it was very unlikely.

东城区东直门内大街北中街甲13号

stir-fried noodles + marinated tofu

2011-12-11T20:12:00.004+11:00

An old standard, stir-frying some noodles with some vegetables and tofu. I've been eating a lot of this, and mostly cooking it Malaysian mee goreng style, because I get home quite late of an evening from work and it's so easy and fast to prepare, just whatever I have in the fridge. I made a special trip to the supermarket though, for five spice and firm tofu, and pan fried this (as I'm spending a year with no oven, alas). A combination of five spice, mushroom dark soy sauce, smidge of light soy and some fresh garlic, spooned over some thickly sliced tofu, which I left to marinate as I skyped to E for an hour.

Then I dirtied a lot of dishes: pot for the noodles; fry pan for the tofu; wok to bring it all together. You know the drill. I haven't marinated tofu since I left Australia and it was so good. I'm definitely going to try to do that more often.

eight treasures rice and vegan compromises

2011-12-07T01:40:00.005+11:00

Being a vegan in China can be hard, and sometimes you try your hardest and you still can't be sure. I've been having a lot of problems lately, judging myself and worrying about being judged. I went to a Greenpeace event a few weeks back, where a (white, British) vegan scolded me for going to non-vego restaurants with my non-vego friends. The first vegan I met here, on my first day, came with us all to a restaurant and then didn't eat a thing. She told me she never eats at non-vego restaurants, and I thought at first, that's a bit hardcore. But having been here five weeks now, I realise it's what she has to do to be totally confident that she's living animal-free.

The only time I'm confident that my meal has no animal products is when I'm in my house and I'm cooking for myself, and when I visit the vegan restaurant down the road (and most of the time I'm confident about the vego restaurants, too, if I ask the right questions). The term vegetarian food (素菜) here is generally understood as 'there's no meat as a main ingredient', and it sometimes means I get a bit of a mince garnish on my beans, a little pork in my eggplant. Today at lunch I asked 'does this have meat?' The chef looked at me and was like 'why?', as if it was a ridiculous question to ask. I once asked 'does this have egg?' and got the answer, 'it doesn't have egg, it's sweet!'; but I'm pretty sure it had an egg-wash. I giggled and ate it anyway, because it was a friend's grandmother and she'd gone to so much effort to get vego treats for me.

I'm making these compromises or having these questions at least a couple of days a week. I try my hardest to stay vegan, but even speaking Mandarin I can never be quite sure, and I worry about what people would think, if they knew that today I picked the egg out of my meal and kept eating rather than having to miss lunch.

This is part of the reason why reviews have dropped off. I've eaten a lot of amazing meals since I've arrived here, and my friends in Beijing, every one of them a meat eater, let me pick almost every dish when we go out for food. I've discovered some delicious local dishes, filled with unexpected combinations (cabbage + glass noodles, I don't know how to describe this wonder). I'm for the most part content with the decisions I'm making, but I feel like I cannot with confidence recommend these places to people, for fear that I'm wrong. I've made my peace with knowing I lose my vegan powers intermittently during my time here, but I don't want to put other vegos and vegans unknowingly at risk. I'm thinking about starting to review the places I go to, but adding caveats about how hard it was to be confident it was vegan and other things like that.

Anyway, this eight treasures pudding on a stick. I thought it was vegan but in hindsight I don't think it was, which pisses me off because it was delicious and in a way serves me right for being too intimidated by the Jinan accent to ask. Steamed in a bamboo stem and served on a stick and filled with fruits, what genius! Also genius: the eggs on a stick. Cracked into moulds and fried on to the stick. Obviously not vegan but interesting to look at.

eggy tomato / 炒鸡蛋西红柿

2011-11-29T01:55:00.007+11:00

It never even occurred to me to veganise this very common Chinese dish until my housemate V started attempting to cook it just the way her mum does. Fried egg and tomatoes is common and cheap and fast, and is comprised almost entirely of tomato and eggs, but I decided it was possible and after a couple of attempts I have it all sorted. Since then I've made it several times. It's not exciting but it's easy and it contains some good things, and it's quick comfort food when I'm home late from work.

Don't talk to me about the photo below, I'm so used to the exceptional photographic conditions in my kitchen in Brunswick that I think I'm going to have to make some modifications to get my food photography anywhere up to where I need it to be for the eleven more months that I'm here.

vegan eggy tomato
comfort food

chop two large ripe tomatoes into thin wedges. in a fry pan, heat a large dollop of oil, throw in a tiny bit of minced garlic and then throw in the tomatoes. add a dash of water, and leave to fry for four or five minutes, until the tomatoes are seriously starting to wilt (but not fall apart). mash in 300g of silken tofu, and mix in a dash or three of light soy (or gf tamari for gf) and a tablespoon of nutritional yeast. leave it to simmer on high heat for two or three minutes. garnish with a little pepper or fresh spring onions if that takes your fancy. Makes a nice second or third dish in a meal, or you can eat it on its own with a spoon.

fu hui ci yuan vegetarian cultural restaurant : 福慧慈缘文化会馆 [tiananmen area, beijing]

2011-11-26T21:41:00.002+11:00

Addresses in Beijing can be a little difficult to decipher. Sometimes the area is given, sometimes just 'Beijing' is specified. And the areas can be very big. So I've spent some time mapping every vegetarian restaurant in Beijing, just to work out where all of them are compared to my apartment and my office.

The first time I headed out on my lunch break to find Fu Hui Ci Yuan, I completely failed, and ended up coming back to the office and grabbing a bread snack on the way. The second time I was more prepared. I'd assumed the English translation of the name would be sufficient, but I was wrong, as I discovered when I turned up at the the corner of Dong'anmen Street and Donghuangchenggen St, to discover a building named Leopard, and suddenly the direction "金钱豹/ 王府世纪北" (literally "leopard / palace century north") made sense.

This first visit I selected the mushrooms + noodles in broth, and the peanut soy milk (hot). I tried to order more but the waitress told me that it'd be too much food and wouldn't let me, which I appreciated because she was right.

The mushrooms were exactly what I wanted. They were accompanied by two baby bok choy, of which there could have been more, but the broth was lovely and so were the mushrooms. The peanut soy milk was interesting, but it turns out not really my thing.

It's a 15 minute walk from my workplace, which is not bad for guaranteed no meat, and my meal came in at 37¥ which I also liked. Will definitely visit again in the next eleven months.

The menu has English and Mandarin. Some of the staff have a little bit of English but it's mostly a spoken-Chinese experience.

fu hui ci yuan vegetarian cultural restaurant : 福慧慈缘文化会馆
53 dong'anmen street
dongcheng
beijing (200006)

on pt: catch the subway to Tiananmen East (on line 1), exit B. walk east along East Chang'an Street, then north (left) up Nanheyandajie, right onto Dong'anmen, first left onto Donghuangchenggen, and right into Xila Hutong. there are two stairs up to enter, lighting is good and tables are well-spaced.

there's a sign on the street that says they're vegan, but this is a translation error.

北京市东城区东安门大街53号
金钱豹/ 王府世纪北）

veggie table [lama temple area, beijing]

2011-11-16T00:29:00.003+11:00

I stumbled across Veggie Table by accident late one evening when I was on the back of a scooter looking at apartments (apartment hunting in China: it's totally different to Australia). I wasn't able to visit that night, but a few days later I thought of it when I was in the area again, when it was half past three and I'd been touristing and had yet to eat lunch. Veggie Table is open from 11am onwards, the kitchen open until it closes, it serves vegan cake and it's a ten minute walk from my house. OH YEAH.

I've been there twice since discovering it, and I've been very happy both times. The first visit I had the falafel burger, which is more do it yourself than the name suggests, with an excellent amount of falafel balls, two pita breads, tahini, cucumber, tomato and lettuce. This was really satisfying and pretty great. The second visit I wanted to try the chili pasta, but sadly they were all out so I went for the mushroom burger, which is a mushroom patty (rather than a whole mushroom, as I thought it'd be) on a wholemeal bun, with coleslaw and wedges. This burger was so good. I am absolutely going to be eating this again, it was filling and hearty and way more than I was expecting.

The cake is good, even the next day. No photos because I got it takeaway both times; once, I had the carrot cake for breakfast (in bed at the hostel after a tiring day of cycling: no regrets); the second, I had the chocolate cake after a hard day of cleaning and moving in to my new apartment. Aside from the large dollop of (vegan) cream, it was so good. I had considered calling my travelling blog 'the year of no cake,' because for the most part Chinese kitchens don't have ovens so I thought there'd be no cake for vegans; I'm so happy to declare it's not true. There is cake for me.

The menu is in English, and some of the staff speak English. Open Wednesdays to Mondays (closed Tuesdays, as I learned the disappointing way today). Service can be a little slow, but not overly so. Sometimes greenie and vego events are held there.

veggie table
19 Wudaoying Hutong
Lama Temple Area
Dongcheng District
Beijing

Take Line 2 or 5 to Yonghegong station, exit D. Head North from the exit towards the second ring road, and turn down the tiny alley way immediately there. It's about 150m down, on your right. Three stairs up to enter, and awkward double door and hard to manoeuvre. Good lighting.

me at peril

2011-11-16T00:27:00.001+11:00

belated (i just moved countries!), but i have an article up at peril magazine: Care and Feeding: Comfort Food for Chinese-Australian Vegans.

going wandering

2011-10-28T08:35:00.004+11:00

Later today I get on a plane and by almost this time tomorrow I will have moved to China, where I will be living for about the next twelve months. I will still be posting lots of food to this blog, but my posts to Planet VegMel will be filtered so only thinky posts and Melbourne posts appear. If you'd like to follow my continuing food adventures, until I come home you'll have to do it separate from the Planet.

Also I have a blog specifically for my China adventure, Song of the Travelling Penguin. It's a tumblr, which you can just add to your RSS reader if you don't like tumblrs. I've enabled disqus so you can even leave me comments if you want! There are no posts there yet because I haven't left, but stand by!

Anyway. I love you Melbourne, I'll see you all again soon.

lentil as anything, abbotsford convent

2011-10-27T18:01:00.003+11:00

Went to brunch with Lisa and Danni at Abbotsford Convent, because Lisa was in town for the Animals Australia Forum (to which I didn't get to go, crryyy).

Danni and Lisa both ordered the potato cakes. I sampled this, they were slightly spiced, with a side of vegetables and a little chutney. They weren't crispy like hash browns, more loosely bound like a patty, but they were an excellent meal.

I ordered the spicy beans, which also came with some vegetables. These were pretty delicious too, but I coveted the potato cakes (this might have to do with my potato obsession).

previously: breakfast at the convent

Lentil As Anything
1 St Heliers Street
Abbotsford

It's totally not accessible. It's poorly lit, you have to walk through a mini kitchen to get inside, it's cramped and crowded and the tables are close together. If you want to sit outside it's a little better. Lentil as Anything is a pay what you feel venue.

yumcha lunch at veggie kitchen: intention of love

2011-10-24T11:49:00.002+11:00

I met up with my friend Fei for lunch on Friday at Veggie Kitchen: Intention of Love. I love Veggie Kitchen. The food is always amazing, I always come out of it having tried something deliciously new, and the service is lovely and friendly and accommodating and it is pretty close to home. I've been there several times (and I do think I should visit more often), but before last week I had never been there for lunch.

Veggie Kitchen has a great lunchtime menu with lots of dim sum favourites, so Fei and I decided to try it out. I didn't take photos of everything but between the two of us we ordered the perfect amount of food.

We started with the beancurd skin rolls. These were layered inside with nori and then fried. These were crispy and fresh, and would have been my favourites had it not been for the RADISH CAKE:

Crispy on the outside and soft inside and perfect flavour and great sauce coating.

We also ordered the handmade noodles and a serve of the siu mai, and we finished up with the peanut bao. Delicious vegan dim sum, and without the need to go to Box Hill!

Veggie Kitchen was empty the entire time we were eating, which was about an hour. I know it was a friday lunchtime but seriously! I hope more people are able to drop by at a lunch time, it was deliciously worth it.

previous visit: cny banquet.

Veggie Kitchen: Intention of Love
159 St George Rd
Northcote

GF available. Easy to get to on the 112 (an accessible stop is right across the road) or the 508 bus. A step up into restaurant, widely spaced tables, and ordering and paying can happen at the table or at the counter. Toilet is down a long corridor and difficult to maneuver to. Takes CC.

2011-10-21T11:26:00.002+11:00

After my eventual first visit to New Day Rising, I was very quick to return yesterday with Danni and Fi in tow!

Danni and Fi both went the CLT, with Danni also trying out one of the vegan muffins (orange and date - so soft and delicious!). I decided to try the beans, which were great. I'd been worried they'd be too fennel-y, but they were just perfect, with a flavour I enjoyed and just enough avocado and bread (three pieces, one is hiding) to soak things up. The vegan beans come with tahini, which allegedly make a nice addition but which I forgot to add! I do wish people would stop giving me rocket though. It is the worst. :o(

New Day Rising
221d Blyth Street
Brunswick East

super easy to get to at the end of the 96 tram (not an accessible stop); the venue is tiiiiny and crowded with little maneuverability; the toilet is around the corner and outside. all ordering is at the table (mostly because it's too tiny to go anywhere). cash only!

new day rising

2011-10-18T13:15:00.003+11:00

I promise I already had my outing to New Day Rising with SJ planned before Michael posted about it last week. This is just a coincidence!

sorry if this is blurry! i don't currently have my glasses because i am a poor planner

The CLT (coconut, lettuce and tomato) is so delicious I don't know what to do with myself. I can't believe I waited this long to try it, after first hearing Lisa talk about the CLT, and I'm trying to make it there again before I leave Brunswick for the Great China Adventure.

The smoked coconut in this is so intense but nicely set off by the tomato, lettuce and avocado and I want it. All of it. In my mouth.

others eating the CLT: dannipants; k; Lisa; Cindy + Michael.

New Day Rising
221d Blyth Street
Brunswick East

super easy to get to at the end of the 96 tram (not an accessible stop); the venue is tiiiiny and crowded with little maneuverability; the toilet is around the corner and outside. all ordering is at the table (mostly because it's too tiny to go anywhere). cash only!

[wa] swan valley cafe ii, millendon

2011-10-14T14:06:00.004+11:00

Flying visit to Perth this week for the Farewell to Perth Tour before jetting off on the Great China Adventure (more on that closer to). After arriving quite late (and too tired to make it to my friend Tina's birthday party!) I got up early the next morning to join my parents and my sister for breakfast at the Swan Valley Cafe.

The Swan Valley Cafe is this cute little vegetarian restaurant and nursery in the Swan Valley. They also sell their own brand of teas (and different types of salt, such as the chilli salt my sister likes to put on her hot chips). It's a really lovely location, just away from the river so you can't see it but you get the cool morning air and that feeling on your skin. You can wander through the plants for sale, and I always wish I could buy some (usually I buy some for other people).

This Sunday, I decided we were going to sit outside.

(not at this table, at the one next to it just out of frame. it is just to give you an idea of the outdoor ambience)

Look at that lovely morning sunlight!

The breakfast menu is not extensive but it's got a nice little bit of variety. There are vegan pancakes, and a scrambled tofu, some granola and some home made baked beans, as well as a big veg breakfast. I was torn between the Mexican scrambled tofu and the pancakes, both of which sounded delicious. Stricken with indecision, although my sister wanted eggs, I managed to convince her to order vegan pancakes, so I could try them.

I watched the tofu go past to other tables, and I started considering how small it looked, a concern which only strengthened when my tofu was presented to me. At the same time my sister received a plate of berry pancakes, and she too was concerned: she had ordered banana pancakes, not berry! Generously, then, and with no small sacrifice on my part, I volunteered to eat both her berry pancakes and my scrambled tofu, whilst she reordered her banana pancakes.

Her banana pancakes appeared about ten minutes later, with extra pancakes to make up for the mistake, so no complaints there despite the mix up.

The buckwheat pancakes were amazing. They were served with a coconut cream and some maple syrup, covered in fresh berries, and they were delicious. They were cheap too, for Perth prices ($11), and totally worth it!

