burgertory

Look, every day as a species we move further back along the wheel, and having a restaurant named Burgatory where the meals are named after archangels and deadly sins is no exception to that movement. But, having cycled (and driven) past a bunch of these places when they were closed, and having had a pretty hectic work day in the hospital mines, I decided a weird new burger was the correct mid-week dinner choice. 

And it was! Featured here is the 'envy', without onion and with a side of chips. The chips were excellent, highly rate. The burger was good but not $24 worth of good. The bun was not at all kale-y (good in my book of burgers) but it was a good texture. 

This was a perfectly serviceable fancy burger. On the fancy burger scale it probably rates somewhere above Grill'd but below the Cornish. 

[fitzroy] pavlov's duck

Just a quick one before I mosey on off through to Singapore for family time. Visited Pavlov's Duck for a quick breakfast on Sunday. I'd forgotten that PD does hoppers on weekends and public holidays, so this was a delightful and fairly straightforward order.

Crisp hoppers (3) with beautiful squishy base, a lovely and slightly spicy dahl, marinated and caramelised onions (chilled). The hoppers are cooked at the front of the cafe, so you pass them as you come in, and how can you resist their charms? (You can't.)

A delicious addition to my South Asian weekends (dosa at Mukka). All I need now is for someone to make idli and I'll be content.

Previous visit: the pol roti

Pavlov's Duck
401 Smith Street

Entry is via a little step, ordering occurs at a high counter. Eftpos available. We didn't check out the toilets.
Get there on the 86 tram (not an accessible stop), the Rose Street stop.
The website is hard to read

[fitzroy] mukka indian restaurant

I can't even be reasonable in this review, for tonight I did the thing Australia so often fails to give me:

Dosa a short walk from house. Look at that beautiful thing. Crispy all the way, a heavy and spiced masala aloo, and a dal sambar that was so good I kept eating after all the dosa was gone - which I never do!

And the mark of a good dosa is how sad I am when I'm finished it and there's no more, though I'm full to bursting and shouldn't eat anything else. (I was sad indeed)

Housemates Bella and Alex were first time dosa eaters, and were both very happy with their dosa. Bella had the masala dosa also (listed on the menu as the 'classic'); Alex had the eggplant and pea dosa, which I briefly sampled and had a very mild smokey flavour.

Our eyes were massive, so I insisted on ordering the vegetable biryani and a dish of momo for sharing also. The biryani was excellent, interestingly minty but very moreish. The momo were also excellent and I will eat them again for sure.

I also had a mango and pistachio cooler, which is basically a lassi but with almond milk. I chose to have mine with added coconut rum. It was good but it wasted precious tummy space. Maybe on a beautiful summer evening.

Vegan, vegetarian and gluten free are all clearly labeled on the menu. The staff are really friendly, and as Mukka just opened, they're having a discount until 12 November. I plan to eat there this Sunday lunch time, not cos there's a special but because dosa for lunch is one of the greatest reasons to exist on this planet.

I just made my mum jealous on the phone by describing to her in loving detail the distance between my house and this dosa. (Always remember that the way to make a Malaysian mother annoyed is to tell her you're having better food than her)

My only complaint is that I wish the biryani was a little spicier. D:

Mukka Indian Restaurant
365 Brunswick Street
Fitzroy

Totally failing at remembering if there's a step to get in. Low tables, mixture of stools and chairs with back. Inside is well lit, ordering happens at the table. Payment over a high counter. Toilet is down a dark narrow path. Takes cards and cash.

Get there on the 96 or the 12 tram. Please don't bring a car into Fitzroy if you can help it, it's so annoying.

facebook

[fitzroy] cider house

Rolled into The Cider House this arvo, looking for a place to take my out of town friends. I haven't been there in an age and I wanted to try some of the vegan goodness on their menu.

No regrets, my friends. I had the nasi goreng and it was so good. I never order SEAzn food from "modern Australian" kinds of restaurants, because I'm always disappointed; they're a little too fusion and not enough wok hei as appropriate for my tastes. This was worth it, though. The tempeh was so perfect kering tempeh (and there was a lot of it), there was so much sambal and it was spicy, it was all flavoursome and delicious. I will totally eat it again. It made me very happy. My only sadface was that it was a little toooo saucy (like me).

I also ordered the sweet potato wedges and though it was an awkward combination, my only regret is that I was too bao le to finish them.

Cider: Cheeky Rascal Raspberry + Apple

Cider House
386 Brunswick Street
Fitzroy

Get there on the 11 tram, stop Leicester St. I am pretty sure there's a step into the restaurant, lighting is good during the day and poor during the evening. The tables are awkwardly close together and there's a high risk of couches with low tables. CC available.

