The Merri Clan II

Update 04/01/2023: The Merri Clan has become The Merri Bar.

December 7, 2018

We're blessed with abundant vege burgers in Brunswick, so it's taken us a while to venture north to the Merri Clan and try theirs. Burgers are the core offering on the all-vegan evening menu, with six different fillings ranging from mock-beef to jackfruit and tofu. There are gluten-free buns, a burger bowl and nachos available for those who can't or don't want to have the full gluten-fueled mock-meat experience. 

The most popular order at our table was the Korean Fried Chick'n Burger ($17, pictured above). It's drenched in sticky, just-spicy-enough sauce and augmented with tangy kimchi, slaw, peanuts and fried shallots.

I was just as pleased with The Little Mock Burger ($17, younger sibling to The Big Mock Burger): a dense salty mock-beef patty and a light bun with excellent, copious special sauce and pickles. On a hot summer night, I was glad for the extra greenery on the side.

That's not to say we didn't try the fries! We ordered a needlessly large ($9) bowl for the table, with chipotle lime aioli ($2). They're a solid support act; I liked that their skins were still showing.

Though we don't actually need to travel more than a block for a good burger, we'll go the extra distance and extra dollars to eat these ones again - the Merri Clan burgers are among the best we've had.

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You can read about our previous visit to the Merri Clan here. Since then it's been positively reviewed by messy veggies.

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The Merri Clan
15 Gilbert Rd, Preston
0407 888 626
menu
facebook page

Accessibility: There's a flat entryway and a reasonably spacious interior. The outdoor area is a hodge podge of different tables and chairs, with a clear corridor through the middle and one small step. Toilets are good, including a unisex and fully accessible cubicle.

Easy-peasy flatbreads

December 2, 2018

I wanted to welcome Cindy back from Brisbane with a tasty dinner. I went old school, cooking up these two old favourites. I added one new component to the meal - some home made breads. I put the call out on twitter for easy roti recipes and Ruby suggested this recipe. These aren't particularly authentic roti-wise, but they're incredibly, incredibly easy. There's no yeast, no eggs, no mucking around - just some kneading, a bit of patience and then a couple of minutes frying. The results were fantastic! Soft, pliable and delicious; the perfect vessel for our spicy chickpeas. We'll definitely make them again.

Soft flatbread

(from this recipe on RecipeTin Eats)

3/4 cup of milk (soy or almond works fine)
50g butter (Nuttelex or margarine is fine)
2 cups plain flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
oil for fying

Melt the butter in a small saucepan and combine it with the milk.

Pour it in to a bigger bowl with the flour and salt.

Stir everything together until you get decent dough ball. Knead the dough for a couple of minutes and then leave it, covered, for half an hour or so to rest.

Cut the dough into four equal pieces. Roll each one out into discs about half a centimetre thick. Fry quickly in a non-stick pan with a spray of oil - about one minute on each side.

Serve immediately.

Happy birthday to these vegan sausage rolls

December 7, 2018

About 13 years ago, a friend shared with us a recipe for 'Liz O'Brien's non-sausage sausage rolls'. These vegetarian pastries were a wonder! Simple but unexpected ingredients like rolled oats, soy sauce, pecans and cottage cheese turned out a mock-sausage roll that had all the comfort and none of the gristle-risk of the meaty ones that I'd occasionally buy from the neighbourhood bakery.

Within a few years I had streamlined the recipe for my own convenience, and veganised it for my friends'. Today, ten years on, this is the version that's really stuck! It's still the most visited post on this blog every month, and it's been reblogged countless times by others. Commenters tell us about the veg*ns and omnivores they've fed it to, and the alterations that work for them: using different nuts, sneaking in mushrooms, chia seeds, tomato paste, herbs, or a dash of Vegemite. (Our fave is Lisa's tip on replacing the breadcrumbs with a crumbled Weet Bix, which we always have in the house.) Vicki Vegan even figured out a gluten-free version. In 2018, perhaps all that remains is to roll them into a festive wreath shape.

For all that, we reckon this original formula might still be the best. Happy birthday to these delightful little morsels.

A few bites in Brisbane

November 27-30, 2018

I've been back in my home town of Brisbane! It's now more than 12 years since I've lived there, and the Bowen Hills neighbourhood where I was based is unrecognisable. Thankfully Susan of Kittens Gone Lentil is still posting regular updates of vegan eats around town, and most of my choices were inspired by her online recommendations.

First up, I stopped in at Netherworld. It still has the architectural bones of the pub I've always known in this spot but it's been transformed into a low-lit, loud-music pub full of arcade games. The American diner-inspired menu has a vegan baseline, with options to add dairy and cheese on many dishes. I ordered a nice, house-made lemon soda and decided to check out their classic vegan cheeseburger, called the Burgatory ($14), with a side of shoestring fries ($3). This was a solid, salty mock-meat burger, tending towards the mushy-messy, and I liked the onion rings they snuck inside. The fries were pretty good too!

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(Update 17/07/2024: I Like Ramen has since closed.)