The spicy Mexican scrambled tofu is on the menu as eggs but with the vegan tofu option. They come with several pieces of sour dough toast and this delicious avocado, tomato and onion salsa, which was a perfect counterpoint to the spice of the tofu. Regretfully the tofu was a little too much spice and not enough flavour: they were a good consistency and a great spice level, but could have done with some nutritional yeast flakes or some cumin.

Add a soy flat white, and this was an excellent breakfast; and, little piggy that I am with the two breakfasts, I couldn't finish the toast that came with the tofu, and I didn't need to eat lunch despite eating this at 10am.

Swan Valley Cafe also does take away, a service of which I availed myself on Wednesday on my way to the airport. I picked up a hummous, grilled vegetables and salad wrap to take with me on the plane, and it was still super tasty two hours later when I wanted it (though the oil had soaked through the bag). I also grabbed a bag of hand-made, vegan, raw chocolate truffles, for sustenance on the long trip home.

previous visit

Swan Valley Cafe
990 Great Northern Highway
Millendon, 6056

Some GF available
Open every day but at different times

there's a shallow ramp into the building (to skip over the steps), lovely wide doors, lots of excellent lighting and it's quiet. there is an outdoor area around the back but you have to go through the flower shed to access it if steps are an obstacle. ordering is done at the table.

Abbout Falafel House, Coburg

2011-10-11T13:54:00.004+11:00

Last week Danni, Emilly and I went for an adventure into the near-reaches of Coburg! I visited the Coburg library for the first time, and tried to find things in Coburg Coles, and for noms we visited Abbout Falafel House, a vegetarian restaurant on Sydney Road. Nothing fancy, but cheap, fast and delicious wraps and dolmades and other delicious things. The dolmades were a little too rich for me, but I loved the wrap. Say yes to the chilli sauce, it's all good.

Abbout Falafel House
465 Sydney Road
Coburg

adventures in canberra

2011-10-06T12:29:00.002+11:00

I adventured in to Our Nation's Fair Capital last week for five days of very intensive training. I stayed at the Rydges Capital Hill, which after a couple of days of bread and potatoes managed to end the week by furnishing me with some delicious stuff, most notably a chickpea curry with rice one night, and a sundried tomato and pea risotto one lunch. I really appreciated, once the chef got into the swing of cooking for a vegan, the thought that went into some of the meals I got.

Anyway whilst I was in town, I also managed to escape into Dickson and try out two vego restaurants with some local friends.

I started at Kingsland, a 100% vegan restaurant, where I ordered the assam fish, the hor fun, and some chicken drumsticks. The chicken and the hor fun were fine, but nothing exciting. The assam fish was perfect. That perfect assamy, fishy flavour. A solid fleshy bite to it. Some delicious sauce. It was perfect! And on a Tuesday night, paying bye cash meant 20% off the total bill, which I appreciated.

Thursday night I made it to the famed Au Lac, well spoken of by many a Canberra-based vegan. I was humming and hawing, unsure what I wanted, until I saw the laksa and knew, of course, what my choice had to be. The laksa was good, but not amazing. It had a nice flavour, and I loved the mock meat in the dish, but as always something was missing and so my search continues. Friend J had some soy beef dish, and I wish I'd taken note of it because it was amazingly delicious.

Kingsland Vegetarian Restaurant
5/28 Challis Street
Dickson, ACT

Step up into the restaurant, tables are super close together. Ordering happens at the table; quite a close atmosphere (and gets quite noisy). Didn't check out the toilets.

Au Lac
4/35-39 Woolley Street
Dickson, ACT

20% off the bill if you pay cash Tuesdays and Wednesday. Tables are spaced far apart and there are no steps, ordering (and cash payments) can happen at the table. Bright lights, constant supreme master television. Didn't check out the toilets.

breakfast at the vegie bar

2011-10-05T09:23:00.005+11:00

I have been feeling really good about the Vegie Bar lately, so when my friend Claire was in town recently I thought I'd take her there for breakfast.

WHOOPS.

I went to the Vegie Bar for breakfast about a year and a half ago, and at the time the vegan options were pretty dire. But Vegie Bar has been doing such great things with its daytime and dinner menu lately, I thought it was worth a go. If anything, it is worse than it was before, with this vegan french toast the only vegan item on the menu. ONE VEGAN BREAKFAST. At a vego restaurant! When I asked if I could turn an egg dish into a tofu dish, I was told "no, only on special days." Even Tom Phat does better than that.

The french toast was fine, but there were three of us and we all had to order the same thing. After we'd ordered, I remembered we could have gone to Las Vegan Nirvana instead, and I was filled with regrets.

previous visits: i and ii and iii and iv

The Vegie Bar
378 Brunswick Street
Fitzroy

planet vegmel birthday potluck + blog event part ii

2011-10-02T19:20:00.003+11:00

It was Planet VegMel's birthday! So there was a birthday picnic at Edinburgh Gardens, and the weather was beautiful. I took a whole bunch of photos at the picnic, if you'd like to see them you can check them out at my flickr. Cindy has also done a bit of a round up post!

There were zines (which you can download here)

and badges

and there was lots of food!

For drinks, we started with chamomile lemon iced tea, with maple ice cubes, made by K; and a mango lasso made by the Veganator.

Michael made potato chickpea enchiladas, originally seen on veganise this; Emilly made an eggplant salad; and I made the quinoa avocado salad that has been remixed by many VegMelers.

Toby experimented with tempeh bacon, remixed from Where's the Beef. This was probably my highlight of the picnic, I totally recommend it! Also involving tempeh was Em's gado gado.

In news of other remixes, Carla brought along mock crab cakes, remixed from Cindy and Michael; and Mel made tofu quiches, originally seen at Vicki Vegan and Green Gourmet Giraffe.

Danni made sundried tomato bread and pumpkin + miso muffins (remixes from non-VegMel blogs).

For sweets, Cindy and Michael made PB & choc sandwiches, based on peanut butter alligators and chocolate ganache from Sugarspoons.

K made ginger ripple cake, based on a recipe by the Veganator; Mel made apricot delight, remixed from Green Gourmet Giraffe; and Em made Turkish Truffles, a remix of Mel's rum balls. I remixed chocolate caramel slice, from Johanna's original recipe.

In original recipes, Vicki posted about her peanut butter balls; Johanna brought blueberry cake pops (and they were so amazing); and Carla delighted us with lamingtons.

And that was the potluck, but not the end of the birthday:

two more submissions for that recipe sounds very familiar… previous entries can be found here.

Cindy and Michael remixed a beetroot chocolate cake, originally from the Fairest Feed.

Like Cindy and Michael and myself, Mel remixed Toby's Singapore noodles, a delicious noodle treat.

eggplant salad

2011-09-21T20:52:00.002+10:00

emilly made an eggplant salad as her savoury contribution to the planet vegmel picnic. it was super tasty, and filled the house with the smell of eggplant that was a) delicious and b) not cooked by me, which i like (cooking eggplant makes me nervous). she is not really a food blogger, so i have volunteered to blog the recipe on her behalf!

eggplant salad

this is a little bit inspired by greg + lucy malouf's soused zucchini recipe, so you could probably make this a zucchini salad, if you were that kind of person (i am not. well, not in salad).

ingredients
1 medium sized eggplant
lots and lots of salt
olive oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice (or red wine vinegar)
1 teaspoon castor sugar
2 teaspoons sumac (plus some extra, if you like)
fresh coriander and/or parsley

method
cut up the eggplant. thinnish slices is best but emilly did it in chunks, and was then cursing the chunks during the entire cooking process. put the eggplant into a colander with lots of salt on each surface; put a plate on the top and some cans to weigh it down and press the eggplant, and leave for at least half an hour.

rinse the eggplant off, pat it dry with a paper towel, and then get more paper towel ready so you can drain the eggplant. fry with what seems like a painful quantity of oil. if you sliced it, you could probably brush each side with some oil so that you don't end up using equal quantities of oil and eggplant, but it cooks nicer and faster with plenty of oil.

for the dressing, combine lemon juice, sugar and sumac. mix together the eggplant and the dressing. this can all go in the fridge if you have prepared it in advance! then when it is time to go to the picnic/serve the salad, add some chopped parsley and/or coriander and sprinkle it over the top!

chocolate caramel slice

2011-09-20T10:49:00.003+10:00

For the Planet VegMel Picnic (more on the picnic later) I made chocolate caramel slice, originally seen on Johanna's blog. I had quite a different experience than Johanna. She worried that the base was too crumbly, that she might have overcooked the milk because it didn't look right, and too liquidy a chocolate layer. I on the other hand had a lovely time. The base pressed in quite well, and I've never used condensed milk of either the dairy or soy variety previously, so had no idea if it was working and just went with it; and the chocolate was a perfect consistency. And it turned out well! Very crunchy, and the base was a bit high (I used a 20x20cm tin instead of 20x30, and that was a mistake), but overall it was an easy and delicious experience. And at the end of the picnic there was only one lonely piece of slice left!

I also made this gluten free, with a direct substitution of Orgran's GF flour for the flour in Johanna's recipe. I didn't even add extra liquid the way I usually would with a GF conversion, and it turned out just fine.

This is a picnic submission for that recipe seems very familiar...

chocolate caramel slice
originally at Green Gourmet Giraffe

base
1 cup dessicated coconut
1 cup brown sugar
quarter of a container of nuttelex (125ish grams)
1 cup GF flour

caramel layer
330g soy condensed milk (or 1 tin)
2 tablespoons or so of golden syrup (I didn't measure, just squeezed the tube until I got bored of squeezing)
30g nuttelex

chocolate topping
150g dark chocolate
1 tablespoon vegetable oil

Base: mix all the ingredients and press into a lined tin. Bake at 180C for 15-20 minutes.

While the base is in the oven, in a small saucepan over a lowish medium heat, constantly stir all of the caramel ingredients until it has thickened and is a light golden brown. Hopefully the base will be ready just as the caramel is, because then you can pull it out, spread the caramel over it, and shove it back in the oven. At the same 180C temperature, bake for 10 or so minutes until it's a deep golden brown. Mine went very brown, but it wasn't burnt and it was all okay. Set this aside to cool and go about your business.

When it's cool, melt the chocolate and mix in the oil. Spread it over the caramel layer, and leave it in the fridge to set. I left mine over night. I then brought it to room temperature before cutting.

Cut it small because it's quite sweet!

moroccan soup bar

2011-09-18T18:05:00.003+10:00

It took me two years, but I finally made it to the Moroccan Soup Bar!

I have been hearing about it for years, and I was very excited to be going! Most people to whom I've mentioned it since my recent visit have been astounded that I'd never before been, but I'd been intimidated by rumours of needing to line up at half five (almost true: the line started at about 17:50 and was full by 18:05), and had just never made it there.

It was totally worth it, even with the queueing in the cold wind.

Moroccan Soup Bar has a 'spoken menu', so Katie and I didn't have much to peruse as we waited for the arrival of our friends. We did have a delicious cup of this mint tea to warm us as we idled, a little sweet with a lovely subtle flavour.

When we were all four assembled, we went for the vegan banquet for all. This was amazing!

We started with a shared entree plate, with a variety of dips (one made from broccoli) and marinated carrots and things, served with bread. After this we moved on to a large selection of shared plates, each with a grain (mostly rice, though one cous cous) and a curry. Most delicious was the pumpkin curry, but there were also lentils and potatoes and eggplant and all sorts of tasty things.

Stuffed to bursting, I passed on the coffee and nearly passed on the Turkish Delight, but Gen made me try it. I'd never before had Turkish Delight, and the stuff at Moroccan Soup Bar is pretty nice.

I rolled home, uncomfortably full but so satisfied. I'm already planning a return visit!

Moroccan Soup Bar
183 St Georges Road
Fitzroy North

a little step up, ordering happens at the table but payment happens at a high counter. tables are a bit higgledy piggledy and close together. lighting is okay. gf available. bookings taken for 6 people groups. otherwise you have to queue in the cold! seatings are at 6pm and 7.20pm (or at least they were the night i was there).

PICNIC DAY

2011-09-18T09:36:00.003+10:00

Good Morning Vegetarian Melbourne! I hope to see you in a few hours at the Planet VegMel Birthday Picnic! There will be badges and a zine, and lots of delicious food! from 1pm at the Edinburgh Gardens, near the bandstand. Bring a picnic blanket and a (vegan, maybe gluten-free) plate!

now vegan: chips at grill'd

2011-09-16T12:09:00.003+10:00

It has long disappointed me that I was unable to try Grill'd's chips, hailed as delicious and amazing, but coated in beef tallow before they were fried (groosssss). So it was with delight that I recently heard the news that all the chips in all of Grill'd's stores are 100% vegan.

So of course I raced out to try them (accompanied by Fi).

They are chunky. And salty - giant globs of salt. And very herby. Not the best chips in old Melbourne Town, but pretty tasty!

ninja bread wars: a diptych

2011-09-15T13:24:00.002+10:00

made using the ppk recipe for gingerbread, staging by Danni and Emilly

that recipe sounds very familiar... part one

2011-09-14T17:53:00.004+10:00

It's Planet VegMel's 2nd Anniversary! Happy Anniversary, Planet VegMel! It's been an exciting two years for the Planet, I think, as it's grown as a resource. And there are still lots more ways in which it can grow, not just in number of blogs subscribed, but lofty goals for mapping and referencing and all sorts of exciting things.

As part of the birthday celebrations, I am super proud to host the 'That Recipe Seems Very Familiar…' blog event. A number of VegMel bloggers have remixed the recipes of other VegMel bloggers, ranging from minimal alterations to huge variations of deliciousness.

The recipes linked below have been submitted in advance of Planet VegMel's 2nd Anniversary. But if you've got something to submit, this doesn't close you out! I'll be making a second round up post next week, some time after the Birthday Picnic Potluck (this Sunday at Edinburgh Gardens), so that anyone who wishes to remix something for the Potluck can do so. And I hope to see you there! (keep an eye on the Facebook event if the weather looks grim, for the backup plan)

In chronological(ish) order!

Mel at Veganise This has remixed the haggis (and haggis pizza) originally posted by Johanna at Green Gourmet Giraffe.

Cindy and Michael remixed kari kapitan, originally blogged by Steph (me!) at Vegan about Town.

I remixed the potato boston bun, also originally by Johanna at GGG.

Cindy and Michael remixed cottage tofu, originally by Johanna.

Cindy and Michael remixed the very familiar baked cherry/berry cheesecake, seen previously at Gretal Getting Fatter, Easy as Vegan Pie, and vegan about town! (it's totally an amazing recipe)

K remixed salted caramel ice cream, adapted from Cindy and Michael.

I remixed lemony snickerdoodles, originally at Sugar Spoons.

Johanna remixed the baked beans recipe, previously seen at veganise this! and where's the beef, and originally from Veganomicon.

Mel remixed delicious tofu with steamed vegies, adapted from In the Mood for Noodles. And then Johanna remixed it too!

Cindy and Michael remixed cauliflower and caramelised onion tart, originally made by Carla at Easy as Vegan Pie, and previously remixed by Lisa.

In news of more noodles, K remixed a meegoreng originally seen at vegan about town.

Cindy and Michael remixed Toby's Singapore noodles; and two days later, so did I! (because we all love noodles)

Cindy and Michael remix hash browns, originally by Vicki Vegan.

I remixed lemon pepper cashews, dubbed "cashew crack" by Cindy and Michael.

K tries out apricot delight, seen on Green Gourmet Giraffe.

K remixed Zucchini Quinoa Lasagna, originally seen on Vicki Vegan.

Em made almond jam slices, a somewhat a remix of my coconut and jam slice.

Thanks to everybody for participating in this event! It allowed me to rediscover some old favourites, and discover new things (lemon pepper cashews are AMAZING).

lemon pepper cashews

2011-09-13T10:18:00.003+10:00

I was bouncing around the house on Sunday night, all my chores completed and mainlining some television, when I thought I'd give this recipe for a cashew snack by Cindy and Michael a go. I wasn't sure about the lemon-salt-pepper-sugar combo, but their blog declared them 'universally addictive' and who am I to go past a description such as that?

They're so amazing that I left the container on the table with an airy instruction to Danni that she could try a couple, if she wanted; when I got back from my adventures in town, I discovered she'd eaten over half! It's a good thing they're easy and fast to make. A brilliant and delicious snack!

