Vegan in an omni world: Thai Pochana Cafe

Last night I was restless, so I rang a friend to see if she wanted to do something. She was going out to dinner with her housemate, so I came along too. The plan was to mosey down to Oxford Street in Bulimba to get some food. Possibly Thai, maybe Mexican. I was quite happy to come along and see what sort of vegan options I could ferret out for myself. After all, we can't go to the vegan places all the time.

There are a lot of different restaurants down that strip. After stopping off at the pub for a drink, the restaurant we went to was Thai Pochana Cafe, a nice little Thai place. As the girls took the table, I marched up to the waiter to have the 'vegan chat'... you know the one. Wow, what a lovely guy! Totally understanding, wonderfully accomodating. They have a vegetarian menu with some vegan looking stuff on it. After clarifying there was not hidden nasties like fish sauce, animal stocks or shrimp paste, I settled on Pra Ram Pak (steamed mixed vegetables topped with peanut sauce) and asked if they could add some tofu to it as well for extra yumminess. All not a problem



Here it is. I finally got over feeling strange about taking photos of food in restaurants. Though I didn't think about this until after I had already taken some, which is why there's stuff missing at the back. And it was lovely! Served with steamed rice and jasmine tea, as all things should be. The only thing missing was a glass of coconut juice! Sadly, not on the menu.

I would head back here again if I was in the area. They have a few other vegan friendly dishes - Pad Pak (stir-fried mixed vegetables in soy sauce), Pad Prawn Wan (stir fried mixed vegetables in a sweet and sour tamarind sauce) and Pad Tofu (stir fried beancurd flavoured with garlic and chili with vegetables. They also have a couple of vegetarian starters (spring rolls and corn cakes), but futher investigation would be needed as to the vegan-ness of these.

Anyway, it was a lovely dinner. It is nice to have the freedom as a vegan to go to omni restaurants and be met with understanding, respect and options! To top it all off, on the walk back to their place I picked up a scoop of vegan mango sorbet. Bliss!