tart n round ii, thornbury

Hanging with my peeps Amanda and Erin this evening, watching some very terrible television. Amanda is Free of Gluten, and yet has never been to Tart'n'Round. So we thought we should rectify this by making a visit for dinner.

I am so delightfully full, oh yeah. Vegan and gluten-free is the best.

(sorry for the slightly blurry photos, we were using toy camera, alas!)



I ordered the satay tofu burger, with bread instead of a bun. The bread was amazing! Which was unexpected, as I only ever hear people complain about gluten free bread. But it was deliciousssssss.



However the highlight of the meal was, for me, these pumpkin risotto balls. The pumpkin was just a hint, and the risotto balls were crispy and had a lovely flavour. Om nom nom.



Danni ordered this baked potato. She declared it was very delicious, but she was unable to finish it, due to the portion size.



E had this moussaka - she said it was great, but she would have liked a little more moussaka, and a little less salad. (There was a lot of salad)



A loves fritters, so she was super excited to order these sweet potato and corn fritters, which she declared om nom nom.

We were super full, so we didn't eat dessert there, but we picked up two lemon meringue pies, two caramel slices, and some cookies and a cherry and chocolate bar thing, to take home to eat whilst we kept watching. E declared the caramel slice not caramel-y enough, but Danni and A loved the tarts.

Overall, SUPER DELICIOUS.

Tart'n'Round
839 High st
Thornbury

ETA Tart'n'Round is sadly closed! As of March 1st 2010.

pearl oyster, thornbury

On my recent request for breakfast recommendations, wanting kneading suggested Pearl Oyster, in Thornbury.

Located on the corner of Miller Street and Gilbert Road in Thornbury, it is quite near to some of our friends, so when they suggested a Friday morning breakfast, it seemed the perfect opportunity to try it out! Wanting Kneading implied it was difficult to get to by tram, but actually it is no problem - catch the 112 up and there is a stop right outside.



Like many of the cafes around Melbourne, Pearl Oyster has that quirky miscellaneous feel - spoons and plates that look like they've been scrounged from the op shop or some Nan's collection, old signs, and some text books of such a nature that I fear for any children who took that as the truth.



After a small perusal of the menu, and a lot of chatter (and some coffee spillage), I decided to combine together two menu items - the roasted mushrooms on toast with rocket, with the avocado and dukkah on toast. This dish was delicious! The mushrooms were succulent and juicy, and the avocado was just perfect. The dukkah and lemon added a lovely flavour to the overall meal. I could eat another portion just thinking about it!



D went for the fruit toast with tofutti cream cheese. Although the portion size was quite small, this toast packed a punch! The bread was incredibly flavoursome, and worked perfectly with the tofutti.

J and DB, our companions at breakfast, ordered various eggy things. J was moderately pleased with his lean green eggs, and DB was very happy with his omlette with sambal.



Although it was a slightly chilly morning (Melbourne WTH), the sun came out and it was nice to sit in the (no smoking) courtyard, so I ventured inside to check out their cakes on display. To my joy, there were vegan cakes available! I ordered two slices of raspberry coconut cake, which were from Sugardough.



We were super pleased by the service, most notably by their thoroughness. The Sugardough cakes had been provided from Sugardough with I forget the name, the silver balls that are used for cake decorating. Our waitstaff noted that these balls usually contain gelatin, and so called Sugardough to check for us (Sugardough, as it turns out, sources these especially so they are vegan). And then they brought us a serve of raspberries to pour all over our cake!

I was really happy with my meal, and the atmosphere was friendly and lovely, and it was a great morning out. I will definitely return, probably for the mushrooms on toast again!

Pearl Oyster
114 Miller St
Thornbury

Closed Tuesdays

GF options available

tart n round, thornbury

Kristy made this great post about going to dinner at Tart N Round on Friday night, and I read it on Saturday afternoon, thinking about how fantastic it would be to eat that lasagna.

So this afternoon, in need of some delicious food and some cheering up, D and I ventured across town to High Street. This was a bit of an adventure, as before we'd left, we'd agreed that it was '269 or 263 or something' in Thornbury, and off we went without confirming the address! This was a big mistake, that saw us venturing as far North as Preston, before venturing South again in an attempt to find it! But find it we did, and we managed to snag a table before a huge group of cyclists came in and took every spare seat!

Kristy's aforementioned post was very inspiring, as no sooner had we ordered that Cindy and Michael turned up, also for Sunday afternoon adventures! They had just lunched at La Panella (our next stop), and had decided to pause at Tart N Round for dessert.



I spent approximately ten seconds glancing at the menu, mostly because I had already made my mind up, and was just confirming - I wanted the lasagna, corn sheets filled with mashed potato, roasted pumpkin, mushroom, and eggplant. It was so good!



D decided upon the open burrito, which was also fantastic. The filling included kidney beans, corn and brown rice, and it had an amazing flavour, very strong but it totally worked. I am definitely going to try this all to myself sometime.



We both ordered milkshakes (with icecream) - one banana, one chocolate. The chocolate milkshake contained huge chunks of chocolate, which was a delight that left me sucking the chocolate off my hands after I fished the chocolate chunks out of the soy milk!

In the end we were too full for dessert, but Cindy and Michael kindly offered us bites of theirs - I think they had a slice of black forest cake and a chocolate (and something?) cake. The chocolate cake was very dense and rich, and the black forest was very creamy, but they were both tasty!



Everything at Tart'N'Round is gluten-free and vegetarian and free of dairy and eggs (I don't know about their honey status). Deliciousness for everyone! And we will definitely be returning for future meals - not only was the food good, but the (very busy) staff were friendly and helpful.



Tart'N'Round
839 High St
Thornbury

takeout/delivery around brunswick

So, we don't really know what there is around Brunswick(ish) that's any good for vegans looking for takeout or delivery! Any recommendations? I am especially interested in recommendations for Thai food, but anything delicious (and definitely has vegan options) would be good.

Help me, internets!