This is another remix for that recipe seems very familiar...

lemon pepper cashews
originally at Where's the Beef

ingredients
1 cup raw cashews
quarter cup sugar
salt and pepper to taste (generous portion - I was a bit timid and it definitely could have done with more)
zest of a medium-sized lemon

method
In a frypan over a medium-high heat, start stirring the cashews and the sugar. When the sugar starts to melt, lower the heat and keep stirring until the sugar is completely melted and the nuts are a lovely golden brown and completely covered in sugar. Turn off the heat and crack through some salt and pepper, then stir through the lemon zest.

Spread the cashews out on a lined baking tray and leave to cool. The baking paper is important, as the sugar will have started to caramelize and you don't want to lose any of its deliciousness from being stuck to a tray! Store in an air-tight container. Or eat them all.

"that recipe seems very familiar..." blog event update

2011-09-12T19:35:00.003+10:00

Just a reminder that Planet VegMel's 2nd anniversary is this week! It officially falls on the 14th of September, giving you just two days to get your remixes in for the original anniversary deadline! On Wednesday I'll be making a round-up of all the recipes that have been posted.

However, there is the Birthday Picnic coming up on Sunday the 18th, and I know many VegMel bloggers are planning to remix something for that picnic. With that in mind, there will be a part two post for these remixes about a week after the picnic, giving everyone time to blog about their remix.

So don't worry about desperately needing to meet this Wednesday's deadline! There is still a lovely amount of time left to remix something from another blogger.

toby's singapore noodles

2011-09-11T14:04:00.005+10:00

I was reading twitter yesterday morning, blearily trying to wake up, when I saw that Cindy and Michael had remixed Toby's Singapore noodles. I was torn, because I had wanted to post about it and suddenly I worried I'd look like a copy cat! But several people remixing is part of what remixing is all about! And also we all love noodles, and it's nice to share.

So here it is, my remix of Toby's Singapore noodles, for that recipe seems very familiar... Like Michael, I skipped the sesame seeds, but not because I didn't have them, because I forgot them (even though they were on the kitchen counter).

Singapore Noodles (Toby Style)
originally by Toby at In the Mood for Noodles

ingredients
2 sticks of rice vermicelli
100 grams smoked tofu
1 medium carrot, julienned
a hunk of capsicum, similarly sliced
half a white onion, sliced
3 tablespoons curry powder
half a teaspoon chilli flakes
quarter of a cup of vegetable stock
some vegetable oil
a splash or three of sesame oil
a splash or three of light soy sauce
some tumeric powder

method
Soak the rice noodles in hot water for five to ten minutes. Don't oversoak them, because then it will all fall apart and there will be maifun-related tears. In the meantime, marinate the carrot and the capsicum in the soy sauce, chilli flakes and the sesame oil.

After you drain the noodles, heat up the wok until it's very warm and fry the onion in some oil. Fry it until it softens, then stir through the curry powder and the turmeric, and follow it up with the carrot and capsicum mixture, including all the liquids. Leave to fry until the carrot starts to soften. Add a little dash of water and put the lid on to let it fry and steam for another minute or two. Throw in the noodles and mix through, adding the stock, a little extra soy sauce, sesame oil and some cracked pepper until the stock is cooked off (the wok should be hot enough that this will take about thirty seconds). I love sesame oil, it is amazing.

lemon snickerdoodles

2011-09-06T09:05:00.004+10:00

Over the weekend I was compelled to provide some sort of baked treat for a short-notice afternoon tea, and remembered this lemony snickerdoodle recipe that was originally posted by Em. A quick glance revealed I had all the required ingredients and, clad in my pyjamas, I felt ready to tackle this baking need.

I made a few modifications to this recipe. Chief amongst them is that I didn't finish with lemon icing, it was more of a lemon glaze - I suspect that the '3/4 of a lemon' that Em used was a little smaller than the lemon I picked up from the corner shop, because I tripled the icing sugar in the recipe and it was still gloopy. I ended up brushing the glaze onto the snickerdoodles, but don't fret - it all ended well. And now I have three quarters of a cup of lemon glaze in my fridge, if anyone has any ideas.

These went pretty soft very quickly - good for the day of, but not as amazing by the end of the second day. Just have to eat them quickly, what a hardship!

This is my second submission for the that recipe seems very familiar... blog event.

lemon snickerdoodles
originally from sugar spoons, modified from vegetarian times

the dough
1 3/4 cup plain flour
1/4 cornflour
1 teaspoon baking powder
30 grams nuttelex, softened
a smidge over a quarter of a cup of soy milk (with a few drops of vanilla extract mixed through)
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
quarter cup castor sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon

the glaze
zest + juice of most of a medium to large lemon
a whole lot of icing sugar

method
Preheat the oven to 180C. Em suggested lining one baking tray, but I needed two (and got about 20 snickerdoodles out of it).

Beat together the nuttelex until it's soft, then beat in the sugar, followed by soymilk and vanilla essence. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, corn flour and baking powder, then slowly mix this all into the liquids until smooth. You may need to use your hands! Set aside to sit for ten minutes.

In a bowl, combine the sugar and cinnamon.

Form the dough into 1 inch balls, roll into the cinnamon sugar, and place it on the tray. Flatten the cookies! Bake for 12-15 minutes, until the cookies are starting to go a little golden. Transfer to a cooling rack and let cool for a bit.

Make the glaze! Combine lemon zest, lemon juice, and icing sugar until you're happy with the consistency. Brush (or dollop, if it's thick enough) onto the snickerdoodles, then sprinkle any remaining cinnamon sugar on top.

potato boston bun

2011-09-03T10:09:00.003+10:00

When Emilly and I were invited to dinner with Ger + Em and asked to provide some dessert at short notice, I was stricken with indecision. But with the blog event for VegMel's 2nd birthday, it seemed fortuitous to tackle one of the recipes I've had bookmarked for months.

My first recipe for the birthday blog event (you should participate too!) is this potato boston bun recipe, first blogged by Johanna at Green Gourmet Giraffe. Ever since Johanna first posted it, I had been intrigued and definitely willing to give it a go. I love boston buns, and I love potatoes, how could this not be a great combination?

I made only a few minor mods to this recipe, increasing a few proportions and decreasing a few others, but mostly keeping it all the same. It was delicious on the day, and still delicious this morning, with a little nuttelex.

potato boston bun
based on the recipe at Green Gourmet Giraffe, originally from the ABC

ingredients for the bun
2 small white potatoes, peeled and mashed
three quarters of a cup of castor sugar
2 cups self raising flower
1 cup soy milk
1 teaspoon mixed spice
1 cup mixed fruit

ingredients for the icing
three quarters of a cup of icing sugar
three quarters of a cup of desiccated coconut
a few drops of vanilla essence
2 tablespoons of hot or even warmwater
1 tablespoon nuttelex

the method of bunening
Preheat the oven to 200C.

Mix together the potato and the sugar. Mix in the flour, mixed spice, and soy milk. When it's all smooth (though there can be a few potato lumps), add the fruit and loosely combine. Pour into a lined circular tin and smooth the top around.

Bake for about 50 mins until golden brown and firm to the touch. When you put the skewer in to test, it can be a little not-quite done, it'll cool deliciously.

Remove from tin and allow to cool.

For the icing, mix together the icing sugar, coconut, vanilla essence, nuttelex and the hot water. Mix it thoroughly until a spreadable paste is formed. Add more hot water if necessary. Spread it over the top of the bun.

Cut and eat, oh yeah.

sissi & co, malvern

2011-09-01T15:35:00.002+10:00

Last weekend was so beautiful and since I've never eaten at a single cafe, restaurant or eatery in Malvern (where Emilly lives), we decided to go on a brunch adventure. It was a lovely amble through Malvern, critiquing architecture and gardening choices, on our way to Sissi & Co, on Malvern Road.

Sissi & Co is cute, with a design style that delights me and the benches and glass cabinets filled with food I can't eat but that looks cheerful, and lots of bright colours. This sugar pot, found only on the outside tables (along with pots of flowers and plants climbing the walls in the courtyard), took my fancy.

There was nothing immediately vegan on the menu for me to eat, but they were happy to remove the feta on my avocado and replace it with slow roasted tomatos, and not charge me anything extra for the privilege. And the slow roasted tomatos were delicious, and the avocado with a little sprig of thyme was excellent. A lovely brunch adventure!

Sissi & Co
1290 Malvern Road
Malvern

las vegan nirvana iii

2011-08-30T10:54:00.002+10:00

It's been ages between visits to Las Vegan Nirvana for me; in fact, I suspect I've not had a meal there since it changed hands last year. So it was with delight that Emilly and I meandered over there on a recent weekend. The weather was lovely and we walked east from Carlton through to Collingwood, and by the time we arrived at Las Vegan we were quite hungry.

Despite brunch still being available, we both went for some delicious lunch options (as well as some freshly squeezed orange juice, which was slightly tart but in a good way).

I went the tofu + tempeh satay wrap, mostly because I really wanted some tempeh and satay is always my favourite. This was pretty much exactly what I wanted, with delicious tempeh and soft tofu and some fresh bean shoots and lashings of satay sauce. (can I say lashings to refer to satay sauce?)

Emilly went for the open salad sandwich, which came out on the loveliest plate. Emilly really enjoyed this. It was light and fresh and filled with her favourite type of olive (dried and marinated), as well as eggplant, avocado, and tomato; but was completely taken by the plate it was served on and the mug she was given for her water; she wanted to try and work out a way to take them both home with her!

Good delicious times all around!

I also picked up a massive slice of brownie, for later nommening. (It was delicious)

And I was recognised, thanks to my picture on my blog, and thanked for making someone's conversion to veganism a little easier. Which I like to hear! Not for the me bits, I mean, for the community bits. I love the idea that by creating this little vego Melbourne community people are actually making connections and making their way. It's exciting! So hello to Bonnie!

previous visits: one; eleven hundred.

recent reviews: where's the beef april and july; vicki vegan; zuckerbaby; danni.

Las Vegan
22 Smith Street
Collingwood

planet vegmel's 2nd birthday: that recipe seems very familiar...

2011-08-22T12:35:00.006+10:00

September 14th sees the two-year anniversary of Planet VegMel, the useful and delightful way to read the foodie blogs of veg*ns from around Melbourne. In that time we've grown to 44 contributing blogs, covering all sorts of veg interests around Melbourne. We've also got a facebook page which, no pressure, you should feel free to like, and which is sometimes updated with links and new things that might not make it onto a blog post, such as the fact that there is now a mobile VegMel app!

To celebrate the Planet's two year anniversary, I am proud to announce the 'That Recipe Seems Very Familiar...' blog event. This blog event was suggested by Michael of Where's the Beef, and entails using the recipe (or recipes, don't let me restrict you) of a Melbourne vego blogger, and then blogging about it. Leave a comment on this post with a link to your remix, and on the 14th I will make a post with a round up of the original recipes and the remixes/attempts.

As part of the birthday celebrations, there will also be a Planet VegMel 2nd anniversary birthday picnic potluck at Edinburgh Gardens. Check out the facebook event for more details! Non-bloggers are very welcome to come along.

invita at the queen vic markets

2011-08-21T10:25:00.002+10:00

Recently I ended up loitering around the Queen Vic Markets, so it seemed like a nice time to revisit Invita and see what was veganly on offer.

This oatie made a great second breakfast, though I ended up having to share it with Danni as it was massive. The only problem was how long it took the coffees to come out (about a million years).

Invita
76 Therry Street
In the Queen Vic Markets (next to the organic produce section)

pumpkin + tofu risotto

2011-08-16T09:17:00.002+10:00

For the first time in three months, could this be...A RECIPE?! I'm not even sure I remember how to do this.

pumpkin and tofu risotto

ingredients
300g firm tofu
2 cups arborio rice
half a cup of cashew nuts
some sundried tomatoes
a handful of baby spinach
500g(ish) pumpkin (i used jap but butternut is also okay)
1 brown onion
however much dried oregano, basil rosemary and marjoram takes your fancy
a whole lot of vegan chicken stock (massels you're my hero)
a little paprika
a bottle of red wine (you will be drinking some of this red wine, not pouring it all into the pot)

method
dice the tofu into cubes of about 1.5cm. put these cubes into a bowl, and throw in some of the red wine with a dash or three of paprika and rosemary, and stir to combine. put the tofu aside to soak it all in.

slice the onion, and skin and dice the pumpkin, and throw it all into a pot with some oil. let this fry for a bit, then add some herbs and maybe some more paprika and the cashews, then the rice, a cup of wine, and some stock. let it simmer and stir it, in the way of all risottos. at this point, fire up a fry pan and bring some oil up to heat, then throw in the tofu. stir this occasionally, until it starts to brown on most sides; then add it to the risotto, and keep adding that stock. add some more wine if you like. now is a good time to add the sundried tomatoes, too, chopped into little pieces. keep adding stock until it reaches that lovely risotto consistency, then throw in the spinach, let it wilt in, and you're done! serve with something delicious. the risotto seen here was served with an avocado and apple salad, and some rosemary bread from coles.

china summary: getting by

2011-08-15T12:08:00.003+10:00

Getting around Shanghai and Hong Kong was super exciting. I had a lot of great eating, and a lot of great yelling in Mandarin, and just generally a pretty great time. For the most part I ate at vegetarian restaurants, where the only concern was whether or not it contained egg or dairy, and this was usually pretty easy to suss out.

On one occasion I had cause to eat at a meat-serving restaurant, where nobody spoke English. Despite the wide choice of vego restaurants to visit, with their english-subtitled menus where pointing could take place, this meal did highlight how convenient it was that I speak Mandarin, and I was comforted when our server used the magic word (素) to describe what she was recommending.

Hong Kong was a little English-speaking, though I did have to use my terrible canto skills to get by at some points. After two weeks adventuring through Shanghai and Hong Kong having to speak either Mandarin or Cantonese every day, I don't know how someone who didn't speak any Mandarin or Cantonese would fare. I was definitely glad I can read Chinese characters, because often there was no English to be had. This also made reading train maps in Shanghai a lot easier, though there were sometimes subtitles there, too.

Speaking of the train maps: the trains in Shanghai and in Hong Kong are pretty great. Easy to use and easy to get around, and cheap. If I did it again I'd seriously consider a top up card for Shanghai, due to the frequency with which the ticket machines broke or were unavailable. The stations themselves are massive, and many of the entrances are not great for people with mobility issues, or with sight issues.

The only food backup I really relied on was the corn on the cob you can get from stalls as you wander by. I had seen stalls selling you tiao/yao chao guai one morning, on my way to a temple; however on my return they had packed up and I was so disappointed.

Using Happy Cow was mostly fine, though a few of the details were out of date. I didn't really do much research beforehand into what restaurants would be good, I kind of just went for it. I had one bad restaurant experience, at the Jade Buddha restaurant, where despite the restaurant only being half full we were unable to be seated, and the wait staff refused to even catch my eye, so we left. Also I can confirm that the restaurant at Jing'an Temple has indeed closed, much to our chagrin.

Please note that everyone smokes, and most places allow smoking indoors. And many places are filled with stairs.

A summary of my Shanghai and Hong Kong posts:
i: godly vegetarian [功德林素菜馆], shanghai
ii: song yue lou [松月楼], shanghai
iii: vegetarian lifestyle, shanghai
iv: new age veggie at the super brand mall [新素代餐厅- 正大店], shanghai
v: the yangtze langham hotel, shanghai
vi: annamaya, shanghai
vii: three virtues vegetarian, hong kong
viii: long man lou - chi lin vegetarian [龍門樓 - 志蓮素齋], hong kong
ix: gaia veggie shop, hong kong

I only wish I had eaten more noodles!

hong kong iii: gaia veggie shop

2011-08-14T20:36:00.000+10:00

Despite having a Visa debit card which I had used just fine as a credit card all over Shanghai and Hong Kong, my hotel was unable to take an imprint of it and instead unexpectedly took a huge chunk of my cash as a security. As a result, by the time I hit dinner on my second day, I was running short of cash and reluctant to withdraw more. This is what led me to the Gaia Veggie Shop when I was in the area (visiting the flower market on instructions from Nan).

