Vegan Vienetta Style Ice Cream Cake and Rishon Foods

Every time we got to Monk Bodhi Dhama we have to go to Rishons Foods.  We even avoid going to MBD on Saturdays because that's when Rishon Foods is closed.

Rishons (as we call it) is a Jewish supermarket which sells all sorts of vegan goodies that you can't find anywhere else like nutty chews, which are like tiny vegan version of snickers bars.

Pic taken from Amazon:

They also a variety of gluten free products and heaps of vegan ice cream alternatives like Minies.

But perhaps my favourite is the vegan style Vienetta ice cream cake which isn't always there. It generally comes in two varieties and I was pleased to see that it is g/f. Unfortunately this time we accidentally chose the mocha one which has real coffee in it. Unlike Toby, I hate coffee! It upsets my stomach quite badly and gives me heart palpitations plus I don't really like the flavour, But Toby and our friends Ann and Adam enjoyed this.



Next time I'll buy the regular vanilla variety which tastes exactly as I remembered the vienetta style ice cream cake, although it has been about 8 years since I tried the real thing. I love the thin layers of chocolate between the ice cream.

Check out Cindy's description and picture of Rishon Foods here


Rishon Foods
23 William St Balaclava
9527 5142

Remember it's closed on Sat!

Every time we got to Monk Bodhi Dhama we have to go to Rishons Foods.  We even avoid going to MBD on Saturdays because that's when Rishon Foods is closed.

Rishons (as we call it) is a Jewish supermarket which sells all sorts of vegan goodies that you can't find anywhere else like nutty chews, which are like tiny vegan version of snickers bars.

Pic taken from Amazon:

They also a variety of gluten free products and heaps of vegan ice cream alternatives like Minies.

But perhaps my favourite is the vegan style Vienetta ice cream cake which isn't always there. It generally comes in two varieties and I was pleased to see that it is g/f. Unfortunately this time we accidentally chose the mocha one which has real coffee in it. Unlike Toby, I hate coffee! It upsets my stomach quite badly and gives me heart palpitations plus I don't really like the flavour, But Toby and our friends Ann and Adam enjoyed this.



Next time I'll buy the regular vanilla variety which tastes exactly as I remembered the vienetta style ice cream cake, although it has been about 8 years since I tried the real thing. I love the thin layers of chocolate between the ice cream.

Check out Cindy's description and picture of Rishon Foods here


Rishon Foods
23 William St Balaclava
9527 5142

Remember it's closed on Sat!

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Monk Bodhi Dharma 3- G/f options

I've been to Monk Bodhi Dharma twice in a few weeks, both times I couldn't resist the gluten free version of their famous french toast! They can make it with g/f bread which means it isn't quite as thick and crusty but I'm not complaining, I'm just so relieved that they do a g/f option. Also, It still tastes just as awesome. There is no mention of g/f option of the menu, so I was so happy when Em commented on our last post that they can do it.  Thanks MBD, you rock.

The first time we went Toby, also ordered g/f toast so that we could share. He had the peasant beans which were fine, although a tad boring in comparison to the french toast.

The second time, he had the Balinese corn soup. He enjoyed the flavour but felt that there was protein missing.  The second visit was as part of a small veg twitter meet up with notjosh and Cindy and Michael.

Toby loves the coffee there and I'm pleased that they take their tea just as serious. Each time I have sample a different type of green tea, I think the sencha is my fave though. I found the Long Jing a little too bitter.

For other recent MBD reviews see wheres the beef, and easy as vegan pie,

Monk Bodhi Dharma
Rear 202 Carlisle St, Balaclava
9534 7250

I've been to Monk Bodhi Dharma twice in a few weeks, both times I couldn't resist the gluten free version of their famous french toast! They can make it with g/f bread which means it isn't quite as thick and crusty but I'm not complaining, I'm just so relieved that they do a g/f option. Also, It still tastes just as awesome. There is no mention of g/f option of the menu, so I was so happy when Em commented on our last post that they can do it.  Thanks MBD, you rock.

The first time we went Toby, also ordered g/f toast so that we could share. He had the peasant beans which were fine, although a tad boring in comparison to the french toast.

