this is vegan melbourne

2009-11-30T20:44:00.001+11:00

working on a new post at www.veganmelbourne.wordpress.com

just trying to get the picture uploader tool to work!

2008-11-06T16:31:00.001+11:00

on second thoughts, let's just see what happens over at veganmelbourne.wordpress.com

2008-11-06T16:01:00.000+11:00

i'm thinking of giving this whole blog business up....

sarah cooked us dinner

2008-09-14T14:07:00.005+10:00

and have no doubt, it was amazing

entree: pizza with a base of smoked tofu and olive dip, topped with tempeh, sweet potato, pumpkin and walnuts.

main: chicken and vegetable pie

dessert: chocolate peppermint cheesecake, which erle claims is sarah's best ever cheesecake.

yes...i have some very talented friends....

Maybe I'm Not So Shit At Baking

2008-09-14T13:59:00.002+10:00

Maybe it's the move, maybe it's the oven thermometer I bought, maybe it's the recipe; all I know is that these chocolate and banana muffins WORKED. and tasted DELICIOUS.

If you want to be like me, achieving success in the kitchen, I recommend buying The Joy Of Vegan Baking. Bake the first recipe, then revel in being amazing at life.

Dessert

2008-09-14T13:45:00.004+10:00

Casa Del Gelato

Casa Del Gelato is a gelateria on Lygon Street. From the outside, it just looks like any of the other ubiquitous Italian ice creameries littering the strip. But on the inside, you get to delight in the fact that they have SOY FLAVOURS. Most of the time, us vegans can eat the fruit flavours at an ordinary gelati bar, but here, we get to experience such delights as chocolate and baci. I ended up with baci and cherry, and then wished i'd chosen pistachio, as Riva had, because it was delicious, and the cherry was a little too Dr. Pepper for my tastes. Damn that buyers' remorse.

It is nice to be able to sit in the square in Carlton and watch kids on razor scooters scooting in circles and tut tut about how children are dressed these days while eating ice cream. You can get yours in a cone or a cup. Go nuts.

Where: 163 Lygon Street, Carlton

When: Probably around midday until late, but don't quote me on that.

Call: 9347-0220

Out for Lunch Friday

2008-08-15T12:56:00.005+10:00

Trippy Taco

Trippy Taco is a Mexican Cantina (I just wanted to use the word cantina) on Smith St. It is all vegetarian and almost all items have the option of being made vegan. We got burritos. The one in the picture above is a Tofu Asada Burrito, and the one in the picture below is mine, a Black Bean Burrito.

The food is messy, as Mexican food tends to be. The burritos have beans (or tofu), onion, tomato, soy cheese and greenery. Some of the other delicious menu items include tacos, nachos and (my favourite) the vegan chocolate banana melt. Trippy have other nice touches, such as delicious Mexican and South American beverages and a variety of hot sauces. They also offer a breakfast burrito, which I am yet to sample.

Where: 48 Smith Street, Collingwood.

When: Mon&Tue 11:30-4pm, Wed-Fri 11:30-9pm, Sat&Sun 10am-9pm

Call: 9415-7711

Special Edition

2008-07-18T07:00:00.006+10:00

Shakeaway Milkshakes

The latest buzz amongst my friends, and a few vegan blogs and websites has been the opening of the UK franchise Shakeaway in Melbourne's Knifepoint. I mean, Highpoint. There aren't too many places you can easily access a vegan milkshake, especially one with flavours like PEANUT BUTTER and APPLE CINNAMON. So, we did our vegan duty and trekked out to Highpoint.

The milkshakes were delicious. We all had peanut butter and chocolate flavour, so I am unable to comment on the other flavours, but they had a list of the flavours that were vegan and had other lists of flavours suitable for coeliacs etc.

I guess the thing about it is this: you could do this at home. They used So Good soy ice cream, soy milk, peanut butter and cocoa powder (As far as I could tell; maybe she snuck in some secret magical ingredient). I don't know how you'd make the caramel popcorn flavour, but I think if you watched them closely enough, you could figure it out. That's not to say they weren't amazing (McNabb described it as cheesecake in a cup), but at around $9.00 a pop it sure isn't cheap.

