Hong Kong Days 2-3

Ok so maybe I lied about posting every couple of days but I really underestimated how busy we would be, seeing Toby's family, friends, shopping, among other things. My friend Ari actually summarised HK perfectly with his recent facebook status: "When you're bored with Hong Kong, you're bored with life". Ok so maybe its originally a famous quote referring to London, but think it applies perfectly well.

Day 2 we went to Soland, a vegan restaurant down this alley and up the stairs. There is a focus on healthy vegan food with a sign inside saying no mock meat, no msg etc.

They have a set menu which changes daily and they said there was no issue doing gluten free we had beetroot soup which was delicious with a slightly earthy flavour.

Then veggies, pumpkin, sweet potato, greens, rice with a slightly creamy cauliflower sauce. They bought out a plate with barley on it too first but then we asked gave me a new plate without that side. It was so healthy but a little bland.

My favourite part however was this mango banana soft serve parfait with dragonfruit. I could have easily eaten a massive big bowl.

 Soland
3/F, 6 Gilman's Bazaar, Central District, Hong Kong

For dinner, I got another masala dosa from a Curry in a Hurry this time the time square branch in causeway bay because I was starving.

Day 2 we met up with Toby's friend Kitty for lunch at Life again. They have a slightly different lunch menu. Toby and I shared the tofu skewers with cashew sauce. The tofu was super spongy and the sauce was addictive.

The burger consists of smoked tofu, mostly rice based patty with sweet potatoes and salad on the side. It was awesome.

We also got a sweet potato stew which was served with tofu, broccoli and quinoa. The stew was made with g/f beer which had quite a strong beer flavour.

Also did I mention that my low sugar thing was put on hold while on holiday? I had the gf vegan chocolate mousse cake which is made from tofu, it was rich and could have used a but more berry sauce to break up the flavour. But I still managed to finish it all with a little help from Toby.

After lunch we went to  Dr Sun Yat-Sen Museum. It was interesting learning about how his efforts in setting up republic of china during the Qing era. Besides it only cost $10 HK dollars (roughly $1.2 Au dollars).

For dinner we went to Kung Tak Lam. Toby ordered some greens without soy sauce and fried rice without soy sauce, mock meat etc. I was thankful Toby could explain my requirements in Cantonese because even in Cantonese there was a bit of confusion with the waitress saying that soy sauce doesn't contain wheat but she eventually got it.

The fried rice was delicious thanks to pine nuts and seaweed. I did add a bit of my own soy sauce but that's because I'm addicted to salt. Toby had a gluteny mock eel dish, which frankly sounded gross to me so I didn't mind missing out but he liked it.

Kung Tak Lam

10 F, World Trade Centre, 280 Gloucester Road, Hong Kong

This pack of mini soy sauce packets was a life saver throughout the trip. I got it from an allergy store in Causeway Bay called Little Giant. They had actually just expired but I didn't mind.

Ok so maybe I lied about posting every couple of days but I really underestimated how busy we would be, seeing Toby's family, friends, shopping, among other things. My friend Ari actually summarised HK perfectly with his recent facebook status: "When you're bored with Hong Kong, you're bored with life". Ok so maybe its originally a famous quote referring to London, but think it applies perfectly well.

Day 2 we went to Soland, a vegan restaurant down this alley and up the stairs. There is a focus on healthy vegan food with a sign inside saying no mock meat, no msg etc.

They have a set menu which changes daily and they said there was no issue doing gluten free we had beetroot soup which was delicious with a slightly earthy flavour.

Then veggies, pumpkin, sweet potato, greens, rice with a slightly creamy cauliflower sauce. They bought out a plate with barley on it too first but then we asked gave me a new plate without that side. It was so healthy but a little bland.

My favourite part however was this mango banana soft serve parfait with dragonfruit. I could have easily eaten a massive big bowl.

 Soland
3/F, 6 Gilman's Bazaar, Central District, Hong Kong

For dinner, I got another masala dosa from a Curry in a Hurry this time the time square branch in causeway bay because I was starving.

Day 2 we met up with Toby's friend Kitty for lunch at Life again. They have a slightly different lunch menu. Toby and I shared the tofu skewers with cashew sauce. The tofu was super spongy and the sauce was addictive.

The burger consists of smoked tofu, mostly rice based patty with sweet potatoes and salad on the side. It was awesome.

We also got a sweet potato stew which was served with tofu, broccoli and quinoa. The stew was made with g/f beer which had quite a strong beer flavour.

Also did I mention that my low sugar thing was put on hold while on holiday? I had the gf vegan chocolate mousse cake which is made from tofu, it was rich and could have used a but more berry sauce to break up the flavour. But I still managed to finish it all with a little help from Toby.

After lunch we went to  Dr Sun Yat-Sen Museum. It was interesting learning about how his efforts in setting up republic of china during the Qing era. Besides it only cost $10 HK dollars (roughly $1.2 Au dollars).

