December 27-30, 2008: West End, Brisbane

Our brief sojourn in Brisbane wouldn't have been complete without a speedy tour of some of our old eating haunts. Unfortunately a few of our faves, like El Torito, Atomica, Tongue and Groove and the Gunshop Cafe were closed for the holidays, but there were still plenty of places for us to revisit.

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We started things off on Saturday evening at Punjabi Palace on Melbourne Street. Ever since we came to Melbourne Cindy has been pining after their vegie korma - yet to be topped anywhere in our travels around the garden state. Prices have gone up a little since we were last there, but the surly service seems to have improved. We tried to tackle too much - a vegie korma ($16.50), palak paneer ($13.90), a garlic naan, a rose lassi, kingfisher beer and our free rice. I'd forgotten the serving sizes of this place - we usually got at least one extra meal out of the leftovers and tonight was no exception, with a take home container of goodies for any spare meals. The korma was much as Cindy remembered it, tangy, creamy and vegie rich - nothing compares. The palak paneer also hit the mark - large, soft paneer cubes in a spicy spinachy sauce, this dish hasn't developed the mythology of the korma but it's undoubtedly one of the better palak paneers we've tried. It's only since leaving Brisbane that we've realised how lucky we were to live so close to Punjabi - despite the surfeit of Indian places near our new home, we've not found anything that quite measures up.

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We'd planned to start Monday morning by meeting a gaggle of friends for breakfast at either The Gunshop or Atomica, both of which were closed. Luckily, Espressohead was still open - we were semi-regulars back in our Brisbane years and not much has changed: same menu, same decor, same atmosphere, same prices, all of which is pretty good news. Cindy ordered the corn, cheese and capsicum fritters with avocado salsa and spinach leaves ($10.50). They were a little too much fritter and too little corn but the salsa was tasty and the spinach provided the illusion of healthiness. Cindy also chose one of Espressohead's many juices - a love bug (strawberry and watermelon, $4.50), which she happily slurped down as Brisbane gradually turned up the heat.

I just ordered avocado and mushrooms on toast ($7.50), which is a cheap and delicious choice - especially when avocado is in season.

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After a quick breather we headed in to Fortitude Valley for a return trip to Kuan-Yin Tea House, a vegan-friendly, entirely veg mock-meat cafe, with loads and loads of teas and cold drinks. We went a little nuts: Cindy opting for sweet and sour pork rice ($9.50), which came out in a cute bento box, loaded up with a range of vegie sides.

The little pork bites were delicious, crispy and sticky with a surprisingly good sweet and sour pork. Cindy has often ordered this at past trips to mock-meat places, and has been served up decent mock meat, served up with sickly (to me at least) sweet sauces.

I decided to try the veggie fish with rice ($8.50) - it was less attractively presented, but at least as enjoyable. The nori adds some nice seaweed flavours to the soft pseudo-fish, and the soy sauce smeared on the crumbing provided a dash of saltiness. The whole thing was slightly dry, but it was still pretty fine. It's a huge menu, including such mysteries as mix simmered flavour ($5.90) and delicate combo ($14.90).

Another of the joys of Kuan-Yin is the selection of drinks - a huge range of milk teas, frappes, juices and other teas. Cindy braved the coconut flirtatious ($3.90), heavy on the coconut juice and slivers of coconut flesh, with just a dash of orange juice. It was excellent and refreshing, if a little awkward - it's not easy to slurp up large chunks of coconut through a straw. Patrick was even more adventurous, following up a coconut milk tea (with pearls) with a 'pink loving' - some sort of fruity delight. I was the least inspired, opting for a green apple frappe.

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The day still wasn't over - S & L gave us a call and offered up a trip to Suncorp Stadium for soccer, which I twisted Cindy's arm into agreeing to. It was well worth the trip - a last minute goal gave the Roar an exciting 3-2 victory over Wellington. We followed up with a visit to Patcharin Thai, tucked down near the end of Hargrave Road in West End. It, along with the sadly departed Thai Dream, provided us with consistently outstanding Thai food when we lived nearby. Cindy dived into a pad thai (~$13), and I went for a tofu gang panang (~$13).

Both were good, but I was a little disappointed. I'm not sure if my memory has inflated Patcharin Thai's quality, but I had very high expectations, and my curry fell just short. The main problem was the tofu - it was a little dry and overly firm, some smaller cubes of silken tofu would have made this a bigger hit. Not a bad end to an exhausting day of friends, food and football.

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Monday was a quieter food day, with breakfast at home and a visit to Beth and Ryan's house for some cracking fritters. Our only trip out was to Kafe Meze, for dinner with Jack and Em. We've only visited this place a few times over the years - it's a meat heavy menu, with the veg highlights mainly popping up on the appetiser list. Cindy and I went for the vegetarian platter: fried mushrooms, zucchini, eggplant, horta, huge baked beans and lemony potatoes ($29). It all comes out cold but everything is pretty tasty - the beans and potatoes are particularly good. We added in a serve of haloumi ($5.90), just because haloumi's awesome. It's all pretty good value - Cindy and I were both well stuffed for less than $20 each. A typical summer storm put an end to our evening of outdoor dining, which was another moment of Bris-talgia.

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Our final day in Brisbane saw us heading our separate ways - I ducked out bright and early to check out the birds of Boondall wetlands (high tides and hot weather = a sunburned and frustrated birder, although my first sighting of rainbow bee-eaters almost made up for other disappointments), while Cindy hung out with an old school friend in the smarter climate of a movie theatre. For lunch, I ducked into West End's only entirely vego restaurant: The Forest. They have a series of burgers and wraps, along with a bain marie with around five rotating dishes and some of the best vegie pies around. I enjoyed a tofu burger - an intriguingly flavoured tofu patty, heavy with salad and smothered with aoli. Messy and delicious. Cindy couldn't leave Brisbane without at least stopping in, so we snuck out for dessert: two kinds of vegan cheesecake (strawberry and blueberry).

When we first tried these, they were a revelation: how do you get such cheesy goodness into a vegan cheesecake? They're still excellent although we've since been spoiled by the EBC's fine vegan desserts, which probably just surpass the Forest's efforts.

