vegie hut ii, box hill

Sunday morning we rolled out and onto the train and meandered our way down to the Vegie Hut in Box Hill. The last attempt at yum cha wasn't super successful, because as it turns out they scale it down during CNY! Whatever, Vegie Hut!

This one was much better.



Didn't take photos of everything, because when you've seen one bao you've seen them all. We ordered cha siu bao, mock duck noodles (with maifun), a wonton soup, radish cakes, gailan, sticky rice, grilled dumplings, spinach dumplings, crispy tofu skin, and mock beef ribs in black bean sauce.



But best of all was the chee cheong fun, which isn't on the menu, but is available anyway! HOORAY. Chee cheong fun is my favourite favourite of all, it is deliciousness and I am happy to know that we can get it if we ask for it! Hooray!



vegie hut one

Vegie Hut
984 Whitehorse Road,
Box Hill

out and about; or, CNY noms with my family

The first thing we did with my family, of course, was go in hunt of some noodles to share. We wanted to go to Idea Fine Foods for their excellent combination of CNY and noodles but, alas, they have closed! Warm and hungry and slightly grumpy, we turned around and went to the Thai restaurant across the road, Sawasdee.

Up the stairs we found the mezzanine busy, but were quickly seated even without a reservation. Our waiter claimed that there was no fish sauce or shrimp paste in the vegetarian curry, so we took him at his word and ordered a green tofu curry and a dish of noodles. The curry was spicy but quite flavoursome, and it was a good meal. And there was a guy playing a piano! Which made me laugh.



On Sunday we jumped on the train and ventured out to Box Hill for yum cha. We were excited! I love going to Vegie Hut for a nice combination of yum cha menu and lunch menu, but upon our arrival we were disappointed to find out that, due to CNY, there was no lunch menu available! Only limited yum cha, and a special Chinese New Year menu. We can eat a CNY menu anywhere, we were there for yum cha! No radish cakes, no taro cakes, which was a bit disappointing, and if you can't order noodles than what is the point? Still, the grilled dumplings were good, as was the sticky rice, and we finally tried the four seasons buns. A word to vegans - the green bun is definitely kaya, which always contains egg (it is next on my list of Malaysian treats to veganise).

We ended up at Penang Affair on Brunswick Street for dinner. The uncle there was delighted to meet my mother, with whom he immediately started chatting (in Hokkien) to work out if they knew any of the same people (they did not, although they did remember the same restaurants of the streets of Georgetown some forty years ago).

My parents started with some popiah (vegatarian but contains egg so not vegan), which mum declared 'okay, not quite soft enough.'



Of course (of course!) we ordered a CKT, because I love the CKTs available at Penang Affair. We also ordered a couple of serves of roti, a sayor campor, and a really great gulai campor. The gulai campor was seriously delicious, and went perfectly with the roti. I also ordered a spectacular cocktail, containing a whole lot of fresh chillies, that was a little too much for me to finish.

Monday morning saw us at Grigons and Orr, to which I have been eager to return since our first visit in December. I ordered the pan-fried tofu in soy sauce, with a side of baked beans. It was delicious, but I'll be honest - it was nowhere near as delicious as the cous cous porridge of my previous visit. Orange juice was pretty tasty, and Julie really liked her mushrooms and toast (and her hashbrowns, which are not suitable for vegans).



We adventured out to St Kilda, where we had lunch at Lentil As Anything. My mum had watched a documentary (or something?) on Lentil as Anything, and was saddened to hear he was running out of money so was particularly interested in going. There were a lot of things not on the menu on Monday, and we suspect it's because their vegetable delivery had yet to arrive (it turned up as we were leaving). So my parents shared the mixed curry plate, and Julie and I both ordered the okonomiyaki. It was massive! Delicious, but massive, I had to grab a container from the Spud Bar next door and take the remainder home!



For Monday dinner we hit up Shakahari, dressing up and ordering cocktails. Danni and I shared the potato gnocci which was served in a tamari sauce with snow peas - it was odd but tasty. My parents shared the soup of the day, it had almonds and broccolini which didn't appeal to me but was apparently very good.

For mains I tackled the 'memory of medina,' cous cous with an eggplant curry. My mother, Malaysian to the core, picked the Malaysian curry. Danni and my sister both opted for the pie, filled with mushrooms and accompanied by giant garden salads. All verdicts were good, and my father decided that this was the best vegetarian restaurant I had brought him to all weekend, which is a compliment I suppose.

Then on to dessert, for which I was glad I had kept room, for Danni and I shared the mango rice pudding and it was delicious, oh so lovely. My parents had the fruit crumble which was light and tasty, and my sister the mango sorbet. Mangos all around! As it should be.



On Tuesday I took them to the airport, and that was the end of our CNY adventures with my parents (not, of course, the end of CNY adventures as there is yet time!)! It was super awesome that they were able to come across to share noodles and traditions with us, and bring us CNY goodies and an adorable tiger, as is custom.

There could have been more noodles, though.



Sawasdee
Level 1 139 Little Bourke Street
Melbourne

Vegie Hut
984 Whitehorse Rd
Box Hill

Penang Affair
325 Brunswick St
Fitzroy

Grigons & Orr
Corner of Queensberry St and Chetwynd St
North Melbourne

Lentil As Anything
41 Blessington St
St Kilda

Shakahari
201-203 Faraday St
Carlton

vegie hut, box hill

Ventured out to Box Hill this morning with (part of) my Melbourne posse for a belated birthday excursion. In reality, this was just an excuse for me to finally visit the much talked of Vegie Hut Sunday morning yum cha. This has previously been talked about by Cindy here and by Lisa here.

We started with some congee, which was one free bowl for every two items from the dim sum menu. Next was a roast duck noodle, which was very good, the soup was delicious and the duck was quite tasty.



The grilled dumplings were delicious, and as always so much better than steamed dumplings. The filling in these ones were especially tasty.



We ordered some pumpkin cakes, which I didn't end up trying, and some ribs in black bean sauce, which I also didn't try. Some people didn't like it, but happily SJ took one for the team and devoured them. The siu mai (sadly no photo, it was very blurry) was excellent, so we shortly ordered a second serve.



We ordered some crispy noodles (originally destined to be flat rice noodles, sadly no longer served) and some fried rice (for Es, who apparently loves it). The noodles were really tasty, and the fried rice was okay.

Next was the crispy tofu skin (delicious!) and the prawn cake (disturbing but delicious).



We rounded that out with some char siu bao, two delicious serves of om nom noms.



We sat around nursing our stomachs, and I declared that I was nowhere near full enough, so to go with the second serve of siu mai we ordered some choi sum in ginger, and some soy nuggets in pepper sauce from the lunch menu. The choi sum was excellent, it is my favourite way to serve it, and a great way to end a meal. The soy nuggets were okay, and the pepper sauce was very peppery, so if you are into pepper sauce that is definitely the dish to pick.

Things we didn't try that I wish we had: spinach dumplings. Things they didn't have that I really wanted, so if they're available anywhere else in Melbourne please tell me: chee cheong fun, four seasons buns.

Afterwards we went to the vegie bakery, but I wasn't feeling in a browsing mood so sadly didn't take advantage of any vegan baked goods they might have had! (allegedly indicated by winnie the pooh stickers)


Vegie Hut
984 Whitehorse Road,
Box Hill