Sunday 7 February 2016

Sydney Part 2

When I woke up on Sunday morning, I was treated to viewing of one of Leigh's visiting cockatoos, Wonky Beak. They were named this because they have a genetic condition affecting their beak. Leigh also has another visiting cockatoo named The Dude, but they didn't make an appearance while I was there. It was lovely to munch on some cold pizza and watch this magnificent bird having a snack. Once Wonky Beak flew off, we watched some RuPaul with the rest of our pizza.

Wonky Beak


We were meeting up with some friends at Soul Burger, a recently all-vegan burger place over in Randwick. I should mention that all these friends I met on the internet, which is one of the reasons I love the internet. I had met Elizabeth and Michelle before, but it was my first time meeting Sarah in person. Lots of fun. :)

Soul Burger has vegan milkshakes, but unfortunately they are all coconut based. Elizabeth and Sarah both got the Strawberry Coconut Milkshake and Michelle had the Vanilla Coconut Milkshake. I tried a little bit of Elizabeth's, because I love strawberry milkshakes, but the level of coconut fat in it was too much for my sensitive soul to manage.

Strawberry Coconut Milkshakes from Soul Burger


Vanilla Coconut Milkshake from Soul Burger


Soul Burger also has some great fries, and we got a bunch to share. First up, the red fries are the spicy ones. I don't enjoy spice, but I did try one small, sparsely spiced one dipped in a lot of aioli and it was not too spicy. My favourite fries were the herby Green Fries. We also had some Kumara Fries, which are Elizabeth's favourite. All fries comes with vegan aioli for dipping.

Red Fries from Soul Burger


Green Fries from Soul Burger


Kumara Fries from Soul Burger


I went for the classic cheese burger, but added pineapple and beetroot because that is what we do here in Australia. It was a towering burger, and I lost a few bits of beetroot before I was able to fit it in my mouth. I really liked the burger fillings. The patty was yummy! But I was a bit sad by the bread roll, which was a bit dry. But overall a good burger!

Cheese Burger with Pineapple and Beetroot from Soul Burger


Leigh and Sarah both got the Chilli Beef Burger (Leigh added pineapple and beetroot to hers), Elizabeth had the Battered Fish Burger, and Michelle had the Spicy Sausage Burger (which has actual sausages in it rather than a patty).

Chilli Beef Burger with Pineapple and Beetroot from Soul Burger


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Spicy Sausage Burger from Soul Burger


This photo is just a small portion of our table. We had a lot of food. We arrived at 12pm on Sunday, and by 12.20pm the place was really getting packed out, so I would recommend getting there early if you are planning on going.

All the fuds from Soul Burger


The afternoon was spent lying around back at Leigh's place, digesting, and watching RuPaul (of course). When evening came, we were able to get ourselves going and headed into Newtown for dinner at Golden Lotus. I had only been here once before, and was keen to visit again.

We started with some Summer Rolls, which were filled with salad and noodles and served with peanut sauce, and the Vegan Wrap. The Vegan Wrap is basically a delicious hoisin 'duck' pancake that they already rolled for you.

Summer Rolls from Golden Lotus


Vegan Wrap from Golden Lotus


For mains, I was craving some tofu and vegetables, so we picked the Tofu with Cashews. I know this doesn't sound very exciting, but it was really yummy. As well as lots of vegetables, they were extremely generous with cashews! We also got the Sizzling Saigon Pancake. There wasn't much sizzling about it, but it was very nice. The pancake itself was folded over a filling of carrots and bean sprouts, and there were fresh greens and herbs on the side. Also the sauce, but Leigh said it was pretty spicy so I skipped it.

Tofu With Cashews from Golden Lotus


Sizzling Saigon Pancake from Golden Lotus


After dinner, we went back to Gelato Blue to pick up another take home pack, this time with Milk Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookie and some more Peanut Butter Cornetto. I have taken a bad photo of some of the vegan selection for you - there was also another case I couldn't get a photo of without too much glare!

Gelato Blue


Chocolate Milk Cookie and Peanut Butter Cornetto from Gelato Blue


Then we made yet another dessert plate with all our many ice creams, plus some left over sweets. And we finished watching that season of RuPaul... and my favourite WON! TEAM JINKX FOREVER! And just so you know, if you mix the chocolate ice cream with the turkish delight ice cream it tastes like those chocolate covered turkish delight bars. I did this important research for you!

Dessert Plate!


I was leaving the next morning. I had a pre-leaving breakfast of the last half of my jackfruit roll, which was still amazing even after a couple of days. I also had packed a little second breakfast snack for once I got to the airport. The Vegan Teahouse sells a number of products, but my favourite is their Britney Banana Bread. I always get some Britney when I am in Sydney for my trip home. Leigh had also given me one of the Rebel Mylk chocolate banana milks, which was really nice.

Bananarama Breakfast


I thought my vegan food adventures were over, but when my plane landed in Brisbane and I was walking into the terminal I did a double take - there was a little Doughtnut Time kiosk there! Doughnut Time has a vegan doughnut, and they had some in stock, so I picked one up. They used to have a raspberry flavour, but they had just switched it out for the You Go, Glen Coco, which has a caramel glaze and coconut flakes. The glaze was a bit sweet for my liking, but I thought it was a pretty good doughnut otherwise! It is also gluten free. If you are at Brisbane Domestic Airport and looking for Doughnut Time, it is all the way down the end of the Virgin side of the terminal.

Doughnut Time Vegan Doughnut


And so ended my weekend in Sydney, which was just lovely. A huge thanks to Leigh for letting me stay with her, and thanks to all my friends I got to catch up with. It was so great, I can't wait to do it again!

Cute Kitty Photo of the Post<

Sahara


While I was away my mum sent this photo of Sahara smooching around on the floor. You can see her head is in motion!

15 comments:

  1. All of the food looks so delicious! All those vegan burger options! Sahara is so beautiful, the color of her coat is gorgeous!

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    1. She is a proud redhead, just like I am. ;)

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  2. Your time hanging in Sydney with Leigh sounds like so much fun! I love having vegan pals to explore with but having someone to veg out with after the exploring's done makes it extra awesome.

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    1. Having that nice place to go back to and just relax is just so nice!

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  3. Holy moly, those burgers look amazing!

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  4. DOUGHNUT!! Also, that banana bread/banana mylk combo sounds excellent.

    I'm always learning new things on your blog. I had to google kumara because I'd never heard a sweet potato called that, and then I got stuck reading all about kumara.

    Also, those burgers!!!!!!! And milkshakes!!!!

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    1. One more thing: Thanks for your tip on halving the nooch in the wake & shake scramble. I made it for breakfast tacos this morning and 1/2 cup was plenty.

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    2. We should thank my friend Amy for the tip. :)
      We generally call sweet potatoes by their regular sweet potato name, but sometimes we go fancy with kumara. ;)

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  5. When I was in Aus I got a burger with beetroot and pineapple on it! So good!

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    1. It seems like such a sensible addition to a burger, I am surprised that other countries don't embrace it! ;)

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  6. I can't even imagine what turkish delight ice cream would taste like.... I wish I could try.

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    1. It was so nice. It was very intensely rosewater in flavour, but not overwhelmingly so. Not sure how they managed that!

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