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All in all it was a pretty good attempt at recapturing past dining glories - Punjabi, Kuan-Yin and The Forest are all up with Melbourne's best, but the trip back did highlight how spoiled for choice we are down here. So many vego places. I think we'll be in Melbourne for a good while yet.

December 20, 2008 - January 2, 2009: Christmas cooking

It's the season for preparing and sharing food and I did my fair share of it this year, mostly from other people's kitchens! Since we were surrounded by non-vegetarians and not relying on our own spice rack I chose a range of familiar-looking dishes without too many exotic ingredients, things that I've made and loved before.

Following lunch with Mum and Carol, I served up cream cheese brownies for dessert. We polished off half the pan between us, then I boxed up the rest for the ladies to enjoy later.

This plainer version of bubble slice is a childhood favourite of my brother's. Liam's been living in small-town New South Wales for the past six months and he's been missing Mum's cooking. Though he's not much of a baker I reckon he can manage making this refrigerated slice, so I tucked the recipe into a Christmas card as well as boxing up this edible incentive.

Michael and I spent Christmas day separately and we both wanted to contribute something to our hosts' tables. The solution? Twin trays of spanakopita - tasty at room temperature and terrific when eaten fresh out of the oven.

My Dad had a range of guests in his home, none of whom I know very well. Rather than trying to choose individual gifts, I hoped they'd appreciate the gesture of a shared box of sweets. These were supposed to be butter pecan turtle bars but with Caloundra seemingly devoid of pecans, they became butter macadamia turtle bars.

For a picnic with old friends, I baked a batch of soy bombs while the Boxing Day test babbled on in the background. Little terrier Louie didn't seem at all perturbed that these are vegan, and circled hopefully around my ankles all afternoon. Between preparing the bombs and their accompanying sauce, my hands smelt like a regular barbecue for the rest of the day.


Our last stop was Liam's current small-town home, where Michael and I shared a cabin with my mum and three of her sisters. We earned our keep by cooking dinner - first, haloumi sandwiches with pesto and salad, and a side of seasoned potatoes.


For the second night, I hit on a great dinner idea for mixed company - a parmigiana party! In Liam's kitchen Mum and I worked in tandem, crumbing chicken and eggplant respectively, serving them with simple side vegetables.

Michael and I were lucky to receive as much edible love as we gave. Here are some highlights:

• fabulous fresh tropical fruit, elegantly cut by Swiss visitor Marco;
  
• sweet and savoury sauces from Michael's Mum;
• an assortment of Indian groceries from mine;
  
• a gorgeous lasagna prepared by Anne, and the largest sachet of saffron I've ever owned;
• a copy of Face Food, travelling from Japan with Michael's brother;
  
• a lunch of zucchini and haloumi fritters with salad, followed by lychees in Beth and Ryan's beautiful new home;
• a pub meal, Liam's shout.

Family, friends, food - our holiday had all the right ingredients.

December 21, 2008: Cheese & herb fritters with tomato jam

My greatest achievement at work this year has not been a brilliant presentation or prestigious publication. It's been the compilation of all my colleagues' recipes from this year's culinary competition into a single document, full of colour photos, anecdotes and experts' tips. I've since received many appreciative comments and emails for my efforts but no-one could be happier than I am to have access to this glut of tried-and-true recipes. My favourite savoury dish of the day was the cheese and herb fritters, topped with tomato jam and prepared by Fiona. She credited the recipe to Delia Smith but added some extra advice of her own; it was an easy meal to put together when my mum arrived in Melbourne and we hosted lunch for her and her sister Carol.

The fritters are composed of a lot of grated cheese, whatever sprinkling of fresh herbs you like, and just enough pancake batter to bind it all together. The tomato jam is no more difficult to concoct - a chopped onion, can of tomatoes and a few condiments go into a saucepan to simmer, sweeten and meld. Toss together some salad leaves on the side and you've got my favourite kind of summertime lunch - something a little bit naughty offset with a heapin' helpin' of fresh produce. Eager to make use of my new jug and glasses, I also swizzled together ice, a punnet of strawberries, a bottle of lemonade and the juice of a lemon.

Public service announcement: You'll be tempted to eat more of these fritters than you should; this leads to several hours of regret and cheese-belly. Two is enough; three if you make 'em really small.

Cheese and herb fritters

100g feta cheese, grated or crumbled
250g other grated cheese
(I used tasty cheddar but you can also try gruyere, Swiss, parmesan, etc)
3 tablespoons chopped fresh herbs
(I used parsley and chives but try thyme, oregano or sage)
50g plain flour
2 pinches cayenne pepper
2 eggs
2 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons olive oil

Sift the flour and cayenne pepper into a large bowl, then make a well in the centre. Break the eggs into the well and gently whisk them together, gradually incorporating flour from the edge. Whisk in the milk until it's all well combined, then fold in the grated cheeses and herbs. Delia suggests leaving the mixture to rest in a cool place for an hour; I actually prepared it the night before and stored it in the fridge for 12+ hours. There's probably no harm in using the batter immediately if you're impatient.

Heat the oil in a frypan and dollop large spoonfuls of the batter into it, flattening them slightly if the mixture is stiff. Cook for about a minute on each side, until golden. Drain the fritters on absorbent paper and serve hot or at room temperature with tomato jam or another condiment of your choice.

Tomato jam

400g can crushed tomatoes
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 red onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon brown sugar
salt and pepper

Heat the oil in a small saucepan and add the onion and garlic. Cook for a few minutes, then add the tomatoes, balsamic vinegar and sugar; season the mixture to taste. Simmer the jam uncovered for about 40 minutes, then cool it to room temperature.

December 20, 2008: Ici III

I suspect that the inner north of Melbourne boasts the best range of breakfasts in the country, and we were keen to share the bounty with L on Saturday morning. Having recently confirmed that Min Lokal's baked eggs are still the best of a rather good bunch, Michael led L and I to this small George St cafe. Alas, word has spread and they were horrendously busy (good luck to them!). Surprisingly Ici, just round the corner and with a reputation for long waits, had space to accommodate us straight away.

The one savoury respite from eggs is the homemade tofu ($16.50) with white bean miso paste, spinach and tamari. Michael and I both wavered over it, and ultimately it was Michael who ordered it. He wasn't disappointed - the miso paste and tofu made a great couple and he cleared his plate in near-record time.

