I was recommended to this restaurant by a few people. One is very fussy Thai eater so must be good. Also everyone says really good price!

As entree, I choose vegetarian spring roll, why? because that is the only choice

Carrot, cabbage and glass noodle inside

Papaya salad, $9

It is fantastic that have vegetarian papaya salad. I love this salad. The portion is big!

well lots of cabbage underneath to lift but I love cabbage anyway so I am happy

see the cabbage underneath

Green curry $11

Well, this wasn’t my choice. It was too sweet for me. I had jungle curry here and it was fantastic. Nice and spicy!

Tom yum fried rice $9 

nn….I think somebody didn’t tell the order right. I didn’t taste any tom yum..but it was nice anyway…

Funny thing is the non of dish contains tofu. very unusual. 

 I just must say that it was soooo cheap. I was really surprise to see the bill. No wonder everybody loves this restaurant

Thainatown 

Shop 48, 91 Goulburn St 
Haymarket NSW 2000
Phone (02) 9211 0090

We were out in the city for a meeting after having not so big breakfast. It went longer than we thought, so we were absolutely starved and  didn’t know what to do. 

Then saw Una’s…it’s a continental restaurant mainly German-Austrian-Swiss cuisine. I have been to this restaurant for big portion of pork knuckle or schnitzel with yummy rosti but not sure about vegetarian. 

European look (?) bathroom 

We were too desperate for food so we went inside anyway, 

After looking menu, thinking just eating soup or salad, we found vegetarian! Phew…

Vegetable Strudel $18.5
with Portuguese sauce and Rösti

Inside of Strudel, there were spinach, carrot, onion, mushroom, capsicum and naughty cheese :) 

Portuguese sauce was touch spicy. 

Vegetarian Breakfast! 

Mushrooms, Eggs, Rösti,
Toast, Tomatoes

I was delighted to see Rosti even in breakfast! Also the rosti wasn’t drawn with tomato sauce so I can taste, wonderful naughty rich butter taste … 

After having big portion meal, we decided to share the desert…

Apple Strudel $7.5
with Ice Cream

I went to Nepalese kitchen in Surry hills

It was already packed!  when we arrived 

I went to this restaurant with two non- vegetarian girls, but they are very kind to order almost all vegetarian! 

Aloo chop , crispy Potato patties with various Nepalese herbs and spices, covered with chickpea flour 

Momo, the Nepalese dumpling - choose spinach and cheese filling 

Asian veggie stir fry 

Nepalese cuisine is great, still I feel indian like spice but at the same time taste soy sauce.  Indian + Chinese flavour! 

Salad

Nine bean curry cooked with chilli, parsley seeds and traditional spices. I LOVE this! 

I must say the portion isn’t so big. especially salad and stir fry veggie. A big eater like me likes bigger portion. 

but I forgot to order potato and mushroom curry which is suppose to be good so I will go back! 

Nepalese kitchen 

481 Crown Street  Surry Hills NSW 2010
(02)9319 4264

***Highly recommend to make a booking! 

I must confess that I had soup my day 1 detox. 

After writing the day 1 detox, I got hungry, and felt cold. I guess I just ate cold food, No, fresh living food only and also quite small amount unlike me. I normally eat at least 4 times more than that. also we are having quite cold summer this year in Sydney :( 

so I wanted to have something warm, also filling…so made kale, enoki, daikon and buckwheat soup

1. Cook the buckwheat in a boiling water until cook. Set aside. 
2. place water, daikon ( Japanese radish ) and vegetarian Asian stock in a pot and bring to the boil and reduce heat and simmer until daikon is cooked. Add light soy sauce to taste. 
3. Fry the enoki mushroom in a sesame oil.  Set aside
4. Put cooked buckwheat, enoki and shredded kale in a bowl and pour the soup over. 

I was bit weak yesterday but I felt much better after having soup. Only problem is that I had two big bowls of soup…oops! 

Just in case you are not familiar with enoki…

Enoki mushroom

Enoki mushroom is very popular mushroom in Japan. we put is in miso soup, stir fry, hot pot…and more! 

I  saw some recipes that using enoki in raw in Australia but I really don’t think it is a good idea. not tasty at all and even taste horrible. 

The best way of using enoki is ” pre fry” the enoki with sesame oil. It add beautiful sweet taste if you fry. 

