easy as vegan pie guide to eating and drinking in melbourne

I've spent a load of time updating it, culling places, adding a bunch of places. Adding links to reviews if I've had them.

84K hits can't be wrong!


View Melbourne Restaurants/Cafes and Bars, a Northsideladies Guide in a larger map

*Please note this is by no means a definitive list! The suburbs that are heavily featured are because I work or live there. I have nothing against other suburbs and I'm sure there is awesome stuff out there I just havent made it there yet!

nasi goreng nanas - tom phat - brunswick

This was unfortunately the best meal I've had at Tom Phat in months. The food was really super bad just before the Christmas break which I let them know about. This year its been patchy sometimes back to its old self other times just really sad and uninspired. I kept hanging in there hoping it would change, I stopped getting the scrambled tofu altogether because it was disappointment after disappointment (too watery, too much tomato, not enough asian smoky oil flavour - basically not that dry, perfectly stir fried steaming plate of goodness). Also most of the time my dish was luke warm, 3 times I had to send it back. The nasi goreng (lunch menu) has suffered a similar fate, its no longer gorgeously grilled skewers of tempeh and tofu on a bed of perfectly fried rice, they are soggy and hidden underneath a bowl shaped mould of glugy rice with very little flavour.

Bye Tom Phat. We had fun but it's over (which makes me so sad, I was such a champion for you guys!). Any suggestions of breakfast places in Brunswick?

monday melbourne roundup

I spent the majority of the week at home! Couldn't believe it! So now of course I have all my flat pack built, all my books put away and a load of ingredients I have to use up before my flatmate moves over from New Zealand.

out.

vegn drnks @ gasometer
There were quite a few vegan events on that night so it was a small crowd but I had a ball. I ate the southern fried chicken burger which was SO FULL ON. The meal sizes are huge. Next time I think I'm going to get a couple of sides, it was totally delicious though. Thanks to everyone who came I had a fabulous night!

vegan shoe and cosmetics party
Such a wonderful day! So many awesome people, little kids, baby kangaroos. There were a few other vegan business there, a lady who is going to open a vegan patisserie and another lady who is a raw foodist/health blogger/advisor. Wow the smoothies! The food! I look forward to doing more parties!! The next one will be at Las Vegan Nirvana on Smith St. I'll keep you posted!

vegan bakesale - may

black forrest cupcakes (g/f)

passionfruit coconut cupcakes

jam drops

caramel slice (g/f)

white chocolate macadamia cookies (and there were anzac biscuits that sold so fast I didnt get a picture!)

700 years ago I had a bake sale at Fitzroy PS Market. It was a gorgeous sunny day (albeit completely freaking freezing) and my girl posse and I had a great day sitting in the sun and talking to the many friends and supporters who came by. I was blow away by how EASY it all was and heartened that I can do it every month. Big props to Clare and Cheryl for bringing along baked goods to sell. We sold out of everything by 11.30 (the market goes from 9 till 2) and raised $172 for RSPCA QLD Flood Appeal. You can see by the photos WHY everything sold out so quickly. I look forward to the next bake sale in September (the market is on winter hiatus till then).

monday melbourne roundup - the missed two weeks crappy blogger edition

HELLO! What's been shaking hip cats?! Hows the wind in this place?! Almost blew my wig off yesterday. The long and the short of it is, after going mental over my mouldy place I sold everything I owned and moved into a 3 storey walk up across the street (brand spanking new - was a MUST). So after a month of travelling (adelaide/melbourne/the country) and generally never being home I was sad to find all of my shit still in boxes and zero furniture when I got back from Sydney, "OH NO IT'S STILL HERE" I cried (reenactment). My flatty from NZ is moving in 2 weeks so I've had to get myself sorted out PRONTO. Couple with a gross snotty cold and cleaning EVERY SINGLE THING I own out (I'm talking shoes I wore to my parents wedding, pen pals from when I was 11 - I'm no hoarder or sentimental but I was pragmatic enough at the time to think I MIGHT be sentimental over them in the future.. turns out I was wrong.. I'm still a cold heartless bitch who couldn't give two shits over 'memories') and getting seriously deranged on the organisation, the process has been taking a l o n g a s s time. I'm talking alphabetised spices with index cards kind of craziness.

