VeganMoFo 2018 #27: Netflix and UberEats (and a pizza)

27th: TV Trays – A sit-down meal might be nice, but sometimes getting cosy with food and netflix is also needed. What’s your TV dinner?

In all honestly, unless we are having a special family dinner like some of the ones I have mentioned this month, we eat pretty much everything in front of the TV. We live together, we talk about our days as they happen (or have a brief catch up when I get home from work), and sitting and watching TV while having dinner is an excellent way to spend most evenings.

So let's go even easier. When for some reason, on the odd occasion, I don't have time to cook or energy to cook, we order delivery. Unlike some lucky areas, there are only a few places with vegan options that will deliver to my house. These are their stories. Plus a bonus pizza.

Superoll

Superoll is my go to, and for a while was the only real vegan option on UberEats. My favourite thing to get these days is the Master Tofu, which is tofu, mushrooms, and vegetables in a dark mushroom sauce. So good! But they have lots of other things, and I have eaten there as well. You can see some of my other orders and visits to Superoll here.



Bun

Located in the Westfield Garden City 8 Street Food Court, Bun added some vegan options to their menu a while ago. They have vegan pho, vermicelli salad, rice bowls, rice paper rolls, and fried tofu. The salads, bowls, and rolls have either lemongrass tofu or avocado as the option. I've had both the rice bowl and the vermicelli salad, both with lemongrass tofu, as well as the avocado rice paper rolls (with peanut hoisin sauce, of course!). It is a really nice, fresh option for when you want something a bit lighter.





VeriVego

VeriVego is basically just the veg*n arm of Getta Burger, but they are separated out on UberEats (though you can order vegan burgers off the regular Getta Burger menu now as well). I got the cheeseburger, which had a beefy patty (I think the Fry's patties), cheese (biocheese I am pretty sure), pickles, onions, mustard, and BBQ sauce on an oat bun. I asked for mine without the onion... and it came with no onion but also no pickles. WHAT? I WANT ALL THE PICKLES. I luckily had some pickles in my fridge that I sliced and added. The burger was fine, but really nothing special, especially for what you pay. My mum had one of their vegetarian burgers and was also pretty 'meh'. The chips were better. Sweet potato fries were good, but the potato curls were so delicious! With some tomato relish.





Michael's Oriental

For as long as I can remember, Michael's Oriental has been basically just up the road from my house. A couple of months ago, they introduced a vegan menu, that is now also available on UberEats. I ordered a selection for the family - cashew chicken, chinese greens, mongolian chicken, and fried rice. It was really nice and satisfying. The mongolian chicken was a little on the spicy side for me, but OK when mixed with the other things. A lot of their menu looks too spicy for me, but I am keen to try out some of their noodle dishes and they sweet corn soup at some point.



Domino's

I didn't UberEats this, I didn't even get it delivered. I picked it up on the way to watch a movie at a friend's house, but I think it still counts. Domino's is the latest pizza chain to introduce vegan cheese, and the one I am most excited about. I've posted before about Crust and Pizza Caper's vegan pizza, but they use Biocheese which is very heavy on the coconut oil for me. Domino's uses Follow Your Heart, which is my very favourite vegan cheese for pizza! Yay! In fact, when they first announced vegan cheese, they sold out in about two seconds and had to spend a month working out exactly how much vegan cheese they need. So I was excited to finally get to try it. The Vegan Cheesy Bread is like a garlic bread with cheese and is SO GOOD and why am I not eating it right now? They also have three vegan pizzas, though none of them really spoke to me. So we got the Vegetarian Pizza, minus the feta and capsicum, added pineapple and olives, and using vegan cheese. It was a really good pizza. This will be my go to vegan pizza delivery/pick up for sure.





Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



No washing up needed when Gizmo and Sahara are on the case! They will lick your bowls super clean.

Eating Out: Buddha's Birthday Festival (with bonus NASA at Night)

Every year there is the Buddha's Birthday Festival at Southbank, which includes a vegetarian food stall fair. Not everything is vegan, but there are a lot of vegan goodies to be found there. The majority of the food there is Asian, not surprisingly, but there are burgers and chips and what not if you are after something else. I go there for the Asian food, though I struggle every year with choosing what to eat! So much food, so little stomach space! Last year I didn't get to go, it was just on a bad weekend for me, but you can see some of my visits from previous years here and here.

It was a rainy day, but thankfully had stopped raining by the late afternoon when I met up with my friend Amy. It was perfect, overcast, cool, and not very crowded thanks to the earlier rain. Of course we started by doing a walk through and trying to pick out what we wanted. We started by sharing a classic, the Steamed BBQ Pork Bun. This stall at the festival does the biggest, fluffiest ones ever, and I have been thinking about them ever since I was there two years ago. They didn't disappoint.