There is a review on Happy Cow that suggests that single diners be careful not to over order. I wish I had headed this advice. Pictured above is the pork noodle soup I ordered. It was super amazingly delicious, I was so happy to eat this. The mock pork was beautifully flavoured and delightfully crumbed, and the noodle soup had a hint of sweetness and I ate as much of it as I could. Towards the end, my Hokkien chicken finally came out (not pictured). It was okay, but there was no way I could eat more than a slice or two.

Gaia Veggie is a Cantonese Buddhist restaurant. There were no English speaking staff on the night I was there, but the menu is in Chinese with English subtitles and also has some handy pictures. It's a mostly vegan menu.

I loved my meal, and the service was fast though perfunctory, and I heard someone get in trouble for seating me next to the kitchen. The only problem I had was the tea and shoots which were given to me as I was seated, and were in fact secretly not free (10HKD).

Gaia Veggie Shop at the Pioneer Centre
Shop 135, 3/F
Pioneer Centre
750 Nathan Road

Get there on the MTR, Prince Edward Station (Not sure which exit, I actually walked up there from my hotel). Near the streets with the Ladies Market and the Electronics Market.

Accepts credit cards (min HK200).

hong kong ii: long man lou

2011-08-14T13:33:00.002+10:00

Prevented from accessing Twitter in China, it wasn't until I was on the bus from HK airport that I was able to ask for any advice on where I should go. K was super insistent that I go visit Chi Lin Nunnery and the restaurant there, which is 100% Buddhist Vegetarian, and situated beneath a little waterfall.

Long Man Lou is inside the Nan Lian Garden, which is next to the Chi Lin Nunnery. I got up early and went for a wander through the garden, checking out all the pretty things and visiting the little exhibitions situation here and there throughout the garden. There is even a little rookery there!

I had been hoping for an early lunch, but alas it was not to be. The restaurant opens at 12 and not a minute before.

I ended up going for the four dishes banquet, which looked like a whole lot more than four dishes. I was worried about the excessive mushroom component but it was totally amazing. Service was lovely and the venue was very pretty, with the waterfall and things.

The menu is in Chinese with English subtitles, and a few of the staff speak English. There are technically no photos but I snuck this one so I could show you how lovely the food looks!

And it's such a lovely garden! Definitely visit the gardens and the nunnery even if you don't have time to visit the restaurant.

K's review.

Long Man Lou - Chi Lin Vegetarian [ 龍門樓 - 志蓮素齋 ]
Nan Lian Garden
60 Fung Tak Road
Diamond Hill

Get there on the MTR, Diamond Hill Station, exit C2. You have to walk the winding paths of the garden to get there, it's about a ten minute walk through the garden but it's nice and flat. Acceps credit card. Long Man Lou has a 85HKD minimum spend, which is easy to meet. My meal cost 88HKD.

china vi: annamaya, shanghai

2011-08-12T09:39:00.000+10:00

I missed one of my Shanghai noms!

C and I ventured out to the French Quarter to visit the Shanghai Propaganda Poster Art Centre, a tiny little private museum. The museum is a little confusing to find, as it is located in the bottom of an apartment complex, but it is totally worth the visit. After we finished up there we were hungry and it was hot outside, and we didn't want to have to trek too far. Located just on the opposite side of the train station from us was Annamaya, a macrobiotic Japanese restaurant.

This place is adorable. It is tiny, with mismatching everything and a little hand written menu in Japanese and English. Vegan items are clearly marked, and there are many of them.

I went for the tofu steak, which is served with miscellaneous salads, sadly including one of my least favourite vegetables. The steak itself was delicious, though, and served with a really lovely vegan mayonnaise.

C had the curry of the day, which when I sampled it was also tasty.

Diners have the option of selecting directly from the menu, or choosing one of the set menus (which go salad-main-drink or salad-main-drink-soup).

There's lots of Buddhist and Ayurvedic literature available.

Annamaya
3 Taojiang Lu
near Hengshan Lu

Get there on line ten of the metro (Shanghai Library stop - 上海图书馆) or line one (Changshu Road stop - 常熟路). Two little steps up into the shop, the tables are close together and mine was wobbly. The toilet is out the back and is Japanese style (ie, has a seat warmer and a bidet and plays music) but is a little difficult to get to if you have accessibility issues.

徐汇区
桃江路3号
近衡山路

hong kong i: late night takeaway snack from three virtues vegetarian restaurant

2011-08-09T19:41:00.004+10:00

My flight from Shanghai to Hong Kong was delayed for two hours, putting me in HK much later than I thought I'd get there. As a result, by the time I checked in to my hotel and oriented myself, it was late and I was hungry. Fortunately, marked on the map provided by the hotel was the nearby Three Virtues Vegetarian Restaurant, with handy late night takeaway window.

I know this picture looks unappealing! I promise it was a perfectly serviceable late night snack, ordered by me in Cantonese and eaten in my room with a bunch of grapes picked up from a nearby street stall. I was feeling pretty chuffed with myself!

Three Virtues also has a sit-down restaurant four floors up, but I was a bit too restless to give it a go.

Three Virtues Vegetarian Restaurant
Shop D 4/F, JD Mall,
233-239 Nathan Rd
Jordan

at Bowring St, Jordan MTR Exit C1; accepts CC. accessible via an escalator and a lift. the takeaway counter is on the bottom floor.

china v: drunk in the langham

2011-08-04T13:13:00.004+10:00

One warm night two weeks ago, C and I went for a walk over to the Bund, checking out the lovely view. We tried to find the cocktail bar in the Peninsula Hotel, which the Lonely Planet said was Shanghai's first, but to no avail. Finally, tired and hungry and warm and a bit grumpy, we decided to get a taxi the two kilometres back to the hotel. Getting a taxi was easy. Then the taxi driver yelled at me that we were going such a short distance. Then we sort of got lost. Then, driving down the middle of a road (literally, straddling two lanes), the taxi driver and I got into a yelling match and didn't notice the bus heading straight for us (the only evidence I have of this bus' existence is that C told me about it later).

This was a really exciting experience for me because all the yelling was done in Mandarin. This was a real turning point for me during our trip to Shanghai (and happened quite early on, I have not been blogging in order, sorry!).

We finally made it back to our hotel and, determined as we were to have cocktails, we availed ourselves of the bar in the hotel.

I know everyone makes fun of JD in Scrubs when he orders his appletinis, and I don't know how much alcohol they have, but this lycheetini was epic. I ended up with two of them because it was so delicious, and it was totally worth it.

Sadly there is no food to be had in the bar, though there were free nibblies (and free apertifs, which, surprise, were not vegan in the least), and we headed back up to our room and then C had to take charge and order us some room service.

It will come as no surprise to anyone reading this how happy I was to drunkenly eat noodles in my hotel room. Room service was very accommodating, letting us make all the mods required to make greasy, wheaty, saucy noodles for a late night vegan consumption. It was basically the only thing we really could eat, but it was good and it was exactly what I wanted. A bit expensive, comparatively, but that is no real surprise either.

The hotel was pretty, too! I totally recommend staying there, it's central and I liked it.

Langham Yangtze Boutique Hotel
740 Hankou Road
Huangpu
Shanghai

Right next to People's Park

汉口路740号

china iv: new age veggie - super brand mall [ 新素代餐厅 ] Shanghai

2011-08-03T20:42:00.002+10:00

Across the river in Pudong, the very picturesque tall buildings of Shanghai can be found: the Oriental Pearl Tower, the Shanghai World Financial Centre, and the Jinmao Tower. Towards the end of our stay we ventured across to this side of the river, hoping to get a closer look at the Oriental Pearl Tower, and an opportunity to go high up in the sky. We did manage to find ourselves 91 stories high, in a bar at the Park Hyatt (which doesn't even start until the 87th floor). However before we got that far, we found New Age Veggie, located at the Super Brand Mall in Pudong.

There was a lot to pick from at New Age Veggie, and I wanted to eat all of it. It was hard to decide, but in the end we went with the pulled noodles and pork in soup; seafood curry with vegetables; saffron chicken rice; and salted chicken things (not its real name).

Probably my favourite of these dishes was the pulled noodles with pork. The broth had this lovely flavour and the noodles were excellent, just perfectly cooked. I actually ended up eating most of this, both because it was super delicious and because it was a bit too spicy for C. New Age Veggie is very Sichuan influenced, so a lot of the dishes have quite a beautiful chilli bite to them. I think that this noodle dish was an excellent example of it.

The seafood curry with vegetables was a perfectly serviceable and not too rich curry, complete with tofu cut and coloured to look like one side of a king prawn (awesome); the saffron rice was very understated but a perfect aid to mopping up the curry. Finally towards the end the salted chicken came out. Not only is it battered mock-chicken, but also capsicum. This was, as advertised, quite salty, and not really my thing, but C enjoyed them.

After we had paid the bill and were leaving, we dallied by the sweets counter. There had been a little menu sitting on our table during dinner, and C had perused it, interested. But New Age Veggie does use dairy, so we were unsure. Still, we hovered, and one of the wait staff came across to us. When I asked, she pointed to the black forrest cake. She was adamant that it was free of all dairy, so on that advice, we took it back to the hotel with us.

Certainly it didn't make me sick, and my body reacts quite dramatically in the presence of dairy (as it proved three days later after a coffee at Starbucks in Hong Kong), and it didn't after eating this moist and creamy cake, so I am calling it definitely vegan despite appearances and wishing I could have another. This cake was lovely, though it was apparently the only vegan sweet in the window.

All in all, a most excellent experience at New Age Veggie. After I absconded to HK, C went back for lunch without me and reported that the pancakes with pork was good, and like everything else we'd eaten there it was kind of spicy.

The menu is in Chinese with English subtitles, and has several pictures. The staff don't speak English at all. No egg, but some items have dairy so you have to ask.

Accepts credit cards, accessible via lift in the mall, wide apart tables and an area just inside the door with no steps. You can call for service via a remote that sits on the table (it has buttons for water, order, and cheque).

New Age Veggie - Super Brand Mall
5F - 20A/B
Super Brand Mall
168 Lujiazui Xi Lu
Pudong
Shanghai

Take Metro Line Two to Liujiazui Station ( 陆家嘴站)

新素代餐厅- 正大店
上海
浦东
陆家嘴西路168号
正大广场
5楼20A/B

china iii: vegetarian lifestyle, shanghai

2011-08-01T22:29:00.004+10:00

I swear, there are more than just half a dozen vego restaurants in Shanghai. In fact, Happy Cow lists 26! (Ignore the fact it say 31, it doubles up on some of them) Despite this, not only did we end up dining twice at Godly and Song Yue Lou, we ended up dining twice at Vegetarian Lifestyle in Luwan. Again, we totally had good reasons for this.

Using the directions provided by Happy Cow was excellent for the first visit. Happy Cow notes that it's down a little alley that says 'Las Vegas KTV Club,' off to one side of Songshan Lv. We were lucky to get the last free table on a busy night, and we were quickly seated and my bag was bike chained to my chair. I know that makes it sound like a dodgy restaurant but it's really not.

We started with some genma cha, and then began ordering things. First was the veggies wrapped in beancurd skin (definitely one of my favourite things). We also ordered a 'Thai style' noodle soup, as well as a mushroom dish with nuts that looked like it might be similar to Utopia's houtou mushrooms, some dumplings, and a dish intriguingly listed in english as 'chao amaranth veggies' (this is not what it said in Chinese on the menu).

Aside from the beancurd skin dish, everything else was kind of bland. The amaranth veggies grew on me but was not especially flavoursome; the mushroom dish was okay but nothing exciting; and the dumplings were bland and chewy. The beancurd skin though was very excellent.

The presentation was good and the service was fine, though, and we saw the potential there so we gave it a second try.

We tried a different sort of tofu wrapped veggies; some cha noodles, a soy fish dish, and some crab meat, because C had been so taken by the crab at Godly and we wanted to compare.

The fish came out last and I regretted it, because it was the best. The mock-fishy-flesh was tender and delicious and I lamented that I was too full to fit it all into my belly, though I tried my best. Look at that little fishy shape! Full points for presentation and deliciousness.

The tofu skin was good, as were the noodles. The noodles had that graininess that indicates it's been dry fried with some curry powder, which is my favourite. (who am I kidding - all noodles are my favourites, but especially the ones that remind me of home) We tried to compare and contrast the crab meat with Godly's, but to be honest it was hard. This one was definitely more gingery than the Godly's one, and I think I liked it a little better, but I'd have to sit down with them both and compare them side by side, a hardship I hope to put myself through one day.

I ordered some xiao long bao, but inexplicably this came to us as a takeaway at the end of the meal. Sadly here is where my Mandarin failed me, as apparently I don't understand the word for takeaway? I was too full to try to eat it in the restaurant anyway, so I took it away with me, then completely failed to eat it later. Xiao long bao doesn't heat up very well even if you try to steam it with the hotel kettle, who knew? So I cannot tell you how their xiao long bao is. Damn it.

Some of the waitstaff speak a little English, and most of the menu items are in English and Chinese (and there are some pictures in the menu). But take a Chinese speaker with you if you want to do more than point at the menu items. (One who understands '带走' when they hear it? I don't even know who I am.) Little step up to get into the restaurant, widely spaced tables for Shanghai. Accepts credit card, does not accept tips.

Vegetarian Lifestyle - Luwan
77 Songshan Road
Luwan

Get there on line one on the Metro, South Huangpi Road Station [黄陂南路]

上海
卢湾区
嵩山路77号1楼

china ii: song yue lou [ 松月楼 ], shanghai

2011-07-31T17:58:00.004+10:00

One of my favourite places I visited in Shanghai was 豫园, which inexplicably is known as Yuyuan Garden in English. Yu Yuan is really pretty and lovely, and also a huge tourist attraction filled with lots of people and surrounded by markets and restaurants. One of those restaurants is Song Yue Lou, which is located outside Exit 5 of the Yu Yuan complex. Song Yue Lou is the oldest vegetarian restaurant in Shanghai, and takes on the fairly common format of fast food downstairs and sit down ala carte upstairs.

Due to circumstances, we also ended up at Song Yue Lou on two occasions (both lunches). On the first of these visits, we sat upstairs and ordered a variety of foods, including bao and noodles. Desperate for some noodles, I ordered the curry noodle soup all on my own, and C went for a curry, with bao and rice. I also had coconut juice from a can. The bao was super doughy, but the filling was good. I found my noodles quite excellent, with some nice yellow wheat noodles.

On the second visit we ventured upstairs but were banished downstairs with a grumble, as we only wanted to order single dishes and not a meal to share. On this visit we both ordered noodles, though I fail to recall which one (the same, as it turned out, because the noodles I wanted were not available); in addition C ordered the glutinous rice dessert, which was thick and gloopy.

Service downstairs is fast; service upstairs is okay but can be a little grumpy. There are stairs (and no elevator) upstairs, and a little step up into the building. Smoking is allowed, and credit card facilities are available.

song yue lou
99 Jiujiaochang Rd
Huangpu District
Shanghai

Get there on Line 10 (the purple line) of the Metro.

松月楼
上海
黄浦区
旧校场路99号

china i: godly vegetarian [ 功德林素菜馆 ], shanghai

2011-07-30T23:27:00.006+10:00

I was excited to discover that there was a vegetarian restaurant in walking distance from our hotel, so the first night, tired and hungry, we went for a bit of a walk. In the end we actually dined at Godly twice.

The first visit, unsure what they did well and too tired to make decisions, we went for the banquet option. The waitstaff decided to modify this for us, so we didn't go exactly for what was on the menu. We ended up with a pick-pick course, with a crab-meat dish, springrolls, mock duck made of tofu skin, and a vinegary vegetable dish. This was followed by some noodles, an onion and gai lan stir-fry thing, and some watermelon and cherry tomatoes to end it all. It was a lot of food, and it was delicious. C found that the crab meat was her favourite. All I was really focused on was the noodles, I'll admit it.

On the second visit, the staff were less attentive and amiable but still good (it was very busy). We ordered a tofu and mushroom hotpot (with lots of peas), some different noodles, and a mushroom soup. The soup was super mushroomy, filled with four or five different types of mushrooms. The tofu and mushroom hotpot was also excellent, but it was at this point that we reached our mushroom limit.