So. After a few IKEA trips and a lot of lying down whimpering I'm almost all together (well I'll make the new flatty cut off date... just). But lots of crazy good things have been happening in the world of MAH BELLY, been eating lots of great food, ate a Walkers vegan dog yesterday for the first time in about a year, seeing I'm trying to give up my addiction to fried food.. and its right next door to Lord of the Fries.. I figure its the lesser of two evils (gluten vs fried). So that is my SAD ASS life right now, but what else have I been up to?

out.

little white lies - miff member screening


You know what I'm going to say right? TOO LONG. 2.5 hours, bloody hell the French can waffle on. Kind of French "La Dolce Vita" but the only thing that made La Dolce Vita mesmerising was being able to watch Marcello Mastrioni on screen for 3 hours. If you like em long and lightly philosophical this is your game! 2/5.

joan as policewoman - the atheneum
Joan is a goddess, truely. I love the different directions she goes in.. and this one is wild and crazy summoning the gods from the ground late 70s rock shit right there. There were times where I was just... so spun out from what was happening I couldnt speak. F>A>B>. Get her albums, all of them.

manacle @ la mama
My first reviewing gig for Theatre Alive which was nerve racking. At any given independent theatre production you have to assume that most people there are friends/family of the cast so I had to kind of tip toe around getting vox pops etc. Will post the link when its up.

quinoa porridge

Quinoa, super food. Packed with protein, calcium and iron it should be a part of any vegans regular diet (and anyone really!). As you keeners would be well aware, I loves me some detoxes and different kinds of diets. I've done quite a bit of Ayuerveda in the past and since buying "Eat right for your body type" I'm 100% sold on what to do now, follow Ayuerveda. It's all the food I dont eat naturally (and eat TOO MUCH OF). I've got some time off coming up which I'm going to concentrate on making meal plans and getting all the ingredients in place. One small change but has been significant from my stomachs point of view is changing oats to Quinoa. WHAT A DIFFERENCE. Quinoa is not as creamy but has a wonderful chewyniess to it (trust me on this one). Add whatever you like putting in your porridge or follow mine.

Ingredients
40-50gms of Quinoa
100 mls of rice milk
100 mls of water
1 handful of trail mix (make sure all the nuts and seeds are raw), roughly chopped (picking out the prunes and yelling YUCK and throwing them in the bin)
1 tsp of maple syrup
1 tsp of LSA
1 tsp of linseed oil

method
1. Cook the Quinoa in the water and rice milk for about half an hour (or until tender).

2. Stir through the trail mix, maple syrup and linseed oil. Sprinkle the LSA on top.

Pro tip: I cook a big batch of Quinoa in my rice cooker which last for me 3 days then reheat in a saucepan in the morning, adding all the bits and bobs then.

giveaway - mind, body, spirt fest WINNER

Congrats Tahn!!! You are the winner of our mind, body, spirit and raw chocolate comp!

Tahn, I'll be passing your details to Karen from Luna Mare, please watch your email!

aunty menas - wellington - new zealand

"bbq pork" dumplings

wonton noodle soup

Oh Aunty Mena's. Wellingtons seemingly most loved vegetarian restaurant and for good reason. When I put out the call on Twitter for where to go in Wellington, I got flooded with single responses "Aunty Menas". Not really up for *more* mock meat than already ingested in my trip I avoided Aunty Menas on the first day but was finally wooed by her siren song on the second day. The interior is unassuming, just some tables and chairs with many of Aunty Menas family sitting at a big bench at the back making dumplings and other goodies. The bbq pork dumplings were incredible but nothing like the wonton soup. The wonton soup was light, delicious and handmade it was totally mind bending. Go to Aunty Mena's.. just go.

deets: 167 Cuba Street, Wellington, New Zealand web: Aunty Menas place page
$$: I cant remember $15NZ all up I think

giveaway - mind, body, spirit festival and raw chocolate pack!

Melbourne readers we have an exciting giveaway for you! Karen from Luna Mare Organic Vegan Chocolate company has a double pass available to the Mind, Body Spirit Festival THIS WEEKEND, for a lucky reader. Valued at $32!