We hydrated with some fun drinks. Amy got a Watermelon Lemon Juice, and I had a Black Plum Juice. According to the sign, black plums are boiled and filtered to get the juice, then liquorice, osmanthus, and sugar are added. What is osmanthus? I just looked it up and sore it is a herb used in Chinese medicine. I don't think it detoxified my body (thanks liver and kidneys for doing that), but it was delicious.



I was feeling under the weather, so some soup seemed the way to go. Especially given the actual weather! I saw a Japanese stall that had some Kitsune Udon, and that was all I could think about. And it was delicious! I also found out that stall belonged to a restaurant that is super close to my house (and is also on UberEats to my house) and has some vegan options on their regular menu. GThis is very exciting, because I love Japanese food most of all!



Amy was also feeling like soup, and picked up a laksa from another stall.



I was still a bit peckish, and could eat a bit more. I happened to bump into a friend there who recommended I try some sticky rice. Wrapped in a bamboo leaf and stuffed with tofu, peanuts, and mushrooms I thought this was delicious. Unfortunately, the one that Amy got seemed to be stuffed with mostly peanuts, which wasn't so much fun. Please excuse the terrible photo, the light was fading at this point.



We weren't only there for food. It happened that this day, the fourth of May, May the fourth, coincided with a Museum At Night event for the NASA Exhibit at the QLD Museum. So after eating we headed in for an over-18 (read, no kids, hurrah_ trundle through the museum. It was a fascinating exhibit, with lots of cool stuff about space. Also a lot of photos and stories of white men, which was a bit disappointing. One small plaque with some white women. WHITE MEN ARE NOT THE ONLY PEOPLE WHO CONTRIBUTED TO SPACE TRAVEL. Below I share a few photos, including one of me being a serious space scientist, a teeny tiny capsule that makes me claustrophobic to think about, and Jabba the Hutt. It was Star Wars day after all!







And no trip to the museum is complete without saying hello to our friend the Muttaburrasaurus.



Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



My best friend gifted me this wonderful soft, warm, heavy jumper. It is wonderful to wear. And Dim Sim thought she'd try it out as a blankie as well.

Eating In: Featuring Yavanna and Nonna's Nightmare

Hello friends! This post talks about some extra fun deliveries I've had.

First up a burger and chips! This is from Plantein Cafe, which is one of those places that only exists on delivery apps and shares a kitchen with other delivery app only places. I ordered the Hawaiian Burger with bacon, and also the fries with gravy. This was a huge serving of fries, but not enough gravy.



Now we are getting into some more exciting territory. One day I was working late at out Paddington location, which is just around the corner from Yavanna. You can see some other posts about Yavanna here. They do not have an outdoor area, so I decided to get takeaway and then heat it up a bit more and plate it at home. I was very keen to try their seitan steak with mash and peppercorn gravy. It comes with blistered cherry tomatoes and greens. This was really nice, but the star was the gravy. That stuff is drinkable. I need to be able to buy a large container on it please.



UberEats has dramatically widened their delivery range, which means I can order from places I never could before. Downside is they are often not quite so hot, so I have to reheat them a bit when they get here. Also, higher delivery fees. But that is understandable. So one night I ordered myself some dinner from Nonna's Nightmare, a vegan Italian restaurant. You can see other Nonna's Nightmare posts here.

I started with the Arancini All a Pizzaiola, which were arancini with some sort of stuffing and a dill sauce. I added the cucumber. These were good, though I cannot for the life of me remember what the stuffing was!



The Pasta Gnocchi Al Ragu was lovely gnocchi, but they use Beyond meat mince in their ragu. I knew it was a risk, because I find Beyond Burgers too meaty, but I was curious. You know, for science. Indeed, it was a bit too meaty for me in this dish. But otherwise is was a very satisfying, hearty dinner.



For dessert I ordered some Cannoli, which had an orange scented filling and pistachio. Cannoli I have decided are a thing I like more in theory than in practice. I just never really like the cannoli shell. But what I did enjoy was the filling, it was delicious.



Here is a final little photo, not from a takeaway or delivery, but from my beloved yum cha at Easy House that I went to a while ago. I didn't take enough photos for a full post (I have already posted so many posts about this place, see them here, but I can't resist a good crownded yum cha table shot.



Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



Yesterday (Monday the 14th of November) was Boo's sixth birthday! Happy birthday Boo! Her tummy fur is still very slowly growing back after her last ultrasound.

Eating In: Noodles, spring rolls, soups, tofu

Welcome to another edition of foods we have had delivered because I can't go out to eat anymore because of the pandemic!