Service was fine, fast and easy. The menu is Chinese with English subtitles, except the tea menu, which is all in Chinese; no pictures on either menu. Some of the staff speak English. And it's pretty cheap, the banquet was about 120RMB per person and the second visit came to about 180RMB in total. Tea is about 30-60RMB a pot depending on what you get - they have a lot of tie kwan yin, which is some of my favourite. Credit card is accepted.

Happy Cow says not everything is vegan there, but when I asked they said they don't use eggs or dairy in anything, so I'm not sure.

Godly Vegetarian
445 West Nanjing Road (near North Chengdu Rd)
Jing'an District
Shanghai

Get there on lines eight, two or one of the Metro, stopping at People's Square.

功德林素菜馆（南京路店）
上海
静安区
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soul food, fitzroy

2011-07-22T13:02:00.002+10:00

I was hoping to go to Trippy Taco recently, but sadly it was too full to accomodate us, even after waiting a while. So we trekked on down to Soul Food to see what we could get.

I went with the Thai rice ball with chickpea salad. The rice ball was exactly what I wanted, rice-y and a bit lentil-y, and the chickpea salad was lovely, well-cooked with a thick and tasty tomato sauce thing, but the salad was cold and I was hoping it would be warm. Disappointing! But still perfectly serviceable.

previously.

Soul Food Cafe
273 Smith St
Fitzroy

accessibility: five minutes walk from the nearest tram stop. a step up to enter, but the front room is okay for maneuverability. from memory the toilet is up a flight of stairs.

update from shanghai

2011-07-22T11:16:00.002+10:00

hello all! i actually cannot access blogger from china, but am using a free thingy that ends in two minutes! to tell you all that i can't access blogger so if your comments get stuck in moderation, it's because of that! the posts are appearing because i queued them up before i left! i thought i was clever at the time! if you want to see me check out my flickr! post again soon!

tom phat ii, brunswick

2011-07-21T12:42:00.001+10:00

There wasn't much on the menu that was automatically vegan but the waitstaff said I could have any of the egg dishes turned vegan, so on that note I selected the sricha scramble with roti.

This dish was totally serviceable, but a little bit bland. I ended up stealing some of Danni's sauce to add a little flavour. It could have done with more chilli and more of the cherry tomatoes, but I liked the roti accompaniment.

previously at tom phat.

danni's review (of the same day); Carla's break up with tom phat.

Tom Phat
184 Sydney Rd
Brunswick

accessibility: just near a tram stop (the 19), little step up. some easy to access tables at the front, all ordering done as table service. might be hard to head down to the toilets.

vegan goodies at the local iga

2011-07-20T12:35:00.002+10:00

So my local IGA (located at 614 Sydney Road in Brunswick, opposite Tabet's) has recently seriously expanded its frozen mock meats range. Thanks to Lizbee for pointing this out to me one day, although returning there last night I noticed they have stuck a piece of paper to the door that says 'vegetarian meals!' to draw attention.

For those vegetarians amongst you, there's a couple of varieties of Quorn down the bottom. There's also a range of vegan mock meats, including some very fishy-tasting fish, the chicken nuggets that Lord of the Fries uses, and many other exciting things! There's even cheap tempeh in there.

I'm super pleased by the close proximity to my house of all this mock meat, and given my recent discovery that the range stocked by my usual supermarket is no longer vegan, I'm pleased that so much of it is vegan! More reporting on specific kinds to follow, once I try more of them.

lunch at mr nice guy

2011-07-19T12:20:00.004+10:00

So after finally making it to brunch at Mr Nice Guy, I followed it up a week later with lunch there, too, with Ms SJ.

Only option for the day was the quesadillas, which was fine as I was happy to try them out.

The quesadillas were toasted fresh and filled with black beans and some sort of cheeze. I liked the flavour, but they were a bit dry and definitely needed the tabasco that Lucas brought out for us. Maybe some guac or salsa would go nice as a little side?

Previously on VaT: brunch.

Other bloggers at brunch: Karla; Shawna.

Mister Nice Guy Cupcakes
291 Albert St, Brunswick
enter on the bike path side beside Brunswick Train Station

gasometer, collingwood

2011-07-18T09:46:00.003+10:00

So last week it was my birthday and I decided to use it as an opportunity to finally get down to Gasometer, having heard so much about it already from every vegan and vegetarian in Melbourne.

With a party of ten people on a Friday night, I booked a table. I only did this two days in advance, and there was no problem getting it.

I was overwhelmed by the choice! In the end I decided to go for a pot pie main, because it was cold and I had been thinking about pies. All the mains come with a choice of two sides, and because it was my birthday I picked the sides I wanted the most, carb-loaded as they were, rather than the sides I should have. I ended up going for the mac and cheeze and the potato mash.

The pie came with a chutney sauce, and was filled with lots of potatoes. It was delicious, and I loved my sides, but it was massive and I couldn't come anywhere near finishing it. I would eat a main with sides again, but maybe only if I was sharing it with someone. Certainly I would eat the mac and cheeze again.

I have no idea whose chicken burger this is, as three came to the table; I did sample someone's though, and it was amazing. I have been thinking about this burger ever since, and I would return to Gasometer just for this burger and the chips, advertised to me by Fi as the greatest chips in Melbourne.

I was way too full to think about dessert, but J had thought about it and ordered the cannoli in advance. In my position as birthday penguin, J thoughtfully and very kindly (and ONLY because it was my birthday) let me have one. These were chocolate on one side and cookies and cream on the other and MY WORD. MY WORD. I had thought that cannoli was a delight to which I could never return, now that I am vegan, but oh these were very excellent cannoli. I recommend so highly. They were delicious.

Nobody else who came has blogged! SADFACE. I know Erin had the tofu wings and they were pretty good, and J had the mac and cheeze as a meal but would not repeat the experience.

Others who have eaten there: Carla; Danni; K + Toby; Veg in the West (once + twice); and Cindy and Michael (one, two, three, four times).

Gasometer
484 Smith Street
Collingwood

Handily accessible on the 86 tram, cramped and too warm on a friday night, difficult to navigate if you have mobility issues and way too noisy. Cindy and Michael rated the tables as 'spaced wide apart' so maybe they're different on different nights?

recommendations for shanghai and hongkong

2011-07-13T11:48:00.003+10:00

I am going to Shanghai next week, and Hong Kong the week after, and I am starting to get really excited about it! So now I am looking for recommendations for food and things in those two places. In HK I'm staying on Kowloon (in Kowloon?), and in Shanghai I'm staying in a fancy boutique hotel right next to People's Square.

Have you been to either of these places? Do you have anything to recommend?

Also, has anyone purchased the Happy Cow iPhone app? I am considering it but I have such a mixed relationship with Happy Cow I'm just not sure! Advise me, internets!

mr nice guy cafe, brunswick

2011-07-12T16:38:00.005+10:00

After many an aborted attempt, I finally made it down to the Mr Nice Guy cafe for their brunch. Danni, Emilly and I headed in there for brunch one Sunday afternoon about 1pm (it's still brunch if you haven't had breakfast or lunch yet, right?).

Danni went for the apple crepes, which she has already blogged about. This was actually my favourite of the brunch dishes! The options for the crepes are nutella or baked apple, and the baked apple came with walnuts and it was delicious, just the right size and a lovely flavour. I totally want this all to myself next time I am there for brunch.

I went for the french toast, because I have a love and that love is french toast. Sadly, it was not up to Monk Bodhi Dharma levels of french toast but it was still pretty tasty! I recommend it to all.

Emilly went for the banana and berry bread! (I think it was banana and berry) It was very tasty too! It was kind of more cakey than bready but I would totally eat it all for myself!

Other reviews: Where's The Beef; Words at Random.

Mister Nice Guy Cupcakes
291 Albert St, Brunswick
enter on the bike path side beside Brunswick Train Station

Accessibility: wide doors and no steps, close to the train station. May be some trouble navigating it after 8pm when entry is only via the Noise Bar.

[wa] heavenly plate, applecross

2011-06-27T09:43:00.003+10:00

Heavenly Plate is a new(ish) vegetarian restaurant in Applecross. I've heard a lot about it primarily from one friend, and nothing else from any other source, so I wasn't entirely sure what to expect when I manufactured an opportunity to eat there on the weekend.

In fact, what happened was that I was so excited I started tweeting about the menu immediately (using the hashtag #heavenlyplate). Heavenly Plate is vegetarian, and mostly vegan (or vegan options); there is an entire hot chocolate menu featuring items such as 'orange and cinnamon' and 'strawberry' and entrees such as mango bruschetta and all sorts of really exciting and interesting things.

We decided to maximise our tasting opportunities by sharing three entrees (between four people), then ordering our own mains with lots of sampling.

Our entrees were the japanese wedges and wasabi mayo; the avocado rolls; and the murtabak. I wish the murtabak photo had turned out - aside from being incredibly delicious, it was beautifully and artistically laid out. The avocado rolls were encased in spring roll wrappers and fried, then served with a light mint (?) mayonnaise which was so delicious Danni scraped the remnants up with her knife in order to eat it all up. The murtabak was filled with a 'chicken tofu' and it was light and delicious with a lovely sauce and looked delightful, too. The wedges were herbed and sprinkled with nori, and the wasabi mayo had a spicy bite to it which became less potent (but no less delicious) as you continued.

Alas, my bad luck with my photos continued in to our mains, so you only get to see two. Above on the left: my Thai green curry spaghetti. This looked rich, and being Thai green curry, it certainly was; but I didn't find it overwhelming, and I loved the combination. The carrot could have done with being a little softer, but aside from that it was delicious and I thought it was great. Dr G ordered the noodles with cheese wontons (sadly the wontons are not pictured). The noodles were exactly what one expects from a chasiu wonton noodle dish (which I love); the wontons were served in a slightly salty soup. The soup was perhaps slightly too salty, and the cheese wontons were interesting. I'm not sure what was in them, but definitely a cheesy flavour, and definitely worth a try.

Gilly ordered the the Tripple C, where the mock chicken was battered in flour and Diet Coke, and deep fried, served with some lovely crisp chips and a perfectly serviceable salad. Gilly reports that she could taste a slight Coke-y flavour to the batter, but the rest of us were unsure. Danni went for the chilli chicken in red jam, a beautifully presented dish featuring rice and vegetables and mock chicken and cashews. The flavour of this dish was excellent, and not spicy (more flavoursome), with a slight sweetness which I assume was the red jam.

Intrigued by the desserts and chocolates menu, we decided to split two desserts and each order a hot chocolate. Due to the unavailability of the peach pie, we ordered the apple torte and the chocolate sundae. Chocolates ordered to the table were the strawberry hot chocolate and the orange + cinnamon hot chocolate.

The chocolate sundae was So Good icecream with a whole lot of chocolate syrup and sprinkles. This was very fun to eat, but nothing exciting (aside from the experience of the chocolate sundae). The apple torte had a lovely flavour but I found it a little dry; I took this opportunity to combine the two, and this was excellent.

The strawberry hot chocolate had been particularly recommended to me; alas, I found it way too sweet for me, and had to keep cleansing my palate with chocolate sundae. When one needs to palate cleanse with icecream, it is perhaps too sweet! I found the orange + cinnamon hot chocolate much more to my taste, with a light tang and a lovely sweetness. Alas then that I was not the person to order that chocolate!

Total bill for all that food came to just over $130. It was slightly too much food for all of us; each of my dining companions complained of being uncomfortably full, and I was leaning towards that myself. But certainly not disappointed. In fact, I am searching for excuses to dine there again before I depart Perth.

Heavenly Plate
899 Canning Highway
Applecross (WA)

open every day

didn't ask about gluten free options

little ramp up, easily navigable with wide apart tables inside. large, unisex toilets available. get there via the train (about a 5-10 minute walk from canning bridge station on the mandurah line) or a canning highway bus. some parking available.

oriental kitchen, melbourne cbd

2011-06-22T12:41:00.004+10:00

After my disappointment at not getting to Oriental Teahouse in Prahran, I was super excited last week to discover that one has now opened in Melbourne Central!

Although there were four of us at dinner, two of us were vegos and two of us were not, so we decided to share in two halves. Us vegos took a delightful stroll through the menu, ordering a few dishes at a time in the way of yumcha.

We started with the spicy eggplant (pictured above), the mushroom rolls (also pictured above), the vegetarian bao and the buckwheat chilli vegetable dumplings. Having eaten these, we then decided this was insufficient, topping up with the vegetarian dumplings and a second serve of the mushroom rolls. The highlight of this meal was probably the mushroom rolls, followed by the eggplant. There was no disappointment, but the dumplings weren't as fantastic as I was hoping they would be.

Being a teahouse, there is also a lot of tea to be had! The cocktails in teapots ("pot tails") had been talked up quite a lot by my dinner companions (who, though they numbered only three, had already been five times previously that weekend between the three of them). We drank a whole lot of long island ice tea, and then I decided to give the Campari Treasure (a "teatail") a go. This was the worst cocktail ever, much to my chagrin. Do not like!

Overall, I had an excellent experience at the Oriental Teahouse. Service was helpful and the atmosphere was totally fun. Will definitely go again! (Hoping to try the salt + pepper tofu and the pancakes)

other reviews: Fi (Prahran Location).

Oriental Teahouse
Ground floor, above the escalators from Elizabeth St into the train station
Melbourne Central

accessibility: a step up, and kind of difficult maneuverability. well lit.

kashmiri pie at tofwd, cbd

2011-06-18T22:55:00.002+10:00

I have no idea why this is called kashmiri pie, the internet reveals nothing. It was also supposed to be shepherd's pie (and I was going to steal some of Emilly's kashmiri pie) so imagine my surprise!

Anyway, this was a pretty great pie. Picked the pies up and took them back to where we were hanging, and they were filling and delicious. I can't actually remember what was in them! But they were a good quick lunch on the go on a public holiday Monday.

I regretted not buying a slice of cake, though.

TOFWD
28 Degraves St
Melbourne

grigons + orr iii, north melbourne

2011-06-17T09:46:00.007+10:00

Fi and I had planned to visit the new Mister Nice Guy restaurant for brunch, on the grounds that it would probably be totally amazing! Unfortunately they've had to temporarily change their opening hours, so they are currently not doing breakfast.

Saddened but undeterred, we arranged to meet at Grigon's & Orr instead, handily located a comfortable walk away from Fi's work.

Scramble tofu is a love that both Fi and I share, and it was with great glee, following her recent disappointment at Cafe Flaunt, that we discovered the scrambled tofu was still to be found on the Grigon's & Orr menu. So we both ordered it.

iphone, why such a terrible photo?

The tofu scramble looks small, but those looks can be deceiving. I rolled out of there afterwards uncomfortably full; almost (ALMOST) too full for a walk and Mister Nice Guy cupcakes at Dymocks. The scramble has a sweeter flavour to it, and is served on delicious crunch bread with spinach. It is totally worth it and I love it a lot.

Post the start of the 9-5 work day, the service was friendly and prompt, and it was a lovely morning adventuring through North Melbourne.

previous visits: one, one point five, two.

Grigons & Orr
Corner of Queensberry St and Chetwynd St
North Melbourne
Open every day

gluten free available

street parking available, accessible via a 5-7 minute walk from the nearest tram stop (route 57). heaps of space to move outside, but maneuverability inside is difficult.

potluck 2: comfort food

2011-06-07T20:48:00.003+10:00

Oh dear patient friends, I apologise for the delay in getting this carnival up. But I promise, though it is small and slightly delayed, that it is still a good read. This time the theme was comfort food, and all of these posts are about comfort food! Delicious, comforting food.

If you are one of my usual vegan readers, please note that not all posts linked to today are vegan, but they don't really talk about food specifics and you should read the posts anyway, because they are important and amazing and good.

Oddcellist talks about comfort food:

When I talk about the things I can cook, I tend not to talk about Chinese food—because I don't cook the way my mother does, even though I hear her voice every time I cook (fry the ginger until its flavor blooms, use day-old rice to make fried rice, people here like things too sweet), because I remain incredibly recipe-bound.

Vi writes (and draws!)about small comforts: tāng yuán.