[fitzroy] pavlov's duck

In easy walking distance of the house is Pavlov's Duck, a cafe "infused" with Sri Lankan flavours. Of course I was going to give it a go.

The Pol Roti

Miss Bella and I both tried the Pol Roti, a coconut roti with lentils and an onion chutney. It was so good. Not really a roti and more a pancake, it was definitely Sri Lankan in its flavours and was a really lovely and filling start to a Friday morning in a hurry.

The beverage menu is also quite extensive, with both Bella and myself trying variations matcha: I went a matcha latte, and Bella went the matcha smoothie. Latte was acceptable; turns out I'm not a fan of cold matcha, which I could have guessed but might be your jam.

The vegan-ness of the menu is not extensive, but I'd return just for the roti and someone to make me matcha that I didn't have to whisk myself.

It's quiet and easy on a Friday morning, with fast service and an easy atmosphere.

Pavlov's Duck
401 Smith Street

Entry is via a little step, ordering occurs at a high counter. Eftpos available. We didn't check out the toilets.
Get there on the 86 tram (not an accessible stop), the Rose Street stop.
The website is hard to read

the bear cafe, fitzroy

Because what Fitzroy needs is more reasons for me to lament that I live a whole 1.5km away from it, yesterday Danni and I visited The Bear Cafe, on Brunswick Street.

The Bear Cafe is an all vegan cafe, aside from the dairy option they offer in their coffees and hot drinks. Their menu is classic cafe, with scrambled tofu, vegemite and cheese toasties, and a soup of the day, but who cares about those things when I can order a Big Breakfast?!

The Big Breakfast comes with scrambled tofu, mushrooms, spinach, chilli guacamole and beans on your choice of sourdough. The beans were out for the day (to be fair, we were having lunch at 1430), so I got extra fuscram, on a pumpkin sourdough. This was delicious and exactly what I wanted, but I wish there was a little more of the promised chilli - I couldn't taste it at all, though I could see it. Some of us are Malaysian and need our chilli every day!

Danni went with the Double Down, which is essentially the same as the Big Breakfast but encased in three slices of olive bread, and in her case also included the melty vegusto cheese, which she declared delicious. Despite its size Danni hoovered this straight down.

The Bear Cafe has a coffee delivery service within 1km, which is what first attracted us to the cafe; the coffee was indeed, as promised on their facebook page, pretty good (their sign says 'best coffee in the universe' but I take my signage with a grain of salt). Service is laid back and lovely and friendly. They also sell Neo Tokyo items, bamboo toothbrushes (panda friendly), and fresh fruit and vegies. Their photos lead me to believe sometimes there are puppies, but I didn't spot any on this visit.

We think it used to be a dry cleaners; agree?

The Bear Cafe
439 Brunswick Street
Fitzroy

Get there on the 112 (the stop is directly outside). Toilet wasn't working so no assessment. CC available. GF options (including GF bread) available.

icecreams and sundaes out and about

Yesterday was 32C here in old Melbourne-town, and despite today's amazing and delightful rain and coat weather it truly is heading towards summer, so I've started meeting people out and about for fancy iced treats.

Notable eats so far:
Coconut + Sago Sundae - St Ali South (pictured)
At $13.50 this sundae is not cheap, but it's also giant, gluten free, filling, and totally shareable between two people, which I wish is how I'd eaten it. It's served with gluten-free muesli, pineapple, mango, and topped with freeze-dried fruit. I ordered it without the pineapple, and despite my scepticism re: the muesli I was totally into it. It was very, very rich though, which is surprising to me given it's on the breakfast menu. I would eat again, but only if I was feeling rich and could share it with someone. 12-18 Yarra Pl, South Melbourne

En-Thai-Sing - Gelato Messina
$9, still pretty exxy, but SO INTO IT. Pandan and coconut sorbet, mango, simple but delicious. Desperately want to make coconut and pandan sorbet this summer at home. I believe their menu also includes a huge range of delicious dried fruits including dragonfruit, and a ginger and five spice pudding. They also do a chocolate sorbet, which intrigues me. I would eat this again but probably not too often, and definitely not while their queue goes halfway down Smith Street. Also that NAME, geez. The owner had better be South East Asian is all I'm saying. 237 Smith St, Fitzroy

Passionfruit Sorbet with Chocolate Soya Icecream - Casa del Gelato
This is my standard, I will never part from it, it is the best combination so give it a go. Casa is the best because they have so many vegan options including baci, and also they are just down the road from my house. Cones start from $5. I just wish they'd engage in some queue management on beautiful days when you have to push five people deep. 163 Lygon St, Carlton