Part of my trawling through UberEats looking for places with sneaky vegan options uncovered Wok N Toss, which a few things clearly marked vegan on the menu. Yay! Of course I just went straight up classic with the Vegetarian Delight with Cashew Nut and Tofu. And it was delightful! I also tried some of their vegan spring rolls.





I was feeling icky one day so when Mum wanted to order from Michael's Oriental, I just went super simple with some vegan chicken and sweet corn soup, and some Chinese greens in garlic sauce. As well as a little bit of rice. Their garlic sauce is kind of meh, but I have found that if I mix in some vegan oyster mushroom sauce from my fridge, it perks it up fantastically.



I had posted previously about being underwhelmed by Kinn Thai's offerings. But gave them another shot, especially once I found out that the Pad See Ew could be made vegan. I love Pad See Ew! And the Pad See Ew was alright! But we also tried the vegan Garlic and Chive Dumpings and the Corn Fritters. The fritters were fried but soggy. The dumplings really just dough that had been cut and then super deep fried so that it was just greasy. So still very meh.



My random scrolling also uncovered that a Noodle Box has a specific vegan section on their menu as well! I ordered the Vegan Black Bean with Rice Noodles. I ordered the large, and it was HUGE! My parents ordered the regular for their dinners, which looked really small until you opened the box and tipped it out and there was plenty in there. I ended up saving half of mine for leftovers because I couldn't eat it all. We also got some vegan spring rolls.





Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



After sitting on my lap for a while, Dim Sim quickly decided that paying attention to feline medicine conference lectures was for me, and she moved onto her blankie pile and promptly went to sleep.

Eating In: Pizza, Burgers, Kebabs

Welcome to another edition of Eating In! Food that I have had delivered to my house. This post is a nice carby post, full of things you eat with your hands. Unless you are a person who eats their pizza with a fork.

We have ordered dinner twice from Gustos Gourmet Pizza. They have vegan cheese and lots of vegetable options. The first time I got their Vegetarian Pizza (onion, mushrooms, sundried tomatoes, pineapple, olives, herbs, and garlic), no capsicum and use vegan cheese. The second time I got the Margherita Pizza with BBQ base instead of pizza sauce, cherry tomatoes, vegan cheese, basil, and I added on pineapple, olives, mushrooms, and shiitake mushrooms. Both were good and I would definitely order from there again!





Oporto is one of the many chain restaurants that have added a vegan option to their menu. Their vegan burger has a pea and herb patty, avocado, tomato, and lettuce. I got them to leave off the tomato and capsicum relish, and I added pineapple. I really liked this burger, it was a lovely veggie patty and the whole thing was quite fresh and not heavy. I also got some of their chips and a side of grilled corn, and their creamy lemon and herb dressing that is vegan.





I had heard about Taksim Kebab and Pizza from some vegan groups, a Lebanese place with vegan options including vegan meats! Although very close to me, I never had a chance to go there pre-pandemic, but thankfully they are now doing delivery. I got a kebab with vegan lamb in it, and it was very good. Also a huge serving of chips. I am very keen to also try some of their vegan pizzas, and their vegan snack pack (which frustratingly does not appear as a vegan option on UberEats).



Finally, another delivery from Grill'd. Although Grill'd is my favourite burger place, sadly they are not great to order from as everything arrives so cold. I perked the chips up in the microwave at least. This time I got a build-your-own burger with a field mushroom, pineapple, mayo, BBQ sauce, cheese, and pickles. It was nice, though the mushroom has not been cooked through and was raw around the stem. Thankfully I have no issues with raw mushrooms.



Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



It has been a while since I have posted a photo of my sweet Gizmo. I still miss her every day.

Eating In: An Assortment

This is a little round up of deliveries or take aways.

I found a delivery only vegan thai place on Ubereats called Vegan Thai-riffic! But it is only very sporadically available, and I haven't been able to get another order from them since this one. I got roti and peanut sauce and tofu skewers and peanut sauce, both of which were very good. The thai stir-fried noodles were a bit on the bland side. I also got some berry rice to see what berry rice was. It seems to be a mix of red rice and wild rice.



Another poke bowl from Cheeki, I don't remember exactly what was in this but I can tell from the photo this is when I tried their crumbled yam chips as the crunchy part.



Working my way through the vegan options from Kingsfood, I tried the Vegan Noodle Soup. And I added some of the fried tofu with garlic sauce into it because that stuff is the best!



A restaurant called Vietfood Springwood recently showed up on the delivery apps, and they have a huge vegan selection! Here I tried the Vegan Duck Bao buns, and also the Vegan Pho. They were both very good, but I wish they had a tofu option for the Vegan Pho because all the mock meats they used were a bit too rich for me.



And I finally got my hands on the plant-based chicken sushi from Woolworths. But I'm afraid to say it was a bit dry for me. But still a fun option to see available.





Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



Same Eloise, same.