The World’s Best Vegan Products in 2011 (as judged by me)

I’ve had so much fun trying all the products available to vegans all over the world, and while I like the differences I find, I can’t seem to help but pick favourites.

These are my favourite vegan products across the countries I have visited since being vegan (Australia, Malaysia, Singapore, Micronesia, USA, UK, Denmark, France, Italy, Austria, and Georgia). I have never received any free or discounted products, or any inducements to review a product from any of the suppliers mentioned below, or any others. That said, I’m totally up for free stuff if any one wants to send any my way (I suspect I don’t have the readership for that!).

Just a note: the countries referred to in parenthesis are the countries where I have seen the products. I don’t know where many of them come from, or they are manufactured in various locations.

 

Plain non-dairy milk

Winner – Edeka Natur Soy Milk (Austria, Georgia)

Runner Up – Bonsoy (Japan, Australia, world)

 

Flavoured non-dairy milk

Winner – Its a tie between Kikkoman Coffee flavoured soy milk(US and Pacific) and Edeka Vanilla flavoured soy milk (Austria and Georgia).

Kikkoman Pearl Soy Milk (Edeka not pictured)

Runner up – I love all flavoured soy milks, so everyone is a runner up.

 

Yoghurt

 Winner – Alpro Soy Yoghurt, raspberry flavour (UK).

I have no photo of the yoghurt, but here is some pudding, margarine, Sheese and vegan sausages!

Runner up – The many soy yoghurts in the USA are edible and taste somewhat like real yoghurt.

 

Nothing available in Australia, France, or Austria come anywhere near a passable yoghurt-ish favour, and most suffer horribly from an overwhelming soy-boiled-in-plastic taste (I’m looking at you, Soy King).

 

 

Vegan Cheese

Winner – Cheezly, the French version (France). Hard cheese style, soft and creamy, and tastes just fantastic.

French vegan stuff - the chese is at centre stage

Runner up – its a tie between Daiya Cheddar flavour (US) and Redwood Cheezly Mozarella (NZ, Australia). Daiya is good for the meltyness it brings, and it buttery flavour, but Redwood Cheezly continues to be my favourite for use on pizza and in canneloni, lasagne, etc.

 

An Honorable Mention must go to Sheese (UK, Australia) for having so many flavours, even though they do suffer a little from the overwhelming-soy-flavour problem that plagues so many mock dairy and mock meat endeavours.

 

 

Convenience Foods

Winner – Fry’s Beef-style strips and chicken style cutlets (UK, Australia) ties with the Valsoia vegan chicken croquettes and meat balls available in nearly every freezer section in every supermarket in Italy.

 

Runner up – Tofurky vegan pizza with Daiya Cheese (USA), and Amy’s for having such a range and ensuring some options for the gluten free peeps.

 

 

Pizza

Winner – Pizza rosso with chilli from all the take out “by the slice” places in Rome (Italy).  It is deep dish style, oily, warm and fantastic. This stuff is so good, yo don’t even miss the cheese. Not to be confused with pizza from pizzerias or restaurants, which is the thin, crusty, less flavoursome kind.

 

Runner up – Vegetarian pizza with vegan cheese from Eat Pizza, Melbourne (Australia). Their vegan lot is pretty good too. Tied for second are the frozen Tofurky pizzas with vegan cheese, available in freezer sections across the USA.

Honorable Mention – Goes to the vegan pizza at The Rusty Anchor on Pohnpei, even though we’re probably the only people who have or will ever order it.

 

 

Spreads

Winner  – Tartex, all flavours, seems to deserve its reputation and price point. I tried many other vegan spreads with similar ingredients while in the UK, France and Austria, but none of them lived up to the full flavour of Tartex.

 

Runner Up – Eggplant with Cinnamon and Walnut (badrijani da darich’inis) (Georgia) and Ajika, a local chilli paste (Georgia).

Honorable Mention – goes to coconut jam in Pohnpei.

Coconut Jam

 

 

Ice cream

Winner – Turtle Mountain Peanut Butter Zig Zag flavour. Its chocolate ice cream with peanut butter caramel fudge swirls. This stuff is incredibly addictive, and maybe the tastiest ice cream in a tub I have ever come across.

 

Runner Up – Well, I have tried vegan gelato in Italy now, and I can honestly say that the flavours to be had at Melbourne’s own Casa Del Gelato trump anything else I’ve come across in my travels. Eat up, fellow Melbournites!

