Paradisescape

Edit 28/08/2025: Paradisescape has now closed.

March 11, 2022

   

We noticed a new veg*n restaurant pop up on Sydney Road late last year on our regular walks to and from the local supermarket. We've not really been eating in at restaurants, and it took us a month or two to think of ordering delivery from this one. Now a month or two beyond that, we were ready to visit for a quiet, early dinner at Paradisescape. 

The casual and cheerful fit-out with exposed bricks, block colours and decorative plastic plants fits a common theme in the local veg*n restaurant scene, calling to mind Mamma Says, The Origin Tales, Brother Bon and Loving Hut West Melbourne. The menu spans familiar but welcome territory, too: steamed bao and battered cauliflower 'wings' to start, burgers and wraps, superfood bowls, stir-fries, gnocchi and a parma. An arepa plate is more unusual, and the mock fish tacos seem to be an emerging veg*n trend - if I hadn't spent the week eating home-made lentil tacos one of these would have my immediate choice. It's all overwhelmingly vegan - an extra-cost egg on the bibimbap and cheaper default-dairy on the coffees seem to be the only exceptions. Gluten-free options are similarly well-marked and cover almost half the menu.

   

Ultimately I chose two entrees in lieu of a main. The steamed Korean bao ($8.50) was a tasty but messsssy bundle of eggplant tempura, kimchi, pickled pink cabbage, chipotle mayo and fresh coriander.

   

The chicken dumpling ($10.50) filling didn't make a strong impression on me, though its dipping sauce was terrific! Salty, sweet, spicy and aromatic with ginger and alliums.

   

Michael revisited the stir fry Peking duck with noodles ($20), which we'd already enjoyed as a delivery. It's a filling plate featuring Hokkien noodles, a variety of thinly-sliced vegetables, mock-duck strips and a sauce that's sweet, sour, and lightly spiced. 

   

In our home-delivered meal, we were also impressed by the cauliflower wings with miso-maple sauce, and a massaman curry of mock chicken and assorted vegetables. In the short term, it'll most likely be through takeaway that we continue to explore Paradisescape's menu. It's nice and kinda funny that our local neighbourhood is now bracketed by them another casual vegan gem, The Origin Tales.

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Paradisescape has received positive coverage on messy veggies.

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Paradisescape

51 Sydney Rd, Brunswick

9492 2888

food, drinks

https://www.paradisescape.com.au/

Accessibility: There is a shallow ramp on entry and a decent-width corridor through the centre of the restaurant, but most tables are densely packed together. There is a mixture of low tables with backed chairs and high tables with backless and backed stools. We ordered at our table and paid at a high counter. We didn't visit the toilets.

Sweet potato & gochujang pasta bake

February 28, 2022

   

Michael and I agreed that we wanted a pasta dinner last week, and I had the energy for trying something new. I initially mistook this Meera Sodha recipe as a vegan mac'n'cheese since it includes ingredients like cashews, nooch and starchy veges, which often pop up in such recipes. But Sodha makes no such claim and I think that's wise. This is a fun, tasty pasta bake that doesn't evoke cheesiness.

Instead it's mostly warmly spiced, starchy comfort. The macaroni's main co-star is sweet potato, which is chopped and simmered to softness with cashews and garlic, before being blended into a smooth sauce with nutritional yeast flakes. A big spoonful of gochujang adds heat, colour, and that distinct funk of fermentation. 

I aimed to neatly use up a whole 500g bag of macaroni so I roughly multiplied ingredients by 1.5 as I worked through the recipe, though I forgot in a couple of cases! (I've fixed that up in the version below.) Surprisingly, the smaller quantity of water didn't cause any problems with the sauce. The original weight of breadcrumbs was all I had on hand anyway, so there was nothing to be done about that. The few breadcrumbs I did have were perhaps my favourite part of the recipe! They came from the dried-out end of a sourdough loaf, crisped up beautifully, and tasted so good in this sprinkling mix with spring onions, garlic and salt.

The one draw-back of this recipe is that it make a lot of dirty dishes - a pasta saucepan, a colander, a sweet potato saucepan, a sieve, a food processor/blender, a frypan, a baking tray. On the other hand, it supplied food for days and days. We always ate it teamed with a simple salad of mixed green leaves, sugar snap peas (which are in season and really good around here at the moment!), and a leftover pomegranate molasses dressing.

Sweet potato & gochujang pasta bake

(slightly adapted from a Meera Sodha recipe in The Guardian)

500g macaroni

sunflower oil

1 large sweet potato

4-5 cloves garlic

150g cashews, roasted and unsalted

1 1/2 tablespoons gochujang

3 tablespoons plain flour

4 tablespoons nutritional yeast flakes

3 spring onions

90g breadcrumbs

Fill a large saucepan with water and bring it to the boil. Add the macaroni and cook it for 2 minutes less than advised on the packet. Drain the pasta, then stir through a little sunflower oil to prevent it from sticking together.

While the pasta is cooking, peel the sweet potato and chop it into 1 cm cubes. Place it in a separate saucepan, adding 3 peeled cloves of garlic and the cashews. Add water to cover, bring it all to the boil, and then simmer the sweet potato mixture for 10 minutes.

Preheat an oven to 200°C. 

Drain the sweet potato mixture and place it in a blender or food processor. Add 3 cups water, the gochujang, flour, nooch and a teaspoon or two of salt. Blend the mixture until it's as smooth as possible. Pour the sauce into the larger of the saucepans and add the pasta back in, stirring to thoroughly combine. Turn the pasta mixture out into a large, high-walled baking tray.