Personally, I probably won't be making the pilgrimage out to Highpoint again. (Although seeing a guy dragged off in handcuffs by the police made it totally worth it) But if I was there for some other reason, I'd totes be paying Shakeaway a visit. And if one opened in the city, I'd be all over it. Because even though, yes, you could probably do it at home, I for one am extremely lazy. And also because I think it's really rad every time another place opens where vegans are welcomed, so I want to support that.

I think I'm rambling because I haven't blogged in a while. So I'm going to stop....

Where: Level 1, Highpoint Shopping Centre, Maribyrnong
When: Sun-Wed 10-5:30, Thur-Sat 10-9:30
Phone: 9317-9082

Out for Lunch Friday

2008-07-06T19:59:00.005+10:00

Tabet's Lebanese Pizzas and Pies

Erle and I decided to take a break from our Big Love Season 2 marathon for lunch at Tabet's.

Tabet's is a Lebanese bakery on Sydney Road in Brunswick. They have a limited menu, from which I have only tried one item - but that item is delicious.

I'm talking about one Oregano Pizza with Salad. It consists of a doughy bread, with an oregano and olive oil base, topped with raw onion, capsicum, olives and tomato. Get them to add some fresh lemon juice and chili powder when they pull it from the oven. They roll it up like a souvlaki and wrap it in paper. Did I mention it's only $2.50?

Where: 607 Sydney Road, Brunswick
When: 7 Days
Call: 9387-3461

so, i've been away

2008-07-06T08:36:00.001+10:00

not away, away, anywhere interesting. just away from this blog. i have been feeling uninspired, despite the amazing food i've been eating and the fact that i've been learning to cook. but i've had a couple of people ask me lately if/when i'm going to update. so this blog is back with a fresh new look and hopefully a new zeal. stay tuned.

super living expo

2008-02-26T13:12:00.002+11:00

This past weekend was the super living expo at northcote town hall. i realise these events are kind of hard to organise, and that there aren't necessarily a million vegan companies willing or able to exhibit, but was anyone else kind of disappointed?

There was lots of interesting stuff, I guess, if you're into pamphlets. Maybe it's just me, but I felt like it was all stuff I knew about/could get from the internet. That said, Vegan Perfection were giving away samples, and Enlightened Cuisine were selling food which was decent.

I also didn't attend any of the workshops/talks, so maybe those were killer, I don't know.

All that aside, can we please stop making the assumption that all vegans are hippies who listen to whiny acoustic music? Apologies to the performers and their friends/family/fans, but it was not exactly easy listening. I'm pretty sure there are better vegan performers in this city...

This rant probably came off harsher than I meant it to. I really appreciate the work that went into organising this expo, and I think it's awesome that Melbourne has enough of a vegan community that something like this is warranted and worthwhile. So, enough negativity for now. Go super living! yah!

you don't win friends with salad

2008-02-18T16:42:00.002+11:00

or do you?

i am aware that this is the most boring post ever, but I don't care. anyone who knows me irl is very aware of my domestic ineptitude. i ruin just about everything. and i realise it's near impossible to mess up a salad, but i was extremely proud that i made something edible.

it was just - baby rocket, mango, avocado and mushrooms. then i mixed together a teaspoon of ground cumin, a teaspoon of garlic powder and 1/2 a teaspoon of chili powder. voila - dinner.

short post

2008-01-23T12:02:00.000+11:00

i know i haven't posted since october. i know. it's really poor form. But I hope this will make up for all those months of neglect. It's a vegan parma. Mock chicken, tomato, soy cheese. Fucking amazing. East Brunswick Club. $17.50.

Now I hope you'll all forgive me.

Oriental Spirit

2007-10-25T10:24:00.000+10:00

Oriental Spirit was another Lidia recommendation (me thinks she spends her work time researching eateries). It's great - there isn't much vegan on the menu when you first look at it, but you tell the wait staff what you can and can't eat and they suggest things, amend things and are just generally good.

However, here's the problem. We went there so long ago that I no longer remember what all these things were that we ate. When Lidia updates her blog with this night I will go and pinch her knowledge. Until then, here are some artistic (read: blurry) pictures of food. And a recommendation to go to Oriental Spirit. The end.
I think these were tofu and vegetable rolls. They were quite delicious.
Mm-mm, look at those...things. Yuuu--umm, little parcels of... goodness. Yep. Yummo.

