Eating Out: Flora by Greenhouse

I've been back to my beloved Flora by Greenhouse a few times. Not as often as I would like though! You can see my previous posts about Flora here.

I stopped in for lunch one day after yoga. There was some work being done at home, so I was trying to stay out of the house until it was done. Lunch at Flora seemed like the perfect way to do that! Because I had been sweating a lot at yoga, I had one of their green juices, with apple, cos, celery, spinach, cucumber, lime, lemon, and mint. Very refreshing!



For food, I got one of their jaffles filled with smokey pulled jackfruit, cashew brie, rocket, and cheddar. It came with a side of their delicious tomato relish. And I also got some creamy dill potato salad as a side. As you can see, they were also covered in Flora's signature pea sprout garnish, so I also took some nude photos so you can actually see the food.







I took my mum there a while ago for her first visit. I am happy to report that she really enjoyed it. For drinks, she got a hot chocolate and I got an iced turmeric latte, both on soy.



She had the savoury vegetable and dill chickpea pancake, with spinach and pea puree. I've had this before, and honestly it is the best thing that I have had from Flora ever. It is so good.



I had the Garlic Mushrooms, which were served on sourdough with spinach, tomato, cashew brie and lots of herbs, and I got some avocado to go with it as well. Very nice.



Definitely need to try and get here a bit more often! I still am yet to try their famous Bruffin!

Flora by Greenhouse West End - 239 Boundary Street, West End

Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



By now, all the kitties and Petal have gone to their homes. But I still have a few more to share. I love this photo of Petal in the cat tunnel, with Holly peeking from the outside.

VeganMoFo 2019 #8: F is for Flora by Greenhouse (Eating Out)

It had been a while since I'd been to my beloved Flora by Greenhouse, an all vegan cafe that I have been to many times before. But they announced a new menu for winter, and while I mourned the food on the original menu that I never got to eat, I was excited to try some new things as well.

My first visit back was for lunch, where I had an iced soy turmeric latte to refresh myself. I ordered the savoury mince and cheese jaffle off their new menu, with a side of Mediterranean potato salad. If you are confused as to what a jaffle is, it is like a toasted sandwich, but it is made in a special jaffle iron or maker, so that the edges are sealed and it also is cut down the middle. You can put anything in a jaffle, and it is so good. I love jaffles.







Another time I went one Saturday morning for a pre-work breakfast. It was a lovely rainy morning, and it was nice to be tucked up in the cafe with a book and a hot breakfast. I tried their Pesto Scramble on Toast, which comes with some rice paper bacon. And of course I got a side of hash brown. I also had a nice, hot turmeric soy latte.





Most recently, I was there for lunch after a yoga class. I ordered the daily greens juice, which amused me by coming with some pea sprouts as garnish. They love their pea sprouts! I also ordered the Savoury Pancakes, which are chickpea and dill pancakes with pee puree and herbs. OMG, this was so amazing. It was absolutely delicious! And presented so beautifully, I almost couldn't eat it. But of course I did! Oh yeah, and a hash brown on the side as well.





Flora by Greenhouse West End - 239 Boundary Street, West End

Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



While Dim Sim mostly rejected this bed I gave her, Sahara was happy to make good use of it. Here she is once again demonstrating her perfect cinnamon scroll technique.

Eating Out: Flora by Greenhouse

A few meals from my beloved Flora. I realised as I was making this post that I hadn't been there for ages! This is shocking, and I must rectify it! Until then, enjoy this post and the previous posts I have made about eating there.

I tend to visit for lunch. On one visit, I tried the Pineapple, Grapefruit, Turmeric, Ginger, and Orange juice for a vitamin C boost. It was OK, but a bit overpowered by the orange flavour. My friend got this one one of my first visits here, and her juice looked much darker. So perhaps they have changed the proportions?



I wanted a lighter drink because for my food I had picked out their Reuben Sandwich and a side of Pesto Olive Potato Salad. This was all very yummy, but also very filling. My one gripe with the Reuben is that it does get a bit overpowered by mustard. It is strange they don't make a russian dressing to put on this, as should be the case with a Reuben. They have a lovely seitan, pickles and kraut, cheesy sauce, but then the mustard just overpowers it all.