I got the word on I Like Ramen from a sharp-eyed vegan colleague. This eatery has been open in Brisbane only a little over a month and is completely 'plant-based'. I was picturing a small counter with just a few stools to perch on, but actually this is another sprawling pub-like environment. I boldly eschewed the ramen bowls and tried some more bunly food. First, a holy 'duck' bao ($8) with excellent crispy edged mock-duck and saucy 'slaw, but not all the subtlety of plum, mint, chilli and pomegranate that I was promised. 

I was nervous that the panko mushroom po' boy ($13) smelled so strongly of seaweed, but the flavours and textures in this roll were actually well balanced: the mushrooms were juicy but not too drippy, with thick crunchy panko crumbs, nestled in with more slaw. I had no regrets, even though I knew I had no room to try Doughlord down the street.

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My trip to Tea Master was a spontaneous nod to nostalgia on my day off. I loved the vegetarian roasted duck noodle ($11.80): the mock meat was thick and fatty, the noodles had a dark sesame oil flavour, and the greens were sauteed in a sweet and salty soy sauce. My pineapple green tea ($3.70) with lychee jelly ($0.50) was indistinguishable from any other bubble tea I've ever ordered here - sweet and fun, but not flavoured with any precision.

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(Update 17/07/2024: Greenhouse Canteen seems to have moved to the Gold Coast.)

I took myself out on a date on Friday night, picking out the vegan Greenhouse Canteen for dinner. It's got a light, instagram-wellness vibe, and friendly staff that were happy to squeeze in an early table for one. I was #blessed with a choice of house-made sodas again (not just kombucha!), and really liked the strawberry and balsamic one ($9). The zucchini flower stuffed with almond fetta ($8) was also a stunner, set on a pillow of broccoli puree with a refreshing garnish of cucumber and pickled onion. The cauliflower wings ($14) were less impressive, lacking crispiness and spiciness.

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I rounded out the night with a Malt Brownie scoop ($5.30) at Gelato Messina. This is no Brisbane original, of course, but it's a chain of great quality gelato that I'm glad to eat in any city I encounter it. This special edition flavour was everything I hoped for, tasting unmistakably of malted milk powder, with a couple big cubes of soft brownie stirred in.

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On this visit, I really felt the time and distance between me and this sunny city... but this wasn't sad at all! Rather, I enjoyed the changes I observed, getting to know what Brisbane has grown to be instead of looking for what I knew it once was.

Pumpkin, saffron & orange soup

November 7, 2018

We just keep going back to Simple. I was keen for a soup and this pumpkin one was the pick of the small selection in the book. It all takes a bit of time - you've got to do a bunch of chopping and roasting before you even get to the soup making. It's worth it though. This is probably the best pumpkin soup recipe we've made - the creaminess of the crème fraiche is nicely balanced by the twin punches of the orange zest and chilli. The roasted pumpkin seeds were the star of the show though - so simple and so, so delicious. You could just make them as a snack. They work brilliantly with this soup though - we'll definitely make it again.

Pumpkin, saffron & orange soup

(from Yotam Ottolenghi's Simple)

60ml olive oil

2 onions, sliced into 2cm wedges

1.2kg of butternut pumpkin, peeled, seeded and cut into 3cm cubes
1 litre of vegetable stock

2 tablespoons harissa (we just used a chilli paste, because we couldn't track down harissa in the supermarket)

1/4 teaspoon saffron threads

zest of 1 orange

180g crème fraiche

parsley leaves to garnish
salt and pepper

80g pumpkin seeds

2 teaspoons maple syrup

1/4 teaspoon chilli flakes

Preheat the oven to 170°C.

Mix the pumpkin seeds, syrup and chilli flakes in a small bowl with a sprinkle of salt. Spread them on a lined baking tray and roast for 15 minutes until they starting to brown. Set aside to cool.

Turn the oven up to 220°C.

Combine the oil, onion and pumpkin in a large bowl with a good sprinkle of salt and pepper. Mix well and then lay them out on a baking tray. Roast for 25 minutes until everything softens up nicely and then take them out of the oven and set aside.

Put the stock, harissa, saffron, orange zest and some more salt and pepper into a big pot. Bring it all to the boil and then add in the pumpkin, onions and baking oil. Stir, reduce the heat and simmer for five minutes.

Take everything off the heat, stir in the crème fraiche and then blend it all up with a hand blender.

Serve, topped with pumpkin seeds and parsley.

Honey, miso & walnut pie

October 31-November 5, 2018

I'm very fond of white miso, and have been wanting to make a dessert with it for a long time. Naturally I bookmarked this recipe the moment I saw it on The Brick Kitchen. Even better, I found an excuse to bake it within days! I prepared this pie to share with friends on a weekend away in Cape Paterson.

I see it as a bit of a riff on the traditional pecan pie. The caramel is based on honey rather than brown sugar, so it's a bit lighter and sweeter; the walnuts are a more bitter counterbalance than pecans. While the caramel has a slightly whipped and not especially chewy texture, the sweetness is intense and a small slice goes a long way. I was a bit disappointed that the miso flavour weakened with baking, but others thought it still hit the right savoury note.