Hey! It's...bread! And dipping sauce of some description!

I believe this was Lidia's meal - some sort of spicy laksa style soup. That girl is always on the hunt for a new, better laksa.
AH! This is familiar. This was mine, it was pad thai. It was awesome. Better than Rocket's pad thai at Laksa Me.

This was our vegetable thing. It was really good, it had big chunks of tofu and a spicy mango sauce.

Wow, I remembered more about that meal than I expected to! Apologies for the blurry photos, I find it hard to concentrate on getting a good picture when I am hungry.

Oriental Spirit
52-54 Victoria Street
Richmond

Open: 7 days, 10am - 1am

Laksa Me

2007-10-25T10:09:00.000+10:00

Lidia suggested this place, because we both have a bit of a laksa thing. There's not much I can say about Laksa Me. The entrees were good. We had these triangle things and these other tofu things. (look that way <-)

For main course, Rocket got the pad thai without egg, which proved to be the wisest choice of the night. Lidia and I both got the vegetarian laksa, and were disappointed. Maybe it's our weak palates, maybe it just wasn't very good but, well, it wasn't very good. My main complaint was that it was way too spicy for me. You know when food is so hot that it doesn't taste like food any more, it just tastes like the fire of a thousand suns on your tongue? Yeah, it was like that. Here is what it looked like:

Yeah, it looks nice but it was just kind of boring. Hence the extremely unenthusiastic tone of this here blog. I think that's all I have to say about Laksa Me. If you go, order the pad thai. Like Rocket. Stupid smart Rocket....

Laksa Me
1/16 Liverpool Street
Melbourne

Open: 7 days, noon-3 & 6:30 - 10pm

Cafe Lalibela

2007-09-02T17:29:00.000+10:00

I haven't eaten a lot of Ethiopian food in my time. In fact, to be honest, this was my first experience. So it's hard to place this in comparison to other Ethiopian food I've eaten, but I'm told Lalibela is one of the best Ethiopian restaurants in the country, and I don't doubt it, considering the delicious meal we had.

Lalibela is a cosy place, and the idea is that you share your food. We ordered the equivalent of 4 servings between the 5 of us and it all came out on a big communal plate. The base of the meal, and I guess what you use as your cutlery, is a pancake-y bread called injera which is made of teff flour and is slightly sour because of the fermentation process. Covering the injera are little piles of wat (ethiopian stew) made of corn and lentils. Then there are fresh vegies around the edge. Allow me to illustrate.

We had around 4 different wats to choose from on our injera, and they were all delicious. It was hard to tell which was which, and I didn't really read the menu to see what we'd be getting, but it seemed mostly to be different pulses with spices added. It's the easiest meal - you just scoop up the stew with the pancake. It's also really nice in terms of a communal meal - it's kind of the ultimate in sharing.

And as well as all this, it's cheap too, and you can buy interesting Ethiopian beers to go with your meal.

I think this place is onto something...one plate and no cutlery between 5 people sure makes for an easy time doing the dishes...

Cafe Lalibela
91 Irving St, Footscray
9687-0300
Daily: 11am-10pm

Bo de Trai

2007-09-02T17:07:00.000+10:00

After doing a lot of eating, blogging, talking about eating and blogging, Lidia and I got onto the topic of the vegetarian network site (www.vnv.org) and its amazing list of restaurants. What better thing for a couple of bloggers to do, we thought, then to eat//blog our way through the list. Genuis! We decided to go alphabetically, because I'm a little bit anal and I like things to be done in order.

So, first on our list was Bo de Trai, a vegetarian Vietnamese restaurant in Footscray, which does a lot of mock meat. Everything in the menu is listed as pork this or chicken that, but it's all imitation. It's a good feeling.

We started with spring rolls, served in the classic way with lettuce and dipping sauce. It's hard to get these wrong, and Bo de Trai is no exception: perfectly crispy spring rolls and that tangy sauce.