I used to add enoki directly in stir fry, omelette or soup. Then I was told that ” pre fry” technique, gosh, that is right, it is much nicer! 

When enoki is raw, looks a lot but once they are cooked, they shrink a lot :( 

If you can’t use it up, you can always freeze after frying, or keep in fridge for a week. 

Double mascarpone tiramisu

that’s right, double amount of mascarpone. I have never tasted such a texture. It is thicker, richer. Extremely naughty! 

Italian is quite dangerous. I tend to over eat !!!

Filicudi

11 Ramsay Road
Five Dock, Sydney, NSW, Sydney, NSW

(02) 9713 8733

It is such a beautiful day again in Melbourne! 

It is the best time to have Lord of the fries by Yarra river cos it is take away only!  ( I went to  Elizabeth street shop. I am not sure other shops has tables ) 

beautiful river side 

See the queue ! 

 I have been exited about “ Load of the fries” when I first found out a few days ago. 

Why so exiting?  because….

 -Fries are special here! 

It is “ fries” shop as you can see from the name. They are 

• ·      Not frozen
• ·      Use Aussie seasonal potato 
• ·      No trans fat oil are used
• ·      Cut fresh

 It is very hard to find such fries, isn’t it?

 -It sells vegetarian burgers nuggets and hot dogs. 

All vegetarian patties are

• ·      NO ONION OR GARLIC,
• ·      GLUTEN FREE
• ·      VEGAN  
• ·      Halal and Kosher.

Burgers for EVEYBODY!

-Burger buns are freshly baked everyday, vegan and have choice of

• -       White
• -       Wholemeal
• -       Gluten free

-I can choose the size of burger!

• ·      mini
• ·      mini double,
• ·      big
• ·      big double

- I can choose even type of cheese!

• ·      Cheese ( of course without renet  )
• ·      Vegan cheese

-Varieties of sauce for flies are available. Very international!

classice sauce

• ·      Aussie
-Rich Tomato Sauce + Vinegar
• ·      American
-Smooth Southern BBQ
• ·      Belgian-
Our Famous Euro Mayo
• ·      Indian
-Spicy Mango Chutney Yogurt
• ·      Parisian-
Aioli Garlic Mayo
• ·      Thai
-Golden Satay Sauce
• ·      Vietnamese-
Spicy Chilli Mayo

Deluxe Sauces

• ·      African
Belgian Mayo + Ketchup + Onion
• ·      Asian
Belgian Mayo + Thai Satay + Onion
• ·      French Canadian
Shredded Cheese + Hot Gravy
• ·      Italian
Shredded Cheese + Hot Napoli Sauce
• ·      Mexican
Chilli Salsa + Yogurt

I was tempted to order nuggets that have really good reviews but I decided to have burger “ meal deal “   that comes with burger,  sampler fries, classic sauce and drink

 Original burgers without onion

Original burgers normally comes with  LOTF patty, cheese, pickles,  onion, lettuce, Belcian mayo, mustard, ketchup 

with wholemeal bun,  vegan cheese !

with  Vietnamese spicy chilii mayo for flies.

 I normally don’t choose juice but it say ” organic” and ” squeezed daily” 

I couldn’t help choosing one. 

 Also found out that oranges are actually from Victoria!  Very local focused shop. Potato, bun, juices are from local area! Isn’t it fantastic? 

I must say mini burger is really really mini. I was actually very surprised how small it is. but actually it is perfect since ” sample fries” are actually quite generous portion 

see the photo from 

http://www.eatshowandtell.com/2009/06/02/lord-of-the-fries-melbourne/

This photo was taken in 2009. I am sure the mini burger become bit bigger now. 

I bet many non –vegetarian people are eating veggie burgers without knowing!

what a fabulous shop even though I wouldn’t say it is healthy meal choice….I would LOVE to go back next time I go to Melbourne! 

Load of the fries are available only in Melborune

CHADSTONE SHOPPING CENTRE

CHAPEL STREET

ELIZABETH STREET

FLINDERS STREET

MELBOURNE CENTRAL

I felt like having home made dumpling and noodle to be bit naughty so we decided to go to dumpling place in China town. 

then I got districted by Taiwanese restaurant next to it. 

See…lots of dishes on little plates..

and I can see lots of vegetarian plates 

so changed our plan

I was just exited to pick all veggie dishes

bamboo shoot with chilli oil 

Tofu skin simmered with soy sauce 

cucumber with sesame oil and chilli 

Bitter melon! 

