Recently in Vegetarian Category

Being self-employed means working from home for the majority of the week. Or if i feel like getting out, then from a cafe. Those who follow me on Twitter will have seen my latest find: Laptop Friendly Cafes. It is a site which conveniently tags cafes so readers know if power is available, and if wifi is free.

Badde Manors doesn't have either but its cozy atmosphere, long trading hours and
moreish vegetarian food and desserts makes it the perfect study spot for late night cramming, or an ideal place to get work done.

I've been to Badde Manors a few times before. The first visit was documented here.

They're known for their generous serving sizes and I'm glad to see that they still live up to the name.

My eggplant schnitzel ($15.50) is served with an enormous amount of Irish mash, some steamed vegetables and garlic toast. The eggplant is thankfully not soaked in oil, which is a common mishap with this delicate sponge-textured vegetable. I enjoy the cajun spiced breadcrumbs coating the silky eggplant. The mushroom sauce and creamy mash are the best parts though. They're the core ingredients to my definition of honest comfort food.

K has the chef's salad ($12.50) which essentially has all the goodies one would want in a salad! Mixed greens, chick peas, runner beans, artichoke, grilled haloumi and roasted almonds are tossed in with a minted tahini sauce which she mentions is strangely bitter.

An hour goes by and we both shamefully can't finish our meals due to its sheer size but walk out eyeing the tempting cake display. Perhaps the next visit will have to be an afternoon "working" tea.

Badde Manors
37 Glebe Point Road, Glebe, NSW
Web: www.baddemanorscafe.com
Phone: (02) 9660 3797

Opening hours:
Monday - Thursday, 11:30am - 11pm
Friday, 11:30am - midnight
Saturday, 1pm - midnight
Sunday, 1pm - 11pm

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When an Indian restaurant gets the nod of approval from a local Indian resident, it's a must try. Today, Betty excitedly lets me know that Vasandha Bhavan is a restaurant her Indian friend would highly recommend. So we gave the restaurant a quick call to confirm they were open for lunch and off we went.

Vasandha Bhavan is opposite Homebush station. We arrived nice and early and were probably the first customers for the day, which turned out to be a wise decision as soon after our food was served, a few families were seated at the same time and we couldn't help but compare their extensive waiting time.

The decor was minimalistic and can be best compared to an extended old fashioned family dining room. I hoped it was a sign for good homestyle food.

We started with a mango lassi ($3.00) each which was double the serving size of most Indian joints. It's sweet, creamy and fruity nature was deliciously paired with our spicy curries.

Mango lassi

The samosas ($4.90 each) were served piping hot. The crispy buttery pastry was scrumptious and wrapped together, a potato and vegetable mixture which was fragrant with garam masala (a combination of spices including peppercorns, cloves, bay leaves, long pepper, black cumin, cumin seeds, cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg, star anise and coriander seeds).

Samosa

My vegetarian thali ($11.90) included a chef's selection of three vegetable curries, naan, rice and a papadum. My favourite of the three was the eggplant curry which was fried with spices, resulting in a rich but sweet flavour.

Vegetarian thali; chef's selection of three vegetable curries, naan bread and rice

Betty's kashmiri naan ($3.90) was a delightful discovery for me. I loved its savoury and sweet mix of nuts, raisins and coconut. On the other hand, her malai kofta ($9.90) was a vegetarian's blissful alternative to meatballs. The balls of cottage cheese and potato were served in a thick hot curry which went hand in hand with the naan bread.

Kashmiri naan (naan bread stuffed with coconut and dried nuts) and malai kofta -cottage cheese and potato dumplings in creamy sauce

My vegetarian thali also included dessert -a serving of the popular gulab jamun. It is essentially a fried ball of dough, coated in a caramelised sugar syrup.

Gulab jamun

Amongst my favourite Indian restaurants in Homebush, namely Janani‎ and Thousand Spices, I can now add Vasandha Bhavan.

Where do you go for a taste of India?

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Vasandha Bhavan
Shop 19, The Crescent, Homebush NSW
Phone: (02) 9746 5530

I love nothing more than stumbling across a great restaurant. And that's exactly what happened within the first few hours of arriving in Hobart!

Shu Yuan is a tiny Chinese vegetarian restaurant, hidden within the Bank Arcade. It's probably the only one in this small sleepy town.

At lunch time, hungry workers flocked to the few tables and others crowded over the bain marie. Zen and I were lucky to grab the first available table without too much hassle... and for $23.50, we tried the curry puffs, which were unusually served with a pleasant sweet honey dressing, a scrumptious spicy Hakka basil noodle soup and rice with green bean delight & lemongrass and mixed veg.

It was a tasty feed and a fantastic start to the trip!

Shu Yuan
Shop 7, 64 Liverpool St
Hobart City, TAS
Phone: (03) 6231 1270

The plan today, was to have lunch along Glebe Point Road. There were these wooden bench seats beside a tall open window which caught my eye... and soon we were soaking in the sunshine. Badde Manors is a small, vibrant and quirky cafe that has grown up with Glebe for over 20 years. They offer typical cafe food with a vegetarian twist.

Think bright red walls, art-deco lights, mis-matched wall decorations and stacks of old books. If there was a cafe to summarise the personality of Glebe, this would be it.