I ordered a seafood stir fry, Lidia had a chicken noodle dish and Rocket ordered tofu with chili and lemongrass. It was decided by the end that I had made the best call - the seafood was eerily similar to real fish, and it came with fresh green vegies and was served with this amazing sauce that none of us could quite place...maybe it was sesame, I'll never know. Lid's soup was good too, but perhaps a little bland - the best thing about Vietnamese food is often the sauces, and the soup was lacking something. Rocket's tofu, however, was amazing! Fried tofu dusted with chili and lemongrass, it would have been better ordered as something to share between the table, rather than a main on its own - I think it got a little full on after a while.

In addition to the amazing food, Bo de Trai is blissfully cheap, with quick and friendly service, and the thermos of tea on the table is really nice touch. Highly recommended, which is a good feeling after eating at so many mediocre places recently.

Bo De Trai
94 Hopkins Street, Footscray
9689-9909

Urban Burger

2007-09-02T16:58:00.000+10:00

o
Urban Burger is one of those places that is a bit shit. It's one of those new trendy "gourmet"
burger joints, similar to Grill'd. I'm a bit over the gourmet burger, to be honest. I think it's tired. However, sometimes you want fast food, and you're in Middle Park or Port Melbourne or wherever and it's easy and so you do it.

Urban Burger, to their credit, have a burger called "Vegan Vibe". Now, most intelligent folk, putting the title to use, would assume the burger is vegan. It's not. Gah. Not a huge deal, you just have to ask for it without aioli. But really, why would they name a burger vegan when it isn't? Surely that's just a little bit dumb. The burger itself is okay. It has a nice pattie made of red kidney beans, lentils, coriander and chili and it comes with salad, avocado and relish.

Personally, I prefer Grill'd. This may have something to do with my obsession with satay sauce, which I find can be satisfied quite well at Grill'd. Either way, Urban Burger is not the devil, but it is still a chain and it's just kind of boring.

(Note: picture features Emily's hand, as many of my photos tend to do)

Urban Burger
Check the website www.urbanburger.com for locations, cos they have quite a few.

Dinner Party!

2007-09-02T16:39:00.000+10:00

A little different to how I normally blog, this is about a dinner party we had not long ago. It's not a restaurant, but the food was vegan and i'll chuck in a recipe at the end. Mostly it's just photos of a good night. We decided on sushi, rice paper rolls and blondies.

Lidia preparing the sushi and rice paper rolls.The vegibles and tofu for the rice paper rolls.
The blondies!

The table
The destruction!

It was a fun night. I don't normally cook, so Rocket and I were pretty proud of our efforts with the blondies. The recipe is from Vegan with a Vengeance, but I will give it to you here. (P.S. They taste pretty awesome)

ingredients

FOR THE BLONDIES:

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
6 ozs. silken tofu
1/4 cup soy milk
1/3 cup oil
2 cups sugar
2 tbsp vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups raw macadamias, partially chopped and partially ground

FOR THE TOPPING:

1/4 cup soy marg
2 tbsp brown sugar
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 cup raw macadamia nuts, coarsely chopped

instructions

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a 9 X 13 inch pan.

In a blender or food processor, blend the tofu and soy milk until smooth. Add the oil, sugar and vanilla dn blend again. Combine this with the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl and mix well. Fold in the nuts. The dough will be think. Spread into the baking pan and bake for 25 minutes.

Prepare the topping: Mix all ingredients except for the nuts in a saucepan. Heat until sugar dissolves. Increase heat and bring to boil for 1 minute. Stir in nuts and remove from heat.

Remove blondies from over, pour topping on them, and bake for 10 more minutes. Let cool completely before serving.

Camy Shanghai Noodle & Dumpling House

2007-09-02T16:29:00.000+10:00

Everyone in Melbourne knows about dumplings. Most people know that Camy is the only place in the city to eat dumplings. This place has become quite trendy and even Street Party has appropriated it for its own use (ugh). Either way, Camy is becoming something of a Melbourne institution. I haven't been able to eat it for awhile, since an eat-off a few months ago where I managed to consume 50 in a sitting. (Doesn't sound like much here, but it was quite a feat)

But, even after eating that many, you always go back. I went with my sister before the Tilly and the Wall show. It's wise not to order anything apart from the dumplings, and maybe the spring onion pancake. For vegetarians (and vegans) the best option is the mushroom and vegetable dumplings. They are cheap and cheerful. They aren't any sort of culinary masterpiece, but it's a damn good feed before a show and a plate of 20 is only $6.50.