It was upstaged, however, by the spring eggs ($15.50). These usually come with pancetta, but it was our waitress who suggested that I sub it out for a vegetarian extra. I chose avocado, in addition to the eggs (scrambled for me), chargrilled asparagus, fetta, slow-roasted tomato and rocket salad already on offer. It was a marvellous mountain of food; rich yet fresh and topped with a creamy, tangy dressing. I made my way through about two thirds of it, relishing every mouthful, and Michael made short work of the remainder.

Up top you can see the porridge, which put a smile on L's face. There's also a fine-looking stack of French toast and berries available for the sweet tooth. Ici is a little pricier than most of its competitors but it always offers high quality food. Given the friendly service and minimal wait on this visit, I felt no regret as I paid the bill - we'd received excellent value for money.

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You can read our previous visits to Ici here and here.

December 19, 2008: Peko Peko

With L visiting from Brisbane, Cindy and I plotted a post-work evening in Fitzroy. We started out at Black Pearl for an early evening cocktail, and then headed across to Smith Street to try out Peko Peko.

Peko Peko is run by the same people who run the wonderful Otsumami in Northcote, so we turned up with high expectations. It has the same basic shtick - a menu broken into small, medium and big food sections, with plentiful vego options. After much discussion, we eventually settled on three dishes from the medium page and one from the big page between the three of us.

First up was the okonomyaki, served with a rich barbecue and Japanese mayo sauce, topped with shredded nori ($9). The pancake was tasty - not as cabbagey as I was expecting, but dense and crispy in all the right places; however the sauce was the star of the show. I was shameless enough to mop up the dregs with my fingers - judge me if you like, but taste the sauce for yourselves before condemning me.

Next up was the inevitable order of tempura vegies ($10) - sweet potato, eggplant, zucchini and tofu all fried up and served with a light dipping sauce. The tempura was executed as expertly as you'd expect from a good Japanese restaurant, and the inclusion of tofu in the mix was a bonus, but the soy sauce was a little too light for my tastes - a touch of wasabi or something would have given it the kind of kick that I favour.


Finally (the other dish we ordered was a fishy one for L, which was only a 'medium', but turned out to be both massive and delicious), the large dish: Yasai itamedon ($12) - eggplant, zucchini, capsicum, spinach and cabbage stir-fried in a rich teriyaki sauce, served on steamed rice.

This was a winner - a well aimed sauce, delicious fresh vegies and a pile of fluffy rice. It was a bit hard to share efficiently, but this is the kind of thing you come to Japanese restaurants for (at least if you're a vego); perfectly cooked, simple but impressive flavours and great, fresh ingredients. Yummo.

L and I happily knocked back a couple of Asahis, but Cindy was a bit more adventurous and went for a ginger and lemongrass tea (see the top picture) - it was super strong, you could feel your immune system improving with every sip.

Peko Peko is a cute little place, with a very stylish private dining room up in the back section, and a few unobtrusive features giving the walls a little life without slipping into cliche J-decor. The food was excellent and the service friendly, and we were all well impressed with the whole experience. Otsumami might just win out, but Peko Peko is right behind it - maybe a smidgin cheaper and well worth a visit.

Address: 199 Smith Street, Fitzroy
Ph: 9415 9609
Price: vego smalls: $3-$8, mediums: $8-$10, bigs: $12-$14

December 18, 2008: Leftover makeover - Getting stuffed

Internet-sourced recipes - write them down. I was all set to revisit those stuffed mushrooms that Michael made last year but beyond his positive review lay a dead link. I continued to search the site a while for the recipe, without success. Never mind, it turns out that stuffing vegetables is easy, reasonably quick, and can even take care of those leftover bits and pieces lazing around the fridge. I don't know why I don't try it more often. Here I pulled together a mixture of breadcrumbs, grated cheese, capers, parsley, lemon zest, garlic powder and pepper - it was a feisty combination, almost too salty, but memorable and worth repeating. If only I could remember the quantities!

Actually, this was only the first course of a double-stuffed meal. We were enjoying the company of L, a long-time friend of mine from Brisbane, who stayed a couple of nights with us while chasing up a study opportunity in Melbourne. Just the excuse for a simple weeknight dessert, especially since I had some cream to use up. I keenly plucked my first stone fruits of the season (from a carton and not a tree, sadly) and wasn't quite as sad as I should have been that the peaches were rock hard and the nectarines not much better. I knew they'd go down fine after being baked under a crust of ground almonds, brown sugar, butter, ginger and nutmeg. The apricots, which were perfectly ripe to begin with, disintegrated into a delectable jam in the time it took the less ripe fruit to become tender.

December 17, 2008: Gertrude Street Grub - Las Vegan Bakery and Cafe

Okay, so this is pretty embarrassing. We've lived in Melbourne for more than two years, and I've worked on Gertrude Street the entire time, yet this is the first time we've blogged Las Vegan. It's not actually the first time I've been there - it seems every time I visit with the intention of blogging it, I leave the camera at home, or on my desk or, the one time I actually had it with me, the owners were on a three week holiday. It's been like a mini blogging curse. But at last I made it, camera in hand - just 2 days before they shut down for a month.

Of course by now, everyone's had their say (even people like Theresa and ZB have stopped in from far flung places). My previous visits have had mixed results - the calzone I ordered many months back was a bit dry and unexciting, but the sloppy joe that Toby recommended really hit the spot. I figured it was best to capture Las Vegan at their best, so I went back for another shot at the TVP-based burger ($8.50).

True to the name, the patty is sloppy - all sauce, mushrooms and pseudo-mince, plonked on a fresh roll, with a few cursory pieces of tomato on top. And it's good! Messy, but really, really good - it's mostly about the sauce I think, with the occasional hint of chilli bursting through the tomato-y goop. The salad on the side is fine, but I foolishly forgot to ask for fries with mine - another reason to resample the sloppy joe on my next visit.

It wouldn't be right to write this place up without mentioning the muffins - L.V. does an impressive range of vegan muffins ($3.50 I think). I was powerless to resist the sour cherry option - all sticky-sweet, sour and delicious. I would have appreciated some more cherries, but I think that would be true no matter how many were squeezed in.