The second time, he had the Balinese corn soup. He enjoyed the flavour but felt that there was protein missing.  The second visit was as part of a small veg twitter meet up with notjosh and Cindy and Michael.

Toby loves the coffee there and I'm pleased that they take their tea just as serious. Each time I have sample a different type of green tea, I think the sencha is my fave though. I found the Long Jing a little too bitter.

For other recent MBD reviews see wheres the beef, and easy as vegan pie,

Monk Bodhi Dharma
Rear 202 Carlisle St, Balaclava
9534 7250

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Monk Bodhi Dharma 2 Featuring Vegan French Toast

I'm eating gluten at the moment, while I wait to have a second biopsy. As a result I have a list of gluteny eating out that I want to do while I can. If are g/f you might want to look away from this blog for about a fortnight.

Monk Bodhi Dharma's french toast was pretty high up on the list of gluteny things to try since Steph and a few other vegan non-food bloggers raved about it. Toby also raved about his chocolate cupcake that he had last time we went so I had two things that I really wanted to try.

Toby didn't hestitate to order a pour over coffee, which he said had peppery/poppyseed type flavours, the owner said the coffee only comes in a small batch and is a special one, but Toby doesn't remember the name:

He also ordered Indian shepherd pie, which was more of a deconstructed shephered pie with roasted potatos and a lentil stew. He said that it was tasty and filling and loved the amount of protein and would be an excellent post workout meal.

Enough suspense, here is the vegan french toast. It normally comes with lemon ricotta, but the vegan version has a home made cream cheese which is actually quite sweet and almost icing like and is covered in pistachios. The baked pear and toast is covered in a some sort of lovely sweet syrup. The toast itself is very thick and crusty and I kind of struggled to cut it but was a nice contrast to the pear and cream cheese and pistachios. It really is PERFECT breakfast/dessert dish. I wish I had more today and am wondering if I can fit in one more visit before the biopsy.
There weren't any chocolate cupakes available but there was vegan vanilla and saffron cupcake. I enjoyed the unusual pairing, the cupcake had a lovely moist texture and the icing was great texture for vegan icing, kopha perhaps? I thought the saffron flavour would be subtle but you really could taste it. It was probably a bit too much after such a sweet breakfast, but I can't resist desserts.

Toby also grabbed a zen brownie for take away and shared it with some friends at a party. Each one has a double shot of ristretto of coffee in which is way too much coffee for me but Toby and others thought it was amazing.

The only bad thing about this eating gluteny things, is I know what I will be missing out on, and boy will I be missing out on the french toast.

A word of warning though be prepared to wait outside for a table at Monk Bodi Dharma, it's tiny and always seems to be busy on the weekend.

You can read about our first visit here.

Monk Bodhi Dharma
Rear 202 Carlisle St, Balaclava
9534 7250


P.s: we are having issues with our monitor, so can someone tell me if these pictures are a little blurry.

I'm eating gluten at the moment, while I wait to have a second biopsy. As a result I have a list of gluteny eating out that I want to do while I can. If are g/f you might want to look away from this blog for about a fortnight.

Monk Bodhi Dharma's french toast was pretty high up on the list of gluteny things to try since Steph and a few other vegan non-food bloggers raved about it. Toby also raved about his chocolate cupcake that he had last time we went so I had two things that I really wanted to try.

Toby didn't hestitate to order a pour over coffee, which he said had peppery/poppyseed type flavours, the owner said the coffee only comes in a small batch and is a special one, but Toby doesn't remember the name:

He also ordered Indian shepherd pie, which was more of a deconstructed shephered pie with roasted potatos and a lentil stew. He said that it was tasty and filling and loved the amount of protein and would be an excellent post workout meal.

Enough suspense, here is the vegan french toast. It normally comes with lemon ricotta, but the vegan version has a home made cream cheese which is actually quite sweet and almost icing like and is covered in pistachios. The baked pear and toast is covered in a some sort of lovely sweet syrup. The toast itself is very thick and crusty and I kind of struggled to cut it but was a nice contrast to the pear and cream cheese and pistachios. It really is PERFECT breakfast/dessert dish. I wish I had more today and am wondering if I can fit in one more visit before the biopsy.
There weren't any chocolate cupakes available but there was vegan vanilla and saffron cupcake. I enjoyed the unusual pairing, the cupcake had a lovely moist texture and the icing was great texture for vegan icing, kopha perhaps? I thought the saffron flavour would be subtle but you really could taste it. It was probably a bit too much after such a sweet breakfast, but I can't resist desserts.