Blood Orange Sorbet - Spring St Grocer/Primavera Gelateria
Primavera Gelateria does a variety of rotating flavours, with at least two dairy free on each of my visits. I think it was $6 for a scoop, so it's exxy but it's good. 157 Spring St, Melbourne

Eats to which I'd like to extend:
Frozen Cheezecake - Merry Cupcakes
I miss ice cream cake a lot. I hope this will turn out to make up for that. 261 Brunswick St, Fitzroy

Any icy highlights come your way yet? Please share the icy love.

merry cupcakes, fitzroy

Regular readers of my social media will probably already know that my cupcake heart belongs to Cupcake Central, run by the super awesome Sheryl, who helped my friends bring me cupcakes when I was living in China, who when I hint around vegan things (like Oreos) invents new flavours to accomodate it, and is generally really awesome and inspiring.

But I was in Fitzroy on Saturday, as I so often am, and thought I should give the newly opened all-vegan Merry Cupcakes a go.

Clockwise top left: the beet it (red velvet with beetroot); the wakey wakey (i think - coffee); strawberry fields forever; 'bruce banner' (zucchini and and banana).

I love vegan shops. Love love love them, so I'm automatically always excited. My favourites were the pop culture cupcakes (strawberry fields forever and bruce banner) - the strawberry one had a really fresh strawberry flavour, and dr banner was delicious (things I never thought I'd say). Apparently people often don't get those references, even though they're the best!

The beet it was a bit weirdly nutty, and the wakey wakey was fine but just a generic coffee cupcake. Would return though, 50% is still a pass and there's so many other flavours to sample; plus, service was lovely and friendly and helpful, and I'd like to try their coffee!

You can find their spring menu here. They're currently only just now moving in to gluten free cupcakes with one or two flavours.

Merry Cupcakes
261 Brunswick Street
Fitzroy
Closed Tuesdays

Get there on the 112 tram. I think there was a step up into the shop, service is at the counter.

brunch at little creatures

Being both originally from WA, when Mez and I discovered that Little Creatures in Fitzroy had a breakfast menu we thought it'd be awesome to drop in.

The only item that could be veganised was the avocado + feta with dukka and spinach on toast, without the feta; I couldn't order the beans because they are cooked with butter.

This was plain and nothing special, and there was actually no dukka on my avocado, but the coffee was nice and the atmosphere in the mostly empty pub was pleasant and the company was, as always, delightful. If I'm in Fitzroy I'd rather dart across to Las Vegan, but it was a very nice morning nearby where I had to be for my next engagement.

Little Creatures Dining Hall
222 Brunswick Street
Fitzroy

Entry has a ramp, lots of lighting, tiny menus, ordering happens at the table. $14 for my meal. Get there on the 112 tram (not accessible).

madame k's vegetarian, fitzroy

Walking up Brunswick Street heading for Yongs, my eye was caught by a new restaurant fit-out and a nice blue sign announcing 'Madame K Vegetarian.' So of course we detoured!



We started with some awesome fresh juices, served in little bottles. My watermelon and apple juice was super delicious; Ju had orange and pineapple which she reported was also delicious (I elected not to sample her juice on the grounds that pineapple is my least favourite fruit).



I'm not usually a big entree person, but I couldn't resist trying the chicken and corn soup. This had an excellent corn flavour, and little stringy bits of mock chicken, and lots of spring onions. A perfect chicken and corn soup! And it was an excellent size - it could almost be a small meal.



Ju and I both struggled to select a main. I finally settled on the chicken rice; the rice was perfectly gingered, and the chicken tasted just as it should, with an accompanying soy+bean Thai sauce with an excellent chilli bite that set it all off excellently. Ju went for the laksa, which was a bit more red curry noodle than assam deliciousness, but was still a pretty good dish on its own.

Madame K's also has an excellent and tempting dessert menu, filled with an amazing-looking fruit salad, deep fried bananas, and other exciting things. We skipped this in favour of cocktails at Polly, but I look forward to a future, dessert-included visit!

Service here was good, and prompt. Vegan items are clearly labelled on the menu. A main costs about $15. I have been thinking about the menu for a couple of days now, and definitely will visit Madame K's again (though probably not until my triumphant return to Melbourne later this year).

Madame K's allegedly has a website, but it doesn't appear to yet be up and running.

No other reviews: despite living in Beijing, am I the first?!

