Castlemaine and Daylesford Part 2

So Kristy and I headed up north from Castlemaine to Harcourt. There are quite a few wineries and even a cidery. I have never been to a cidery so we went to the home of four different vegan ciders: Henry of Harcourt.

I thought we could check out the orchard, how they press the apples and brew but those activities weren't available. But I guess tasting all the ciders there was good enough.

Chooks @ Henry of Harcount

I skipped the Pink Lady cider that I've had a few times at Las Vegan and started with the amazing Perry($5/500ml), a cider made of Perry Pears. It tastes similar to Weston Organic Perry cider but drier (still sweet enough) and more nature. The second one was Duck and Bull Cider($7/500ml), a Pink Lady and Yarlington apple cider. It tastes a bit sweeter than the Pink Lady cider and has a nice aftertaste. The third one was Last Apple ($15/750ml), a non-sparkling apple wine. It was pretty nice but I prefer wine made of grapes or pears (like this 2 quids El Cheapo).The last one was the amazing Yarlington Mill ($20/750ml). It smells and tastes very very very very very nice. I have never paid $20 for a bottle of cider before, regardless the size. Well, I have now.

Henry of Harcourt
219 Reservoir Road,
Harcourt VIC 3453

The guy at Henry of Harcourt informed us Mount Alexander Winery is the place to be, so we took his advise.

The winery is ran by a couple and two cute dogs. We tried their Pinot Noir, Shiraz and Cabernet Shiraz. We both loved the Shiraz and were amused by the awesomeness of the Cabernet Shiraz. I'm not an educated wine drinker and all I can say is that Cabernet Shiraz is an interesting wine. It has lots of layers and transforms in your mouth. Both of the Shiraz and Cabernet Shiraz are vegan. They use egg whites to filter the Chardonnay but I forgot if their Pinot Noir is vegan.

The gang of booze and my new Keepcup

Mount Alexander Winery
410 Harcourt Road,
Sutton Grange, Victoria

We also revisited Chocolate Mill at Mount Franklin. We were there around two years ago and tried all the vegan-friendly chocolate and the soup mug sized hot chocolate. This time, in additional, we watched the demo they do at 11am and 2pm every day.

They explained that, unlike other commercial chocolate manufacturers in Australia, they use only high quality Callebaut Belgian Couverture chocolate, with no vegetable fat or palm oil. They are pretty vegan and gluten-free friendly and cater for different dietary requirements. All their dark chocolate, apart from Acticoa Dark (63.5%), are vegan.

They sell vegan filled chocolates at the shop for around $8 per 100grams, including dark chocolate dipped apricots, orange slices, candied ginger pieces, cardamon discs, cinnamon sticks, my favourite Dark Cherry Lips and Kristy's favourite Peppermint Leaves. We ate them all before we have chance to take photos but you can see some of them from our last post.

lots of chocolate

Mini Willie Wonka chocolate river
5KG of Belgian Chocolate. (No, you can't get it from Costco)

Mr "Chief Taster" turned the chocolate brushed mold upside down.
They called it the "Chocolate Rain"
Voila!
Piping

Chocolate Mill

5451 Midland Hwy, Mount Franklin VIC 3461

On the Walkman:
Moonshot - Buffy Sainte-Marie

So Kristy and I headed up north from Castlemaine to Harcourt. There are quite a few wineries and even a cidery. I have never been to a cidery so we went to the home of four different vegan ciders: Henry of Harcourt.

I thought we could check out the orchard, how they press the apples and brew but those activities weren't available. But I guess tasting all the ciders there was good enough.

Chooks @ Henry of Harcount

I skipped the Pink Lady cider that I've had a few times at Las Vegan and started with the amazing Perry($5/500ml), a cider made of Perry Pears. It tastes similar to Weston Organic Perry cider but drier (still sweet enough) and more nature. The second one was Duck and Bull Cider($7/500ml), a Pink Lady and Yarlington apple cider. It tastes a bit sweeter than the Pink Lady cider and has a nice aftertaste. The third one was Last Apple ($15/750ml), a non-sparkling apple wine. It was pretty nice but I prefer wine made of grapes or pears (like this 2 quids El Cheapo).The last one was the amazing Yarlington Mill ($20/750ml). It smells and tastes very very very very very nice. I have never paid $20 for a bottle of cider before, regardless the size. Well, I have now.

