Mankoushe X

May 28, 2023

   

Michael's main birthday event was a netball game a day early, so for his birthday dinner he chose a low-key meal at our long-time favourite, Mankoushe. We had no problems securing an early dinner reservation a few days in advance, though the restaurant gradually filled up as we ate.

The Mankoushe menu is consistently variable, inspired by the produce available at that time. There's a range of breads and pizzas prepared in their wood-fired oven, thoughtfully prepared vegetables and dips, as well as a few meats and house-made desserts. About half of the menu is vegan and labelled as such, but gluten-free veg*ns might feel like restricted to grazing on side dishes.

   

It's been a while since we've eaten beetroot, and this simple dish of roasted beetroot with harissa and parsley ($10) was a reminder to have it more often.

   

We also shared a tender wedge of fried eggplant ($22), which was smothered in a tangy tomato paste dressing with chickpeas and tamarind.

   

The rich centrepiece of our meal was a 3 Ajben pizza ($25), layered with haloumi, kasseri and Turkish feta cheeses, dotted with sweet chewy figs and streaked with oregano oil.

It's a privilege to visit Mankoushe regularly across more than a decade - while a couple of staple bakery items are evergreen, it's exciting to see different produce and new configurations each season.

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You can also read about one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine of our previous visits to Mankoushe. Since our last post, it's also been covered by Sweet and Sour Fork.

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Mankoushe

323 Lygon St, Brunswick East

9078 9223

from the wood-fire oven, from the kitchen + desserts

https://mankoushe.com.au/

Accessibility: There is a small step up through a narrow entry. Tables are regular height, chairs have backs, and furniture is medium-spaced across the floor. We ordered at our table and paid at a low counter. We didn't visit the toilets.

More miso caramel cake

May 25-27, 2023

   

Readers who know Michael personally or follow his other social media accounts will know how much he loves playing mixed social netball. This year he decided to celebrate his birthday by gathering his netball-playing friends for a game on a local court. I tallied scores during the game and baked a couple of cakes for afterwards. They're both miso caramel cake: one is the regular recipe decorated with licorice to resemble a netball, and the second is an adaptation that's both vegan and gluten-free. 

I stretched the preparation out over three days, so it didn't feel like an excessive amount of effort in any session. Here's how it played out:

Thursday: make a vegan, gluten-free version of the miso caramel sauce using Loco Dairy Free Thickened Creamy instead of dairy cream and Nuttelex Buttery instead of butter. I carefully checked that my usual white miso was vegan and gluten-free, too. The original recipe makes double what's needed, so I didn't alter the quantity.

Friday: bake two cakes! The first precisely as described in the original recipe, and the second using more Nuttelex Buttery as butter, Orgran No Egg instead of eggs, and a gluten-free flour mix I'll describe below.

Saturday: slather those cakes in buttercream. The first, again, as described in the original recipe, and the second using Nuttelex Buttery for butter. After refrigerating the cakes for an hour, I pulled out the regular one and decorated it with sliced strips of vegan but not gluten-free Fyna licorice.

   

To be more precise, I actually made the vegan, gluten-free bit first each day so that the kitchen and utensils were clean and least likely to get contaminated. The gluten-free flour mix, which I've included below, comes from our friend Mickey. She knows her vegan gluten-free baking and we'd sampled her own excellent birthday cake a few months earlier, so I was keen to try it for myself instead of just relying on my usual Orgran mix. I like that there's almond meal involved to head off the potential chalkiness, but not so much that the mixture seems grainy.

You can see the two cake slices side by side, above. I baked them both for 50 minutes, based on my notes from last time, and this was just right for the gluten-free cake but perhaps a touch too long for the regular cake. The gluten-free cake didn't rise as high as the regular one, and the buttercream was proportionally much thicker. I found the Nuttelex a bit greasy and overwhelming in this quantity, so I might reduce the buttercream by a quarter if I baked this again. I didn't beat the cold regular butter enough, and little light yellow flecks of it were visible in the buttercream - that's a mistake I typically make once every few years, the reminder I need not to take shortcuts.

The regular cake was snaffled up within 10 minutes of cutting, and the second cake found some extra appreciative gluten-free and vegan eaters amongst Michael's non-netballing friends at the pub later. They were a small success within a big celebration.

   

Gluten-free cake flour mix

(a recipe shared by Mickey)

310g brown rice flour

300g white rice flour

105g almond meal

175g potato starch

8g xanthan gum

Big Esso II

May 26, 2023

   

We recently took a friend of many years to Big Esso for dinner when she was visiting Melbourne. While dinner was great, I want to focus this post on dessert! On my previous visits, Big Esso did not offer dessert and I'm thrilled that it's now part of the experience.

The two options available to us were unfortunately not vegan. But for those of us who eat dairy, they're both winners. Pictured up top is the strawberry gum eclair ($21), which is piped with passionfruit mascarpone chantilly, studded with candied quandongs, and sprinkled lightly with honey oat crumble. It's easy to share between two, and fiddly but possible to share between three.

   

The second, gluten-free dessert is dubbed the 'meta choc cherry ripe' ($21). This is a very dense block with a wattleseed chocolate cremeux base, coconut Davidson plum fudge filling and dark chocolate casing, garnished with a pecan and scattered with saltbush puffed rice crisps. 

I more easily detected the nuanced flavours of the native ingredients in the eclair, while Michael preferred the meta choc for the overall effect. We all agreed that it was fabulous to have them both at the table.

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You can read about our first visit to Big Esso here. Since then it has received positive reviews from The Spice Adventuress, Mamma Knows Melbourne, Whatever Floats Your Bloat and Matty Somewhere, plus a disappointed review from Sweet and Sour Fork.

