Veganventure 2014: Part 7 (World Vegan Day)

That night, the night before World Vegan Day, we met up with some bloggers for dinner at Loving Hut Northcote. We had bloggers from Veganopoulous, Where's The Beef, Green Gourmet Giraffe, Veganise This and The Good Hearted.

Leigh and I shared some Steamed Rice Rolls with Mushroom Mince.



I had the Eggplant and Tofu Hotpot, which was lovely.



Leigh had the refreshing Lemongrass Chicken with Rice Noodles.



I didn't get a photo of everyone's food, because it was a long table, here here are some of the other dishes.

Sizzling Duck Katsu.



The Volcano (southern fried chicken with volcano hot sauce).



Wonton Soup.



Loving Hut also has a dessert case, including treats from La Panella as well as some fancy cakes. I went for a Lemon Tart.



Where's The Beef has also blogged about this dinner (with much better photos of their dishes) here. You can see what Veganopolous ordered here.

The next day was our final day in Melbourne, and we attended the yearly festival World Vegan Day. I didn't actually take that many photos of the day. For the best round up of everything that was there check out this post by Veganopolous.

Before heading off to WVD we had a breakfast of leftover pastries in the hotel - an Orange Poppyseed Muffin and half a sourdough cinnamon sugar doughnut from Crumbs. No green juice due to tragic mold issues.



We had hoped to get a green juice or smoothie at WVD, though there didn't seem to be anything like that in sight. So we went for the next best thing - and Apollo. I am not actually sure of the name of the stall that had this. It was a pastrami dog, facon, cheese, lettuce, tomato and tzatziki. So yummy!



We ran into Krisy again while sitting down and eating, and she shared some of her dosa with me. I have never had dosa before!



There was some beautiful iced tea available by Impaka & Peacock. One was a fruity rooibos and the other a fruity mint and lemongrass. I tried and enjoyed both, though the rooibos was my favourite.



I heard that Vege 2 Go had cinnamon sugar doughnuts, and they did! These were not as good as the Crumbs or Smith & Daughters doughnuts, but were still very nice.



I ogled the treats (and first generation My Little Pony) in the Mr Nice Guy Bakeshop case.



And I tried a chocolate rainbow freckle from Compassionate Kitchen after reading so much about them on Veganopoulous.



In non-food adventures, we stopped by the Bed & Broccoli stall to pick up a signed copy of Nikki's beautiful cookbook (launched that day!), looked at the art exhibit (I bought the sweetest artwork of a kitty) and spent some time looking at all the stalls. As usual I have non-buyers remorse. I always talk myself out of buying things, and then immediately regret not buying them the moment that I am in a position to no longer be able to get them. Oh well! Leigh also did a cooking demonstration out of her new cookbook Greenilicious. I was a tester for this book and it is great and you should all buy it!

It was getting really busy, and we reached our limit of squeezing past lots of people in the two halls, so we decided to call it a day. Thanks World Vegan Day, you were fun! We caught a tram back into the city and had a little bit of time to kill before we needed to get to the airport. We had hoped to get to Yong Green Food one more time, but alas we just missed a tram that would have taken us there and we would have a been a bit pressed for time taking the next one.

Instead we decided to try out Supercharger, a little vegan place in the Emporium. This doesn't have a website, but I had read about it on Where's The Beef and Veganopoulous. So thanks guys! Basically you choose a base and then up to five toppings/sides. It is $12 for three sides and $14 for five, so of course we got five!

They also sell smoothies and 'blends'. Blends are cups full of vegetables and fruits and juice that they blend up for you once you make your choice. I chose the Broccoli and Kale one and Leigh got the Orange and Carrot.



I don't remember the exact names of what I chose, but I shall describe it. I had potato mustard mash for the base, with daikon and garlic pickle, cauliflower and lentil smash, raw beetroot and carrot salad and tahini sauce in the big bowl, and there is daal and tofu miso soup in the little bowls.



Leigh also got the potato, the daikon, the cauliflower and tahini sauce, but got some raw broccoli salad, a chickpea curry and some mushrooms in ginger broth.



This was all delicious, a perfect antidote to a week of fairly rich eating! I would definitely recommend eating here. Where's The Beef has excellent directions for how to find it in the shopping complex.

Then it was back to Southern Cross station to catch a bus to the airport. Southern Cross has a Lord of the Fries. I have eaten there once in Sydney and wasn't a huge fan. Leigh ordered some sweet potato fries with the peanut sauce (the sauce of the month). I'm afraid it tasted about as good as it looked, which is not very. The sauce was just like melted peanut butter with a whole lot of salt mixed in. Blergh. Lord of the Fries is yet to win me over.



Then it was to the airport and a farewell to Leigh, she was flying back to Sydney and I was on my way to Brisbane. My flight was delayed, but once it got underway I got fed dinner! I flew with Qantas because I am using up frequent flier points, and for main meals they will do a vegan option. It was actually pretty good for plane food, rice with black eyed peas and a cauliflower curry.

So ends my Veganventure. I had such a great time, ate amazing food and met some really awesome people. But of course I was glad to be home and was all to eager to be hugging my beloved kitties again!

Cute Kitty Photos of the Post





Once I was home and settled I was very happy to get into my own bed with my own cats. Dim Sim settled down on the bed with me, so she has a beautiful welcome home photo. Sahara was on her blankie under the bed, so she has a very dim, dark, vague welcome home photo.