Las Vegan is a great lunch place - a variety of burgers, calzones and salads on offer, along with some soups, the delicious rice balls we tried at World Vegan Day and a few other odds and ends. Everything is reasonably priced, generously portioned and, of course, vegan. Be warned: Las Vegan is only open for lunches on weekdays - so you'll have to take a long lunch break and mosey in to Collingwood to check it out.

Address: 22 Smith Street, Collingwood
Ph: 9415 9001
Price: $4 - $8.50

December 16, 2008: Ganesh Vegetarian and Vegan Restaurant

We're still working our way through Aduki's awesome Melbourne Veg Food Guide, so a Christmas party trip to the Fitzroy Bowls Club was the perfect excuse for me to meet up with Cindy on St Georges Road and check out Melbourne's latest pay-what-you-feel veg restaurant: Ganesh Vegan and Vegetarian Cafe.

Ganesh seems to have gone through a few iterations - when Kristy and Toby went last year it was the Dhal Bar, and when the Aduki folk reviewed it there seemed to have been fixed prices. Nowadays there's a smallish menu (about 7 dishes), some friendly staff and a big pot in which deposit whatever price you think is fair. Once we'd told the guy who greeted us that we'd not visited before, he suggested that we just try a little of everything and neither of us were going to argue.

Our table was quickly laden with food (all of which was vegan): purri, rice, a potato curry with peas and sundried raisins, a pumpkin curry with roast sesame, dates and Szechuan pepper, a Thai tofu and spinach masala, broad beans with seaweed, smoked tofu and tomato, coconut and tamarind pickles and a little bowl with vadai in it. Wowsers.

As if that wasn't enough, our waiter ducked back straight away and added a huge bowl of stir-fried mixed vegies.

Despite the ridiculous amount of food on offer, Cindy insisted that we sample from their few dessert options, going with some maple syrup walnuts and poached spiced figs.

The walnuts were basically candied - sweet and crunchy, combining well with the chewier poached figs. They, like the whole meal really, were pretty tasty without being mind-blowingly good. The pay-what-you-feel ethos means that this can be as cheap or expensive as you like, which means it's hard to complain about the value, and the array of vegan dishes is impressive. The food was plentiful and tasty - it was hard not to make comparisons with Gujju's - Ganesh wins in terms of variety, but the dishes themselves were a bit less impressive than the delights served up in East Malvern.

Address: 376 St Georges Road, North Fitzroy
Ph: 9489 4615 (although it's not working at the moment apparently)
BYO
Price: Whatever you like (cash only)

December 14, 2008: Eat Pizza

Ten pizzas. Overflowing with vegetables, basil, cheese and pepperoni. All vegan. Whoa!

They come from Eat Pizza, a new restaurant and takeaway in Maribyrnong - the perfect location for Emily to host a tasting party. The roasted vegetable and veggie-with-the-lot-plus-pineapple were very popular but actually, I'm more a fan of simple combinations - I loved the basil and cherry tomato pizza, the garlic pizza, and especially the pepperoni pizza. All the bases were made with wholemeal flour, and it make its presence known without being too heavy. We admittedly haven't sampled Mebourne's best-known vegan pizzas (at Plush Pizza in Hawthorn), but these were mighty impressive.

Address: 44 Raleigh Road, Maribyrnong
Ph: 9317 7977
Website: www.eatpizza.com.au

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You can also read other accounts of the night at Miss T: Princess Vegan, unwakeable, kblog and The Fairest Feed.

December 13, 2008: Three One Two II

For my 28th birthday, I wanted to visit the same restaurant we ate at for Michael's 28th birthday last year - Three One Two. It set a high benchmark for the few vegetarian degustations we've since enjoyed, and we were both curious to experience a different seasonal twist on McConnell's food.

The meal began with this little cup, containing beetroot, fromage blanc, broad beans, dill and fried bread. It was a cute spring-themed start to proceedings; the wafer-thin fried bread offset it with a delicate crunch and savoury accent.

Then, of course, came the bread. It's always a treat at these high-end restaurants, crusty but never tough. And perfectly spreadable, room temperature butter - classy!

This is the zucchini & cauliflower salad, eggplant and air-dried sheep's milk cheese. There's clearly more to it than that, with each mouthful offering a different combination of flavours. It didn't surprise me in the way that McConnell's beetroot salad or Wickens' garden salad did, but it was a fine light course to keep us appetised for the many dishes to come.

This dish arrived accompanied by the chilled asparagus soup in a separate jug. The radish curls, smoked tomato, sorrel, dill and fromage blanc posed like abstract art in the shallow white dish, and our waiter did a fine job of not disturbing them as he poured in the soup. I wasn't much taken with my first mouthful of the soup, but when I ate it with the other elements it made much more sense. I was very pleased with myself for saving the smoked tomato until last - it was superb. "It's by Tom Cooper from the Yarra Valley," whispered the waiter, reverently. Who is Tom Cooper? I've no idea, but he smokes a damn good tomato.

Here's "piquillo peppers, panisses, and crushed peas". Panisses are 'fries' made from chickpea flour, and that's a mighty big one topping this dish! Offset by mild purees, sweet roasted peppers, herbs and the nuttiest chickpeas I've ever tasted, this was one of my favourite dishes of the night.

And here's my other favourite, which was served on two plates. Above is strips of naan concealing herbed and spiced chickpeas and a scattering of dried onion...

... and here are the braised tomatoes, piping hot in a teeny pot. It was a wonderfully fragrant interpretation of Indian cuisine that I won't be forgetting any time soon.

The cheese course consisted of Beaufort cows' milk cheese from the Savoie region, France, served with carrot and pain d'épices. I'm a recent convert to enjoying cheeses with fruit or preserves and this carrot puree really hit the spot. Pain d'épices is not actually the crispbread you see at the far end; it's "bread of spices", a French cake rich with gingerbread flavours and honey, pureed with the carrot.

I wonder whether these dishes were really meant for housing tealight candles? I like them better with coconut cream, raspberry and chocolate anyway. The chocolate was a curious thing - not chunks of the stuff, not waxy or melty at all, crunchier like dry chocolate biscuits or even cocoa nibs.