Fried eggplant 

Simmered seaweed 

Frozen tofu cooked with soy sauce 

Our table was absolutely full. I was keep taking dishes but Sherly, had to stop me. 

I wanted to order soup ( that is the only hot vegetarian dish on the menu ) but seriously no space ….

7 dishes! with rice

Rice was huge but it was so easy to finish with 7 dishes. They are tiny bit salty that makes me eat more rice…oh dear, dangerous. Also I haven’t had white rice for ages so got more exited. I must say that some dishes are bit oily but at least not heated ( except eggplant ) so let’s say it is not too bad. 

I can’t cook 7 dishes at home so I really like the idea of eating variety of small amount.  Easy to have balanced meal! 

Sherly told me that she does take away these dishes. It is great idea. I wish the shop is close to me…. One dish cost only $ 3.5 so cheap! 

Yes, it say dumpling king but NO DUMPLINGS ARE SOLD!  funny isn’t it? the shop used to sell dumpling but stopped selling.

Cho dumpling king 

6/8 Quay Street  Haymarket NSW 2000
(02) 9281 2760

My Kale week is still going on :)

Today, I cooked Japchae, the Korean noodle. 

Japchae is a popular Korean noodle dish made from sweet potato. Yes, it is GLUTEN FREE noodle :) stir fried with thinly sliced carrot, onion, spinach and mushroom seasoned with sesame oil, soy sauce, salt and sugar. Pretty simple! 

Dried Korean sweet potato noodle - boil for 10 mins before frying

Today’s Japchae

Kale, carrot and enoki mushroom

Kale is like spinach so no problem at all! 

Normally sugar is used for seasoning  but I used ” agave syrup” today for healthy option. 

Lower GI than sugar and contains full of nutrients unlike white refined sugar! 

Japchae is tasty either hot or cold. It is great to bring to office for lunch :) 

Another lovely kale cooking :)))))

epicvegan:

• 100 billion gallons of water, enough to supply all the homes in New England for almost 4 months;
• 1.5 billion pounds of crops otherwise fed to livestock, enough to feed the state of New Mexico for more than a year;
• 70 million gallons of gas — enough to fuel all the cars of Canada and Mexico…

little change make a huge difference 

(Source: pinealglands)

I love soup. I have soup or soup noodle at least a few times a week, in winter. 

I love making vegetarian minestrone ( No more bacon!!! )  Just putting whatever veggies I have in fridge. 

I have lots of silver beet stem left so decided to make minestrone! 

Many people eat just silver beet leaf but please remember to eat stem! 

silver beet

stem! what a waste you throw these! 

Typical way of cooking stems is braise and bake in a gratin dish with parmesan cheese but I often put them in my stew or soup or make kinpira ( Japanese style stir fry ) 

So today’s minestrone ingredients are 

 silver beet stem, celery, eggplant, tomato, zucchini and soup mix beans! 

AND!!!!!!! 

secret spice…CURRY POWDER! 

Andrew, who came to my Tofusion class, told me that his spaghetti Bolognese was absolutely fabulous, many people claimed that that was the best Bolognese they had.

Okaaayyyy…he told me the secret of his Bolognese , basically put EVERYTHING in his pantry. like soy sauce ( I actually put soy sauce quite often so I am not surprised ) , mayonnaise (!) but he never ever forget to put one ingredient…. CURRY POWDER! 

His Bolognese sauce also got lots of veggies like celery, carrot..so I thought, bolognese is tomato based with veggies , so why not try with minestrone! 

Then…worked out VERY WELL :)))))  Curry powder helps to get rid of sourness of tomato. I can still taste tomato but not sour, maybe that is why the soup taste great! make it milder and give rich subtle flavour of all spices..cumin, turmeric..and more in the curry powder. Also turmeric gave a nice colour as well 

I love new tip for my minestrone, thanks Andrew !!!!!!!

The first time I went to Nepalese restaurant was for my Russian friend married to Nepalese man, so it was a wedding reception. 

I haven’t been to Nepalese restaurant since then, it must have been more than 5 years! 

I must say I really enjoyed having Nepalese food. It is similar to Indian but also have Asian style of cooking. 

Start from Papad,It is exactly the same as papadam but with beautiful Nepalese sauce called achar that is made from roasted tomato. sooo yummy 

Vegetarian momo 

Vegetable dumpling served with achar, the beautiful sauce again

Quite Asian style of cooking, isn’t it? 