My pastry cooked unevenly (and I've inserted the Brick Kitchen baking tray technique into the methods below that I'll try next time) but otherwise I didn't experience any hitches along the way. A honey, miso and walnut pie sounds fancy, but its construction isn't too fussy and the results are excellent - I was showered with grateful murmurs as everyone helped themselves to two or three slices over the course of four days.

Honey, miso & walnut pie
(a recipe from The Brick Kitchen)

pastry
1 1/4 cups plain flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 tablespoon caster sugar
115g butter
1/2 cup cold water
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

filling
3/4 cup caster sugar
170g honey
2 tablespoons white miso
1 teaspoon salt
120g butter
300g walnut pieces
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 cup cream
3 eggs

Place the flour, salt and sugar in a food processor and pulse them to mix together. Slice the butter into cubes, drop them into the food processor, and blend until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Mix the water and vinegar together in a cup. Set the blender back on and add the liquid just a tablespoon at a time, until the dough comes together into a ball (I only used about half the liquid and discarded the rest). Tip the dough onto some plastic wrap, bring it together into a ball, wrap it up and refrigerate for at least 2 hours (I left mine overnight).

Retrieve the dough from the fridge and roll it out to fit a pie dish (I do this between two sheets of plastic wrap). Ease the pastry into the dish, patching up any unevenness and trimming or crimping the edges. Freeze the pastry crust until solid, at least 20 minutes (I gave mine several hours).

Place the sugar and honey in a medium-large saucepan and set them over medium heat. Stir occasionally as they melt together. When they're smooth, whisk in the miso and the salt. When there are a few bubbles around the edges, add the butter and allow it to completely melt in, stirring occasionally. Turn off the heat and allow the mixture to cool.

Preheat an oven to 180°C. In an ungreased baking tray, gently toast the walnuts until fragrant, about 5 minutes. Set them aside to cool. Place a large flat baking tray, big enough to hold the pie dish, in the oven.

Retrieve the caramel in the saucepan. Whisk in the vanilla, then the cream, then the eggs, one at a time. When everything is completely combined and smooth, fold in the walnuts. Pour the filling into the frozen pastry case, place the pie dish on the hot baking tray in the oven, and bake the pie for 45-60 minutes. It's ready when the edges are set but the centre is still a little wobbly; it'll firm up as it cools.

Cool the pie to room temperature before serving, and/or store it in the refrigerator.

More Simple

October 14, 2018

We had a friend over for a Sunday dinner and turned again to Simple for inspiration. We worked through the pasta section looking for ideas, settling on this chickpea and za'atar pasta as our centrepiece. It's definitely simple - easily put together and requiring no more than about 20 minutes on the stove. You need za'atar of course, but by Yotam's standards that's basically a pantry ingredient. Our dish didn't turn out quite as well as we'd hoped. It proved beyond me to get the chickpeas to crisp up at all. It was still pretty tasty, but I was a little bit disappointed - one to try again perhaps. Luckily, the black garlic Brussels sprouts we made on the side were as good as we remembered them - a must make dish.

The dessert was also a huge success - Cindy made the sumac-roasted strawberries with yoghurt cream. It was utterly wonderful, although in keeping with Ottolenghi's approach to simple cookery it involves straining yoghurt through muslin. Simple as heck Yotam, but absolutely worth it.

For all my teasing, I'm really enjoying cooking out of Simple. The recipes are simple only in relation to Ottolenghi's other recipes, but that at least makes them manageable - you could even make this pasta on a weeknight!

Orecchiette with chickpeas and za'atar

(from Yotam Ottolenghi's Simple)

45ml olive oil

1 small onion, finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 teaspoons ground cumin

10g thyme leaves, stems removed

1 lemon, zested and juiced

2 400g tins of chickpeas, drained

1 teaspoon brown sugar

400ml mock chicken stock

250g orecchiette pasta

50g baby spinach leaves

15g parsley, roughly chopped

1-2 teaspoons of za'atar

1/4 cup capers

salt and pepper

Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan and throw in the onion, garlic, cumin, thyme, lemon zest and some salt and pepper. Fry for 3-4 minutes until the onion softens and starts to brown.

Reduce the heat and add in the chickpeas and sugar. Fry for 8 minutes or so, trying to get the chickpeas to brown and get crispy (we failed). Add the stock and lemon juice and simmer for 6-8 minutes, until the sauce has reduced slightly.

In the meantime, bring a large pot of water to boil and cook the pasta as per the instructions. Drain and stir the pasta, capers and spinach leaves through the sauce. Serve, sprinkled with za'atar.

Pavlov's Duck

October 14, 2018

Pavlov's Duck is perched at the less cafe-dense northern end of Smith St, among the clothing outlets. Nevertheless, it's been attracting bloggers for years, through a combination of promotional events and novel offerings (see links below). The all day menu starts with the usual eggs, toast, avocado and muesli but turns sharply into Sri Lankan-inspired dishes half way through - there's milk rice with curry, roti, and hoppers. Vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free items are well-marked across their menu.

We stopped in for Sunday breakfast on a whim, and focused on the Sri Lankan side of the menu. Michael was well satisfied by the kottu ($17, pictured above), a heavily spiced plate of chopped roti, vegetables and eggs.