 

 

 

Two Honorable Mentions – One for the vegan soft serve at Eden Bakery in Portland, Oregon, and another for Ice Kechang in Singapore. Ice Kechang isn’t ice cream as such, but it is a fantastic iced dessert for vegans on a hot day. No brand as such, its shaved ice, covered in many flavours of syrup, crushed nuts, and swimming in sweet red beans, syrup and lychees. Watch out, it is usually topped with sweet milk (condensed), so vegans need to ask for milk-free.

 

Chocolates and Sweet junk

 

Winner – Sajak’s almond and Sajak’s hazelnut filled chocolate cups (USA). These are just too good to pass up, mostly because of their lovely, creamy, praline centers.

Runner Up – Newman’s filled chocolate cups, particularly the hazelnut or peanut butter versions (USA). Also, all their vegan biscuits. Note, not everything in this brand is vegan.

 

Honorable mention goes to Justin’s Chocolate Nut Butters, which taste like a lolly, but are protein packed and come in packets which are really good if you are traveling and can’t carry bulky jars.

 

Plain Chocolate (Block form)

Winner – Organica Vegan Diets Swiss Courveture (UK) is the very best vegan chocolate block I have ever tasted. I wish very much that I had bought more of them to take with me across the globe. As it was I had one, and it disappeared in one sitting – it was that good. I have a feeling it would make the very most fabulous chocolate desserts, and I feel a little sad that I don’t have access to it in Australia. Its fair-trade, of course.

Organica Swiaa Couverture

In Australia, I continue to advocate for Plamil Milk-style Chocolate (UK, Australia), however wishing doesn’t make it as good as the Organica stuff.

 

Bathroom and Cosmetic Gear

Toothpaste – the winner here is the Red Seal Baking Soda toothpaste (NZ, Ausralia), however The Cooperative Freshmint Vegan toothpaste (UK) is a pretty close second.

Deodorant – My new favourite deodorant in the whole world is Tom’s Of Maine solid deodorant (USA). No stains on shirts, it seems to work for long periods, and it smells good.

Face Wash – I have itchy skin most of the time and am allergic to soap and just about every scent ever put in a cream, but I love the Lavera cream face wash (rose) I got in France. In Australia, Nature’s Organics gets the top points for being vegan, soap free and cheap.

Sunscreen – Natio will always win this one for me. Aussie, vegan, no animal testing, and available everywhere in Aus. The two bottles we took with us still haven’t run out.

 

So What have I missed? Leave your favourite vegan products for 2011 in the comments.

Toronto Veg Fest and the Great Vegan Butter Tart-A-Palooza

After narrowly missing veg fests  and other vegan events all over North America, I finally managed to collide with one in Toronto. Mr was busy getting beaten up training, but, not wanting to miss the opportunity to eat tonnes of vegan junk food, look at annoyingly ironic t-shirts and listen to live music I ambled down to the Harbour Front Center on my own.

All the usual suspects were there – the cat rescue people, the non-dairy milk people, the raw chocolate people, the buy-this-magic-blender people, the this-super-fruit-of-the-month-will-fix-your-whole-life-and-make-you-successful-and-beautiful people, and of course, the vegan bakers.

The first vegan baker I came across was Bloomer’s Bakery. I expected to see biscuits (that’s cookies on this continent), brownies and cupcakes, and I wasn’t let down.  (As a side note, I’m actually getting pretty sick of the childish cutesiness of cupcakes – bring back the tasty but not cute actual slices of cake I say! But that’s a story for another day.) They had everything I expected but happily they also had something I didn’t (but probably should have) expect – vegan butter tarts.

Butter tarts are a Canadian icon. They are made of melty shortcrust pastry filled with sweet, baked, buttery stuff. Or at least that’s what I think they’re made of, but having never tried one before this week, I can’t be sure. In any case, they were on my list of Canadian foods to prepare during Canada week, and now I don’t have to!

As I walked around I realised that three of the eight bakery stalls had butter tarts on display. It was clear that it was my destiny to try all three and declare a winner. Thus began the Great Vegan Butter Tart-A-Palooza.

Bunner’s Bakery

The tarts from Bunner’s were the darkest of the three. They had a dark short-crust which was crumbly and flavourful, and a very dark, gelatinous filling that made me think of Aussie golden syrup, though much less runny. They had raisins and a less sweet flavour than either of the other tarts. These were good, especially the crust, though they may have been a little over cooked, and overall didn’t leave much of an impression.