Madame K's Vegetarian
367 Brunswick Street
Fitzroy

94156909

accessibility: step up to enter, tables are very close together and difficult to maneuver around. get there on the 112 tram (which is not an accessible tram).

breakfast at the vegie bar

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

soul food, fitzroy

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.

vegie bar iv, fitzroy

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!

yong green food ii, fitzroy

When Yong Green Food opened just over a year ago, I raced out and dined there almost within that first week. Even though the menu was limited, everything was fantastic and I knew I wanted to go there again. Yet it has taken me a full year to return.

Last week I met up with some friends for dinner, and we were pleased to see so much choice. We each began with a cacao raw milkshake. Mine was quite banana-y, which I really enjoyed (J's, by comparison, was more cacao-y). We followed this with a shared portion of gyoza. These were okay, but nothing special, and needed a little more steaming to really soften the wrappers.



Lisa's recent post of top eats of 2010 was at the forefront of my mind, with chicken teriyaki listed at the top of her post. So I decided to order it! This was delicious, it really reminded me of when I used to eat meat and would over indulge at Nagano Japanese, just down the road from my house in Crawley. I loved the teriyaki flavour.

My dining companions chose the rawsagna and the dragon bowl. I've heard good things about the dragon bowl, but my sampling of the dish didn't blow me away. J enjoyed the rawsagna, but commented that there could have been less cashew cream and more tomato flavour.



We rounded out the meal with two cheezecakes between the three of us, and we went for the green tea and the blueberry. These were just as good as I remembered, with a wonderful nutty + dried fruit base, and delicious cake-y bits. So delicious, so worth it.

Definitely glad I made the effort to return to Yong. I hope that my next visit won't also take another twelve months!

There have been heaps of reviews of Yong Green Food, this is not even all of them: Wayfaring Chocolate (an out of town review!); The Big V; MEL: HOT OR NOT (it got a HOT); Where's the Beef?; In the Mood for Noodles; Aduki; Fitzroyalty.


Yong Green Food
421 Brunswick Street
Fitzroy

Not open Mondays

GF options available

a couple of pubs, east brunswick + fitzroy

We did two pub meals last weekend (I'm almost finished blogging these meals, honestly!). The first was Monday night, at the EBC. We've visited the EBC many times in the past, and usually I'd go for the vegan parma but I was drifted in to nacho territory. It was really good.



Danni and Jo shared the nacho parma, which is exactly what it sounds - a vegan parma, covered in corn chips, vegan chilli, vegan sour cream + cheese and some guacamole. It was amazing! I am totally trying this some time. I can't believe it's been on the menu all this time and I've never noticed it! It's like two of the greatest meals ever combined into one!


Las Vegan was still closed for the break on Tuesday, so we headed up to Grumpy's Green, to which none of us had ever been. I've heard many mixed things about Grumpy's! It was quiet on Tuesday, so the service was pretty prompt.



Christine and I both ordered the Tower Burger. The patty was nice, and the serving was fine, but without the pesto and mayonnaise (I take the absence to mean the pesto and mayonnaise are not vegan) it was a little bit bland.



Danni ordered the Summer Wrap. The avocado really set this off, it was not exciting but it wasn't bad. Again with the missing mayonnaise and pesto. Is it that hard to get vegan versions of this stuff in a vegetarian pub? Really?

At least the chips were crinkle cut. Everyone knows that makes them tastier.

What was excellent, though, was the infused vodka - Christine was quite taken by the coffee infused vodka.

EBC one, two, three.

East Brunswick Club
280 Lygon Street
East Brunswick
Victoria

Grumpy's Green
125 Smith Street
Fitzroy

vegie bar iii

Our super awesome friend Christine came to visit us over the Easter long weekend. Danni and I really want Christine to move to Melbourne, so phase one of convincing her to move here was showcasing the very best of Melbourne's vegan noms.

We started this by walking over to Ceres on Saturday morning, only to discover it was closed! Disastuh! So instead we took the 96 down to Fitzroy, and decided to give the Vegie Bar a go.

Now, I know many veg*ns do not like the Vegie Bar, but lately I have been warming to it, after an amazing lasagna and a quite good soup. And it turns out that Vegie Bar has a separate breakfast menu, which I didn't realise.

There aren't a huge amount of vegan options, but there are enough.



I went for the vegan french toast. This was good. It's a bit thick and heavy, so it's more pancake than toast in texture, but the flavour was interesting and just the right amount of cinnamon, and it didn't feel like it was lacking anything. I would eat this again.