Another visit I tried their Stuffed Croissant - spinach, scramble, rice paper bacon in a croissant, then toasted. These are pre-assembled and toasted on demand. This was something I wouldn't get again as the fillings stayed cold and it was weird. If they had been hot on the toasted croissant, it would be awesome.



I did hit them up early for a pre-work Saturday breakfast once, when they announced they were having a $15 all you can eat breakfast. WHAT? Yes please! It wasn't the usual buffet style. They had a staff member serving from the hotboxes behind the counter. You could go back as often as you wanted. This is my savoury plate with scramble, mushrooms, chilli beans (that had zero heat), rice paper bacon, hash brown, toast, and one of their vegan egg things. I also went back for some waffles and fruit salad, as well as an extra hash brown. I was pleasantly full after this, especially having a turmeric latte with it as well, but you could have gone back for a lot more!







Flora by Greenhouse West End - 239 Boundary Street, West End

Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



My poor girl got a UTI on Sunday morning. She was very uncomfortable. Thanks to pain relief and antibiotics, she is much happier now. We're still waiting on culture results for her urine, but she's 100% better in herself already.

Eating Out: Flora by Greenhouse West End

Newish to the Brisbane vegan scene is Flora by Greenhouse, a 100% vegan cafe in West End. Flora has existed down at the Gold Coast for almost a year, which I had visited once before when I went to the opening of the LC Miami complex down there. But now they have come to Brisbane! If you are wondering about the 'by Greenhouse', Greenhouse is a great vegan dinner place open at the Gold Coast and in South Brisbane that I have visited a few times, and Flora is their day time offering.

I met up with some friends for brunch there a couple of weeks ago, and we were all very impressed! The atmosphere is cute, and the food is great! Oh, they are big fan of pea shoot garnishes, as you will see.

In my effort to eat all the vegan benedicts, I had the Mushroom Benefict. It has creamy mushrooms, sauteed kale, avocado, and cauliflower hollandaise with avocado on an English muffin. I also added some rice paper bacon and a hash brown. This was lovely! The tangy sauce went really well with the creamy avocado. It was my first time having rice paper bacon, and it was a bit weird. I had to kind of just eat it separate because it was in big long shards.



I also had an iced turmeric latte on soy milk (coconut milk is their normal base).



My friend had their Scrambed Tofu, described as turmeric tofu with sauteed greens served on organic rye with avocado and dressed greens. The verdict was good! A nice flavour and good texture.



My other friend ordered the Spinach Pandan Hotcake, which looked spectacular! It was topped with fruit, ice cream, seeds, and nuts, and came with a pot of maple syrup, plus some rice paper bacon on the side. And pea shoots, of course! There is a green pancake underneath all that. Also was good!



She also had one of the juices, with Pineapple, Grapefruit, Ginger, and Turmeric. She said it was great.



They have all day breakfast, but some items are not served until after 11am. We'd been having a good chat, and 11am had passed, so why not have a little snack before we leave? We got the Mexican Mince Nachos to share. Corn chips topped with a very non-spicy Mexican mince, pickled cabbage, cashew cheese, and kraut. It was also meant to have avocado, but we couldn't find any after we took of the pea shoots. Never mind though, these were so delicious! The highlight of the day. The cashew cheese sauce was amazing.



They also have some danishes there, and I got a blueberry one to take away. Pretty sure these (and the vanilla slices they also have) are made by Flour of Life.



I super duper 100% recommend a trip or several to Flora! This first visit was just under two weeks ago, and I have already been back twice since then! So I will have a lot more to share.

Flora by Greenhouse West End - 239 Boundary Street, West End

Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



Who wants to see some kittens? These teeny cuties were surrendered to one of our clinics a while ago. A ginger mumma with two ginger babies, and then six slightly older grey babies. Being the excellent mumma that she was, she decided to take on the six as well as her two! Here is a teeny pile of teeny kitties. Stay tuned for more!

Eating Out: Flora by Greenhouse West End

Since my first visit to Flora by Greenhouse in West End, I have been back many many times! I love this place! These are just a few of the other visits I have made... yes, there have been more. I may have gone three times in one week. Oops. ;)

The Meatless Ball Sub is truly delicious, one of the yummiest things I have ever eaten! I can't wait to finish working my way through the menu so I can come back to this multiple times. Cashew brie, tomato relish, veggie balls, and cashew parmesan in a sub make for an amazing combination. And it is big and filling! Also sloppy, I had to knife and fork for this, but so delicious.