A tray of Bunner's Tarts

Apiecalypse

The pastry was tasty, but it was a little saturated and closer to puff than short crust. The filling seemed to be made of sugar, agave, coconut and grease of some delicious sort. They tasted exactly like honey joys, a lot lighter than the other versions. Overall these were nice, but could have used a bit more filling and a better pastry.

Apiecalypse on a mini scale

Bloomer’s Bakery

Being the first bakery I cam across, I bought a butter tart from Bloomer’s just as soon as I could figure out the change (damn this learning new money every time you move countries stuff is tricky) and gobbled it immediately. It was so good.

The pastry was perfect- golden, crumbly, sweet and dry. The filling tasted like heaven would taste, if it were covered in butter. I’m guessing, but it seemed like a mixture of agave, palm sugar (although it may have been brown sugar), vegan-grease, pecans, and sultanas (called raisins over here). This tart may have been the best thing I ever tasted. I can officially say that the award for Best Vegan Butter Tart of the Toronto Veg Fest (as judged by an Aussie vegan who has never before tried a butter tart) goes to Bloomer’s Bakery.

And the winner is.... this one!

Recipes

Although I did make a deal with myself – you can eat all the tarts in Toronto if you don’t also bake them yourself – I might have to reneg and try to make some when I get home to Melbourne. If any of you are inspired to break out the tart cases and give this Canadian favourite a whirl, you can find some recipes at:

• Vegan Dad’s Vegan Butter Tarts
• Diets Desserts and Dogs Vegan Butter Tarts
• Vegan Matters Butter Tarts

The Rest of the Fest

Sadly, with the exception of the vegan junk food, veg fests are sort of seen-one-seen-em-all. The music was nice, a duo doing covers of The Beatles’ songs, and it was a lovely sunny day to sit around eating the vegan junk.

The stalls were pretty lack luster, being just a retail opportunity for the mineral make-up and expensive cooking appliances people, although there was a stall for a vegetarian food bank, which was pretty interesting. The super-food-of-the-month made me laugh – it was kiwi fruit – so there was that.

Forgetting that this was not world vegan day, but Veg(etarian) Fest, I was a little surprised and disappointed by all the Nestle ice-cream stalls and had to be a little careful about what food I sampled.

Mock turkey and powder mash

When Mr turned up, slightly bruised, we had some lunch. I got excited about ticking yet another Canadian vegan food off my list when we saw Tofurky and mashed potato on the menu at the New Earth stall. We ordered some, but were sadly disappointed. The gravy was very sweet, which was strange and unwelcome for me, and the mashed potatoes were the powdered stuff and over-whipped to the point of becoming somewhat glutinous.

Yummy dumplings saved the day

Luckily there was also a stall selling dim sum, so we had some truly excellent dumplings, a good spring roll and some passable drum sticks to save the day.

Probably the Best Vegan Mexican Food in West Texas

Recently, as a part of the enormous around the world trip of enormity, I found myself in Texas, looking for a meal.

Actually, to be fair, I wasn’t looking for a meal, I was looking for a wallet, and Mr had taken me on a little detour from our destination (Odessa) to a company he loves called SpecOps in Monahans, Texas.

SpecOps make wallets, belts, buckles, bags and other stuff. Their stuff is made in the USA and is leather-free. Vegan by accident is vegan enough for me.

They only had the wallet I wanted in a fetching camouflage, so I opted out, but we did get talking to the people there about football, and if there were any Friday night football games on in the vicinity. One thing lead to another, and we were invited out to dinner at a local restaurant.

As any vegan knows, being invited to dinner is a delicate affair. You want to accept hospitality, but you know that inevitably at some point you ill have to either refuse or make things difficult, especially if you are going to a restaurant in Texas.

We said we’d love to go, but that it could be tricky because we don’t eat meat/eggs/dairy, but our hosts assured us it would be fine. So off we went, not sure what we would find.

Turns out the place is part owned by the people at SpecOps. The restaurant had been operating in town for decades, but the owner was ill, and his daughter, who had been managing the restaurant, was spending more time taking care of him, so it had recently closed.

After is closed, a group of people got together and formed a committee to start it back up, concerned for the family and for the community. They put in the money and work needed to re-open it, and the place was open again, and full of customers. In fact, when we got there at 5.30pm it was already filling up – our host said that people come early, because they want to get in and its always busy.

