[wa] heavenly plate, applecross

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

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

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

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

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!

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

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

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

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!

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

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)

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

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

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

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.