I set my heart on a hopper, but slightly flubbed my order. I should have simply requested the traditional hopper ($14), which is accompanied by dhal, coconut sambol and chilli onion. Instead I ordered the egg hopper ($5), which is served plain and I think is intended more as a side. Michael generously shared a little of his kottu to flavour it and all was very well: the hopper was one side crisp and toasty, one side light and tender, the egg was more soft comfort.

We enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere at this time of the week, and we'll have to aim for it again to perfect our menu choices.

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Blog accounts of Pavlov's Duck are universally positive! See fellow veg*n blogger Vegan About Town (twice), and then omnivorous bloggers Lips Temptations (freebie), The Penguin Eats, Dammit Janet I Love Food, trading plates, DonutSam Eats & Travels, In Love With Brunch (freebie), The Spice Adventuress (freebie), Eat & Be Merry (freebie), Chewing is Exercise, A Chronicle of Gastronomy (freebie), and hungry cookie.

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Pavlov's Duck
401 Smith St, Fitzroy
9416 4336
food, drinks
facebook page

Accessibility: Entry is flat and there's a wide corridor through the centre; furniture is densely packed with mostly backless benches, stools and chairs with backs to sit on. Toilets are gendered cubicles with narrow entry. We ordered at our table and paid at a low counter.

Annual lab culinary competition

October 5, 2018

In its 15th year, the annual lab culinary competition is still a major point on the social calendar, with many strong entries! This year we saw a fabulous array of finger foods, pastries, bright fresh fruit and vegetables (some from the entrants' own gardens!), sweet things in cups and baked as beautiful whole cakes, foods originating from other cultures and classic dishes we knew well. Unusually this year, I didn't make a dessert submission, though I put in my requisite two entries: among the pics above, you'll be able to see my broccoli & gorgonzola pie, and some hot & sour rhubarb tofu.

The grand prize was reserved for the sparkliest of cakes and the baker who dressed just like it.

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I've also written accounts of this competition in 2006, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2016 and 2017.

The Origin Tales

Update 12/06/2023: The Origin Tales is now closed.

October 4, 2018

Well, this is a little embarrassing. An all-vegan restaurant opened up at the end of our street and it took over two months for us to notice it! We were quick to grab dinner at The Origin Tales once we'd realised our mistake, and it's now firmly in our weeknight lazy-dinner rotation.

The menu is mostly Chinese-Malaysian, with a couple of burgers and fried snacks (loaded cheese fries, tempura and popcorn chicken among them). Mock meat is abundant, and the couple of gluten-free options are clearly marked.

I was drawn to the Hainanese chicken rice ($15.90) and was richly rewarded. The rice was oily and aromatic, the mock-chicken included a crispy-skinned layer on top (it didn't have the typical poached texture, but was still delicious), there was a little pot of very spicy sauce, and some garden salad to freshen it all up. The raspberry iced tea ($5) was tangy-terrific, too.

Michael was also rather pleased with the sizzling hotplate noodle ($17.90), which arrived furiously bubbling and steaming. It included heaps of veges in BBQ sauce, and a few pieces of mock-char siew on top.

I've since been back for the Zinger Tower burger ($16.90, including chips) and it was one of the best life-after-KFC burgers I've ever eaten (messy as heck, though!). So it's official: The Origin Tales is our new favourite convenience food.

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The Origin Tales
41 Lygon St, Brunswick East
8383 9061
entrees & mains, mains, burgers, sides & desserts, drinks, specials
http://www.theorigintales.com.au/

Accessibility: There's a shallow ramp on entry, densely spaced tables and a wide corridor through the middle. We ordered at the table and paid at a low counter. We didn't visit the toilets.

Xenia Food Store

Update 12/06/2023: Xenia Food Store is now closed.

October 3, 2018

Xenia Food Store is a Greek restaurant that popped up late last year, in one of newer apartment buildings lining Lygon St in Brunswick. Soon after, we read news on facebook that they proudly tout their vegetarian and vegan options, offering discounted vegan banquets on Tuesday and Wednesday nights ($30 per person, compared to a usual $40 per person). We rallied our friend Lisa and made it a banquet for three earlier this month.

The opening share plate impressed us all! We picked through olives and soft salty, marinated blocks of mock-feta, ate dolmades and falafels with our hands, and slathered eggplant and fava dips over soughdough bread. Our favourites were the large oval-shaped koupes, golden-fried bulgur wheat shells stuffed with savoury minced greens. We did not leave a skerrick.

The main meal was even heartier, and we had no choice but to leave a lot. (Not to worry, it travelled home with us to be reheated another day!) I'm not typically a huge fan of stuffed vegetables, but these rice-stuffed tomatoes and capsicums were good 'uns. The grain salad offered some contrasting chewiness to the the vegetables' collapsed softness, and the lemony roasted potatoes were always going to be a hit.

For dessert, Xenia have figured out vegan loukoumades, and they're very generous in their portioning. These crunchy little batter balls were sticky with syrup, dusted with crushed walnuts and cinnamon.