The place, called Fermin’s, has an extensive menu of Mexican and Tex-mex food including burritos, enchiladas, tacos, nachos, chips, beans, rice etc. The beans and rice are made without meat, animal fat or animal stock, the chips and dips are made on premises, and staff were happy to mix and match for us, so there were a lot of vegan options to choose from. The staff were also very helpful in checking out our concerns with the kitchen, and making suggestions. Not a turned up nose, sideways glance or grumble about picky eaters in sight. Melbourne eateries could learn a thing or two about how to treat people from these guys.

In the end we got chips with salsa and guacamole, a bean burrito, a rice burrito, fries and about 6 liters of iced tea (glasses are just bigger in America).

The food was really good, and quite cheap (although we got it for free, thanks to some very friendly texans – Thanks guys!). The burritos were smaller than they are in Oz, but most people were ordering burritos plus other food, and they were certainly priced to let you do that – we didn’t only because we weren’t that hungry, it being 5.30. We were also given some extra chips to take on the road, which were really good with salsa and hommus the next day. The fries were fantastic, and I really liked the flavour of the rice.

If I ever get there again, I will also try the sweet tortilla dessert (of course I’ve forgotten what it is called!), which they said could be made with sugar instead of honey for us vegan folk.

I didn’t get any photos, so you’ll just have to take my word for it, but if you ever get yourself to west Texas, its worth the detour to Monahans to get some tasty, healthy, vegan food in a friendly, community-driven atmosphere.

Fermin’s is located at 400 N Main Road, Monhanans, Texas. Check them out on facebook, too!

Thanks to Bryan, and everyone else at Fermin’s and SpecOps, we wish you the best.

Vegan Las Vegas (hard work)

Vegas. We had to do it, even if it is just lights, strippers and extra charges.

When I first realised we were heading to Vegas, I used the power of the google to see what vegan fare might be around. I was happy to see there was one blog about vegan options and even a casino which promised to have edible vegan options at every meal, at every restaurant.

What the google failed to mention was that without a car access to anything vegan was nearly impossible, and that the vegan options at the Wynne started at the $28 per person price point (including tax and tip) and that was for breakfast at the cheapest place, the buffet. Lunch was more like $35 per person, and dinner was unmentionably expensive.

So, trying to save dough, as doing so keeps us out of jobs for as long as possible, we went in search of other stuff.

Only three places really stood out in the end, so here they are in order of least to most.

The Buffet at the Flamingo Casino, where we stayed, actually had a couple of vegan options. I went once, for lunch, and I could make up a big meal out of the salad bar, make-your-own nachos and some steamed veg. Not the most exciting or protein-filled meal, but doable in a pinch. They also had a lot of fruit for dessert.

While the buffet was okay, I should point out that the casino gave us kind of a crappy stay. The room had someone guy’s stuff in it when we got there, it advertised as having a gym when actually the gym was privately run and stupidly costly, various things were broken or not as advertised, they wanted $14 per day for internet, and they were horrendously understaffed. Staff were nice but often seemed harried and tired, so I blame the management for being cheap and not employing enough of them.

Very pretty at night (from the outside, anyway)

Tamba Indian Restaurant is located on the strip, in the Hawaiin centre, near the Hard Rock Cafe. The website is here, but I warn you it is very Flashy and blasts loud music, so don’t click if that will disturb your chi (I nearly dropped my laptop when I clicked).

We went to Tamba twice, once for the lunch buffet, and once for dinner.

The dinner was fantastic, with the best chann masala I’ve ever had, and really fresh roti. The buffet was also good, with more than half of the options being vegetarian, and most of those vegan. The staff were friendly and understood what veganism is, which always makes things easier.

I didn’t get a photo, but trust me, it was good food and not too costly for the strip, so if you’re Vegas bound you should give it a try.

 

Meskerem Ethiopian Restaurant was our favourite place in Vegas. Located just off the strip, at the Circus Circus end, it was very quiet and felt much further away from the hustle and lights than it really is.

You have the choice of ordering the vegetable combo or to pick your own dishes, or a mixture of both. We got the vegetable combo and shiro both times, and it was too much food for us each time. We did try to ask for less the second time, but it came out even bigger.

Bad photo of great food at Meskerem

All the dishes are served on injera, one of my very favourite foods. Everything was fantastic here – deep-flavoured shiro, spicy lentils, sour aletcha, and all around wonderfulness.

