Conference Food: Science Week (bonus Eating Out: Kuan Yin)

The second conference I went to was for Science Week, a three to four day vet conference held down at the Gold Coast. I attended two days, a feline masterclass day on the Wednesday and the feline stream on Thursday, the first day of the conference proper. Despite being near so much amazing vegan food, breaks weren't long enough so I had to rely on the conference.

I should mention that any time I go to a conference, I am fully stocked with noodle cups, bananas, and snack bars. I take no risks in going hungry.

Morning tea came around on the Wednesday and there was nothing marked vegan. Sigh. I found a catering person to ask, and was directed to something amazing. A strawberry danish! That was vegan! For some reason, instead of putting a vegan sign on them, they just put them on a black slate tray. Surrrrrre... Anyway, no complaints.



Morning and afternoon tea were catered just to our small feline masterclass, but for lunch they sent us down to the main restaurant. Two years ago, at the same masterclass and the same venue, the vegan option was literally salad and fruit. This day, I was directed to a designated area that had pad thai, fried rice, roasted vegetables, and the ubiquitous salad. Plus little vegan strawberry and chocolate tarts! I filled my plate, and went back for seconds on the pad thai and vegetables, plus a few more sneaky tarts.



Afternoon tea was a couple of gorgeous apple muffins. I was so full from lunch, I only ate one. But took the other one home with me to freeze for a future work snack.



On Thursday, the full conference had started, so morning and afternoon tea were on the main conference floor with a lot of people milling around. I was hopeful after Wednesday, and I was not disappointed. Apricot danishes! So great to see a venue realise that vegans love pastry, and that you can buy vegan pastry really easily, and make delicious morning teas for vegans! I 100% ate four of these.



Lunch down at the restaurant was a little more disappointing this time, though still filling. Vegan options were ratatouille (which was oddly spicy, and I had to carefully scoop around giant chunks of capsicum when serving myself), and some bland polenta. And salad, of course. Thankfully, they still had the chocolate strawberry tarts, as well as a lovely fruit plate, so I sugared up! Those chocolate strawberry tarts were soooooo good.



Afternoon tea was a little confusing, as they had some things labelled and other things not labelled. There were some savoury things that may have been vegan, but I contented myself with a little bliss ball. I didn't want to fill up too much, for reasons that will soon be apparent.



Afterwards, on my drive home, I took advantage of being on the Gold Coast and stopped into Kuan Yin at Southport. Kuan Yin used to have a restaurant in Fortitude Valley, which was one of my favourite places. But they closed and switched to a home delivery service, which was nice but not as good. But the Southport version continues to operate, with the same menu. Which meant it was time to order my favourites. I had a standard order there - Taro Soy Milk Bubble Tea, Fried Dumplings, and Sweet & Sour Pork Bento. Normally I am not a sweet and sour fan, but theirs is so good. A proper, thick, sweet and sour sauce smeared on it, rather that the super sweet red sauce you see so often.





Kuan Yin Southport - 2/152 Scarborough St, Southport QLD 4215 - (07) 5511 5121

Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



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