Camy Shanghai Noodle and Dumpling House
25 Tattersalls Lane, Melbourne

TOFWD

2007-09-02T12:47:00.000+10:00

TOFWD stands for The Organic Food (and) Wine Deli, but I never think of that when I go there. I either think of tofu or that internet gaming slang "Pwned" which reveals just how nerdy I truly am. That aside, everyone I know calls it "The Overpriced Health Food Store on Degraves" and that is probably an accurate name.

Normally I just go for coffee. The coffee is generally good. The hot chocolate, at least the vegan one, is kinda shit. It tastes like dirt. That's all I have to say about it. Anyway, on this day, strictly in the interests of blogging, I decided to eat.

I had a tofu and mushroom pie. The pastry on this pie is different to your traditional pies, with their flaky pastry. It is thicker and chewier, almost bread like. This doesn't take away from the delicious filling. The tofu clearly just acts as a filler, because you can't really taste it. The mushroom flavour is really strong and the pie is really filling. I recommend accompanying your pie with a Phoenix Organics juice.

Avi, my lunch date, had the aforementioned fairly good coffee, and a pumpkin and spinach pie/pastie thing. It had the same chewy crust as my pie, but the filling was a different consistency, as one would expect from a pumpkin item.

To be honest, there isn't much I want to say about this place. It's good, y'know, but not amazing. Can you ever just be whelmed?

Tofwd
28 Degraves St, Melbourne

Lord of the Fries

2007-09-02T12:38:00.001+10:00

Everyone knows about Lord of the Fries. It's kind of the go-to destination at 3am in the city. What some people don't know is that it's entirely vegetarian. One of the descriptors on the sign is "meaty" but there is absolutely no meat at Lotf. It's kind of awesome to go there and see hordes of drunk kids lining up, desperate for a burger, with no idea that they're eating VEGETARIAN FOOD!

Anyways. When Lidia, over at http://moretolovevegan.blogspot.com/ reviewed Lotf, she didn't give the fries a particularly good report. And I know where she's coming from. I've been to Europe, eaten the real thing, and, okay, they are kind of amazing. But Lord of the Fries is a damn good substitute. The best sauce, hands down, is the thai satay. It is, unfortunately, often sold out, in which case the gravy is a fairly good second choice.

Then there's the burgers. Most people love them. They've got a good patty, lettuce, tomato sauce, mustard, and pickle. I, however, don't like them much at all. This is simply because I don't like mustard. Or pickle. I forget this every time I go there, order and regret it. But if you're someone, like Lidia, who loves mustard, then you'll probably enjoy the burgers.
Take note that not everything is vegan. You will have to ask for your burger to be made vegan so that they take out the cheese, and just double check with the sauces, because they aren't all vegan. Happy munching!

Lord of the Fries
Corner Elizabeth and Flinders Streets, Melbourne
Mon-Wed: 10:30am - 10:00pm
Thursday: 10:30am - 10:30pm
Fri - Sat: 10:30am - 4:00am
Sunday: 11:00am - 10:00pm

Fo Guang Yuan Art Gallery

2007-08-01T10:04:00.000+10:00

Lidia took me to this place, it's a Buddhist gallery. They have a shrine and a meditation centre. Every day they have a different special of the day. On the day we went, the special was "roast chicken". Which is what Lidia had. In comes in a nifty box with compartments. It was delicious. I know, because I ate some.

I had eaten, so I just had a snack. Fake chicken nuggets. Which were AMAZING. Lidia and I made the decision to return when I had an empty stomach.

This place is adorable, and cheap, and full of tasty mock meat. Go there, eat it, convert to buddhism, y'know...

Fo Guang Yuan Art Gallery, 141 Queen Street, Melbourne. Ph: 9642 2388.
Restaurant: M-F 12:30am - 2:30pm (lunch) & 3pm - 5:30 (afternoon tea)

Vegan Snack - Toasted Cheese and Tomato

2007-08-01T09:55:00.000+10:00

Look, I know this isn't a restaurant. Or a ready made store bought treat. Or even something you need a recipe for. But it's tasty. And I thought it deserved inclusion because people often forget that they can still eat these old school snacks.