One time I went there to order off the menu, but I got side tracked by their lasagne special. I have only seen this there once or twice. But I definitely recommend it if you see it. TVP mince, cashew brie, tomato sauce, rice paper bacon... it is a great meaty and cheese lasagne.



Flora also has salads! You can get a big salad plate, or you can get them as a side. This is the Roasted Pumpkin and Chickpea salad, and the Broccoli, Kale, and Almond salad.





Let's talk drinks. While I am a huge fan of their iced turmeric and iced cacao, they also have some juices. I tried the Daily Greens, which was good (what were the daily greens? no idea), and the Beetroot, Apple, Lemon, Mint, Ginger, and Chia juice. This was my favourite, though I could have done without the weird floating chia.





I've been there so many more times, so watch this blog for more!

Flora by Greenhouse West End - 239 Boundary Street, West End

Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



Another one of the kittens, all grown up. This is Cedric!

Eating Out: Flora by Greenhouse

Earlier this year, my brother and his girlfriend were visiting from the UK. On their last morning, I took them for brunch at my beloved Flora. This is now the only Flora, the one at the Gold Coast has closed. Which is sad for the Gold Coast, but I am very happy it is thriving here in Brisbane where I can visit! You can see those previous visits here.

They both ordered the Waffle Stack, which had waffles, hash brown, rice paper bacon, ice cream, and berries. Enjoyed by both of them!



I got the Avocado Toast with a hash brown and a vegan egg. What is the egg made of? I have no idea! I think tofu or some sort? But it is fun, without being super eggy. I know avocado toast is the roll your eyes standard cafe offering for vegans, but I also know that avocado toast is great. This one had almond feta and herbs and was served on a delicious sourdough.



Another lunch I had there was their Chickpea Crepe, which is topped with sesame green, broccoli, cauliflower, pickled cabbage, and kraut. It also came with some avocado. Tasty and filling, yet not too filling.



I met up with some friends for lunch another day. It was hot, so we each had an iced drink. I had the iced cacao (yummy), Ashleigh had the iced tumeric, and Cam had the iced chai.



They ordered a Mushroom Benefict. This was what I ordered the very first time I came! Presentation seems to vary depending on the day, and this one was very pretty, so have another photo of one.



And I had... the Waffle Stack! Because I found out at my last visit that they use beautiful wonderful soy ice cream instead of yucky coconut ice cream. I was SO HAPPY! And this was awesome. The waffles are not too sweet, which is perfect with the ice cream and berries and syrup. Plus some rice paper bacon for smoky crunch and the hashbrown because you always need potatoes. I recommend!



Flora by Greenhouse West End - 239 Boundary Street, West End

Cute Kitty Photos of the Post



This perfect girl had to go to the clinic the other day, but just for a routine blood test. Her thyroid is getting a little bit high again, so we need to fiddle with her thyroid meds a bit more. She is already on such a finicky, tiny little dose that we have to make the teeniest adjustments to. Seems fitting for such a tiny baby! But her kidney disease is stable and everything else checked out OK.

Eating Out: Love Child Miami

I hadn't planned on doing much of anything on Sunday beyond yoga. I worked on Saturday, so it was my one day weekend, and I didn't feel much motivation. I knew that Sunday was the opening day of a new vegan food mall, but the energy to organise anything or drive was a bit much. But then I got a message from some friends... they had hired a car and were going down to it, they would pick me up and drive. All I had to do was show up, and eat. And those are two things I'm really good at!

So, the place. The brand new The LC Miami. For sometime now I knew that Love Child was organising vegan laneway markets at the Gold Coast, though I'd never been. However, they have embarked on a new project. A two storey vegan destination - clothing, shoes, and accessories on the top, and several vegan food locations down the bottom. While the top level wasn't open when we were there, the food places were in full swing!

I don't have any photos of the place itself, it was pretty crowded being the opening day. It is on the Gold Coast Highway, but tucked in between some other businesses. Look out for the two palm trees that mark the entrance! There is a small patio area out the front, which funnels into an indoor corridor lined with six vegan food businesses, and then opens out to an outdoor lawn area with tables, chairs, and umbrellas. Thankfully it was a lovey day when we were there, and we were able to get a table with lots of shade for my fair skin.