I started with this gorgeous mango smoothie ($5.00). It wasn't the pretentious heavy-on-yoghurt-but-no-fruit kind. The sweetness of the mango was intertwined with the thick creamy goodness.

Next, my workmates and I shared some hearty seasoned wedges which were served with aioli ($7.50). Crunchy and again, they weren't the usual packaged potato you'd expect. The seasoning was so flavoursome and fresh.

There was also this scrumptious looking risotto of mushroom, rocket and white wine, which was served with garlic bread ($15.50).

And I had the fettuccine ($12.50) with basil and pinenut pesto, fresh snappy asparagus and sun-dried tomatoes. I was slightly disappointed it wasn't creamy but it was still refreshing to have a kind-of healthy lunch! (It was also served with woodfired bread.)

This post is short and sweet 'coz now I've got to start packing for Hobart, where i'll be wining and dining over the next week! So, watch this space.

Badde Manors Cafe
37 Glebe Point Road, Glebe NSW
Phone (02) 9660 3797

This is a true story. I was at Hey Hey Kebabs (they do the best hot chips with loads of chicken salt), Parramatta Road in Auburn last night, when a man walks in and places his order.

"Can I get a doner kebab with extra mushrooms, lettuce, tomatoes, onion, hommus... oh, and just a little bit of the meat, because I am a vegetarian."

I stared at him in shock.

As the meat was getting sliced he was pedantic in ensuring there was only a few thin slices of the beef. But surely that is not what pure vegetarians stand for?

Dictionary.com defines vegetarian as -
A person who does not eat or does not believe in eating meat, fish, fowl, or, in some cases, any food derived from animals, as eggs or cheese, but subsists on vegetables, fruits, nuts, grain, etc.

But after extensive research, I found that according to the Vegetarian Network in Victoria, he is a 'Semi' or 'Demi' Vegetarian or Flexitarian. A person who occasionally eats meat!

On the weekend... I found myself at the Buddha's Birthday festival in Darling Harbour. I was there for the vegetarian food fair ofcourse!

The Chinese Garden Forecourt was filled with hungry families and volunteers from BLIA (Buddha's Light International Association) and IBAA (Fo Guang Shan Nan Tien Temple).

Here are some of my snapshots -

RP's Kurtos rolls looking ever so tempting

vegetable tempura and fried beehoon on display

fried tofu with chilli and shallots

nasi lemak

golden fried foods...mmm...

Fancy that! Vegetarian pho (pictured 3 photos down), vegetarian banh xeo, vegetarian bun nem nuong and more!

The ice kacang was so good! I could never pass on shaved ice with mung beans, red beans, coconut jelly cubes, corn and most importantly condensed milk with rose syrup!

I also had the pink fruit jelly and basil seeds drink which was so sweet and refreshing.

This is the vegetarian pho (beef noodle soup). It wasn't as good as I had remembered but still satisfying.

curry puffs

vegy tempura

battered banana and pumpkin... these tasted as though they had just been fried! crunchy and sweet... yummo...

Buddha's Birthday Festival 2008
Saturday 10 - Sunday 11 May 2008
Darling Harbour

For more information, visit the official Nan Tien Temple events page: http://nantien.org.au/en/news/News_View.asp?NewsID=13

I've been working across the street from Mother Chu's Vegetarian Kitchen the last 9 months. So I jumped at the opportunity of finally lunching there when 2 workmates mentioned that they were planning on trying something new. The elderly Chinese have a respect for this place, and I can totally understand why. They serve delicious vegetarian alternatives and the Buddhist culture is truley brought out in the casual decor, genuine service and hearty menu. Catering for strict Buddhists means that there's no alcohol consumption on the premises. Sparkling juices are prepared in replacement of wine and beer. And tofu or soybean of all shapes and textures are served looking and sometimes even tasting like the meaty variation.

This is X's lemongrass tea. Uber fragrant with bruised stalks of lemongrass!

I had the sparkling grape juice which was reminiscent of Maison's non-alcoholic sparkling wine.

Mother Chu's also do vegetarian peking duck! But considering our limited hour, we only had the San Choi Bao. There were bits of bamboo shoots, shitake mushrooms and water chestnut. I didn't really take notice of the other ingrdients but each bite was full of flavour. You could barely tell that it didn't consistent of meat!

san choi bao

Next was the honey glazed pumpkin and apples. The photo talks for itself. A thick yet light crisp batter coated the sweet pieces of pumpkin and apple. The glazed honey was perfect and wasn't one bit too sticky nor sweet. I'm coming back here for the dessert fritters... available in pineapple, banana and more.

honey glazed pumpkin and apple

The hot pot was meant to add greenery to our meal. But instead we were served white vegetables (cauliflower, potatoes & Chinese cabbage) in a glutinous curry sauce. The soybean and nori rolls were fried to a golden brown and tasted a lot like fish!

curry hot pot with soybean and nori rolls

Mother Chu's Vegetarian Kitchen was warm & cosy. The generous serving sizes and yummy food makes it one of the must visit places along Pitt Street :)

Mother Chu's Vegetarian Kitchen
367 Pitt St Sydney
Mon-Fri 12:00pm- 3:00pm
Mon-Sat 5:00pm-10:00pm
Tel: (02) 9283-2828
Web: http://sydney.citysearch.com.au/E/V/SYDNE/0020/16/08/1.html