Luna Mare will be presenting raw vegan chocolate cooking demonstrations on all days:

Friday 10th June 11.30am - 12.15pm,
Saturday 11th June 2.30pm - 3.15pm
Sunday 12th June 1.00pm - 1.45pm
Monday 13th June 1.00pm - 1.45pm

You also get to choose an additional prize of either:

Gift Pack: One of every flavour in our range of Premium Vegan Chocolate packed into a beautiful gift box. The flavours are (my mouth is watering as I type this) Natural, Honeycomb, Peppermint, Tangerine, Dragon Fire Chilli, Expression Collection, Pure Love (Rose), Pure Joy, Pure Passion. Valued at $50.60!

OR

The Chocolate Starter Pack: has all of the ingredients, and instructions to create amazing delicious and healthy chocolate at home. It includes a link to full video instructions on You Tube plus there’s a voucher for 50% off the price of Luna Mares Level 1 Chocolate Classes. (That’s a saving of $32.50!) The kit is $25.95 and makes about $45 retails worth of raw organic chocolate!



Doesn't that make a little bit of drool come out?

To enter:
You must be a "fan" on Facebook of both easy as vegan pie and luna mare. You also need to leave a comment here with the best contact details to reach you on (email address/facebook page/twitter ID)! Winner will be drawn Thursday morning at 9am SHARP. The festival starts on Friday and you are able to choose what day you go. WE NEED TO BE ABLE TO CONTACT YOU to get your name on the door. Please watch this site with an eagle eye (or your email address!). Good luck!!

monday melbourne roundup

Huge week, Emerging Writers Festival and Queer Film Festival (Goes West) took hold of my life and left me shiny and new. I have SO many ideas and action plans now after EWF and have so many ideas for pieces from hanging out in Yarraville so much over the past 3 days. Watch.this.space.

out.

not your nannas slide night - ewf

Super cute hilarious night filled with travel/expedition related presentations. 20 slides, 20 seconds per slide. I really enjoyed this.

dirty words - ewf

Utterly amazing. I went in with beige, erotica just doesnt do it for me. Though I didnt find these pieces terribly 'erotic' they really captured the humour behind sex which is what I appreciate. I find sex hilarious. One of the final pieces was an S&M, lesbian Golden Girls fan piece which was the BEST EXPERIENCE OF MY LIFE. I thought I was going to throw up I was laughing so hard. Magical. I also liked the luke warm reception the girl who took her clothes off at the end got. Beautiful girl but I just don't understand this push, this need.

spork - mqff goes west



Hedwig meets Napoleon Dynamite. Very cute and the set dressers/costume designers had a ball with this. I of course love any film where people are saved by a dance off. 3/5.

gen silent - mqff goes west



Just watch the trailer and then see if you can watch the doco. Not a dry eye in the cinema. Such an important issue. 4/5.

independent publishing - ewf

Hosted by Alice Gage from Ampersand magazine, this completely pushed me to get off my butt. Exactly what I needed.

revel - k road - auckland

pan fried tofu with coconut red curry 'hollandaise' sauce, served with roast potatoes, spinach and tomato.

mint slice (!!!)

My second trip to Revel Cafe in K-Road, Auckland was just as amazing as my first. They have a huge range of rotating vegan dishes (all the dishes were different this visit) with an equally huge cabinet filled with vegan pastries (savoury), vegan cakes, cookies and cupcakes. There is usually only one kind of each but that adds up to a seriously impressive vegan menu! The hollandaise sauce was delicious, just a small amount of kick and so so creamy. The rest of the dish was standard fare but perfectly cooked, particularly the potatoes (served with some drops of their homemade pesto). I love Revel. Everyone who works there is super lovely, friendly, and their compassion doesn't just extend to food they were even nice to the homeless man who was sitting at one the tables outside, just letting him know he was welcome to stay but once people needed the table he had to go. You warm my heart Revel.

deets:deets: 146 K Road, Newton, New Zealand, (09) 309 2372
$$: breakky was $18NZ and mint slice was $5NZ (I think).

other voices, other times:
I discovered Revel through Moira at An Auckland Vegan