Azuire writes ٹیڑھی کھی, about comfort food that's monolingual (and not):

What I felt when I discovered that اچار was not called that by others (and I know it was اچار because I'd had an argument about it) was shock. Pure and simple. The English names of food-things that had previously existed only hypothetically were now widely accepted as the only names for things. It felt incomplete, inaccurate.

In comfort fooding, Glass_Icarus maps a history of her comfort food.

I've realized that I don't so much rely on specific foods for comfort as I do on cooking and eating with specific groups of people. 火鍋 with my immediate family is different from 火鍋 with my relatives in Taiwan is different from hotpot with all the different permutations of my "usual suspects," friends from ballroom/undergrad. Dim sum with my "American grandma" is different from dim sum with my Chinese family friends (where there's never any explanation involved but the check-grabbing fights remain the same).

Sam Miskiv writes on disordered eating and veganism (and, in a way, comfort food).

Ephemere talks Hapag-kainan, dibdib: My language is one that eats and is eaten. If one is to speak to me of comfort and discomfort -- speak to me of food. And of rice.

Linstar writes about what makes comfort food:

I’ve often been asked what my favourite food is and I have very usually replied with something along the lines of my mum’s laksa or my mum’s spring rolls or something to that effect. My mum’s cooking. It wasn’t until recently when I was sitting down talking to a work colleague that I actually realised some of my favourite comfort foods aren’t necessarily my mum’s cooking at all, but my mum’s cooking brings an association of love and comfort. I’ve actually come to realise my favourite comfort foods are anything that can be shared, and that it’s the company more than anything which makes comfort food comforting.

And a little aside: Counter Culture, a book which collected food histories from the kids that Lifting Voices works with. Their funding deadline is past but the book looks great!

And now, with my spoon in one hand and my chopsticks in the other, I am off to eat my own comfort food, though I failed to blog about it. Thank you for reading Potluck 2! Potluck is intended to be an occasional carnival for multicultural and intersectional discussions of food, including but not limited to food discussions intersecting with disability, gender, sexuality, fat, animal rights, and cultural and racial issues. If you are interested in hosting the next Potluck, please drop myself or glass icarus a line!

last call for submissions: comfort food!

2011-05-30T21:54:00.002+10:00

Just a reminder that submissions for potluck 2: the comfort foodening are due on the 31st of May! I know, I know, I haven't even written anything yet. TOMORROW. NO SERIOUSLY. I'm going to be talking about pandan.

Get your submission on!

quinoa porridge

2011-05-24T20:52:00.004+10:00

I have lately been feeling very virtuous in the breakfast department. Lots of vegetables in my fuscrams; lots of avocado and tomato on toast (instead of plain jam); mushrooms on toasts; extra fruit in my cereal. And on one very excellent occasion, fruit cake cupcakes. The breakfast of which I have been feeling most pleased is the red quinoa porridge.

RED QUINOA PORRIDGE. OH.

It's really easy. The most arduous part is washing the quinoa, over which I always stress. The rest of it is pretty easy. Wash one cup of quinoa three or four times. In a saucepan with one cup of water, one + a half cups of *milk, and a quarter of a cup of (chopped) dried fruit, bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer partially covered for about fifteen to twenty minutes, or until it's of a consistency that you like. You could also add a tablespoon of sugar (preferably brown) during this simmering process. You may want to add more liquid if that is your fancy, though don't expect it to ever hit an oat porridge consistency.

Top with whatever you like. I like shredded coconut, dried fruit, chopped almonds and a little golden syrup.

(not actually a) mississipi mudcake

2011-05-22T13:08:00.004+10:00

Following a discussion around the existence of vegan mudcake, I was provoked in to committing acts of the same, guided by this Mississippi mudcake recipe on vegweb, and goaded on by Certain Vegans.

This cake was good. It had a lovely flavour, lovely consistency and texture and was easy to bake and held up well over a few days, but it was not mudcake. It was too light and fluffy and not filled with any molten chocolate at all! However it is a recipe I would repeat, and I have ideas for transforming it in to mudcake.

I made no mods! Which is terribly unlike me.

nudel bar iii

2011-05-16T10:49:00.001+10:00

Last week I caught up with Miss T Princess Vegan for after work drinks and dinner. After a very stressful Wednesday where I wasn't sure I'd ever leave the office, we met up at Lane's End where I ended up with a delicious cocktail which contained strawberries, mint and lemon in it, and then we tipsily wandered across the road to Nudel Bar.

Service on Wednesday was great. Super attentive and very vegan-ly helpful.

We shared the mee goreng (with rice noodles instead of egg) and the vegetable and noodle dish, which as always was deliciously heavy on the mushrooms and contained my second favourite type of noodle, the flat rice noodles that go in CKT. Oh yeah.

We rounded out the meal with the sago pudding, which neither of us had before had. The pudding was chilled, and contained lotus and water chestnuts, served with a side of golden syrup. This was super delicious! I loved adding the sugary syrup, and it was fun to eat.

We also drank two pots of the most delicious Jasmine tea I've ever had. When we inquired, as there were some lovely flavour notes in it, we were informed that it's fresh tea, rather than dried. That was pretty delightful.

What a lovely evening!

visits one and two

Nudel Bar
76 Bourke St
Melbourne

gluten-free available

potluck 2: deadline extension!

2011-05-15T19:40:00.003+10:00

The deadline for Potluck:2 (Comfort Food) has now been extended until May 31st! That gives you a whole extra two weeks to get something in! Have at it! Just a reminder:

Submissions can cover anything you like, and you do not have to stick to the theme! but please remember that we are trying to talk about intersections. Potluck is, after all, intended to be a carnival for multicultural and intersectional discussions of food, including but not limited to food discussions intersecting with disability, gender, sexuality, fat, animal rights, and cultural and racial issues.

More details at the original post! Please submit! TELL YOUR FRIENDS.

reminder for potluck 2

2011-05-08T22:06:00.002+10:00

Just a reminder that submissions for Potluck 2: Comfort Food are due in about a week! (The 15th) You do not have to be vegan to participate, posts from all types of eaters are totally cool, so long as you are talking about food and intersectionality!

Guidelines are available at the original post! Please submit something!

I should write something too, whoops.

you can't have these cupcakes (yet)

2011-05-06T20:51:00.004+10:00

I went to a wedding at Scienceworks last week! Scienceworks is a pretty cool venue for a party, I had lots of fun taking photos and hanging out with the gauges and stuff.

Although the wedding was not vegan, and it was just a cocktails kind of party, I found that I was amply catered for. There was a vegan version of most of the little courses, and the person with the vego/vegan platter would always try to find me first so I got something, and that was all very lovely. And then, there were the cupcakes.

Ant's sister Cate, who is not actually a baker (though aspires to running a cupcakery + confectionary), made this amazing cupcake tower for the party. Here is what makes this cupcake tower so amazing, though. The level that I could eat was not, in fact, the bottom, plain chocolate (mudcake) cupcake layer. Oh no.

It was the blackforrest cupcake layer.

Basically, this was so amazing that I can't wait until she has an actual cupcake shop so I can eat this all the time. And try making it. And so other vegans I know can employ her to bake for their parties. This was SO GOOD.

Also, I love it so much when my non-vegan friends make sure that I am just as over-the-top catered for as everyone else.

home cooked perth noms

2011-05-04T21:51:00.003+10:00

The other thing I do when I'm in Perth is eat things that people cook especially for me.

I don't know how to describe my levels of excitement when these Welsh cakes appeared in front of me! I went for afternoon tea with the Ex-Laws, and Nan went to experimental lengths to make me vegan Welsh cakes, and apparently they were just as they should be! Certainly I found them just as they should be (delicious), and had to fend off non-vegan interlopers who could have had their pick of the raspberry slice she'd brought, or the cupcakes already there, and instead tried to eat all my Welsh cakes. They were SUPER DELICIOUS, I will have more please!

On my first night at my parents' house I was way too tired (after five days in the con hotel with (surprise!) not a lot of sleep) to actually go out for dinner, so I requested my mother make CKT for dinner. Which she did! I love it when my mum makes CKT, she makes a portion for every person because everyone wants it slightly different. But this means sometimes she forgets things from batch to batch: in my case, chilli.

On my last night staying with my parents, we decided to cook some curries and things. Featured here are a vegetable curry (cooked by mum); a chana masala (cooked by me); and some gailan and mushrooms. OH YEAH this is one of my favourite meal sets.

Thanks, Perth! As always you were delicious.

miscellaneous perth foods

2011-05-03T19:54:00.003+10:00

Sometimes I go to Perth and eat things:

Tell me where you go for your favourite dosais! My favourite is at Mela Indian Sweets, in Northbridge. I always get the masala dosai, the potato in the masala starts to mush together and it's filled with fresh chillis, and caramalised onion, and cashews. Cashews! They are a delicious addition. The dosai at Mela is always served with a rasam and tiny little side dishes of coconut and tomato. $15 well spent every time!

My favourite flavour combination at the Junction Icecreamery is always ALWAYS passionfruit and chocolate. There are a few other soya flavours but they are the best!

Ended up at the Swan Valley Cafe again with my parents and my sister, this time for lunch. The lunch menu is not as exciting as the dinner menu (though there are some pizzas on the take away menu which I might try for next time), and I opted for the burger with a tomato chutney. This is a perfectly serviceably burger, but it does noticeably require the chutney, as it is not exploding with flavour. My sister had a tart (not vegan) with salad, and the quinoa salad was terrible, it clearly hadn't been washed enough times. Still happy to go back, especially as it's the closest vegetarian restaurant to my parents' house, but it was a little disappointing.

I still didn't make it to the new Indian vego restaurant in Midland! (I tried, but it was closed)

Mela Indian Sweets and Eats
428 William St
Northbridge

The Junction Ice Creamery
Corner of Great Eastern Highway and Morrison Road
Midland

Swan Valley Cafe
990 Great Northern Highway
Millendon

previous visit

[product] bare crush fruit spread

2011-05-01T10:42:00.002+10:00

In Perth recently, Emilly and I ventured up to Fresh Provs to provision our hotel room with deliciousness for the con+Easter weekend. Within Fresh Provs' delightful shelves we found this deliciousness: Bare Crush fruit spreads. I went for the mango and passionfruit, she picked the raspberry strawberry.

These spreads were totally delicious. They're not exactly jams; they're not rendered down as much as jams, and they start to spoil very quickly so they've clearly not been preserved in the way of jams. Spreading the raspberry strawberry across my bread the first morning (no toasters in five star hotels!), I found an entire strawberry in front of me! The flavours were delicious and not too sugary for an early morning start, and I think of the two I preferred the strawberry raspberry.

These are pretty expensive, but I would buy them again if I were in Perth long enough to finish a pot.

mini cheezecakes

2011-04-27T11:06:00.006+10:00

I went on a picnic and baked some mini cheezecakes (as the birthday girl didn't want an actual cake).

These cakes were coincidentally based on the cheezecake I baked for Em last year, but why change a delicious cake? I love this cheezecake a lot, and I've been a bit obsessed with mini things lately, so it seemed like a good time to give them a go.

I only needed about three quarters of the biscuit base mixture, so it's a shame I accidentally poured the whole packet in to get mushed, as there is now a whole heap of biscuit mixture in my fridge! I pressed about five millimetres of biscuit in to the cupcake containers. A note: use foil cups ONLY. Do not use paper cups. It will end in tears and recriminations when you go to eat it the next day.

Other than that alle the ingredients remained the same. I poured the cake filling in to the cake cups, on top of the bases, and put in to bake at 180C for a while. Then I let them cool completely, and made the berry compote and poured it on top. Rich, delicious success!

The picnic was lots of fun, it was a perfect day for it. Shar brought soup, which was super delicious, and Danni made the most successful pizza ever. And there was scrabble! And surprisingly I enjoyed watching season one of Friends.

baking from babycakes

2011-04-18T10:14:00.004+10:00

I've been a little bit intrigued by Babycakes ever since I first heard of it; however I have little chance of visiting the shop any time in the near future, so it was with delight that I borrowed the Babycakes cookbook from Emilly.

I've tried baking two things so far. The first was the gingerbread cake, which I first tried at Emilly's birthday. I was taken by how moist and delicious this cake was. The added pumpkin makes it really moist. I cheated and made a very sugary cream cheese topping instead of making the frosting in the book, but the cream cheese complemented it quite well.

The cake itself was tasty, but it dried out very quickly, which is a shame as it makes quite a lot, so there was a lot to get through.

look at all that spare apple!
I followed this up with the apple and cinnamon muffins. I get really grumpy at recipes like this, where they tell you to do something (roast eight apples) and then you only use a portion of the end product (one cup of roasted apples). It is a good thing I was feeling lazy and only ended up roasting five apples.

There were other modifications I made as I went on, most of them already written in pencil in the cookbook; significantly reduced the amount of agave and the amount of vanilla essence (two tablespoons!), and some other modifications I cannot recall as the book is not in front of me.

Overall I've found the book a tasty experience so far, though of course I will require more testing in order to truely guage how I feel about the book.

pre-MICF noms, melbourne cbd

2011-04-15T12:39:00.007+10:00

I went to see another MICF show (Fear of A Brown Planet) with Danni, and we decided to go on a hunt for dumplings. Nix had introduced me to Shanghai Village a few weeks earlier, and in our rush to catch a movie for MQFF I hadn't stopped to take photos.

photo by danni
Shanghai Village has the usual decor, and very fast service. Both times I've been now I have been able to get a table without too much fuss. The tea is over-steeped but free. We ordered a serve of steamed dumplings and a serve of fried. They're filled with the same things: mushrooms, spinach, carrot, tofu and spring onions (I think); but I like the steamed ones more.

This amazing dumpling feast cost $13.50, shared between two, and it was almost too much to finish.

**

Last night I saw my final MICF shows (Hannah Gadsby and Claudia O'Doherty), and I had been thinking about soup all day, so Emilly and I met up at The Soup Place for a quick meal. I'd never been here before, and I'm trying hard to find new dinner places to go to before shows that aren't just LotF (as evidenced by trying out the dumplings).

All of their soups are dairy free and gluten-free, so their vegetarian ones are also vegan (they don't put egg in them either), which gave me a big choice to choose from! I went the pumpkin, to which I added a little bit of chilli and salt, and it was perfect, exactly what I was after! Emilly went for the lentil and vegetable, which she said needed a bit of salt but otherwise was good. The bowls are big and at only $8.90, not bad for a quick meal before a show. Or before two shows.

Shanghai Village
112 Little Bourke St
Melbourne

The Soup Place
14 Centre Place
Melbourne

kind of like a kapitan curry thing

2011-04-14T11:47:00.000+10:00

For ages I had planned to make this curry. A friend modified her step-mother's fish curry so that it was vegan, especially for me, and it was simple and tasty and filled with familiar delicious flavours. So this recipe sat in my inbox for months and months, and finally last week I went to make it...and every where I went I could only find mock fish with whey in it. Even brands that were previously vegan contained whey.

Too lazy to look up any other recipes for new curries, I amalgamated this instead with what I had in the house and in my head (which is like an ode to curries).

kind of like a kapitan only not really

200gm mock chicken pieces
1cm knob ginger, minced
1 clove minced ginger
half of a brown onion, sliced finely
a whole lot of curry powder* (I didn't measure, but about 1 and a bit tablespoons)
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon tumeric
half a teaspoon garamasala
a dash or three of ground coriander
1 large tomato, diced
small handful of snake beans, ends off and halved
some curry leaves
a couple of lime kaffir leaves
400mlish coconut milk
a cup or two of water

*so here is the thing about curry powder: sometimes people refer to it as 'inauthentic.' This is a smokescreen! Curry powder comes from the curry leaf. You should never use it as the only spice in a curry, but it is a perfectly cromulent addition to your curry along with many other ingredients! Unless you would like to tell my mother that she is inauthentically Malaysian Chinese. That would be amazing.

method:
In some oil, fry the onions over a medium heat until they are soft and translucent (about ten minutes), then add the garlic and ginger until fragrant. Then throw in the curry powder, cumin, tumeric, and garamasala, mix it all together, then throw in a little bit of the water. Let it simmer for a few minutes so it all mixes through and renders down, then throw in the mock chicken pieces. Let these fry in the spices until well coated, then add the tomatoes and the rest of the water. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer covered for fifteen to twenty minutes. Or even longer, if you like. After this, add in the snake beans, curry leaves and lime kaffir leaves, and leave to simmer for another ten. Then add the coconut milk, simmer another five, and it is ready to go!

veg out time, south yarra

2011-04-13T15:05:00.004+10:00

So the next comedy show I went to see was Ava Vidal (will link my review when I write it), at Chapel off Chapel. I am not a huge fan of going to Prahran, mostly because I don't know anywhere to eat in the area. I tried to book us in to Oriental Tea House, which Fi had totally talked up; however they were booked out, so I decided Veg Out Time would have to do.