Xenia is a casual and comfortable option, and we reckon this discounted banquet is great value for money. I can foresee us popping in again on a lazy weeknight and simply ordering the vegan plate for 2 (which looks very much like our entree plate up top).

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There's a positive review of a complimentary meal at Xenia over on consider the sauce.

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Xenia Food Store
202 Lygon St, East Brunswick
9191 7206
meze, mains, sides, salads & sweets, banquets, drinks 1, drinks 2
http://www.xeniafoodstore.com.au/

Accessibility: Entry is flat and there's an average amount of space around the low tables and chairs. We ordered at our table and paid at a high counter. We didn't visit the toilets.

Oaty rhubarb muffins

September 29, 2018

I had some extra rhubarb in the fridge after making that salad, so I put it to work in these muffins. I've made something very much like them before, and blogged about it ten years ago. They were in pretty regular rotation for a while there.

This time around I made them vegan. Soy milk with a little apple cider vinegar instead of buttermilk, ground flax seed slush instead of an egg. This is actually much more pantry-friendly for us, and I didn't notice any difference in the muffins.

Let me warn you that this muffin batter is dense. It's all wholemeal flour and oats, with the brown sugar and spices not doing a lot to perk it up. It's lifted by the rhubarb strips and dots of citrus peel, so it's important to add the full quantity and get them distributed evenly through the batter.

The muffins freeze well and I've been packing one into my bag most workdays, letting it thaw through the morning and then pulling it out to break up the afternoon doldrums.

Vegan rhubarb-oat muffins
(veganised from this previously posted recipe)

1 cup soy milk
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon flax seeds
3 tablespoons water
2 cups rhubarb
3 tablespoons raw sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup brown sugar
2 1/2 cups wholemeal flour
5 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup rolled oats
2 teaspoons of spice - I used a mix of ginger, cinnamon and Chinese five spice powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
40g candied citrus peel, diced

Preheat an oven to 180°C. Lightly grease a muffin tray

In a small-medium bowl, mix together the soy milk and vinegar. Set it aside to curdle.

Wash and trim the rhubarb; chop into 3cm lengths. drop them into a medium-large saucepan and add the raw sugar. Turn on a low-medium heat and cook the rhubarb, stirring regularly, until the sugar has melted and the rhubarb softens slightly. Set it aside to cool a bit.

Place the flax seeds in a spice grinder and grind to a powder. Add the water and blend until as smooth as possible. Whisk the flax mixture into the soy milk bowl. Whisk in the vegetable oil and brown sugar until well combined. When the rhubarb has cooled somewhat, stir it in too.

In a large bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, oats, spices and salt. Toss through the candied peel, making sure the pieces are separated and lightly coated in flour.

Pour the soy milk mixture into the flour mixture and stir until just combined. Spoon the batter into the muffin tray and bake it for about 15-20 minutes, until they pass the skewer test.

Beetroot & rhubarb salad

September 26, 2018

Here's an Ottolenghi recipe I dug up from 7 years ago! It's a salad that centres on a crimson sweet'n'sour medley of roasted beetroot, rhubarb and pomegranate molasses. 

It's got a fairly restrained ingredient list by Ottolenghi standards, and comes together without too much fuss on a weeknight. The beetroots take a while to roast, admittedly, but they don't need to be handled too much, their skin comes off easily post-roast, and they're beautifully tender. I'm going to use this approach again and again. The rhubarb's even less effort sitting on the second oven shelf, the dressing just needs a little shake in a jar, and then there's dabs of blue cheese and a sprinkle of fresh parsley on top.

I tossed in some fresh green leaves and called this a meal, though I'll confess that the dense beetroots and rich cheese didn't keep me quite as full as I hoped they would. Storing the components separately allowed me to re-make the salad for days, and it still felt fresh every time.

Beetroot & rhubarb salad
(slightly adapted from Yotam Ottolenghi's recipe in The Guardian)

800g beetroots
300g rhubarb
1 tablespoon caster sugar
2 teaspoons white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon pomegranate molasses
2 tablespoons maple syrup
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
100g creamy blue cheese
20g parsley, roughly chopped
salt and pepper

Preheat an oven to 200°C.

Give the beetroots a little scrub and trim off any stems or roots. Wrap each beetroot separately in foil and place them all on a baking tray. Bake the beetroots until tender, up to 70 minutes (my medium-large ones were done in 60 minutes). Allow the beetroots to cool. When you can handle them, unwrap them, peel off the skin and chop the flesh into 2 cm cubes.

While the beetroots are baking, trim the rhubarb and slice it at a angle into 2.5 cm lengths. Toss together the rhubarb and sugar in a small bowl, then spread them out across a paper-lined baking tray. Roast the rhubarb for 10-12 minutes, until soft but still holding its shape. Allow the rhubarb to cool.

In a small glass jar, shake together the vinegar, pomegranate molasses, maple syrup, olive oil, allspice, salt and pepper until emulsified. In a medium bowl, toss together the beetroot cubes and this dressing.

On a serving dish, layer up the beetroot and rhubarb. Cut the blue cheese into dabs and drop them over the salad; sprinkle over the parsley.