Henry of Harcourt
219 Reservoir Road,
Harcourt VIC 3453

The guy at Henry of Harcourt informed us Mount Alexander Winery is the place to be, so we took his advise.

The winery is ran by a couple and two cute dogs. We tried their Pinot Noir, Shiraz and Cabernet Shiraz. We both loved the Shiraz and were amused by the awesomeness of the Cabernet Shiraz. I'm not an educated wine drinker and all I can say is that Cabernet Shiraz is an interesting wine. It has lots of layers and transforms in your mouth. Both of the Shiraz and Cabernet Shiraz are vegan. They use egg whites to filter the Chardonnay but I forgot if their Pinot Noir is vegan.

The gang of booze and my new Keepcup

Mount Alexander Winery
410 Harcourt Road,
Sutton Grange, Victoria

We also revisited Chocolate Mill at Mount Franklin. We were there around two years ago and tried all the vegan-friendly chocolate and the soup mug sized hot chocolate. This time, in additional, we watched the demo they do at 11am and 2pm every day.

They explained that, unlike other commercial chocolate manufacturers in Australia, they use only high quality Callebaut Belgian Couverture chocolate, with no vegetable fat or palm oil. They are pretty vegan and gluten-free friendly and cater for different dietary requirements. All their dark chocolate, apart from Acticoa Dark (63.5%), are vegan.

They sell vegan filled chocolates at the shop for around $8 per 100grams, including dark chocolate dipped apricots, orange slices, candied ginger pieces, cardamon discs, cinnamon sticks, my favourite Dark Cherry Lips and Kristy's favourite Peppermint Leaves. We ate them all before we have chance to take photos but you can see some of them from our last post.

lots of chocolate

Mini Willie Wonka chocolate river
5KG of Belgian Chocolate. (No, you can't get it from Costco)

Mr "Chief Taster" turned the chocolate brushed mold upside down.
They called it the "Chocolate Rain"
Voila!
Piping

Chocolate Mill

5451 Midland Hwy, Mount Franklin VIC 3461

On the Walkman:
Moonshot - Buffy Sainte-Marie

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Castlemaine and Daylesford Part 1

After reading about Steph's adventures in castlemaine, I bookmarked it and decided that I had to go there. We went away for a weekend and stayed at the incredibly tranquil accommodation just outside of castlemaine. And first stop for food was saffs of course.

We had dinner there on the first night and were pleased to get a table near the fireplace. I ordered the chickpea curry which comes with rice and banana. The curry was nicely spiced and perfect for a nice winter night. I loved the banana, it had a great cooling effect.
Toby had the dhal burger with fries which he said was good but was lacking some sauce because he ordered it without yogurt. So he added in some tomato sauce.

We went back for breakfast and had the vegan and gluten free breakfast, although Toby added some toast to his:
I really liked the crunchy potato rosti and was so pleased to have a vegan and gluten free breakfast option, but Toby wasn't overly impressed with the meals or the coffee, he was particularly annoyed by the lack of protein and I had to remind him that we were in fact in the country and not some hip cafe in fitzroy.

Saff's cafe
43 Mostyn St
Castlemaine

While in castlemaine, I checked out the IGA around the corner from saffs and was super impressed they had an amazing selection of vegan/gluten free things that I hadn't even seen before including soups, dips and even a vegan and gluten free lasagna. I just kept walking around saying 'I love this place', next time we might stock up and have some meals back at our accommodation.

We always seem to go away to daylesford, and while this time we stayed in castlemaine we couldn't resist going to daylesford since it's only about 30 minutes away. I was a little worried about our trip to himalaya bakery since my last trip there was pretty gluten heavy but was relieved to discover that they had gluten free bread and loads of gluten free options including 2 muffins which were both vegan and gluten free. For lunch Toby had the open sandwich with white bean dip, grilled capsicum, lettuce over toast. He was surprised to find the white bean dip was actually cold but thought the flavours were lovely and fresh.


I had the white bean dip with g/f toast and tomato and spinach. I enjoyed the addition of onion and herbs to this dish, it was really was much tastier than it sounds.