After some unfortunate shenanigans, the likes of which we do not talk, Danni, Emilly and I wandered in to Veg Out Time, which was almost completely empty! Danni has already blogged about her meal (summary: tasty).

I went for the two curries + half (brown) rice, which was I think $8.90. The curries in the bain marie are all clearly labelled vegan where suitable. I selected the chickpea + potato, as well as the pumpkin curry. The pumpkin curry was really tasty. Soft and flavoursome. The chickpea curry was also pretty good (I'm really in to chickpea curries right now).

Emilly went for the dumpling salad (no photo because it was too blurry). She reports that the dumplings were delicious, but there were only half a dozen of them, on the side of a giant plate of mostly lettuce-y salad, so it was not as satisfying and/or exciting as it was promising to be. Would probably not order again, was the verdict. Maybe she should have tried the dumpling soup?

Veg Out Time
366 Chapel Street
South Yarra

Clear maneuverability and pathway through but the bain marie is probably a bit of an awkward height.

Other reviews: In the Mood for Noodles (and previously).

vegie bar iv, fitzroy

2011-04-12T14:18:00.003+10:00

Really quick visit to Vegie Bar on Friday after the launch party for Peril 10: Skin, which you should all read. I really recommend Footscray Whitewash by Thuy Linh Nguyen, but I recommend you read them all! Also the next edition is on Food, so you should submit if you can! Which reminds me I should put something together before submissions close at the end of April.

Anyway, Vegie Bar. We rolled in there about 10pm, and fortunately the kitchen was still open. Everyone else had eaten beforehand so they all went for desserts and entrees (dumplings + cakes). I had been craving pizza since about 6pm, when my friend Lisa had sat in front of me at Friday Drinks and eaten an entire very unvegan molten pizza, and all I had been able to think about from that point on was pizza.

This was not that pizza. The flavours were fine, and I was so hungry really anything would have satisfied me, but it wasn't amazing.

previous visits: one and two and three.

The Vegie Bar
378 Brunswick Street
Fitzroy

Step up, tiny rows, average to low for accessibility
Nobody seems to have reviewed it recently so no links for you!

Old Town Kopitiam Mamak, QV Building

2011-04-11T21:32:00.003+10:00

So I met up with E and C to go and see Humourists Read Humourists at the Wheeler Centre as part of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. In fact it was my first one for the season! (I have since been to see more) As the show was at 19:30, we thought we'd eat dinner first. E had been recommended some Japanese place in the QV Building by a friend, but she said the friend was omni and so there was no way for us to know if I could actually eat there until we got there.

So we turned up, and I could not eat there. Not a thing. Fortunately, there was Old Town Kopitiam Mamak just over the other side of the escalator; and if there's one thing I can do, it's make Malaysians cook me vegan food.

The food was fine, this is not really a review, I ended up with nasi goreng with the usual substitutions. This is however a PSA: the 'vegetarian curry laksa' is not, in fact, vegetarian.

In other news, the couch at the Wheeler Centre is great, and someone left me a question on my formspring letting me know that they thought they'd spotted me at the Rosie Burgess Gig at the Bendigo in Collingwood yesterday! You can totally come say hi if you like, I am usually quite friendly and cheerful and I very much enjoy meeting other Melbourne vegos! (and non vegos who like folk-thrash-rock)

Old Town Kopitiam Mamak
level 2/shop 11 QV square QV Building
Melbourne

trippy taco ii, collingwood

2011-04-05T21:53:00.004+10:00

I love Trippy Taco, and I spend a lot of time in Collingwood + Fitzroy, so it surprises me that I don't go there more. However I have been there twice in recent weeks, and both times I ordered the same thing.

Usually I am all over the tofu asada burrito (it is giant, and the most amazing ever), but a while back Danni went on and on about how amazing the nachos were, so it was to these I was drawn.

These are massive! This is the small, and I would seriously recommend sharing it. The first time I went recently, Danni and I shared this, along with a serve of the Trippy Fries (after checking they were vegan, of course; if you haven't heard, recently and temporarily their fries were not even vegetarian), and the fries were actually too much, I felt sick afterwards from too much food.

These nachos, size aside, are seriously delicious. The corn chips are hand cut and have this great flavour, and the combination of the black beans with the salsa and the avocado and the vegan cheese is super tasty. They are my new favourites.

Having not learnt my lesson re: suitable amounts of food, on the weekend I met up with E, nix, db and nix's friend who is also E, and we had too many people to fit inside (and also there were no tables), so we ordered takeaway and sat in the little paved area on the corner of Gertrude and Smith. And I ordered not only the nachos (small), but also the choco-banana dessert tortilla.

These nachos were still super tasty, but sadly stone cold. If I had been any closer to TT, I would have taken them back, but that whole 100 metres (and a crossing of Smith Street!) was just too far for me. I think what happened was that the choco-banana melt was my downfall and took longer than the nachos to cook/was ready much later, because it was still piping hot when I went to eat it after my nachos. And was it worth it?

It disappoints me to admit: not really! Nachos still totally worth it, but I wasn't really that in to the dessert tortilla. After a year and a half of reeeaaaally wanting to try one, this was definitely unfortunate.

Perhaps I have learnt my lesson?

Trippy Taco
48a Smith St
Collingwood

Gluten Free available
Really bad for accessibility! A step up, and a hallway that's too small to maneuver down even if you're TAB, and it's always poorly lit.

Other reviews: In the Mood for Noodles (and previously); Easy as Vegan Pie; Vegematarian.

call for submissions: potluck #2: comfort food

2011-03-30T13:58:00.006+11:00

Do you remember Potluck #1? Of course you do, it was super exciting, and all about holidays. I am pleased to announce that I am hosting Potluck #2: Comfort Food. Submissions can cover anything you like, and you do not have to stick to the theme! but please remember that we are trying to talk about intersections. Potluck is, after all, intended to be a carnival for multicultural and intersectional discussions of food, including but not limited to food discussions intersecting with disability, gender, sexuality, fat, animal rights, and cultural and racial issues. How many times have you gone to eat your comfort food, only to be told it's gross and weird and disgusting? How many times has advertising told you that your comfort food is wrong and terrible?

Submissions are open until May 15th, giving you a comfortable six weeks to get something in. You can leave submissions in this post (please note that comments are moderated but will eventually appear!). Please feel free to submit links to your own posts or to someone else's. You may submit multiple links. Links will be included at the discretion of the host.

Please note that this is not just for vegans! It is just here because this is where my food stuff, and also I am pretty sure glass icarus is not vegan. :o)

Also we are looking for the next host, so if you are interested feel free to get in contact.

tibalicious (tiba's ii, brunswick)

2011-03-30T11:22:00.002+11:00

So after some short drinks and aborted dinners, SJ and I finally met up for dinner. I suggested Tiba's, on the grounds that I was the only vegan in Brunswick who had never been there.

We both went the vegetarian set plate, but mine was strictly no dairy. I was surprised that this meant I didn't get any babaganoush - I have eaten their babaganoush recently, so I'm super disappointed to learn it's not actually vegan!

In terms of the plate I actually received, it was great. Way too much food for me, a bargain at $14! The hummous was super delicious, I loved the spinach pies (greasy as expected, but tiny so it was okay!), and the salads were great.

Tiba's meets expectations! Hooray!

Previously: here.

Tiba's Lebanese Restaurant
504 Sydney Road
Brunswick

You may not find a seat, it's pretty crowded

brownie things

2011-03-18T11:29:00.003+11:00

I don't know how universal an experience this is, but when I was a kid I used to love going to Pizza Hut where they had all you can eat, and when it came time for dessert I would always get a square of chocolate cake, and I'd cover it in soft serve ice cream and marshmallows.

This brownie tastes like that cake, and I'm okay with that.

brownies like at pizza hut (australia, circa 1992)

ingredients
two cups of plain flour
almost one cup of cocoa (I ran out)
one cup of castor sugar
shake of salt
one tablespoon baking powder
two or three tablespoons of canola oil
two and a bit cups of rice milk
one teaspoon lemon juice
quarter cup walnut pieces
quarter cup choc chips

some extra milk and choc chips to make the ganache/icing

method
Combine flour, cocoa, sugar, salt and baking powder. When it's all nicely mixed and the cocoa isn't clumping, gradually add in the milk, oil and lemon juice. Mix it all until it's smooth, then add in the walnuts and choc chips.

Pour in to a lined baking tin (I used 20cm x 20cm and it was perfect), and bake at 180C for about 25 or 30 minutes.

Let the brownies cool for a few minutes in the tray, then on a cooling rack. When it's getting pretty cool, heat a quarter cup of milk in the microwave in five or ten second bursts until it's warm, then pour in about a quarter cup of choc chips. If it's not chocolatey enough for you, add some more, and keep mixing until they're all melted. Set aside to cool for ten minutes, then pour/spread over brownie slab. Cut and eat.

walnut + mushroom pasta (with bonus tempeh)

2011-03-14T18:02:00.003+11:00

I was skeptical, at first, but it turns out a creamy pasta made from walnuts and featuring soy sauce is actually really delicious! I saw this originally at Seitan is my Motor and have modified it a bit, but I suspect the original deliciousness is still there! This wasn't too complicated, though it did make quite a few dishes.

walnut + mushroom pasta
modified from seitan is my motor

ingredients
quarter of a cup of light soy sauce or tamari sauce
200g plain tempeh
three quarters of a cup of walnut halves or walnut pieces
1 chilli
just over half a cup of rice milk
1 clove garlic (minced) (or a teaspoonish of minced jarred garlic)
some oil (canola is fine, though olive is better. margarine/nuttelex is also okay)
1 teaspoon paprika
a shake of thyme
a shake of marjoram
350 - 400g fettucine

method
Dice the tempeh small, then soak in the soy sauce for about half an hour. If it soaks up all the soy sauce, add a little bit more. Make sure it's light soy! If you use dark soy then there will be tears. Sometime during this half an hour, set the pasta on to boil. When the pasta is done, drain, but reserve a smidge of the water.

In a blender, blend the walnuts with the milk, the garlic and the chilli. Slice the mushrooms. In a pan, saute the tempeh (with any leftover soy sauce in which it was soaking) in a little oil or nuttelex, until it starts crisping, then add the mushrooms. Saute these until they are almost cooked through, then throw in the walnut mixture, plus the paprika, thyme and marjoram. Simmer for five minutes or so, until it has started to thicken (...more) and then throw in the reserved pasta water. Let it all simmer through, then combine with the pasta and a swish of lemon juice, and serve piping hot.

The soy sauce combined with the tempeh and the walnuts to be amazing, and the addition of the chilli was perfect! If you want to reheat it, toss through a little lemon juice.

oreo cheezecake

2011-03-04T21:27:00.003+11:00

Two weeks ago when I was in Perth I went out for lunch to The Royal, and Chris and Nick ordered the Oreo chocolate cake (...for dessert, not for their mains), and it was a solid chocolate cake with some sort of cream filling and a chocolate ganache, with an Oreo perched on top. Neither of them managed to finish these monstrosities, and I started pondering vegan takes on this. And then earlier this week Lisa tweeted a picture of a vegan Oreo cheesecake, and I started thinking about that. So I've had Oreos on the mind recently (I started dropping hints at Cupcake Central, and there's talk that they'll make a vegan cookies and cream).

So I decided to give something a go, and here's what happened. All the recipes, vegan and non-vegan, suggested using one pack of Oreos for the base. This was a giant lie, and also had me fretting around the internet about what I should do with the filling (most common solution: eat it; surprisingly not the solution with which I went). I managed to crack my favourite mixing bowl (never mind that it's at least five years old, plastic, and cost five bucks from Crazy Clarks). I spilt sugar all over the kitchen. I finally wrestled the cake in to the oven, and then when I pulled it out I was convinced I had burnt it. But after all that effort, I decided to glaze the thing, and if it failed then it failed.

Here's the surprising thing: it was delicious. I've been eating it all week. It's very rich, and I would make some modifications to it, but it worked, and mostly I'm happy with it.

oreo cheezecake

ingredients
2 packets of oreos (or 1 packet of plain chocolate biscuits + 1 pack oreos)
quarter cup of melted margarine/Nuttelex
quarter cup sugar

2 x 250ish packs of vegan cream cheese
half a heaped cup of castor sugar
half a heaped cup of coconut sugar (you can use another half cup of castor if you don't have coconut sugar)
1 tablespoon plain flour
2 tablespoons lemon juice
3 egg replacers (I used applesauce)
dash vanilla essence

quarter cup soy milk
heaped half cup of chocolate chips
some golden syrup (just over a tablespoon)

the method
to make the base, grind up one and a half packs of biscuits. I used chocolate oreos, and added the filling to the mixture (but when I used plain Oreos, I harvested the filling and only used the biscuits). Melt the margarine and pour in to the mashed up biscuits, along with the quarter cup of sugar. Mix until combined, then press in to a lined spring form or cheesecake pan.

Preheat the oven! Somewhere up about 280C.

To make the filling, beat together cream cheese, sugar, flour, lemon juice, egg replacer and vanilla essence. Also add any left over Oreo filling you might have harvested from the Oreo bases. You may also want to crush up some more Oreos and add them to the filling if it takes your fancy. When it's smooth, pour it in to the base. Drop it a little if you have too many lumps. Just a note - if you do add the Oreo fillings to this, it will be lumpy. Don't worry, it will seep into the mixture with no problems.

Shove it in the oven for 9 minutes, then reduce the temperature to about 90C and leave to bake for another 30 - 35 minutes. It'll be a bit brown on top, but don't let it burn.

For the ganache: pull it out and set it aside to cool. Some fridge time is preferable. When it's nicely set (at least an hour in the fridge), bring the soy milk to the boil, then remove from the heat and add the choc chips and the golden syrup. Stir this until the chocolate melts. Let it cool for ten minutes, then spread it around the cake.

Let it all cool, then it is ready to go. It's pretty rich, so maybe don't be too generous with the first cut.

[wa] swan valley cafe, millendon

2011-02-26T10:53:00.000+11:00

I went to Perth recently, and stayed with my parents and my sister out in the Swan Valley. The day I arrived, really casually, as if it might not be that interesting to me, my mother mentioned that there was a vegetarian restaurant just down the highway from their house. I love the Swan Valley, especially how I get to stuff my face with grapes and watermelon picked that day, and its proximity to the Junction Icecreamery, and the six (six!) op shops in Midland, but when it comes to vegetarian food it is not that great, so I was very interested in a vegetarian restaurant close by.

They only do dinner once a week at the moment, though they do lunch and breakfast a few other days, so my mum made a booking for Friday dinner and off we went.

As I was perusing the menu, there were many things that I wasn't sure would be vegan, things that sounded cheesey, like the lasagna and the pot pie. But every time I asked, the answer was that it was vegan tonight. Upon closer questioning, it was revealed that, because when my mum had booked, she'd said 'and my daughter is vegan,' all the stuff they'd usually make with dairy cheese they'd made with a combination of vegan cheese and nutritional yeast, so just about everything on the menu was vegan especially for me. Which was a little bit exciting.

We leaped straight into the dips. The dips were amazing! The dips are made on the premises; there was a spinach dip, a capsicum dip, and a hummous, as well as some dukkah (which, side note, I think I had more dukkah in this quick Perth trip than I have in the whole twelve months previous). If you look closely at the platter, you'll see a few different types of crackers on there, some of which aren't vegan. I was really happy with the service and attentiveness that we received at Swan Valley Cafe, but for vegans I do think a bit of self-aware caution might stand. They're new to dealing with vegans, so there are a few 'wait, how is this not vegan?' issues that need to be ironed out. But when I pointed it out they were really good about it.