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Big Esso

Fed Square, corner of Swanston and Flinders Sts

9121 0510

menu

https://www.mabumabu.com.au/dining

Accessibility: Big Esso has a wide, flat entry, although Fed Square itself has an undulating and cobbled surface. Furniture is a mixture of outdoor benches, low indoor tables with benches and back seats, and high tables with backless stools. We ordered at our table and paid at a high bar. We didn't visit the toilets.

Vegie Bowl

May 22, 2023

   

We timed our long weekend return to allow for lunch in another vegetarian restaurant in the eastern suburbs - Vegie Bowl. It's been on my wish-list since Will L recommended it to us on twitter almost nine years ago! Vegie Bowl is located on the very busy Springvale Rd but once inside all is calm and cosy, with natural light and greenery adorning the enclosed courtyard and red brick and carpet enveloping the interior.

   

The menu is vegetarian Malaysian Chinese, with dishes containing egg well-marked, and no garlic, onion or alcohol used in cooking. We mostly picked foods that we already know and love to see how Vegie Bowl does them. Ben's number 1 is satay skewers ($8.90 for 4), while Michael and I insist on sesame prawn toast ($5.90 for 2) whenever we see it.

   

Salt and pepper roasted tofu ($21.90) is another of Ben's faves, served in a crunchy batter here. I voted for char kwai teow ($15.90), which we ordered without egg.

   

After some deliberation, Natalie chose the panfried prawns in XO sauce ($20.90), and it was also our best source of vegetables.

   

We made sure our rice was flavourful as well, going for the olive fried rice ($15.90) without egg.

We thoroughly enjoyed our visit to Vegie Bowl - every dish hit its mark, the setting was comfy, and the staff were most helpful. I hope we can return soon, and perhaps stray further from our standard ordering habits when we do.

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Vegie Bowl has also appeared on the blog Sweet & Sour Fork.

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Vegie Bowl

382-384 Springvale Rd, Forest Hill

8822 3873

banquet menus; banquet menus, entrees & soup; vegetables, tofu, rice, noodles & sides; dessert & drinks

http://www.vegiebowlrestaurant.com.au/

Accessibility: Entry is flat. Regular-height tables and backed chairs are moderately spaced. We ordered at our table and paid at a high counter. We didn't visit the toilets.

Midori by Tao's

May 19, 2023

   

When V Series closed last year, they pointed their social media accounts towards their new venture, Midori, so I've had my eye on it for a while. The restaurant opened a couple of months ago, and we stopped in for a weekday lunch when we were headed east for a long weekend out of town. 

Midori is primarily a sushi train! And even better, it's all vegetarian and majority vegan - the plates containing eggs or dairy have clear stickers (see photo above). Plate colour determines the food cost. Drinks and a small selection of a la carte dishes can be browsed and ordered by QR code, with the dishes being delivered to the assigned table by a toy truck that travels above the train. Here's what we grabbed from the conveyor on our visit...

   

I'm always fond of inari ($4, left) and it was my first pick. Michael chose these more complex rolls ($6, right), which contained a vegetable selection rolled in rice and nori, and with the ends dipped in mayonnaise and floss.

   

More fancy rolls with mock-ham, floss, tofu and vegetables ($6, left) and simple, silly omni nugget nigiri ($5, right).

   

Fluffy tamago and cheese nigiri ($5, left, not vegan) and peeled tomato concealing a pickled plum ($5, right).

   

Floss mini maki ($4, left), and inari with cashews ($5, right).

I'm so happy that Midori is inviting veg*ns into the fun of sushi trains! (I don't think I've visited one in two decades, for obvious reasons.) Midori go above and beyond with the variety and flavour among their dishes and the clean, comfortable setting they've designed. It's worth crossing town for, even if you don't have another reason to be in the neighbourhood - I'd recommend booking ahead (especially on a weekend) to guarantee a table.

   

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Midori also appears on the blog That Vegan Dad.

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Midori by Tao's

268 Doncaster Rd, Balwyn North

9939 6133

sushi train plates $4-6 each

https://www.midoribytaos.com.au/

Accessibility: Entry is wide and flat. Furniture is quite densely packed, with clear corridors along the side; tables are regular height and seats have backs. We picked up food and ordered drinks online at our table, then paid at a lower counter.

Shimbashi Soba II

May 18, 2023

   

Our second visit to Shimbashi was much like the first: we wanted something easy and local for dinner after work, and we even ordered exactly the same dishes. With that lovely meal fresh in my mind, I volunteered to cycle over and grab some of Shimbashi's lunch offerings for us the next day. While it's still possible to eat in a la carte, daytime Shimbashi opens up a small display cabinet by the door with grab-and-go options, mostly sushi rolls and a few bento.

The vegan sushi and tofu bento ($13) captured all of the meat-free options that day. Samples of the tempura zucchini avocado, spicy tofu, and spicy soy sushi were present, along with an assortment of tender vegetables and soft, comforting potato salad. I ordered the zucchini-avo and spicy tofu sushi as full hand-rolls ($4.50 each) to round out a meal for two. All these dishes were lightly chilled and satisfying, with the varied flavours and textures of gently-tended vegetables and judicious spices - I barely even used the soy sauce tubes that I'd packed into the paper bag, and could happily have skipped them entirely.

   

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You can read about our last visit to Shimbashi here.

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Shimbashi 

344 Rathdowne St, Carlton North 

8060 6595 

lunch special bento; tapas, bento & rice bowls; chilled & warm soba; dessert & extras

https://www.shimbashisobamelbourne.com/

Accessibility: Shimbashi has a flat entry. Furniture is a mixture of high benches and regular height tables, all with hard wooden backs and densely packed. I ordered and paid for my takeaway at a high counter.