The Reverence Hotel IV

Edit 07/03/2020: The Reverenece Hotel is now closed.

September 23, 2018

Last time we visited The Rev, we lamented that the for-sale signs might be forecasting its demise. Happily, 18 months later, they're still hosting live music, trivia nights, taco Tuesdays and big veg-friendly pub meals all week long. The menu still follows the same themes - deep-fried everything, plenty of mock meat and vegan cheese, with lots of Mexican-ish meals alongside burgers and pizzas.

Unusually, it was Michael who picked out the fish burger ($18) - here it's a dense battered mock-fillet layered with tartare sauce, beetroot relish, lettuce, tomatoes, pickles and onions, and then a side of fries. It was rich, yet nothing that Michael couldn't handle.

After some lengthy indecision and consultation, I picked out the smoked chicken pizza ($15) and shared around a couple of slices. The base had that uniform supermarket vibe, but the toppings were more lively: napoli and melty-enough cheese, mock chicken pieces, spring onion, pineapple and some very hot little chilli rings, all drizzled with barbecue sauce.

I left enough room to help our friend Natalie out with those chocolate nachos ($15) that we'd previously noted on the menu. The concept is deeply questionable, but the execution is really very impressive! The Rev kitchen have worked cocoa and a little sugar into their flour tortilla dough, then fried it up into chips - these were topped with scoops of vegan icecream, crushed nuts, strawberry wedges and stripes of chocolate sauce. It's a fun, crunchy and very shareable sundae.

Though we barely make it to the Rev more than once a year, we really like what they do and it seems that plenty of locals do, too!

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You can also read about one, two, three of our previous visits to The Rev.

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The Reverence Hotel
28 Napier St, Footscray
9687 2111
snacks, tacos, mains, burgers, pizza, dessert
http://www.reverencehotel.com

Accessibility: There's a small step at the (narrowish) front door, but the side door is flat and wide. Inside things are fairly spread out, with at most small steps between the bar, side-room and courtyard. We ordered and paid at the bar, and didn't visit the toilets.

Yuba-mushroom cheesesteak sandwiches

September 22, 2018

When we're in the mood for an all-day food project, we often turn to Serious Eats. Most recently, we had a crack at their veganised Philly cheesesteak. We've never tried the real thing - a soft long roll filled with many layers of thinly sliced steak and some mild and melty cheese - but we've had a few mock meat versions around Melbourne before.

What most appealed to me about this recipe is the use of layered bean curd sheets in place of the meat. We don't have a lot of experience cooking with it and I was keen to try it again. KFL Supermarket stocked numerous brands and forms, and we picked two to play around with. The first were just thin dried rectangles, and the second were thicker fried rings - I thought these latter ones might be a bit chewier and better at absorbing flavour.

Each component is a full recipe in itself. First, there's a mushroomy stock where the veges are roasted for maximum flavour. You can optionally smoke the yuba, but we just added a few teaspoons of liquid smoke instead as we later cooked it in the stock. A vegan cheese sauce gets its creaminess from blended simmered potato as well as cashews; it's spiced up with paprika, chipotles and jalapenos. Then there's onions slowly caramelised on the stovetop and more roasted mushrooms for the filling. It really is an all-afternoon affair!

The one core hiccup for us was cooking the bean curd sheets. They're thin and brittle, difficult to slice into strips and and not amenable to being coated in dark caramel as the recipe suggests. Even once the stock went in, I picked and prodded at the bean curds, adding a bit more water and trying to make sure each one had enough time submerged in liquid to soften properly. I wonder if the ones used by the Serious Eats team had a different form.

The finished rolls were sloppy and savoury and very enjoyable! And leftovers that we were glad to eat for days. But we didn't really pick up on the many nuanced ingredients that went in along the way - the stock was quite mild, the peppers barely perceptible, the mushrooms losing out to the volume of bean curd in the filling. Our minds are ticking over on a different version - less yuba (pre-soaked) and more mushrooms, sauteed in vegan Worcestershire and oyster sauces, and perhaps one of our other creamier vegan sauces. At this stage we're boldly hoping that we can quarter the effort and possibly even dial up the flavour along the way.

Yuba-mushroom cheesesteak sandwiches
(slightly adapted from a recipe on Serious Eats)

mushroom stock
560g button mushrooms, brushed and quartered
1 onion, quartered
8 cloves garlic, roughly smashed
1 large carrot, cut into large chunks
4 ribs celery, cut into large chunks
5 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 tablespoon beef-style stock powder

cheese sauce
6 tablespoons sunflower oil
1 small onion, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1/2 jalapeño, seeds and ribs removed, thinly sliced
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 chipotle pepper plus 1 teaspoon adobo sauce, all chopped finely
1 small potato, peeled and thinly sliced
1 cup roasted cashews
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup almond milk
1 teaspoon hot sauce
2 teaspoons pickling liquid from a jar of jalapeños
salt

sandwich filling
2 onions, thinly sliced
6 tablespoons sunflower oil
200g king oyster mushrooms, shredded lengthwise
salt and pepper
1/4 cup caster sugar
400g bean curd sheets (yuba), sliced into thick strips
1 teaspoon liquid smoke
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

6 long rolls

Start with the mushroom stock! Preheat an oven to 230°C. In a large bowl, mix together the mushrooms, onion, garlic, carrot and celery. Add 4 tablespoons of the oil and the salt and toss everything together. Spread the veges out over two baking trays and roast them, tossing them around every 15 minutes, until they're dark brown, about 45 minutes total.