The second dessert (and shouldn't there always be a second dessert?) was this arrangement of poached apricots, pine nut sponge and French vanilla parfait. The small square of parfait was the thickest, richest frozen custard I've ever eaten, it was lovely with the dense sponge cake though I couldn't detect the pine nuts. The apricots, on the other hand, I found too sweet.

To nibble with their strong coffee, we were finally presented with these tiny friands with passionfruit curd. At this size, they are all chewy caramelised crust and zero squidgy filling - I suppose that's where the tangy curd steps in.

This procession of courses had me feeling most satisfied, though surprisingly not stuffed full as some other degustations have. McConnell seems to put as much care into his vegetarian dishes as his standard menu - at other restaurants we've received 'same, minus the meat' meals while here the chickpea panisses and braised tomatoes seemed to be designed especially for us meat-eschewing folks. He didn't even rely on the seemingly ubiquitous tofu course! Nor did this meal use foams, gels or other molecular novelties to keep us interested. Props to McConnell for showing us the great things that a chef, not a magician or lab-coated scientist, can do with vegetables.

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You can read about our previous visit to Three One Two here.

Updated (29/6/09): Andrew McConnell has packed up Three, One, Two and opened Cutler and Co on Gertrude Street in Fitzroy.

December 12, 2008: Po' boys

It's no secret that I'm a sucker for a good vege burger. So when Michael offered to cook me anything I liked out of Veganomicon on Friday night, I zeroed in on the Sammich section and selected the po' boy. Po' boys originated in Louisiana and traditionally involve some sort of fried seafood stuffed into a baguette. Not this baby - it starts with smoky chipotle mayo, is filled out with crunchy cornmeal-crumbed tofu and coleslaw, with a grand finale of pickles! This book is sadly lacking in the photo department, but regardless I was picturing a fine sandwich.

And you know what? It's about three times BETTER than I hoped. It's frickin' mardi gras in a crusty bread roll - just look at it! The chipotle mayo's got bite, the tofu crust is golden delicious with a hint of lime zest, the slaw freshens things up and the pickles are the sweet-and-sour icing on the cake. I ate this for breakfast on Saturday, and on Sunday too. Then I ate the last bit for lunch on Monday. I still loved it, and I reckon you will too.

Po' boys

Chipotle mayo
Hunt down a can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce (here in Melbourne, you can buy them from Casa Iberica). Finely chop one pepper, and stir it into 1/4 cup vegan mayonnaise; additionally, stir in about 1/2 teaspoon of the adobo sauce. Taste and add more adobo sauce if you want spicier mayo.


Cornmeal-crusted tofu
You can bake or fry these. Michael fried them as a birthday treat but we'll probably bake them in the future; we've previously had crunchy-crust baking success with 'fish' fingers. The original recipe calls for 2 tablespoons of chilli powder but ours is really potent, so I nagged Michael into reducing it to a measly teaspoon.

vegetable oil for frying
500g firm tofu
1 cup rice milk
2 tablespoons cornflour
1 cup cornmeal (usually called 'polenta' here)
1 teaspoon chilli powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
1 tablespoon grated lime zest
1 1/2 teaspoons salt

Stir together the milk and cornflour in a shallow bowl. In a separate shallow bowl, stir together the cornmeal, chilli powder, cumin, cayenne, lime zest and salt.

Slice the tofu lengthways into1.5cm-thick slabs, then slice the slabs diagonally into triangles.

To fry the tofu: Liberally coat the base of a frypan with oil and turn it up to medium heat. Once it's ready, dip a tofu slice into the milk until all sides are coated, then into the cornmeal for the same treatment. If you're a smartie, you can try having one 'wet' hand and one 'dry' hand to reduce mess. Place the crumbed tofu into the frypan, and repeat with the other tofu slices until the frypan's full. Fry the tofu for a couple of minutes on each side, then plonk it onto some absorbent paper and repeat with any remaining tofu.

To bake the tofu: Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C and lightly oil a baking dish. Dip the tofu slices into the milk, then the cornmeal as above, and place them in the baking dish - no overlapping and preferrably no pieces touching! Bake the tofu for about 15 minutes, turning once.

Coleslaw
Finely shred 3 cups-worth of cabbage (ours was purple!) and grate a carrot. In a large bowl, whisk together 1/4 cup vegan mayonnaise, 2 tablespoons rice milk, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, and a pinch each of pepper and mustard powder. Add the cabbage and carrot, and toss them to distribute the dressing through.

For the final assembly:
sandwich pickles
2 loaves of French baguette

Cut the baguettes into half-lengths, then slice them lengthways into sandwiches. Spread the bottom of each sandwich with the chipotle mayo, then stack it with tofu and coleslaw. Slice the pickles and balance them on top, and round it all off with the top piece of bread. Eat, eat, eat.

Menu for Hope V

It's back! 'Round Christmas time each year, food bloggers round the world (with Pim Tchamuanvivit at the helm) band together for a mega-raffle. The prizes up for grabs are awesome, to be sure, but that's not the best bit - all money raised is donated to the UN World Food Programme school lunch program in Lesotho (read more about it here). Last year we raised almost $100,000! Please consider buying tickets, for yourself or as a gift to the favourite foodie in your life.

Ed from Tomato is hosting the Asia-Pacific component of the raffle.

Click here to see the prizes up for grabs.

There are other prizes around the world that you're eligible for too.
Check out the full list of prizes here.

Donation Instructions:

1. Choose a prize or prizes of your choice from our Menu for Hope at Chez Pim or Tomato.
2. Go to the donation site at First Giving and make a donation.
3. Each US$10 you donate will give you one raffle ticket toward a prize of your choice. Please specify which prize you’d like in the ‘Personal Message’ section in the donation form when confirming your donation. You must write-in how many tickets per prize, and please use the prize code.
For example, a donation of $50 can be 2 tickets for AP01 and 3 tickets for AP02. Please write 2xAP01, 3xAP02
4. If your company matches your charity donation, please check the box and fill in the information so we could claim the corporate match.
5. Please allow us to see your email address so that we could contact you in case you win. Your email address will not be shared with anyone.

