Veganventure 2014: Part 4 (Melbourne)

After saying goodbye to Bed & Broccoli, we made out way back to Melbourne. We had some secret squirrel business on the way (no actual squirrels involved, we don't have squirrels here), where we met up with Elizabeth and some of her friends who were also down from Sydney. They had recently been to La Panella, a vegetarian/vegan bakery, and had stocked up on lots of treats which they were kind enough to share. I had some pizza bread and a custard tart. This is not a fancy bakery, this is the sort of food that you get from every single bakery you ever walk past but can never get anything vegan at. It was nostaligically good in a kind of trashy way.



Then it was back to Melbourne airport to drop off Ruby, our trusty little Corolla (below with Leigh). Thanks for being awesome, Ruby. You were a super great car!



Once at the airport we caught the SkyBus into the city and got a transfer to near the place we were staying, Carlton Terrace. Carlton Terrace isn't a hotel as such, but a collection of private rooms in a terrace house. There is no reception, you get a code to the door and key. It is very close to Carlton Gardens and a pretty close walk to Brunswick Street in Fitzroy, aka the street with most of the vegan places (though Smith St a bit over also has several!).

For dinner we met our amazing vegan activist friend Taylor at Yong Green Food, Leigh's favourite place to eat in Melbourne. For starters we shared some Oyster Mushroom Calamari (so delicious, I had to stop myself overdoing it with the deep fried), Tofu Pockets (stuffed with the most delicious 'tuna' salad I have ever had as a vegan) and Leigh's favourite Kimchi Dumplings (I liked these, they were on the spicy side but not too spicy for me).







For the main I chose the Macro Dragon Bowl (Biodynamic brown rice topped with seasonal veggies, organic tempeh, seaweed and lemon tahini cream. Served with miso soup). I was craving some wholefoods! This was great, but my only gripe was that I could have done with about four times the amount of the sauce!



Leigh had the intriguing Tofu Katsu.



And Taylor had the Daikon Salad and the Chicken Burger.





I also had the Maca Chai (maca chai, cashew milk, chia) to drink, which was quite thick and rich.



Yong Green only has raw desserts (this coconut oil hater stays well away from those), but just down the street was Frolic Frozen Yoghurt, which had vegan options including waffles! I had to have a waffle, which I topped with caramelised banana and walnut froyo, stewed pears, strawberries, caramelised bananas, coconut, vegan nutella sauce and raspberry sauce. Sadly, the vegan nutella sauce tastes mostly like chocolate sauce, not the chocolate hazelnut I was hoping for! Leigh had a froyo cup and including the strange bursting boba balls as one of her toppings. I have had these once before and they are strange! It is a pay by weight place, so be careful of going overboard!





The next morning we went to the North Melbourne branch of Crumbs Organic Bakehouse for breakfast. Oh. My God. Sourdough cinnamon sugar doughnuts. SOURDOUGH CINNAMON SUGAR DOUGHNUTS!! Sorry Mighty-O, I have a new favourite doughnut, and it is a little closer to home. These were SO GOOD! I can't even describe. I can't even explain. Just get down there and have one or a dozen! Leigh got the lemon-curd filled sourdough doughnut, which she really enjoyed.



For seconds I had a raspberry and rhubarb sourdough danish, which was awesome but was no sourdough cinnamon sugar doughnut. Leigh got the crescent version of the sourdough cinnamon sugar doughnut.



I also had a chai latte, which was adequate. You need to make sure to ask for soy milk and no honey when you order.



As you can see, they have a lot of pretty yummy things in their bakery case. But definitely get the doughnut.



Afterwards we walked down into the city itself, looked in some shops and Leigh found some vegan Docs to buy. Obligatory tourist shot of the Yarra!



We stopped by the National Gallery of Victoria and had some lovely tea in their tea room. I had one called Pai Mu Tan.



We were going to have a wander around some of the art gallery, but we were going to be late for our lunch date so we had to get a move on. More on that in the next post!

Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



My goodbye photo of Sahara, taken right before I left for the airport. While I was away poor Sahara became unwell, and my parents had to take her into the clinic. Thankfully all was OK, but it was so stressful to be away from her while she was not well! My poor bear. But she has been fine since.