We went back for breaky the next day, toby had the mushroom scrambled tofu with extra potatoes. Toby thought it was full of flavour and filling but a little oily.
I had the spanish scrambled tofu with had capsicum, tomato and gluten free toast. I really enjoyed this and was so grateful for finally finding a g/f scrambled tofu dish, toby agreed that it was a tad tastier than his.

Himalaya Bakery
73 Vincent St Daylesford

And of course no trip to the region would be complete without a trip to continental house for the vegan banquet which is on sat evenings.

It started with the nourishing soup which contained pumpkin, seaweed, buckwheat. I'm not normally into healthy soups but I loved it.

For mains there was a selection of raw and cooked dishes, most of which were gluten free. They even had a gluten free lasagna which I think was more like a bake since it contained bread crumbs on top instead of a cheesy sauce but was our favourite dish of the night. I also really enjoyed the raw pad thai, and the tofu dish. Both of us were incredibly full and happy at the end of this meal, so full that I forgot to take a picture of dessert which was a bowl of fruit.


Continental House
9 Lone Pine Ave
Hepburn Springs
www

But that's not it, Toby will wrap up the rest of our eating and drinking adventures away in the next post.

After reading about Steph's adventures in castlemaine, I bookmarked it and decided that I had to go there. We went away for a weekend and stayed at the incredibly tranquil accommodation just outside of castlemaine. And first stop for food was saffs of course.

We had dinner there on the first night and were pleased to get a table near the fireplace. I ordered the chickpea curry which comes with rice and banana. The curry was nicely spiced and perfect for a nice winter night. I loved the banana, it had a great cooling effect.
Toby had the dhal burger with fries which he said was good but was lacking some sauce because he ordered it without yogurt. So he added in some tomato sauce.

We went back for breakfast and had the vegan and gluten free breakfast, although Toby added some toast to his:
I really liked the crunchy potato rosti and was so pleased to have a vegan and gluten free breakfast option, but Toby wasn't overly impressed with the meals or the coffee, he was particularly annoyed by the lack of protein and I had to remind him that we were in fact in the country and not some hip cafe in fitzroy.

Saff's cafe
43 Mostyn St
Castlemaine

While in castlemaine, I checked out the IGA around the corner from saffs and was super impressed they had an amazing selection of vegan/gluten free things that I hadn't even seen before including soups, dips and even a vegan and gluten free lasagna. I just kept walking around saying 'I love this place', next time we might stock up and have some meals back at our accommodation.

We always seem to go away to daylesford, and while this time we stayed in castlemaine we couldn't resist going to daylesford since it's only about 30 minutes away. I was a little worried about our trip to himalaya bakery since my last trip there was pretty gluten heavy but was relieved to discover that they had gluten free bread and loads of gluten free options including 2 muffins which were both vegan and gluten free. For lunch Toby had the open sandwich with white bean dip, grilled capsicum, lettuce over toast. He was surprised to find the white bean dip was actually cold but thought the flavours were lovely and fresh.


I had the white bean dip with g/f toast and tomato and spinach. I enjoyed the addition of onion and herbs to this dish, it was really was much tastier than it sounds.


We went back for breaky the next day, toby had the mushroom scrambled tofu with extra potatoes. Toby thought it was full of flavour and filling but a little oily.
I had the spanish scrambled tofu with had capsicum, tomato and gluten free toast. I really enjoyed this and was so grateful for finally finding a g/f scrambled tofu dish, toby agreed that it was a tad tastier than his.

Himalaya Bakery
73 Vincent St Daylesford

And of course no trip to the region would be complete without a trip to continental house for the vegan banquet which is on sat evenings.

It started with the nourishing soup which contained pumpkin, seaweed, buckwheat. I'm not normally into healthy soups but I loved it.

For mains there was a selection of raw and cooked dishes, most of which were gluten free. They even had a gluten free lasagna which I think was more like a bake since it contained bread crumbs on top instead of a cheesy sauce but was our favourite dish of the night. I also really enjoyed the raw pad thai, and the tofu dish. Both of us were incredibly full and happy at the end of this meal, so full that I forgot to take a picture of dessert which was a bowl of fruit.


Continental House
9 Lone Pine Ave
Hepburn Springs
www

But that's not it, Toby will wrap up the rest of our eating and drinking adventures away in the next post.

reade more... Résuméabuiyad