Danni ordered the scrambled tofu with roti. This is on the menu with egg! When Danni asked if it could be made without egg, the waitress thought that the egg was an integral ingredient - fortunately it was not, and Danni got to have scrambled tofu, but why are so many restaurants so obsessed with egg? This is, I know, one of the things that bothers many vegans about the vegie bar - that they don't seem as vegan friendly as they could be! ANYWAY, this scrambled tofu was okay, but nothing exciting, and Danni coveted my french toast.



Christine ordered the vegie brekkie sans egg. It was okay, reports Christine, but she did worry afterwards about the vegan-ness of the mock bacon and mock sausage.

previous visits: one and two.



The Vegie Bar
378 Brunswick Street
Fitzroy

aduki vegan bake off

Saturday saw the Vegan Aduki Bakeoff at Kindness House! I wasn't able to attend until quite late, so Danni took my entries and entered them for me. I'll blog about my adventures and misadventures in pandan later, but I just wanted to quickly mention that Danni took a lot of pictures of delicious vegan baked goods, which you can see in full in our flickr!

Congratulations to Kristy and Em who both won categories! (exciting!)

vegie bar ii

I've been to Vegie Bar three times in the last fortnight! This is more than I ever have previously!

The first visit was because I was working in the area, and feeling a little unwell I had their soup of the day. 12pm on a Wednesday afternoon, the service was good and it was kind of quiet, and the pumpkin soup was just what I needed to get through the day. No photos, but thanks for the soup.



The second visit was with T, who met me after my FOE shift last week to borrow a book and to hang. We wandered in to Vegie Bar because I knew there'd be desserts I could eat, and it was close by. This crumble was lovely! Not the greatest crumble ever, and a bit runnier than I like my crumbles, but the rhubarb was tart and it was quite nice.

The third visit was this morning with Danni's parents and one (1) sibling, who are here visiting. We've eaten other places whilst they've been here, which I will review in a bit (they're all the standards that we visit quite often), but I needed to mention what I had for lunch:



Let me describe this piece of magnificence for you. This vegan lasagna (at only $12 from the specials board) featured seitan and smoked tofu bolognaise (OMG), with a bechamel sauce, and was covered in vegan cheese and more of the bolognaise. It was served with a light, crisp garlic bread, and a fairly average garden salad. But this lasagna was amazing. The best I've eaten in an absolute age. I would eat it again tomorrow, definitely.



Danni ordered the tofu wrap, and she was totally jealous of my lunch, though she says hers was perfectly fine. Fine but not AMAZING WOW.

Don't fear! I'm not suddenly in love with the Vegie Bar. But it was good. Maybe I think more highly of it than I used to.

Previous visit to Vegie Bar here.

The Vegie Bar
378 Brunswick Street
Fitzroy

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

yong green food, fitzroy

Extreme heat plus a lack of air conditioning in House of K + Toby saw us and Jo make an impromptu visit with them to the new vegetarian, somewhat organic and raw restaurant on Brunswick Street in Fitzroy this evening.

Please forgive the photos, they were taken on Danni's new N900.

We stepped inside, only to discover that although the air was slightly cooler, there was no air conditioning and no fans. So we started by ordering some drinks, a whole lot of mango lassis and I, the lone dissenter with a chocolate banana milkshake.



Toby, last to arrive yet first to order, went for the Korean Barbecue with rice. I didn't get to try this; he commented that he liked the sauce, but the fake meat tasted 'like the cheap sort.'



K and I both opted for raw meals, as the restaurant heavily promotes this. Tempted by something I absolutely knew I wouldn't make at home, I ordered the rawsagne. At first bite, the cold density felt odd, but as I got used to its rawness I began to really enjoy it, and although the portion size looked small, I felt well sated by the end of it. I would eat this again.



K, claiming to not be that hungry (later proven a lie), ordered a serve of the raw sushi. I liked the novelty of this, the raw carrot playing a strong part, but I'm not sure I'd personally order this dish.



Danni and Jo ordered from the brief wraps menu; Jo a chickpea wrap with a side of noodle salad, and Danni a lentil wrap. The filling for both of these was very nice, but the portions were quite large and Danni at least had difficulty finishing.



To round out the meal, we ordered two raw vegan cheesecakes to share. There were three on the menu, and we deliberated, picking two; then they brought us all three, one on the house, declaring two just wouldn't be enough! This was lovely, and indicative of the service we had all night (friendly, accommodating, no hovering), but proved a problem for us in the end as we struggled to finish!



Totally worth it though. The three varieties were blackberry, green tea, and chocolate. A vote on the way back to Brunswick saw three votes for green tea and one vote for berry.

Lots of GF options. The menu is still a little limited, as they've only just opened, but there's a nice range available from which to choose.

Yong Green Food
421 Brunswick Street
Fitzroy