I went for the lasagna. Of course I did. This was delicious, filled with sun-dried tomatoes and roasted capsicum and an assortment of other vegetables, covered in a nutritional yeast and vegan cheeze sauce (I think this was creamy sheese). It was served with a garden salad with the dressing on the side (yessss) and a little salad with sesame oil dressing, featuring cabbage and carrots.

Other mains eaten (the photos were a bit blurry town) included the pot pie which smelled amazing, and which my sister was super delighted to have ordered; a Mediterranean vegetables and cous cous dish, which my mum ate all up; and a light but tasty yellow curry for my father.

For dessert, Julie went for the summer apple pie served with cashew cream. In truth this was less pie and more raw cake, but it was delicious, with lots of nuts and dried fruits and a really great fresh apple flavour. I went for the chocolate mousse, which was massive and had a hint of strawberry floating through it. It was delicious, but I wasn't able to finish it.

The grounds of Swan Valley Cafe are really delightful, and I bet it makes a lovely brunch venue. Out the back is a little plant nursery, selling a combination of natives and exotics, and offering a great view across to the river. The service was good, but as we were the only people there the fact that the sound system was insufficient was quite noticeable, I felt awkward making noise. I'd like the chef to be a little more cautious checking the non-veganness of store-bought products, but I have no complaints with food that they made on the premises, and I will almost certainly visit next time I'm in the area, if they're still around. It is in the Swan Valley, after all, and although there are many well-known restaurants out there, I wonder how much through traffic they'll get. I love Perth, but my recent trip has just reminded me how much people expect meat when they sit down at their meal.

Swan Valley Cafe
990 Great Northern Highway
Millendon, 6056

Some GF available
Open Thursday through Monday

cny banquet at veggie kitchen, northcote

2011-02-10T11:54:00.003+11:00

Hey it's CNY! 恭禧发财！

ang pau filled with chocolate coated sultanas
The first of my CNY events was going to Veggie Kitchen: Intention of Love with Cindy and Michael, K and Toby, The Veganator, and Bec who has no blog. K took the initiative and organised this CNY dinner, and I'm glad she did because a) CNY events are the greatest events, and b) it was delicious.

During CNY Veggie Kitchen is offering a special CNY banquet for $28 a head. We made the executive decision (before every one had arrived, even!) to go for the banquet, and Toby and I made the decision to also order a side of siu mai, because it's delicious and it was on the menu and how could we resist?

The banquet included two types of drinks. We were constantly being plied with some Taiwanese blossoming tea, or as I like to call it, monster tea. I love watching it unfurl. It takes quite a while to infuse though, so don't be in a hurry to drink it! We also received these tiny glasses of apple sprout soy milk, which I have to say was the most delicious soy milk I've ever drunk ever. It was amazing. I would drink more of this if I could. It had this very soft sweetness underneath the usual soy milk flavour, really subtle but really delicious.

Next up was some lettuce delight (looking suspiciously san choy baoish), followed by the yee sang. The lettuce delight was super crisp and really delicious; the lettuce was filled with a mixture of nuts and mock meat floss and the textures were great. The yee sang was okay, it included apple, the flavour of which I found really over powering, and I didn't really enjoy the mock ham. It was also served with carrot, capsicum, cucumber, mushrooms and what Toby thought was konjac. There was no crunchy, which I missed, and I didn't really like the sauce. Sad!

I didn't take any great pictures of the next course, which was deep fried deliciousness, spring rolls and tofu. The tofu was much coarser and thicker than I expected, kind of like a hard sponge which was surprising but worked really well. The siu mai was freshly steamed and delicious in the way of siu mai.

The pearl balls contained tofu and mushrooms for filling. I've really come to like pearl balls, though I'd never eaten them before last year. Last CNY, Johanna brought pearl balls to my CNY party, and they were new to all of us, and yet here they were at our CNY banquet! I'm deducing that they're a Taiwanese CNY variation.

Almost to the end, we had this amazing vegetable huo guo thing. It might have been a five elements sort of dish. This was filled with an assortment of vegetables that had taken on an incredibly delicious flavour and had softened so completely. The soup included pumpkin, broccoli, tofu, cashews, mock meat and some mushrooms. The flavours of this dish were just amazing, I don't know why but they were not overpowering and worked really well together.

We rounded the meal out with cha siu on forbidden rice (which was very dry, so I poured some of the soup from the previous course in to it) and then tang yuan and ice cream for dessert. The ice cream was served with this homemade strawberry jam which was pretty amazing, and the tang yuan, soft and chewy as it always is, had a crumbed (but gluten-free) exterior which made it unusual to chew. I really struggled to finish dessert though, as I was just so full.

This meal was amazing. There's still a week of CNY left, I totally recommend dropping in and trying it out.

K has blogged about it already, completely gluten free. And just as varied and delicious!

Veggie Kitchen: Intention of Love
159 St George Rd
Northcote

GF available

some links about animals and food politics and things

2011-02-09T13:22:00.002+11:00

unexpectedly a lot of links

Pets petrified in cyclone crisis

Pets were not allowed in the cyclone evacuation centres, while farm animals were in paddocks when Yasi hit.

RSPCA spokesman Michael Beatty says there have been plenty of bird deaths as well as reports of animals wandering the streets.

and No-pet evacuation rules 'putting lives at risk'

Cassowaries are getting help after the cyclone!

Animals in Brazil Suffering After Disastrous Floods

10 Horrifying Stories of Factory Farming Gone Wrong, a pretty gross slideshow (USA-centric)

Sled dogs massacred after Canada Winter Olympics - business dropped off after the Olympics, so the huskies that were brought up specifically for the Olympics were then killed.

In other 'why are humans so crappy' news: Cockfighting bird stabs California man, Jose Luis Ochoa, to death: police. Specifically, cockfighting: why do it?

Back in Australia, an article on the ABC where the risks for jumps jockeys are identified. So if when you're arguing against jumps you find that people don't care about the horses, try this argument instead.

An op ed at the Herald Sun on a new proposal around disposal of young calves.

Where climate and conservation collide

At the state's largest wind farm at Woolnorth in the island's north-west, 19 wedge-tailed eagles are known to have been killed since it began operations in 2003. Another three sea eagles also have hit the rotors.

At Vegans of Color: How NOT to Inspire More People to Go Vegan, on an awareness graphic.

The Face of Exploitation by s.e. smith at This Ain't Livin', on the human exploitation elements of food (both animal and vegetable).

I link to Treehugger way too much, but: Chinese Activists Call Canada Racist For Selling Seal Meat because Canada has sold seal meat to China (perhaps) on the assumption that those Chinese will eat anything.

This is not vego-specific (though our catastrophe's addition at the end is), but how to shop when you are poor is a good post.

at the smh: Wasteland: the $7.8b of food Aussies throw away .

I failed to post about this before call for papers closed, but the 4th Annual Australian Animal Studies Group Conference is being held 10 - 13 July at Griffith Uni in Brisbane.

Potluck #1 is up! Announcement for #2 is coming soon.

some salads and things

2011-02-08T11:45:00.002+11:00

Ages and ages ago Em blogged about this quinoa avocado salad, and I promptly forgot about it until Michael also blogged about it.

I totally slacked off, using lemon juice (from a bottle!) instead of lemons with their zest, and I skipped the coriander and increased the amount of sultanas slightly. I also neglected to toast the sesame seeds, because I was trying to keep my dishes down.

I served this with some tempeh (over-marinated, I'm sad to report) and a curry-ish noodle salad (inspired by Gen at FoE, but unlike hers mine was a complete failure).

My Very First Quiche

2011-02-07T12:26:00.004+11:00

I've never made quiche before, and this was my first attempt. It was amazing. Try it - you won't regret it.

my very first quiche
inspired by Eat More Vegies

ingredients
1 cup chickpea flour
1 and a half cups of water
olive oil
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
small amount of dried basil
handful fresh basil
2 tomatoes, sliced thinly
quarter of a red onion, diced tiny
1 sheet puff pastry, thawed
some vegan parmesan, if you have it (totally optional)

method
Grease a tray, and line it with baking paper. The tray I used was square and about 20x20cm. Press the puff pastry in to the tray, prick it with a fork once or twice, and in a preheated oven bake for 10 minutes at 220C.

Beat together the flour, water, oil, nutritional yeast and dried basil, as well as a little salt and pepper if that takes your fancy. Pour a little bit of this mix in to bottom of the puff pastry. Throw in (or layer in, as it takes your fancy) some of the onion and tomato, then pour in the rest of the batter. Set out the remaining onion and tomato on top, as well as the fresh basil leaves.

If you have any vegan parmesan, sprinkle this on the top.

Bake for about 40 minutes, until it's golden and quiche-like.

AMAZING.

spamination

2011-02-06T12:31:00.001+11:00

I've been getting heaps of spam lately, so I'm going to be moderating all comments on here for a little while. This makes me sad! But hopefully I'll do some other stuff too, and it will cut down on my epic spam.

apricot and apple braid of deliciousness

2011-02-06T11:24:00.002+11:00

I have been thinking about this apricot and apple braid ever since I first stumbled across it, and during a cooler day I managed to finally buy some apricot jam and give it a go.

I've never made anything like this before. It was a little bit fiddly but once I got used to working with the dough it all sort of fell in to place, and became a lot of fun. The braiding is cheating, I'm not sure if the way I did it is the way it is supposed to be done.

The dough didn't rise as much as I had hoped it would whilst it was proofing, but it all still turned out okay in the end, and didn't stop the braid from being delicious. I used dry yeast, and next time I do this I will activate it separately in a little warm water before mixing it through, in the hopes that it will work a bit better.

This has made me realise how much work my rolling pin skills require.

apricot and apple braid
modified (and veganised) from my kitchen snippets

dough ingredients
2 heaped cups of baker's flour
1/4 cup of sugar (I used castor sugar)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon dry/powdered yeast
1 chinese soup spoon apple sauce
half ish cup of soy milk
100g melted nuttelex/vegan margarine

filling ingredients
3 green apples (peeled and sliced)
1 heaped tablespoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
quarter cup lemon juice
a smidge of nuttelex
third of a cup of sultanas
some large dollops of apricot jam

plus extra soymilk + apple sauce for glazing

method
To make the dough, mix flour, sugar, salt and yeast (for reference, in future I will mix the yeast with a little sugar and some warm water separately and ten minutes in advance, before progressing with this step). Combine the melted nuttelex with the soy milk and the apple sauce. Then knead it all together! Knead it for at least ten or fifteen minutes, before covering it and putting it in the fridge for the day or over night.

To make the filling (the next day ish), start by soaking the sultanas in a little hot water whilst you prep the apples. Then in a sauce pan melt the nuttelex and throw in the apples with the brown sugar and the cinnamon. After the apples have softened, add the sultanas (drained) and the lemon juice. Smush it all together, then set aside to cool.

Hopefully the dough has risen! Punch it down and knead it some more on a floured surface. Roll it out until it's a giant rectangle, and quite thin (as in, height-wise, not width-wise). Image it divided in to three long thin rectangles, and then cut two centimetre strips in to the two outside rectangles, towards the centre. Check out the pictures in the post at My Kitchen Snippits if you're confused about what I'm describing.

Across the middle, spread all the jam. Put the apple mixture over the top of this, and make sure it's all evenly distributed. From one end, fold in alternating sides so it looks sort of like a plait. Fold at an angle. Plait them as close together as you can - leave too big a gap and the delicious juices run out and cover the bottom of the baking tray and gets all sticky every where. Seal the ends, and leave (covered) to rise for about half an hour to an hour.

Preheat the oven to 175C, glaze the braid with the soy milk + apple sauce combination (just mix the two together well before brushing on), and bake for about half an hour. On fan-forced I only required just under 25 minutes for it to be golden coloured.

Cool then eat.

DELICIOUS.

japan ix: getting by

2011-02-03T14:19:00.002+11:00

I had a lot of fun in Japan, and I had a lot of fun eating, but the eating in Japan was not without its difficulties. I can read katakana and hiragana, and I can guess at the meaning of kanji based on my ability to read Chinese hanzi, so sometimes menus in restaurants (or picking items off shelves) was half of a guessing game, half of a hoping that I'd read it correctly.

This meant needing some back ups for times when I wasn't sure what was going on.

My very favourite back up was konbu onigiri / こんぶおにぎり. I developed this obsession with 711s in Japan not only because it was the only place I could reliably withdraw cash, but because rather than the food being fatty and unhealthy like you'd get in Australia, the convenience food (handily, found at the conbini) were bento boxes and onigiri. I love onigiri. With the konbu onigiri there's a slight chance of it containing katsuo bushi, but Anna assured me it was my ever present foe and to continue on regardless.

I managed to get my hands on some baked goods at various points. I found der Akkord in Minato-ku, a totally vegan bakery. From there I supplied myself for the trip home with chocolate mousse, some apple pie, and some flavoured breads. Some of the breads were sour-dough-y, which was a bit off putting, but the mousse and the curry filled breads I had were delicous, and made nice snacks on the flight home. In addition, I was delighted to discover they had a folder, in both English and Japanese, with a full list of all ingredients in all products. In Minowa, I found Cafe Mugiwarai, a tiny vegetarian bakery where I picked up a sultana-filled bread stick to supplement one of my many rides on the shinkansen. Nobody there spoke English but we got by okay.

I became obsessed with edamame whilst I was in Japan. Conveniently it is available everywhere, including ready to eat at supermarkets (but made more delicious by a quick dousing in water hot from the kettle, and the liberal application of salt). Plain tofu was also easy to find, and often I would use my hostel kitchen to whip up a quick tofu scramble for breakfast.

We frequented quite a few shrine and temple market areas, and especially during celebration-y times (such as New Year, when we were there) the stalls will include grilled corn on the cob, basted in plain soy sauce (all the stalls I ate from only used plain soy sauce, though perhaps others used something different). I had not realised until this point how delicious corn + soy sauce could be.

I was able to pick up some other food from floating around the temple markets. There were some snacks and things which were fine, but which I was too full to eat; and in Kyoto I found samosas that were drowned in curry before being given to me. This, incidentally, is a delicious way to serve samosas. And they were pre cut, solving the problem Fi mentioned just the other day.

I suffered some cravings for ice cream, which I sated with frozen fruits, available from the ice cream chests in various conbini.

I would recommend not trusting things just because they look okay. I grabbed some noodles which looked okay, but buried under the noodles and the cabbage were the tiniest shrimps I've ever seen, which was incredibly disappointing. Also disappointing was the meal that came out sprinkled with prawn flakes on the top, waving in the breeze.

At one point, desperate to eat, I resorted to ducking in to a Chinese restaurant that had a television out the front playing Theresa Teng from its speakers, hoping that someone in there spoke Mandarin (they did). Here I was able to eat some vegetables, which were often thin on the ground, it being winter in Japan.

If you're looking for vegan noms around Japan, I super strongly suggest doing some research. Maybe I'd have fared better if my Japanese was greater than a stilted "肉のたべません….わたしわベジタリアんです...", but the research that I did was quite helpful.

Don't trust Happy Cow unless you have a back up plan. Happy Cow worked for me only once (leading me to Otis!); otherwise I was often unable to find places.

I found Cindy and Michael's posts from their 2010 visit to Japan quite useful. I even used it for non-eating things (I took their lead and did the iPod walking tour of Kabukicho and visited the Mori Art Museum, both of which were excellent experiences).

Vegetarians in Japan was a good reference point, though one that I ultimately did not end up using.

A lot of people have heard of Wandering Vegans in Japan, who in 2010 moved back to Australia, but their list of vegan restaurants in Japan is worth checking out.

Survival Guide for Vegetarians (not only) in Japan is also a fairly good site with lots of links and ideas.

Lisa lent me her 2008 version of the Japan Vegan Restaurant Pocketguide which, even though it was arguably out of date was still very useful, as it contained maps and directions. Lisa's Japan tag was also a handy resource.

A summary of my Japan posts:
i: mos burger
ii: roots cafe, hakuba
iii: disney noms
iv: pure cafe, tokyo
v: mikoan, kyoto
vi: ajanta, kyoto (now with added photos)
vii: otis!, hiroshima
viii: vegan healing cafe, shibuya

And that was Japan!