PSSST! There are some mighty fine vegetarian and vegan-friendly prizes out there this year. And the more tickets you buy, the more likely you are to win one of them. Good luck!

December 11, 2008: My edible birthday

On turning 28, my friend, colleague and fellow maths-nerd Alana reminded me that my new age is a perfect number. As if that's not enough to be pleased about, take a look at the food-themed gifts I've been treated to, to celebrate the occasion.

This cute card arrived in the mail from my brother, Liam.

Michael's mum, Robyn, posted me this brand new recipe calendar to replace the 2008 World In Your Kitchen Calendar that she bought us for Christmas last year. This time she designed and printed her own calendar full of vegetarian recipes! I'm impressed and mighty chuffed that she went to that effort - you can be sure that this blog will document us testing each recipe throughout the year.

Yes, it's Veganomicon! The ultimate reference for vegan cooking, source of the fabulous chickpea cutlet. Michael picked it out after a little internet research, and offered to cook me my choice of dinner from it on Friday night. I can't wait to get my teeth into more of these cruelty-free recipes in the coming weeks and months.

But he didn't stop there. Michael also tucked away some sweet little earrings and badges amongst a bag full of newspaper. The newspaper concealed this vintage drink set! I'll swizzle up Pimm's punch all summer, if only the weather warms up.

My December birthday melds most agreeably into Christmas. I spent the afternoon lazing around a barbecue and playing bocce with my lab-mates while in Dr Who-themed costume - that's what passes for an office Christmas party 'round these parts. And I think there's at least one more fabulous food-themed gift on its way to me. During the planning and parties of these few weeks, I'm looking forward to my turn to do the giving.

December 10, 2008: Rhubarb tartlets

When I planned to make strawberry and rhubarb pudding on the weekend, a minor mix-up meant that Michael and I simultaneously and separately bought big bunches of rhubarb. With nine crimson stalks left over, I embarked on a mega-quantity of rhubarb compote. An opportunity to share it around arose within days - my friend and colleague Emily (who we visited in London last June) stopped by our lab to present the last seminar of the year.

I took the low-fuss route, buying four boxes of single-serving shortcrust pastry cases and a small tub of already-dollopable cream. (I figure that home-made shortcrust and freshly-whipped pure cream are privileges reserved for eating in my home, not from the office kitchen.) As I stood in front of the seminar audience and introduced Emily, it was all I could do not to giggle as a dozen or more pairs of eyes looked not at me but at the plates of tartlets in front of them; no-one was game to pluck their portion until I gave the go-ahead. They made short work of these once I did.

December 8, 2008: Locro

For the final calendar meal of the year, the World in Your Kitchen Calendar served up Locro, an Ecuadorian pumpkin stew. Like most of the dishes from the calendar (with one or two exceptions), it was pleasant and filling without being something interesting enough for us to bother making again. I used fresh corn and peas, but it was probably an unnecessary effort - they were kind of buried in the stewy mush, so their freshness didn't stand out at all. The main flavour is the sweet pumpkin, and with some cheese on top and a fresh salad on the side, this was a reasonable end to a year of international recipe adventures.

Locro - pumpkin stew

1 cup sweetcorn
450g pumpkin, cut into small pieces
1/2 cup peas
4 potatoes, diced
1 onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tablespoons tomato paste
200g cheese, grated
1 teaspoon nutmeg
oil
salt and pepper

Boil the pumpkin for 10-15 minutes, until soft. Drain and mash into a thick paste.

Heat the oil in a saucepan and fry the onion over low heat for five minutes. Add the garlic and fry for another minute or so, stirring.

Add the tomato paste and potatoes, along with enough water to submerge the spuds (about 1.5 cups in our pot). Bring to the boil and simmer for 5-10 minutes.

Add the corn, pumpkin and peas and stir everything together. Simmer for another 10 minutes. Sprinkle the grated cheese and nutmeg on top and serve with a salad.

December 7, 2008: Zucchini crumble

Vegan sausage rolls weren't the only triumph of Sunday night's dinner. We typically augment pastry meals with steamed or sauteed green vegetables but on this occasion I branched out, taking my cue from an almost year-old comment from Kathryn of Limes & Lycopene about zucchini crumble.

I embellished a bit on her description, sneaking sprinklings of pepper and chicken-style stock cubes between the layers of zucchini rounds, and substituting a dried herb mix for the fresh ones she mentioned. The parmesan I grated lightly over the top was the saddest, driest looking scrap of cheese that you've ever seen but it did a fine job in the end product - the aim was to add a subtle savoury kick to the breadcrumbs, not to glue them together with melting goo. For a vegan version I can imagine nutritional yeast flakes standing in well, but really I'm itching to try Bella's recipe for vegan parmesan. Riffing on her approach, I bet that a few ground nuts (cashews, almonds, pine nuts!) would make a swell topping too.

Zucchini crumble

Estimate the quantities yourself, depending on how many people you wish to feed.

Start by preheating the oven to 180-200 degrees C (I went for 200 since I was simultaneously baking the sausage rolls). Lightly grease a baking dish (I used a small, square cake tin).

Slice several zucchinis into rounds. Layer them in the baking dish; it doesn't matter if there are gaps or overlaps. Sprinkle each layer alternately with ground black pepper or chicken-style powdered stock as you go - don't overdo it, you just want a little seasoning to bring out the zucchini's flavour.

Time to crumble! Sprinkle over breadcrumbs, chopped fresh or dried herbs, a light layer of grated parmesan, nooch, vegan parmesan and/or ground nuts.

Bake the crumble until the zucchini is tender and the topping is golden brown, about 15-20 minutes. You can cook it further than the colouring you seen in the photograph above - our reheated leftovers had a deeper colour and flavour.

December 7, 2008: Vegan sausage rolls

I've been devoted to Liz O'Brien's recipe for vegetarian 'sausage' rolls longer than I've been vegetarian. Not only are they guaranteed gristle-free, but they taste as good as real sausage rolls (perhaps better!) and only require ingredients that you can find readily in a supermarket. I've cooked them for birthdays and Christmas and for cold, solitary winter nights on the couch. This recipe, my friends, is forever.