I wasn't sure how the restaurants were going to be... the style is like a food court - but in the best possible way! You order at the counters, so you can take your food back to your table. This is great, as it means that you can sample something from many places. We sampled something from everywhere! I know you are all waiting to hear about what the food places were, so let's get to it!

by Gigi: I was so excited for this. Regular readers will know that my favourite pizza place is Gigi in Sydney. And they have opened up an outlet here!!! OK, so it is not quite the same. This version is called by Gigi, and there are a few key differences. Firstly, the crusts seem to all be gluten free. They are amazing for gluten free crusts, I wouldn't actually have known, but they are not quite the same as the big puffy crusts that come from the original store. They also put vegan cheese on everything, which the Sydney store does not do. Not too much, but it was a bit odd considering what I was used to. But, they sell pizza by the slice or the half slice, so you can try lots of flavours if you want, or leave room for the other restaurants. I got a slice of my favourite from the Sydney store - the Melanzane. It wasn't as life changing as the one from the Sydney store, but was still a fine slice of pizza. My friends got a half slice of this, and a full slice of the mushroom and olives.





They also have a gelato bar. I love ice cream, so I was excited for this! It is not what I was expecting, but I really enjoyed it. They have three flavours, which I assume will change depending on season, that are based on fruit and herbs. I got the Arancione, a beautiful fuchsia mix of rockmelon, beetroot, and rosemary. It was lovely. My friends had the refreshing Verde - apple, celery, and mint. They third flavour was Rosso, which had strawberries, cherry tomatoes, and rocket. So unique!



Flora by Greenhouse: Greenhouse Canteen & Bar has had a long association with Love Child. They have two pretty fancy restaurants down at the Gold Coast, but now they also have Flora. Flora is a cafe style deli, with breakfast and lunch options. They had a range of sandwiches, salads, quiches, and hot dishes when were were there. I couldn't resist getting the Reuben Sandwich with a side of Mac and Cheese. The sandwich was GIANT! I only ate half of it in the end, and brought the other half home to take to work for lunch yesterday (it was still good as leftovers). The reuben was tasty, but not quite a reuben. It had a very strong mustard taste, and the corned seitan was sliced a bit too thick. It was still a great sandwich. The mac and cheese was very creamy, but could have had a lot more cheesy flavour to it.



i like ramen: i like ramen has long had a pop-up vegan ramen shop down at the coast, but I was never able to get there. I was really happy when they announced they were having a permanent location! I got the mushroom ramen, hold the chili. It was really nice, a great savoury broth and lots of mushrooms. Really satisfying!



Burgers vs Kebabs: BvK is a shop that sells, you guessed it, burgers and kebabs. We were already full of ramen, sandwiches, and pizza by this point. But, we wanted to try at least one thing from every place. They have quite a nice looking burger selection, but we went for something small and shareable with the Vegan Poutine. We watched them get the freshly cooked chips, top it with some gravy out of a tub, sprinkle on some cold grated cheese, and then... put it in the microwave. Our hearts sank. As expected, it was pretty soggy. It tasted OK though, the gravy was nice and savoury, though the chips were a tad salty.



Flour of Life: If you are worried about dessert, and not in the mood for fruity gelato, never fear. Flour of Life has an outlet here as well. They are full of doughnuts, tarts, and other delicious treats, as well as savoury pies, sandwiches, and sausage rolls. Or they normally were. By the time we were leaving, and picking up some take home treats for our final stop of our eating tour, they were sold out of a lot. Which is fantastic! In fact, a lot of places sold out before the end of the night, there was so much interest. Anyway, thankfully they still had one of my beloved strawberry flans that I picked up to take home.



So, there we have it. For research and science and blog posting, I ate until I was very full! The hardships of being a vegan, the struggle... so real! I'd definitely go back here again, or pick up something to takeaway if I was down there for other reasons. There is a nice mix of food, and the atmosphere is lovely (though if it was raining or a super hot, sunny day, that would be less good). I will be interested to see when the upstairs opens as well!

The LC Miami - 2176 Gold Coast Highway, Miami, QLD

Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



Jimi is asking if you would like to take him home! If you are in Brisbane, and want to meet him, let me know!