Set a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the remaining tablespoon of oil and the tomato paste, cooking for up to 5 minutes, until dark brown. Add 1.5 litres of water, the roasted vegetables and the stock powder. Simmer everything together for 45 minutes. Strain out the solids and keep the stock for the following steps.

Next, the cheese sauce. Pour the oil into a medium-large saucepan and set it over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic and jalapeño, and cook them, stirring regularly, until soft but not browned. Add the cumin, paprika, garlic powder and chipotle with sauce and cook for a further a minute. Add the potatoes and cashews, and cook for 2 minutes. Add the water and almond milk and bring it all to the boil. Turn down the heat and simmer until the potatoes are tender, about 10 minutes. Remove the sauce from the heat and add the hot sauce, pickle juice and salt. Use a blender or spice grinder to make the smoothest sauce you can (it's a tough ask with all those potato chunks!).

Time to prepare the sandwich filling. In a small frypan, heat 3 tablespoons of oil over low-medium heat. Add the onions and cook slowly, stirring regularly, until thoroughly caramelised, about 30 minutes. Set aside.

Get that oven back up to 230°C. In a bowl, toss the remaining 3 tablespoons of oil through the king oyster mushrooms and season it all with salt and pepper. Spread them over a baking tray and roast until golden brown, up to 20 minutes.

Go back to your largest saucepan and set it over high heat. Add the sugar, and cook it until melted and browning. Add the yuba strips and, if you can, stir them around to get them coated in the caramel. Add the liquid smoke, paprika, garlic powder, and then pour over the mushroom stock. Simmer, stirring regularly, until most of the liquid has been absorbed by the yuba, about 15-20 minutes. (We added some extra water and put the lid of for a bit to get the yuba steaming, before taking it off to let liquid evaporate.) Turn off the heat and stir in the mustard. Fold through the sauteed onions and roasted king oyster mushrooms.

To assemble, slice each long roll lengthways. Spread 1/4 cup of cheese sauce on the bottom half of each roll, pile up the yuba-mushroom filling and pop the top back on.

True North III

September 22, 2018

We've been consistently enjoying lunches and brunches (and even one trivia night) at True North for a few years now. We stopped in for lunch last weekend on our way to the KFL supermarket, and loved the look of TN's current menu! There's an entire separate page of vegan stuff, with gluten free options marked throughout. It follows the same themes as we've seen before, loosely inspired by Mexican ingredients (jalapenos, black beans, pico de gallo) and diner staples (bagels, mac'n'cheese, potato hash) with mock meats and dairy scattered throughout.

I surprisingly looked beyond the Vulgar Display of Pancake to the Facon the Law ($16), a toasted corn brioche roll stuffed with jalapeno scrambled tofu, facon, tomato, vegan cheddar, avocado, relish and rocket. It dripped juices everywhere, and the perfectly ripe avocado got a bit lost in the mix, but this was a mighty, squishy savoury joy.

Michael was just as delighted by the Blazin' Hash ($21), a huge plate containing half a roasted tomato, more of that jalapeno scrambled tofu, wilted spinach, chiptole BBQ mock duck, and a golden-fried brick of the most exquisite potato hash. 

I also wanna tip my hat to the drinks menu, which includes some lovely non-alcoholic options that aren't kombucha. It seems these folks make their own soda syrups, including a charming apple & rhubarb fizz ($5).

True North has achieved an impressive balance of still doing what it does best while also keeping the menu fresh. It means we're still bursting to blog it, even when our photos are overexposed and the cafe is four-to-five years past its instagrammable launch date.

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You can read about our previous visits to True North here and here. Since then it's received positive write-ups from little vegan bear, Veganopoulous and frenchtoastandindiepop.

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True North
2A Munro St, Coburg
9917 2262
vegan food, booze
https://www.truenortharcher.com/

Accessibility: There's a small step on entry and a pretty crowded interior (especially on the weekends when the stools at the bar are in use). We ordered at the table and pay at a high counter. The toilet is a narrow non-gendered cubicle.

Lanzhou Beef Noodle Bar

Update 14/01/2023: Lanzhou Beef Noodle Bar is now replaced by Master Lanzhou Noodle Bar Express on Swanston St in Carlton; we more regularly visit the outlet on Elizabeth St. 

September 16, 2018

Located on the edge of the University of Melbourne campus, I've passed Lanzhou Beef Noodle Bar and not paid any attention to it on countless walks and tram rides. But it unexpectedly turned up in our recent googlings of youpo mian, so we stopped in for an early low-fuss dinner after watching a movie at Nova. It was surprisingly tough to claim two seats at 5:30pm!