Finely chop the spring onions and mince the remaining garlic. Set a frypan over high heat and add 2-3 tablespoons sunflower oil. Fry the spring onions for a minute, then add the garlic and fry for a further two minutes. Add the breadcrumbs and a generous pinch of salt, and fry until they start to turn golden.

Spoon the breadcrumb mixture across the top of the pasta and bake everything for 20 minutes, until very golden on top. Allow the bake to rest for 5 minutes before serving with a side of greens.

Pandy Bakeshop

17/06/2023: Pandy is now closed.

February 26, 2022

   

Michael was travelling through Northcote on Sunday morning and he stopped in at Pandy Bakeshop to see what treats they had on offer. Pandy is an all-vegan, gluten-free-friendly bakery that's been operating within Baketico for just under a year and this was our first taste of it. There are typically five different individually-portioned kinds of sweet plus a few cakes sold by the slice.

Incredibly, Michael delivered three treats home by bike with no more damage than a single jam smear. This came from what appears to be a signature Pandy dish, the gluten-free fairy bread lamington. This pink cube was neat, light and very sweet - the equal of any gluteny, eggy analogue. The raspberry blondie had the texture of a dense, moist cake and its streak of raspberry jam reminded me happily of the jam tarts and buns I ate in suburban and country bakeries as a kid. The Biscoff and white chocolate cookie was huge, soft and dense like the blondie, with a subtle gingerbread vibe.

I was deeply impressed by the execution of all these goods and I'll be making any excuse to stop by again and try more from Pandy.

   

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Pandy has also be blogged by Cruella DeVegan.

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Pandy Bakeshop

62 High St, Northcote

0478 226 463

https://www.pandybakeshop.com/

Rusty's Sandwich Parlour

February 20, 2022

   

   

The sun came out on a quiet Sunday, so Cindy and I decided to finally visit somewhere new for a meal. We walked to Rusty's, a newish place in Brunswick East that's part of Melbourne's growing obsession with fillings between bread. It's a very basic setup - a counter, a drinks fridge and a couple of stools - we grabbed takeaway and wandered around to a nearby park to eat. They've got a solid range of vego options - four of their ten sandwiches are vegan, and there's an eggy vego one as well.

 

   

Cindy ordered the Shroom - mushroom escabeche with vegan feta and watercress ($14). It's mix of finely chopped, marinated mushrooms and onions with a surprising sweetness bursting through. I couldn't resist the vegan sausage - vegan salami with vegan fior di latte, watercress and chilli jam ($14).

   

I loved this - it mostly hinges on the store-bought vegan salami, and it's probably something that would be fairly easy to put together at home. Still, there's something really lovely about being able to go somewhere like Rusty's and grab a junky, spicy, vegan sandwich on lovely fresh bread. 

Rusty's is a great addition to the neighbourhood and one I'm sure we'll visit again soon - I'm very keen to go back and try their beet Reuben.

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There are positive reviews of Rusty's on Mamma Knows North and Messy Veggies.

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Rusty's Sandwich Parlour

189 Nicholson St, Brunswick East

9381 2005

menu

https://www.sandwichparlour.com.au/ 

Accessibility: There's a step up at the door. We ordered and paid at a low counter - it's basically takeaway only, just a few stools for dining in, and no toilets that we could see. 

Coconut jam slice

February 12, 2022

   

After limiting my socialising a lot in January, I've been enjoying some face-to-face contact with friends in parks and homes this month. We had Ben and Natalie over for brunch, where Michael made a big pan of chipotle sausage hash, Natalie contributed a jug of fancy iced tea, and I had a tray of this coconut jam slice lined up in advance. (Ben also more than pulled his weight, measuring up a broken kitchen cupboard and planning a future repair!)

I think of coconut jam slice as an Aussie classic, although I don't hold a family recipe for it. I picture thick, golden-brown squares of biscuit with a seam of berry jam, and a pillowy top layer of desiccated coconut bound together in a meringue-like batter. This Smith & Deli version has clear similarities and differences. The biscuit base includes cocoa (going for a lamington vibe, perhaps?), and the topping is primarily thicker shredded coconut, lightly bound with an egg replacer and only toasting around the edges during baking.

This slice was popular with the group - the base holds up without any bending or crumbling, and I like the bold chewiness of the shredded coconut. But overall, this slice was just sweet, sweet, sweet to me, overpowering any potential contrasts from tangy fruit and creamy coconut. I would play around with different jam, less jam, and less added sugar in future bakes. The core recipe is simple to pull together, so it wouldn't be a chore to experiment and work towards a new family favourite.

Coconut jam slice

(from Smith & Deli-icious by Shannon Martinez & Mo Wyse) 

base

1 cup plain flour

1 tablespoon cocoa powder

3/4 cup desiccated coconut

1/2 cup margarine, melted

1 teaspoon vanilla

toppings

heaped tablespoon egg replacement powder

1/2 cup water

1/3 cup caster sugar

2 cups shredded coconut

pinch of salt

1 cup raspberry jam

Preheat an oven to 180°C. Line a small slice tray (mine was 27 cm x 18 cm) with baking paper.

In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, cocoa and coconut. Pour in the melted margarine, give it a little stir, add the vanilla, and stir until completely combined. Tip the mixture into the slice tray and use the back of a spoon or clean fingers to spread and press the mixture out into an even base. Bake for 15-20 minutes, then allow it to cool for at least 10 minutes.

While the base is cooling, use a clean medium bowl to whisk together the egg powder and water until frothy. Whisk in the sugar. Stir in the coconut and salt until well combined.

When the base has cooled slightly, spread the jam evenly across it. Spoon over the coconut mixture - it doesn't have to be tightly packed and even, but try not to have jam peeking through. Bake for 20-30 minutes, until the coconut is golden brown at the edges but not burned. Allow it all to cool completely before slicing and serving.