Mass ko Bara 

Black lentil pancake, traditional recipe from the Newar tribe of the Kathmandu valley

again, with beautiful sauce achar. I would normally complain by getting the same sauce, but this sauce, I won’t complain! 

Vegetarian Dal Bhat 

This is like Indian ” Thali ” the sampler platter so you can enjoy many kinds of food. 

I love this system, so I can enjoy more flavours. They were all nice. Below was on the plate that day

• Aloo Ra Bhanta- eggplant and potato curry, most popular vegetarian dish
• Saag- Gently sauteed spinach with caramelised onion
• Aloo ko Achar- Nepalese potato salad with sesame and lemon 
• Golveda ko- roasted tomato, ginger and garlic

Dal 

Lentil infused in cumin, turmeric and tomato. It is definitely so different from Indian dal. It is a little sweet. I’m not big fan of sweet curry so I prefer Indian dal 

Tibetan bread

I was so curious about Tibetan bread. This is slightly sweet and deep fried. nnnnn…bit naughty. 

This is my most favourite dish

Nepalese style fried noodle. Very similar to Japanese fried noodle ” yakisoba” but with dash of spiciness. So yummy. We were only two of us, so we were planning to take this last dish away but we just could not stop! 

Finish with Chiya, like chai. 

Traditional Nepalese milk tea ( my boy friend behaved not to have milk ) brewed slowly with infusion of ginger, clove, cardamon and cinnamon. They have own home made tea bag, serve with honey. SO LOVELY

I am so happy there are quite a few vegetarian choices :)

I wanted to eat early so we went around 6pm then found out that there is 

 ” early bird” price. YAY! I think 10 to 15 % cheaper. To get ” early bird” price, you have to order by 7pm.

Only one thing I wasn’t happy is that I ate too much….

Mandala Nepalese restaurant 

121 Avoca st Randwick NSW 2031

9326 6887

www.mandakanepalese.com.au 

I didn’t research any vegetarian restaurants in Singapore but luckily, it was easy to be vegetarian or find vegetarian restaurants, unlike Europe.

lots of varieties

When we arrived in Singapore, we were absolutely starving…as soon as checked in hotel, we went for hunting vegetarian meal. Luckily my boy friend came to Singapore recently so he took me to the one he found before.

He is putting my veggies :) 

We went just before closing so not much choices but still more than 12 dishes to choose from

Got organic brown rice :) 

With soup, rice and four dishes for $6 !   cheap!

This is  non-vegetarian place. This place offers 

2 veg + 1 meat for $3.8

3 veg + meat for $4.6 

 I asked if I can do 3 veg instead of meat …no problem!

3 veg  + rice for $ 3.5 !  getting cheaper!!!

I should have asked 4 veg + rice…because there were so many vegetarian choices

nnn…so easy and cheap to eat vegetarian here :) 

Then I found even better one…

To be continued…

When I booked ticket and order vegetarian meal, I was so proud! and thought it is wired that it is the first time…then I realised the last flight was cheap jet star and didn’t bother to pay extra to order meal.

I have been flying a lot with jet star so I forgot about plane meal. I had numerous disgusting meal on plane. I love Korean air food the best and hated the most British air. To me plane meal is just hopeless but surprisingly, I actually enjoy meal most of time this time! Maybe quality of airline food has been increased while I have been using jet star last 5 years…

Qantas meal from Sydney

veggie and lentil curry was really nice. restaurant quality! not so mild, either. Cool 

and salad dressing wasn’t too bad as well. 

This is my favourite ! 

I change the seat for the big Indian group so I was sitting one of Indian boy seat in stead. Because of the seat change, my meal got lost but I got vegan meal which is fantastic! 

whole meal pitta with spiced eggplant 

soy milk was actually nice

Gluten free vegan cake! 

It is made from organic quinoa flour. I saw the person next to me..they were eating chocolate bar..This is much better value :) I was smiling secretly..also tastes good

mushroom bolognese and cous cous salad

Bolognese was actually pretty good

mushroom and spinach frittata with snowpeas 

Snowpeas were over cooked but fruits were pretty good

paw paw, pineapple and water melon. They must be packed in Singapore. 

British airway from London to Barcelona

see…BA meal, I mean snack or whatever is was not so exiting..