Use a toasted cheese maker. Use tomato, use nutellex and use tofutti cheese slices. Make them as you used to make them after school. Vegan cheese is notoriously bad for melting, but the tofutti slices (I think I used the mozarella style) actually work out okay, as you can see in the super amazing macro close up shot below. Enjoy.

Cafe Umago Pizza

2007-08-01T09:47:00.000+10:00

Cafe Umago is famous for this pizza. It's got corn chips on it. It's basically nachos on a pizza. It's got spicy mexican beans, corn chips, avocado and sweet chili. You can also have jalapenos. Of course, if you're not vegan, you can also have sour cream and cheese, which I imagine would make it better.

There are a few other things I would like to note here.

1. The soy cheese at Umago is not vegan. You've been warned.

2. You can get these pizzas to take away, and it totally just occurred to me that it would be really rad to do that and then add your own vegan cheese and sour cream at home.

3. Brendan enjoying the pizza.

Cafe Umago, 171-173 Brunswick St, Fitzroy. 9417-4664

Soy Delicious Ice Cream

2007-08-01T09:42:00.000+10:00

This is organic, dairy-free ice cream made by a company called Soy Delicious. Get it? It's like "So Delicious" but they've used the word SOY instead of SO. So you read it and you're like "Ooh, this is going to be so delicious....AND SOY DELICIOUS" and then you chuckle at their wit.

Anyways. This flavour is cookies and cream. And to be honest, it's not that great. Back in my pre-vegan days, I was quite the connoisseur of cookies and cream ice cream, so I know my shit. The problem with this is the oft-made mistake....not enough cookies. Also, cookies and cream ice cream is always better with some sort of a caramel ripple sauce through it. Mmm...ripple sauce....

However, beggars can't always be choosers. So if you really have a hankering for some cookies and cream, give it a whirl. But don't say I didn't warn you. You will probs regret not choosing tofutti....

Vegan Baking #2 - Muffins

2007-06-26T12:18:00.000+10:00

Okay, this is kind of cheating, because I did not bake this muffins. Nor do I have the recipe. Lidia served them at bookclub on Sunday and they were delicious. So, in the interest of vegan blog cross-promotion, I thought I'd put up the picture and the link to Lidia's blog - http://moretolovevegan.blogspot.com/ - in the hopes that this will result in some updating on her part, including the recipe for these delicious apple and walnut muffins!

Vegan Baking - Cupcakes

2007-06-26T12:15:00.000+10:00

So, Emily and I decided it would be nice to bake cupcakes. After trips to three supermarkets we managed to gather together the ingredients. I would post the recipe, but I don't actually have it. If anyone really wants it, let me know and I will hook it up. I'm just mostly lazy. But they are basic vanilla cupcakes with raspberry buttercream icing, and the recipe can be found in Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. They are incredibly sweet and awfully pretty.

Las Vegan

2007-06-26T09:58:00.000+10:00

This muffin is from Las Vegan. Las Vegan is a wonderful place for muffins, but it's never fucking open. Okay, sometimes it's open. The muffins come in a bunch of flavours, such as sour cherry and almond, banana and spicy apple. This one was pear and pecan and it was amazing. They have this crusty, sugary top which is so delicious and they taste really good warmed up a little. As a side note, you may care to know that if Las Vegan is closed, Doctor Java on the corner of Smith and Gertrude Streets also sell these muffins.

Las Vegan also sell vegan cake, calzone, snacky things like apricot balls. Stuff like that. It's open I think Tuesday thru Thursday? 11-3? But don't quote me, cos I'm not sure. Maybe just call them before you go there - 9415-9001.

Las Vegan, 22 Smith St, Collingwood

Soul Mama

2007-06-26T09:53:00.000+10:00

I don't like the staff at Soul Mama one bit. I find them to be obnoxious, and they make me uncomfortable. The view at Soul Mama is rather nice though, overlooking the water at St. Kilda. And the cake was okay. We had chocolate cake and another cake which was something in the vein of choc-chip pear. They both came with soy cream, which Emily and I have decided is tasteless and only exists to moisten cake. Look, the cakes were really good, but the wait staff were annoying and the chai was pretty bad. And this place is a bit of a wank. But whatever, if you're in St. Kilda it's not an awful option for a cake date....