Toby also grabbed a zen brownie for take away and shared it with some friends at a party. Each one has a double shot of ristretto of coffee in which is way too much coffee for me but Toby and others thought it was amazing.

The only bad thing about this eating gluteny things, is I know what I will be missing out on, and boy will I be missing out on the french toast.

A word of warning though be prepared to wait outside for a table at Monk Bodi Dharma, it's tiny and always seems to be busy on the weekend.

You can read about our first visit here.

Monk Bodhi Dharma
Rear 202 Carlisle St, Balaclava
9534 7250


P.s: we are having issues with our monitor, so can someone tell me if these pictures are a little blurry.

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Monk Bodhi Dharma and Toby's Operation

On Friday night last week Toby found out that he would be going in for an operation on Monday morning, we guessed it would be a while before he could eat out and so decided to make the most of the situation by eating out a lot last weekend. The first place he chose was the relatively new veg cafe- Monk Bohi Dharma. Based on the name and the menu on their website I was expecting a hippyish place but instead found this hipster interior:
Toby was a little bit more aware as he had heard about their coffee, he ordered a 3/4 soy latte which he was said was up there in quality with seven seeds coffee (his fav). I ordered a gluten free orange and almond muffin, it was delish, incredibly moist and had a sweet orange glace on top. Anyone who does a vegan g/f muffin gets my thumbs up.
We shared the christian and moore stew from the lunch menu which consisted of black beans, veggies and rice with homemade mango chutney on top, the stew was very tasty and had a rich thyme flavour and you could actually feel the mango pieces in your mouth. Between sharing the muffin and the stew I was full. I had the genmachai tea- japanese green tea with roasted rice, it was awesome.
The breakfast menu consists of things like toast with feta and avocado and bircher muesli that don't appear to be vegan or gluten free friendly but as the waiter explained most of the breakfast options can be adapted to be vegan and a few can be made g/f. The lunch menu on the other hand tends to be mostly g/f and vegan. I think it's worth crossing the river for.

Toby has come out of the hospital and is fine now but won't be able to cook, do any housework or much else for about 6 weeks so you might not being hearing from us as frequently.

Monk Bodhi Dharma
Rear 202 Carlisle St, Balaclava
9534 7250
www

On Friday night last week Toby found out that he would be going in for an operation on Monday morning, we guessed it would be a while before he could eat out and so decided to make the most of the situation by eating out a lot last weekend. The first place he chose was the relatively new veg cafe- Monk Bohi Dharma. Based on the name and the menu on their website I was expecting a hippyish place but instead found this hipster interior:
Toby was a little bit more aware as he had heard about their coffee, he ordered a 3/4 soy latte which he was said was up there in quality with seven seeds coffee (his fav). I ordered a gluten free orange and almond muffin, it was delish, incredibly moist and had a sweet orange glace on top. Anyone who does a vegan g/f muffin gets my thumbs up.
We shared the christian and moore stew from the lunch menu which consisted of black beans, veggies and rice with homemade mango chutney on top, the stew was very tasty and had a rich thyme flavour and you could actually feel the mango pieces in your mouth. Between sharing the muffin and the stew I was full. I had the genmachai tea- japanese green tea with roasted rice, it was awesome.
The breakfast menu consists of things like toast with feta and avocado and bircher muesli that don't appear to be vegan or gluten free friendly but as the waiter explained most of the breakfast options can be adapted to be vegan and a few can be made g/f. The lunch menu on the other hand tends to be mostly g/f and vegan. I think it's worth crossing the river for.

Toby has come out of the hospital and is fine now but won't be able to cook, do any housework or much else for about 6 weeks so you might not being hearing from us as frequently.

Monk Bodhi Dharma
Rear 202 Carlisle St, Balaclava
9534 7250
www

reade more... Résuméabuiyad