I can’t recommend this place enough. It was quiet in a way that makes me worry for its future, so if you’re in the area get over there and support a veg-friendly business!

Now to leave with you with a few photos, just ‘cos I can.

The real reason for going to Vegas: proximity to this!

The Grand Canyon - worth the Vegas food.

Portland, Oregon

With our mid-west and southern jaunts impending, and the wasteland of vegan options we imagined would come with them, I tried to make the most of Portland had to offer by way of treats. You can read that as, “I went overboard and ate as much sugar-salt-fat food as I possibly could fit, and sometimes more than I could really fit”.

Here’s how it went:

DC Vegetarian

The second best sandwich in the USA and the world ever (see Red and Black for the very best) came from a food cart called DC vegetarian.I don’t remember much about it, except that the one I ordered was really good and had veganaise, and Mr liked his, too.

A wrap of some kind

Yummy sandwich

Home Grown Smoker

On K’s suggestion we tracked down the Homegrown Smoker food cart on our last day in town. Unfortunately it was closed due to plumbing work, but luckily the staff still had some food left over, which they let us have for free on account of us being from so far away.

We got two huge servings, each weighing about a kilo, made up of mac and cheese, some sort of smoked BBQ mock, some baked beans, slaw, salad and cornbread.

Like K and Toby, we didn’t really take to the molasses corn bread – too sweet. Mr adored the BBQ and liked the beans, I adored the mac and cheese and the slaw. I didn’t really take to the mock BBQ, but I’m not generally a BBQ fan, so its no surprise. We had so much food that it served for two meals and we still didn’t get through it.

If we ever get back to Portland, I definitely intend a second run at this place.

The food

with my hand for size comparison

Back to Eden

Back to Eden is an all-vegan bakery/dessert joint in the North East of Portland. We went twice, and it was great both times. We tried the Chocolate Cream Pie with vegan soft serve the first time, and a lemon cake with cream cheese icing and chai flavoured vegan soft serve the second.

The soft serve was the big standout – so creamy, so flavourful, so soft! The chocolate cream pie was good, but not my cup of tea. The lemon cake totally exceeded expectations, it was tangy and tasty and almost drowning in cream-cheese icing, which in my opinion more cakes should be drowning in.

If we had stayed a little closer to the area (we were way down in the SE area, about an hour away by bus) I would have insisted on a daily visit.

Lemon cake and chai soft serve

Voodoo Doughnuts

I found this doughnut shop via some internet search along the lines of “things you must do in Portland”. It just so happens it serves vegan doughnuts along with the icky dairy-filled ones.

The place is supposedly a local institution (story goes they began by selling doughnuts with legal pharmaceuticals sprinkled on top, but had to resort to selling normal ones when forced to by the authorities), and the line is proof enough of its popularity. I think we waited outside the building for about 25 minutes, and that was the shortest line we’d seen during the trip.

The sign

The shortest line there ever was for the doughnuts

I don’t actually know which kinds we got, I just pointed at some doughnuts on the vegan display until I came across some they hadn’t run out of. One of them was a chocolate one, one tasted like cinnamon, and one of them had a filling. I do remember that they were all totally delicious though! Number one thumbs up for yummy vegan doughnuts.

Clockwise from top: a cinnamon thing, one with sprinkles, a chocolate one, a filled one.

Portobello

Portobello is a fancy-pants Italian restaurant, and I made sure we played our part and ordered all three courses to do it justice.

We had the white truffle and mushroom rillette, small sizes of the eggplant ravioli and the arancini, the chocolate rosemary tart and the trio of ice creams, and an orange blossom drink. Everything was fully wonderful, except the arancini, which was kind of bland.

Mushroom and white truffle rillette

Arancini and vegetables

Eggplant ravioli

Rosemary chocolate tart

Trio of vegan cie creams

The mushroom and truffle thing was a dip with crusty bread, the best I’ve had since going vegan. The orange blossom drink was really, really nice and smelled like spring. I like the rosemary tart, and as K and Toby reviewed, the salted caramel ice cream was heavenly.

A little shout out also has to go to the waiter for the evening,  Jeremy, who was awesome, and who we actually met a few times around town at various anarchist things and who helped us find vegan food a few days before we ended up at Portobello.
Sonny Bowl
We actually found the Sonny Bowl by accident, after wandering past it hoping the DC Vegetarian would be open late on a Saturday night on the way home. By the time we got there they were serving only one option, so we ordered that.
It was a noodle bowl type thing, full of veggies and tempeh (or was it mock?). It tasted healthy and good, but it was a little uninspiring. That said, for last minute, late night vegan food, it was a warm, filling, and reasonably long lasted feed, so we have no complaints
Given its late-night-ness, I didn’t get a photo.