... except for my new lil' discovery. With one or two substitutions, you can make vegan sausage rolls that taste just as motherlovin' awesome! Toss the cottage cheese and eggs, and mash up a block of silken tofu - that's it. The raw filling has a distinctive whiff of soy, but there's not a trace of it once baked. These are the salty, flaky sauce vessels of your dreams.

If you compare the recipe below to the original version, you'll notice I've made a couple of other tweaks for convenience over the years. Perhaps you will too - the filling seems most forgiving.


Vegan sausage rolls

125g pecans
stale bread to make ~1/2 cup breadcrumbs
1 onion
300g silken tofu
1 cup rolled oats
1 Massel beef-style stock cube
1 teaspoon garlic powder
3 tablespoons soy sauce (you can use less - the end result will be less salty and brown, and therefore less resemble a 'real' sausage roll)
ground pepper, to taste
3-4 frozen puff pastry sheets (~25cm square, Borg's is vegan)
water or vegan milk for brushing pastry
sesame seeds

My preferred way of prepping this filling makes maximum use of my food processor. If you don't have one, chopping and mashing will do the job just fine. Start by processing the pecans until they're thoroughly chopped, but not all gone to powder. Tip them into a large mixing bowl, then toss the bread into the food processor and whizz it until it's crumbs. Toss the crumbs in with the pecans and move onto the onion. Chop it into 8 chunks and process them briefly until they've a 'finely chopped' kinda texture. Add them to the mixing bowl, and finally whizz up the tofu until it's a smooth mush. Add it to the mixing bowl, as well as the rest of the filling ingredients: rolled oats, a crumbled-up stock cube, garlic powder, soy sauce and pepper. Stir everything together well.

Now preheat the oven to 200 degrees C and lightly grease a baking tray. Thaw out your puff pastry, and slice each sheet in half so that it makes two rectangles. Spoon the filling down the centre third of each pastry rectangle; lightly brush another third with water or milk and then roll the pastry, starting from the empty third and tucking it into the brushed third. Slice the roll into halves, thirds or quarters as you wish and place them on the baking tray. Make a couple more diagonal cuts in the top of the roll, brush the top with more water/milk and sprinkle over some sesame seeds. Repeat with the remaining filling and pastry. Bake the rolls for about 20 minutes, until they're golden brown and flaky. Serve with lots of sauce - this one comes highly recommended.

December 7, 2008: Concorde crepes

Local blogs tummy rumbles and Melbourne Gastronome recommend plenty of tasty and affordable meals around the city, but most of them are closed to the weekender like me. Not so Concorde Crepes (reviewed by Mellie here). This stand, located on the Elizabeth St side of GPO, was open and poised to crank 'em out at lunch time on Sunday.

At first glance the menu's got quite the variety of meat going on, but there are actually plenty of vegetarian options too: vegemite and Jarlsberg cheese; tomato, basil and mozzarella; egg, cheese and parsley; even one with chilli beans! Michael opted for a filling of grilled veges, basil, goat cheese and spinach ($9.90) and was thoroughly impressed. I'd be surprised if any of the others could hold a candle to my crepe (pictured above), which featured Swiss brown mushrooms, thyme, spinach and 3 cheeses ($8.90). Three cheeses is potentially a recipe for wrongness (think congealed oily ooziness everywhere) but these folks get it so, so right - there's just enough curd to meld together the mushrooms and spinach in savoury perfection.

If you're after something on the sweeter end of the scale, they've got you covered with a few classics - lemon and sugar ($4.90, tested and approved!), jam, honey or banana and nutella. There's a couple more elaborate fruit-based ones, but don't go expecting lavish plates tizzed up with aerosol cream and icing sugar; this stand is augmented with only four seats (and smoking-friendly ones at that) so everything's designed to be enjoyed on your feet and potentially with one hand.

Address: corner of Elizabeth and Little Bourke Sts, outside GPO
Unlicensed
Price: veg crepes $4.90-$9.90

December 6, 2008: Strawberry & rhubarb pudding

I've no idea why I thought of this 18-month-old pudding recipe from Food Blogga on the weekend, much less why I baked it. But I did, and it was a fine thing. Perhaps it could have done with some vanilla essence, or a teaspoon of ground ginger, but it seems petty to disparage the pink, fruity pleasure it already is. It's more fruit than pudding and more pudding than my favourite pudding dish can handle. So I poured half of it into my second-favourite pudding dish and saved it for later. Not much later, mind - Michael's already eaten half of it! You'll have no problem doing the same if you're partial to rhubarb.


Strawberry and rhubarb pudding
(taken from Food Blogga, who was inspired by a recipe by Jill Dupleix)

600g rhubarb, chopped into 1-inch lengths
1 cup strawberries, chopped
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons water
1 cup plain flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup sugar
100g butter, softened
2 eggs
100mL milk

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C. Grease a large baking dish, and drop the rhubarb and strawberries into the bottom of it. Sprinkle them with the brown sugar, then with a couple tablespoons of water.

In a small mixing bowl, sift together the flour and baking powder.

In a larger bowl, beat together the butter and sugar, adding the eggs one at a time and continuing to beat until it's all well combined. Continue to beat the mixture slowly, adding a third of the flour mixture, then half the milk, alternating again until they're all incorporated.

Spoon the batter over the fruit and smooth over the top a little. Bake the pudding for about 40 minutes, until it's golden brown on top and a skewer comes out clean.

December 5, 2008: East Brunswick Club IV

Yes, yes, this is our second visit to the East Brunswick Club within a week, but we had a good excuse - I'll get to that. Friday night saw a bustling pub and a full price menu. I took the opportunity to try their vegan fish and chips ($16), which comes with lemon, tartare sauce and a side salad. I'm pretty sure the 'fish' is the Lamyong product that I've bought once or twice before. It's chunky and very salty - not a particularly convincing imitation of a battered cod but rather addictive in its own right, especially when slathered in tartare sauce. The sauce portioning is quite reasonable, but sauce-fiend that I am, I wished for more to dip my chips into. Thank goodness for those lightly dressed greens to freshen everything up.

And here's a slightly better lit pic of the vegan 'chicken' parma, which goes for $17 when it's not on special. It's not as jaw-droppingly special at this price, but the EBC deserves props for offering such vegan-friendly pub meals all week long.