Qantas snack was more exiting, you know dried cranberries, nuts, oats biscuits. I was surprised for kind of healthy snack ( came with kitcat though) 

My conclusion.

Veggie meals rock! I love the fact veggie meal or other special meal people are served first. I like it :)

I will go for vegan meal or dairy free meal next time cos seriously plane meal contains lots of dairy and flour. Actually dairy and gluten free meal would be great. 

My boy friend took me surprise our anniversary dinner.

He choose the restaurant.  

It is at Bilsons. He got three hats ( Three hats means the best in Australia ) but not this year. 

I really don’t understand why he lost his hat this year because food was FANTASTIC! 

Tony Bilson is the one who taught French cooking to Tetsuya. 

We ordered vegetarian degustation menu. 

You can choose from ” Grand” - which is full course and ” Petit” for less dishes. 

Grand is $195 pp and Petit is $145 

We both ordered grand course..I was going to order petit and steal some dish from him but he knew it would happen..and I am glad I ordered grand course. 

Okkaaay, let’s see the food!!!!! 

Start from

chips 

Isn’t it cute? also tartar sauce was really nice

Bread with smoked tomato butter

Very cute and taste great

Next dish, I was very exited to hear what it is…so I forgot to take photo before I ate….

Whenever I go to degustation, I do that…just over exited! 

Well, why I got exited? 

Because…garlic was cooked in many interesting ways

Garlic sponge with fermented garlic, poached garlic and garlic chips with coconuts foam

that would be the title of dish. This dish is not even on a menu. 

Black looking one is fermented garlic, garlic chips is extremely tiny so you can’t see..but orange thing in front is poached garlic then yellow thing at the back is garlic sponge. 

It is vegan dish. Well, I must say, it was really nice. garlic sponge is not really sponge, quite crunchy with flavour of coconuts. Enjoyed crunchiness and fluffy foam combination with various garlic texture.  GORGEOUS! 

Spinach, Fregola, strawberry FD, Black pepper

Well, this is the title in the menu..but I explain more cos this dish got lots more going on. 

Cooked spinach with Fregola pasta, which is French pasta that has kind of chewy texture. little bit similar to tapioca. Spinach is cooked with Pernod, which is French liquor that made from aniseed. 

Strawberries were freeze dried and coated with Greek yogurt and underneath them, Mascarpone and black pepper sauce

You can see two black round things in the dish, they are  like jelly that made from Shiraz wine. When I put it in my mouth, the strong shiraz taste just pop out! It is not just jelly! 

The head chef worked at El Bulli in Spain that got no1 restaurant in the world title many times! and very famous for cooking food using science. Ferran Adria, the chef is called ” father of molecular gastronomy”  he makes foam, and all sort of weird thing..

 so he must be good at making food in chemistry way not traditional way. It is already happening a few EL Bulli style!  

This dish has got so much going on but, well balanced, in some way..AMAZING

I must say it is  another gorgeous dish…

Mustard tofu, red onion, smoked white beans, Brussel sprouts

Can you see little leaves of Brussel sprouts? I hate them but I can eat little leaves :)

Tofu is marinaded in mustard and blow torched. 

 Red onion confit. confit is a one of French cooking technique. confit is basically cooked in oil or fat ( for meat ) and sugar ( fruit )  in very low temparature.  I heard confit of meat or fruits but not onion. Interesting. Red onion was soaked with olive oil and cooked very slowly…

In the middle? well, deep fried shallot with root. Well, deep-fried roots is quite good

Highlight of this dish is  broth made from smoked white beans. NNN..I just want to drink the broth as a soup. not enough! soooo yummy 

Broccoli, pistachio, goats blue, baby sorrel 

BEEEEEEAUTIFUL presentation! 

This is like garlic dish, the ingredients are cooked in a different way in one dish! 

two main ingredients. 

Broccoli, florets and stems are freeze dried ..you see curly things in front.

Other stems are slow braised and rolled. Also Broccoli jelly with baby sorrel on top. 

Baby sorrel is a herb that has a fresh, sharp lemon-citrus flavour.

and some surprise blue cheese was hidden under broccoli …

And other side…

Three round things in front is pistachio tempura.

On the bottom is pistachio sauce. Very rich creamy sauce.

Also pistachio oil was drizzled on top :) What a dish! Just FANTASTIC! 

I am running out of my breath. I will write the rest tomorrow :)