Sweetpea Bakery
Sweetpea is a bakery on Portland’s famed vegan strip mall, and it serves all the obligatory bakery things – brownies, cupcakes, cookies- as well as lunchables of the sandwich variety. We had lunch around the corner at the Red and Black Cafe, so just picked up a few treats to eat later at the Rose Test Garden.

We got a Charlie Brown and GF Brownie. The Brownie was great, but pretty crumbly (I ended up licking bits of it out of the bottom of the bag like the classy lady/anteater I am). The Charlie Brown was a kind of peanut butter slice with chocolate on top. It was very tasty, but the huge serving proved a bit much even for me!

I enjoyed our Sweetpea treats, but I have to say it doesn’t have anything on Back To Eden.

The Bye and Bye
We were pretty excited about the Bye and Bye, it having come highly recommended by every vegan we had met in Portland, so it was with much anticipation that we ordered our chilli dog and crying tiger burger and broccoli.
I really wanted to enjoy our junk food and salvationary vegetable side-order, but I am sad to say we were really disappointed.

Maybe we ordered the wrong thing, maybe we were too hyped from all the hype, or maybe the food just tastes better after you’ve sample a beer or three (Mr drinks never, I drink rarely), but the food just wasn’t very good.
The Crying Tiger Burger seemed like it could better have been called the Whimpering Kitten Burger. It was quite mild on the chilli side, but it was tasty-ish. The Chilli dog was rubbery, the bread was kinda stale, and the chilli wasnt very flavourful. The broccoli was great though. We were a bit sad, and I’m hoping we just caught them on a bad day.

Red and Black Cafe
The Best Vegan Sandwich in Portland/America/The World award goes to Red and Black Cafe! We ate here twice because it was so good it needed a return trip.

The Red and Black is a collectively worker-owned cafe which serves fairtrade coffee and cocoa along with a huge menu of bagels, sandwiches and bowls and some cupcakes. Something I loved about Portland was the number of organisations which are collectively operated- great model for providing service (and yummy food) to the community without the shitty conditions and exploitation that usually goes with the food service industry.

Mr ordered the BBQ burger on both occasions. He loved it, and I liked it, which is a thing in itself, as I don’t generally like BBQ sauce at all (sweet just doesn’t belong on a sandwich). I ordered a BLT with tempeh bacon, daiya and avocado on the first occasion, and a hot cocoa and grilled cheese with tempeh bacon on the second occasion.

Biggest most awesome grilled cheese and a BBQ sanga in background. It gets a huge photo because it was the best sandwich n America and maybe the world, ever.

It was all perfect, wonderful food. The cocoa was home-style, so not too rich, but lovely and warm and sweet. The BLT/Grilled cheese were both enormous, melty and tasted so good. Had we stayed longer, and nearer, we probably would have eaten here even more. Two thumbs up.

All in all

All up, Portland really was a vegan wonderland. Vegan groceries, vegan-friendly co-ops, multiple vegan bakeries, vegan soft-serve, vegan doughnuts, vegan mac and cheese… the list goes on. I had an awesome time eating my way around Portland, and was very well stocked with a little more heft for the metaphorical winter I am now enduring in Utah/Nevada/Arizona/Lousianna/Oklahoma/Arkansas/Mississippi/Texas.

For more Aussie-eye reviews of Portland vegan eats, check out In The Mood For Noodles here.

See you next time for an update of whatever we get up to next.

Sydney

During our trip we spent a few days in Sydney, and, predictably, ate a lot.

I was so hoping to follow in the footsteps of K and Toby, and Michael and Cyndi, but alas, all the Iku’s were closed, as was Mother Chu’s, Naked Espresso, and a few of the city places (I can’t remember right now).

We did go to Bodhi in Park for yum cha, which was slightly disappointing, to Basil Pizza, which was fab, to Peace Harmony, which was exceptionally good, Funky pies, which was our saviour at Bondi, and to Green Gourmet, which had yummy sweets.

I don’t have photos, as my camera had run out of batteries at this point in the holiday, and I don’t feel that these places need yet another review, however there is one place in Sydney that we feel needs a bit of a shout out.