Our 'excuse' for such a quick return visit was to take advantage of one of the EBC's other features - the band room. Though we were expecting the Basics to light up our night, it was cute Tokyo interlopers the Bawdies who won our hearts and shook our fairly awkward hips.

____________

You can read about our previous visits to the East Brunswick Club here, here and here.

December 3, 2008: Gujju's Cafe and Chaat House

When Aduki's Melbourne Veg Food Guide came out, I didn't expect it would tell us much we didn't already know. After all, we knew all about The Vegie Bar, The Vegie Hut, Soulfood, Bowl of Soul, Trippytaco, La Panella, Shakahari, Enlightened Cuisine, Bodhi, Lord of the Fries, Bo de Trai, Invita, Mr Natural, The Moroccan Soup Bar, Gopal's, The Tofu Shop, Soulmama, Lentil as Anything, Vege2Go, Vegetarian Nirvana and White Lotus - plus places like Las Vegan, Plush Pizza, Fo Guang Yuan and Ganesh that we've yet to blog about - how much more could Melbourne have to offer?

Quite a lot as it turns out. The best thing about the Veg Guide is that it identifies vego places lurking in all kinds of Melbourne suburbs - and in regional Victoria. There are many, many places to discover. So this week we decided to start discovering them, turning a standard Wednesday night into a mini-adventure to Melbourne's south-east. The destination: Gujju's Cafe and Chaat House in Malvern East. Gujurat, in western India, is almost entirely vegetarian, and is famous for its veg-cuisine.

Gujju's, in south-eastern Melbourne, is entirely vegetarian and deserves to be famous for its thalis and chaat. It's a fairly unassuming place - concrete floors, plain wooden furniture and a tv in the corner pumping out Indian news. The menu is pretty simple: choose from around a dozen chaat options, including potato dumplings, lentil cakes, soups, puri and many others; or just dive in to the all you can eat thali.

Of course, we chose the thali: undhiyu, daal, kadhi, pickle, salad, roti, thepla, a curry of the day (palak paneer in our case), dessert of the day, buttermilk and a few little fried delights that I can't name. And all of it is wonderful. The soup comes in spicy and sweet versions - both perfect for dunking roti into, the battery fried treats concealed roasted chillies and a mashed vegie filling, the pickles were salty and sharp, the daal was chunky and flavoursome, the undhiyu lightly spiced and filled with fresh vegies and the palak paneer was just heavenly. One of the finest palak paneers that I've tasted. And I tasted quite a bit - getting a couple of top-ups and sneaking a bite of Cindy's. The breads were fresh, hot and plentiful - everything was just wonderful. We ordered mango lassis to drink - thick, tasty and cooling.

Even the buttermilk, which I've never been a fan of, was drinkable. The dessert was a tiny plate of semolina-based sweetness - a nice little end to a ridiculously good meal.

It's not the cheapeast thali around ($16.90), but it's more than just a simple thali - it's an all you can eat feast! Every few minutes the friendly staff stopped by out table offering us more roti, more fried treats, more curry, more soup - they seemed almost disappointed when I finally declared that I could eat no more. As well as endlessly offering us food, the staff were really helpful - pointing out to Cindy which of the dishes were likely to test her spice-eating abilities and which were going to hit the spot.

To sum things up: this place is a hidden jewel, easily accessible by public transport (#3 tram or Caulfield train station), overflowing with stunning vegetarian Indian food. Make the trip people, it's well worth it!

Address: 1/131 Waverley Road, East Malvern
Phone: 9571 1188
Price: thalis $16.90, chaat $3.50-$7.90
Licensed

December 1, 2008: The East Brunswick Club III

The $10 Mondays at the EBC are a sure-fire vegan winner - a board full of cheap pub food options, all veganisable with the help of cheezly and soy products. So with our fridge full of lunch leftovers, Cindy and I decided that a lazy pub meal was the order of the day. We'd envisaged parking ourselves in a corner, filling up on beer and food and riding back on home in time to get angry at the 3rd episode of The Howard Years (aside: is there anything more infuriating than Peter Reith's idiotic face? Answer: yes, Alexander Downer's pathetic simpering. Oh God, I've just got to move on).

Instead, we ran into an impromptu vegan meetup, starring Kristy and Toby, Rachel, Buttons, Caroline and T and, the guest of honour, Theresa from Tropical Vegan (visiting from Townsville). They kindly invited us to join them, and we settled in to the strange little dining room just off the main section of the pub. Cindy decided to branch out from the standard pub fare, opting for an Asian smoked duck and crispy wonton salad.

The duck was tender and duckish and the salad was fresh and plentiful, but the whole dish was smothered in some sort of sweet chilli-based sauce that was a bit too sweet and overpowered the whole dish. Still, where else can you get a vegan duck salad for $10?

I couldn't go past the pub-food options - this time I went for the cheese and bacon burger, with a big side of chips. The chips were much better than last time - surely a key factor in a good pub meal - and the burger was gigantic and delicious. Fake bacon will never quite bring the same flavours to the party as the real stuff, but the 'meat' patty was outstanding - maybe not quite up to some of our homemade efforts, but pretty close. The whole thing just filled the cheap pub meal niche brilliantly.

I was happily full after putting away my massive meal, but Cindy had been eyeing off everyone else's dessert and let me know that I should duck around and order her something. It's hard to ignore a choc-cherry cheesecake at the best of times, but I was even more intrigued to try a vegan version. I snuck a few mouthfuls away from Cindy and can confirm that it was outstanding. Lots of cherry mush smothering a delicious and slightly cheesy cake between two layers of chocolateness. Not too shabby.

The service isn't really the pub's strong point - there were some strange delays between dishes arriving at our table, but it's worth noting that the EBC was packed out again - they've really found a way to fill the pub on Mondays.

So what began as a cheap and speedy meal turned into a cheap and chatty meal - it was great to meet Theresa, Caroline and T and to catch up with most of the Melbourne vegan blogging gang. Undoubtedly we'll return to the East on a future Monday, and we're almost certain to bump into some familiar faces when we do.

Read about our previous visits to the East Brunswick Club here and here.