As the eatery's name suggests, this isn't really a spot for vegos. The one-page menu starts with three beef noodle soups, two beef noodles, and a cold noodle plate featuring - would you believe it? - beef. Then there's the youpo noodle ($11.80), helpfully labelled as vegan in green lettering! There appear to be a couple other veg options too, though they're not labelled: the 'capsiegg' noodle with soybean paste and a selection of sides.

I was determined not to order the lesser veg dish for a third time, so we doubled down on youpo. This one has the kudai/belt noodles we missed at Xi'an Famous! And there was no shortage of garlic and oil. I liked the chilli level, and there was more to hand at our table for Michael to dig into. In short, this had everything we've fondly recalled from the couple of youpo mian bowls we enjoyed in China! And all the more wonderful that we can revise the best noodle-pulling technique from the chefs while we wait.

We didn't dare imagine that we'd be accessing these noodles again so easily in Melbourne, but Lanzhou Beef Noodle Bar also has outlets in the city and in Caulfield as well as Carlton. They really couldn't be more convenient.

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The only other blog review I've found is about the Caulfield outlet, on far fetched & fanciful.

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Lanzhou Beef Noodle Bar
Shop 3, 743-751 Swanston St, Carlton (entry on Grattan St)
0452 596 756
menu
https://www.beefnoodle.com.au/

Accessibility: There's a shallow ramp on entry. Furniture is densely packed high tables with backless stools. We ordered and paid at a high counter. We didn't visit the toilets.

Simple

September 10 & 15, 2018

Regular readers will be well aware that we've well and truly bought into the Ottolenghi hype. There are nearly 70 posts on here based on Yotam recipes, so we were always going to pounce on his new book when it turned up in the shops. Simple promises the best of both worlds - all the deliciousness of Ottolenghi's recipes without the overly involved processes and ingredients that make them unsuitable for a school night. We couldn't wait to try it out.

The first recipe that caught our eye was tofu and French beans with chraimeh sauce. I couldn't help but laugh when one of the first steps in the recipe was toasting and hand-grinding some caraway seeds - only in an Ottolenghi recipe would this qualify as simple. To be fair, it actually was pretty easy and probably only takes half an hour to put together. I loved this simple mix of spicy tofu and crispy beans, but any subtlety in the sauce was a bit drowned out by our hot paprika - we'll soften the edges a bit next time we make it.

We followed up with one of the many recipes in Simple that seem a bit more like a side than a standalone meal - Brussels sprouts with black garlic. Again, black garlic is a pricey, niche ingredient and wouldn't turn up in too many books pitched as easy cooking, but this is Ottolenghi after all. We loved this - black garlic has a rich, complex flavour that works brilliantly with the slightly caramelised sprouts. We served it up with fresh bread and hummus, but it would work alongside almost anything.

So far, so good with Simple - both of these dishes would be easily whipped up on a work night and both really hit the mark. Don't go in expecting these recipes to actually be simple, but they're definitely a step down from a lot of Yotam's recipes - we'll report back as we try more.

Tofu and French beans with chraimeh sauce
(from Yotam Ottolenghi's Simple)

500g beans, trimmed

1 tablespoon sunflower oil

500g firm tofu, cut into 2cm cubes

15g coriander

salt

sauce

6 garlic cloves

2 teaspoons hot paprika

1 tablespoon caraway seeds, lightly toasted and crushed in a mortar and pestle

2 teaspoons ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

3 tablespoons sunflower oil

3 tablespoons tomato paste

2 teaspoons caster sugar

1 tablespoon lime juice

Get a medium saucepan of water boiling and add the beans, cooking for five minutes until cooked but still crunchy. Drain and refresh with cold water.

Put the sunflower oil into a frying pan and fry the tofu with 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Give it a good 5-10 minutes - you want to get it nice and golden on all sides. Remove from the pan and set aside.

Make the sauce by mixing together the garlic, spices and oil in a small bowl. Add this mixture to a hot frying pan and fry for about a minute. Add the tomato paste, sugar, lime juice and a teaspoon of salt. Stir to combine and then add a cup of water to thin the sauce out. Bring to the boil and cook for a couple of minutes until the sauce thickens.

Add the beans and cook for another minute and then kill the heat. Stir through the tofu and coriander and serve with rice.

Brussels sprouts with burnt butter and black garlic

(from Yotam Ottolenghi's Simple)

450g Brussels sprouts, cut in half lengthways

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 teaspoon caraway seeds

20g black garlic

2 tablespoons thyme leaves

30g unsalted butter

30g pumpkin seeds, toasted

juice of a lemon

1 tablespoon tahini

salt

Preheat the oven to 220°C.

Spread the sprouts out on a baking tray and sprinkle over a good shake of salt. Drizzle with olive oil and smush around a bit so the sprouts get nice and oily. Bake for 10 minutes, until golden brown.

Crush the caraway seeds in a mortar and pestle. Add the black garlic and thyme and crush some more to make a rough paste.

Heat the butter in a frying pan over medium heat. Cook for 3-5 minutes until melted and dark brown. Add the garlic paste, sprouts, pumpkin seeds and more salt. Stir for a minute and kill the heat. Stir through the lemon juice and drizzle the tahini over it all. Serve.