Happy Vegan, Cabramatta

Mr and I found Happy Vegan by accident, while looking for a different vegan restaurant that whereis.com had promised us was the closest one “on the way” from Canberra to Newcastle.

It is tucked down a side street off John St in Cabramatta, is decorated in lime green, and is a fabulous Vietnamese vegan oasis we’re so glad to have found. We now make a pilgrimage to Happy Vegan every time we drive to visit my Mum in Newy.

The menu is diverse, and has a lot of dishes I hadn’t seen before (not hard, as all the pre-vegan Vietnamese food I had was in Canberra – read stir fry, curry, and some feaux-Chinese), and some seriously cool drinks.

We have tasted the Tom Yum, which is sweet and spicy but good, most of the tofu and mock dishes, and one of the vermicelli dishes. They’re all good.

This time we had the broken rice with vegan egg and vegan sausage, which came with no fewer than 5 mock meats, as well as vegetables and fried onion, as well as some lemongrass fried mock with vegies, for a more familiar treat.

The mock egg was quite egg-ish, and the other “meats” were good, although I couldn’t recognise most of them (where I grew up all take away was pizza or honey chicken, so I don’t have a great omni grounding in recognising non western meats).

The fried gluten was fantastic, as always, and came with many vegies, which is just what we needed.

Broken rice with vegan egg

Lemongrass gluten

I also had a lemon juice (OMG my favourite), and Mr had his favourite, a drink called Dried Fruit with syrup, which actually has seaweed, agar jelly, chickpeas, lychees, dates, ice, syrup and a few unknown things, and comes in a fish bowl glass:

Dried fruit in syrup

We love this place – the only thing we’ve tried and didn’t like was the soup, and that’s just because its a little sweet to our tastes.

A few things to look out for: although it is called Happy Vegan, this place isn’t actually entirely vegan – the drinks may have milk, and all the desserts are dairy, so be careful to ask. The staff don’t have high levels of English, which is fine as they now have an exhaustive printed menu and do know about dairy. The menu doesn’t indicate what is for breaky, lunch or dinner, and we can’t tell, so we have run into a lot of “no” when ordering at odd times of day, finding some dishes are only made at certain times, and run out as they’re popular, particularly the rice paper rolls.

I definitely suggest you go if you’re ever heading Sydney way who has the time to pop out to Cabramatta.

Happy Vegan, Shop 11, Belvedere Arcade, 66-68 John Street

Malaysia: the Verdict, and some restaurant reviews

One of the best culinary treasures for me in Malaysia was Indian food for breakfast. Dosai with coconut sambal beats cereal any day!

I decided not to get up early enough to make curry for breakfast, and sadly I don’t know of any Indian restaurants that are open for breakfast in Brunswick. We did, however, try out a new Indian restaurant at dinner.

We tried Minerva, on Lygon st, and were pleasantly surprised. They have our favourite dish on the menu, Gobi Manchurian, a spicy, deep fried, seet and sour-ish fusion dish. We ordered it, and it was delicious, although very spicy, so the faint at heart might do well to steer clear or order it mild.

We also had a spinach dahl, and an eggplant dish, both of which were splendid, and roti, which is vegan (but be sure to ask for no butter). The atmosphere was warm and friendly, a little upmarket from our usual favourite dinner haunts, with red walls, candlelight and music.

All in all, it gets a big thumbs up from us, and we’ll definitely be going back (in fact, we already have been )

The other restaurant I feel I have to mention as part of Malaysia week is Nasi Lemak, on Grattan St in Carlton. It has been written up in the 2009 Veg Guide as the place to get a great vegan laksa, but its so much more than that. A definite favourite of ours, we love to order the Nasi Lemak for which it is named and enjoy the deep fried tofu (order without batter and eggs for vegans) and coconut rice. My personal top pick for Nasi Lemak is the Kway Teow, which is an oily, noodly, materpiece, with tofu puffs dripping in delicious sauce and spicy to your tastes. Its worth the trip to the city for dinner, or a walk across the city for a lunch that hits the spot.

The Verdict

To be honest, the verdict on Malaysian cuisine was pre-determined in my mind: Brilliant. Spicy, creamy, with lots of herbs, rice and tofu, and I’m sold.

In relation to cooking it, I’m still pretty happy, even given my sambal-mishap. The spice pastes look daunting, but really, with a good food processor they’re a piece of cake, and the results are well worth the extra dish to wash.

If you haven’t yet, you should definitely give Malaysian food a go.