Wednesday 4 May 2016

OzComicCon Adelaide 2016 (Part 1)

After my lovely final breakfast in Perth, it was off to the airport to catch a flight to Adelaide. We were flying Qantas, and I had registered as a vegan before the flight. I was provided with a nice vegan curry lunch box, complete with apple and vegan treat. It was definitely tasty for airline food. I also finally watched Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

Plane lunch on Qantas Perth to Adelaide


We hung out and settled in for a while before I decided to head out to get some dinner. Thankfully we were staying in a very central location, and there was a place called Veggo Sizzle a short walk away. Although it was a short walk, it was a long wait. When I got there, no tables were free, so I was happy to get take away. What I was told would be a 20 minute wait for food ended up being an hour! They were really apologetic about it, and gave me a free dessert (a coconut apricot ball), but I was pretty hungry. I walked back to the hotel and tore into my food. So hungry! I was thirsty, so had ordered a Green Mantra Refresher, which was water infused with cucumber, celery and herbs. I had ordered a roti with peanuts, which was quite sweet, and also the Pad See Ew. Pad See Ew is one of my favourite ever meals, and I am sorry to say this was disappointing. It was really just stir-fried noodles and veggies, the minimal sauce was not Pad See Ew. Sorry for the bad photos, hotel rooms have the worst lighting ever.

Green Mantra Refersher from Veggo Sizzle


Roti with Peanut from Veggo Sizzle


Pad See Ew from Veggo Sizzle


Coconut Apricot Ball from Veggo Sizzle


The next morning I took an even shorter walk to Argo Espresso, which was very close to the hotel, for breakfast. Argo has many vegan options for breakfast and lunch on their menu. It was nippy, so I started my day with a Dandelion Chai Soy Latte (the regular chai had honey in the base), and a giant breakfast burrito. The burrito had refried beans, scrambled tofu, tomato corn salsa, guacamole and lettuce (I had them leave off the hot sauce). The burrito wrapper was presumably homemade, as it was much thicker than the regular store-bought tortilla.

Dandelion Soy Latte at Argo


Breakfast Burrito at Argo


After a bit of a respite back at the hotel, I went to explore the Central Market Arcade. This is a huge undercover market that extends down into Chinatown, and has a lot of fruit and veggie stalls as well as other things of interest to vegans. There are two health food stores there, one of which (Goodies and Grains) has a cafe section as well, there is also a Pure Vegetarian Chinese counter in the Chinatown food court. There is a place that is 100% raw vegan desserts. And lots of other places with vegan options. I wrote down a big list on my phone of all the places, but it didn't save. But half the fun is just wandering around and seeing what you discover.

I ended up at Tohsti, a toasted sandwich shop that had vegan options. I got a Vegemite, biocheese and tomato toastie (made on their dedicated vegan machine). It was hot and savoury and gooey and exactly what I wanted.

Vegemite, Biocheese and Tomato from Tohsti


In the afternoon, we all went up to the Intercontinental for high tea. I was expecting to have some fun tea and nibble on some fruit, but they actually put on a little vegan spread as well as the regular one (they had advance notice). They brought out two beautiful big share plates, including a yummy and fresh quinoa salad and some gnocchi with tomato sauce. But then they also brought out a little plate that had some vegan scones, sweets and savouries on it. The little savouries seemed to be bread cut outs with pickles, but it was still fun. I didn't try many of the sweets, because I suspected (rightly so) that there would be a lot of coconut cream involved. But there were other vegans to eat them, so we all shared. It was fun! I also had a pot of rooibos vanilla tea, one of my favourites.

Quinoa Salad at Intercontinental High Tea


Vegan Platter at Intercontinental High Tea


Gnocchi at Intercontinental High Tea


For dinner that night, I was excited to head out with a couple of friends to Two-Bit Villains, a vegetarian diner and soda shop that can make everything vegan (and most things gluten free). So excited! I ordered a strawberry milkshake (soy based, not coconut, hurrah), and one of my companions ordered one of their many fancy soda flavours, but I can't remember what it was! We got a round of chili fries to share, which were great, except that the sour cream is coconut-based and had that odd coconut fat flavour, so I just stuck with the guacamole. For my main, I had the Long Arm of the Slaw Burger (BBQ pulled jackfruit and apple slaw), which was really good, and a side of onion rings. I need to stop ordering onion rings, they are never the onion rings I remember loving when I was little. They were too deep fried for me. My friend ordered the Totillas with Chilli Beans, which came lots of fresh veggies, sour cream and vegan cheese.

Soda and Strawberry Milkshake at Two Bit Villains


Vegan Chilli Fries at Two Bit Villains


Vegan Tortilla at Two Bit Villains


Long Arm of the Slaw Burger and Onion Rings at Two Bit Villains


After dinner, I was unusually social and went out to a hidden bar called Maybe Mae with a few people. They have a long list of very fancy cocktails, but I don't drink so I just had some water.

Cute Kitty Picture of the Post

Sahara stares


Another photo that my mum sent to me. Sahara is staring... this is her 'feed me' stare.

7 comments:

  1. That curry box looks flipping amazing for plane food!

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    1. It was pretty yummy, definitely the best thing I have had on a Qantas flight. Some of their other offerings have been pretty awful.

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  2. Jealous of your travels, so I am just going to comment on the fierceness of Sahara. You tell them girly!!

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  3. Jealous of your travels, so I am just going to comment on the fierceness of Sahara. You tell them girly!!

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  4. Oh how disappointing to wait an hour for food only to have it be not great.
    OMG that breakfast burrito! I'm going to have dreams about it. Wow. Just wow.
    The tea place was so nice to accommodate - especially with vegan scones!
    I want to go to Two-Bit Villains - the food looks good. I love a good diner, especially that caters to vegans and gluten-free people. The chili fries look so good.
    "I need to stop ordering onion rings, they are never the onion rings I remember loving when I was little."
    Isn't that the same as all things we remember as a kid? I feel like the more things I try veganized that I loved as a kid, just aren't what they used to be. I think our tastebuds are growing up ;)

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    1. I was so hungry by the time I got to the food, I would have eaten anything, but still a shame it wasn't what I'd hope.
      The vegan scones were also gluten free, so you could have enjoyed as well. :)
      When I was little, the only onion rings around were from Hungry Jacks (Burger King over there), and they are different from all other onion rings I think.

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