Soul Mama, St. Kilda Sea Baths, 10 Jacka Blvd, St. Kilda

La Panella

2007-06-26T09:45:00.000+10:00

Out in the grunge of Preston lies a hidden treasure - La Panella. This place is a vegan bakery, with bread, donuts etc. But the most amazing thing about it, and the thing that makes it worth the trip to Preston, is the pie. And the sausage rolls and pasties also. But mostly the pie. Especially the mushroom one, which Emily found so amazing she started to doubt it was vegan. It is. Everything here is super cheap and the best thing to do is buy a bag full and put them in your freezer. And live off them for awhile. DELICIOUS.

La Panella, 465 High Street, Preston.

Vegan At Home - Pitango Pumpkin Soup

2007-05-31T18:33:00.001+10:00

This soup was on special at the supermarket for only $5. I'm a sucker for pretty packaging, plus I was feeling lazy so I bought it.

Made in New Zealand, this soup is almost 100% organic. It contains pumpkin, potato, carrots, onions, water, sea salt, black pepper, sugar, garlic, ginger, olive oil, fennel seeds and coriander seeds. The only ingredients that aren't organic are the ginger and the seeds. Plus, it's amazingly delicious, especially with toast.

Pitango Organic Pumpkin Soup - $5 at your local supermarket.

Snack time - Muffin

2007-05-31T14:27:00.000+10:00

This is a muffin that my wonderful housemate bought me as a surprise. Because I'm a vegan, and she's studying nutrition, together we are always checking labels in the supermarket. We always get looks of pity from people who think we're watching our weight. Bah. Anyways, I got home and Heidi had bought me a muffin!
This muffin was, I think, walnut and cinnamon flavour, and it was amazing. It was denser than most muffins, but not quite cake consistency. It was delicious - perfectly moist, and I'm super into cinnamon, so that totally did it for me. Perfect afternoon tea.

Malvern Central, Malvern (upstairs opposite the supermarket and near the juice bar and the Donut King)

Wholefoods

2007-05-31T14:20:00.000+10:00

OK, so I understand Wholefoods isn't a viable option for most people. Firstly, it's in Clayton. Secondly, it's on a uni campus and therefore isn't really open outside of uni hours and months. Also, did I mention it's in Clayton?

All that aside, if you do happen to be in Clayton, Wholefoods is pretty nice. It's a mostly vegan co-op run by a student collective, and the whole place is covered in hippy graffiti. Sometimes they have belly dancers or maudlin Bright Eyes wannabes playing music.

The food, to be honest, isn't the best in the world. But I really love being able to go to university and know I'm going to get a cheap vegan meal at lunch. They generally offer 3 salads, soup, garlic bread, a curry, rice, dahl, pasta/noodles/bake of some sort, plus a dessert.On this particular day, I got fried rice and dahl. The dahl is best heavily salted, fyi. The other amazing thing about Whole Foods is that it's really fucking cheap. The above meal cost me about $3.80. Wholefoods also have a cafe where you can get vegan muffins, sometimes cakes, tea and coffee. (Stay away from the chai though, it tends to be lukewarm).

Not the most accessible place, I know. But I still thought it warranted inclusion.

Wholefoods, Campus Centre, Monash University, Clayton

Plush Pizza

2007-05-31T13:57:00.001+10:00

My sister was surprisingly agreeable when I suggested Plush Pizza for dinner. I realised why when we got there and she surveyed the menu, and then turned to me and asked, in all seriousness "Where are the meat options?" She was less than impressed when I explained that Plush is all vegan and vegetarian. However, she was a convert after choosing the anti-pasto pizza and loving every bite.

I got the Three Cheese Delight.

To be honest, this wasn't the best pizza I've had from Plush. I think its downfall was in the mustard. When I was ordering it, I forgot that I actually don't like mustard. At all. Generally speaking though, Plush is pretty amazing, and I can fully endorse the Leaf Eater, the Mushroom Medley and also the Satay Sublime, which is the vegan pizza to end all vegan pizzas.

Plush Pizza, 85 Burwood Road, Hawthorn. 9819-1188