For dinner we went to Kung Tak Lam. Toby ordered some greens without soy sauce and fried rice without soy sauce, mock meat etc. I was thankful Toby could explain my requirements in Cantonese because even in Cantonese there was a bit of confusion with the waitress saying that soy sauce doesn't contain wheat but she eventually got it.

The fried rice was delicious thanks to pine nuts and seaweed. I did add a bit of my own soy sauce but that's because I'm addicted to salt. Toby had a gluteny mock eel dish, which frankly sounded gross to me so I didn't mind missing out but he liked it.

Kung Tak Lam

10 F, World Trade Centre, 280 Gloucester Road, Hong Kong

This pack of mini soy sauce packets was a life saver throughout the trip. I got it from an allergy store in Causeway Bay called Little Giant. They had actually just expired but I didn't mind.

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Real Food Daily- Santa Monica

My last US meal:

We had 8 hours layover in LA and asked on facebook and twitter what we should do and the overwhelming response was go to Real Food Daily- Santa Monica. We met up with Toby's friend there and thankfully got a table without a booking. I ordered the 'pizza ya can eat za' with herb cornmeal crust, sun dried tomato pesto, spinach, basil and cashew and mozzarella cheese with greens and cannelloni beans in the centre. The crust was similar in texture to a pita bread crust,  you could taste the herbs in it and I think I could probably eat it plain but the cashew cheese was my favourite bit, so creamy. It makes me want to learn how to make cashew cheese. I also got a tasty strawberry milkshake made from hemp milk and hemp ice cream. Toby also enjoyed his gluteny burger and salad. This meal left me feeling very full which is perfect when you have a 15 hour flight home.

We also visited wholefoods to get some last minute snacks and walked along the beach before catching the bus back to LAX.

Real Food Daily
514-516 Santa Monica Blvd
Santa Monica

My last US meal:

We had 8 hours layover in LA and asked on facebook and twitter what we should do and the overwhelming response was go to Real Food Daily- Santa Monica. We met up with Toby's friend there and thankfully got a table without a booking. I ordered the 'pizza ya can eat za' with herb cornmeal crust, sun dried tomato pesto, spinach, basil and cashew and mozzarella cheese with greens and cannelloni beans in the centre. The crust was similar in texture to a pita bread crust,  you could taste the herbs in it and I think I could probably eat it plain but the cashew cheese was my favourite bit, so creamy. It makes me want to learn how to make cashew cheese. I also got a tasty strawberry milkshake made from hemp milk and hemp ice cream. Toby also enjoyed his gluteny burger and salad. This meal left me feeling very full which is perfect when you have a 15 hour flight home.

We also visited wholefoods to get some last minute snacks and walked along the beach before catching the bus back to LAX.

Real Food Daily
514-516 Santa Monica Blvd
Santa Monica

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Portland Day 6 and 7

For brunch we went to HomeGrown Smoker food cart- a vegan bbq themed food cart. This tiny little food cart served outstanding savoury food.



I had the frito pie. For the aussies reading fritos = brand of corn chips. This frito pie consisted of a small pack of fritos cut open with smoked beans, colesaw, and daiya cheese on top. It was magnificent. The smokiness of the beans and the bbq sauce was the best I have ever tasted and unlike anything I have ever eaten. I could have easily eaten this every day. Toby lovooooooooovvvvved his gluteny mac and cheese and burger too.

We loved it so much that we returned the following day but were so full that we shared this dish: the smoker salad with molasses cornbread, beans, soy curls, ranch dressing etc. I liked this but wasn't a fan of the molasses in the cornbread.

For dinner we met up with the friendly Ruth from Stump'd who is originally from Melbourne and who patiently asked a thousand questions and talked through lots of Portland vs Melbourne comparisons. She suggested Taqueria Los Gorditos. It is a mexican place with plenty of vegan options and pretty gluten free friendly.Toby got the tacos and chose one soyrizo, one bean and one soy curls. I wasn't sure which ones were gf so haven't posted the pic here but I tried a bit of the bean one and it was awesome particuarly with the chipolte sauce. I ordered the sopes with tofu, lettuce, avocado, cilantro and sour cream.

And to finish it off we went across the road back to Portobello and I had their ice cream. There was 3 flavours: caramel, orange cardamon and choc mint. I had choc sauce on the mint choc. It was all creamy and delicious but the salted caramel but was the star of the dish.

 The following day we went to Junior cafe for breaky. Juniors is a regular omni breakfast place which has some awesome vegan options like french toast. 

I had the vegan potato plate with gluten free vegan sausage, yes gluten free vegan sausage, how awesome is that? It comes with potatoes, corn, mushrooms, zucchini and a slightly spicy tofu sauce. It was an excellent fried breakfast. Perfect for a hangover (in my case just a food hangover). The orange on the side made it seem a little healthier too. I have to admit that I copied Meghan in my idea of choosing this breaky.

For out last dinner we went to the fancy vegetarian restaurant in the vegan meca area, yes Northeast alberta street called natural selection. Both Geanna and Kittee had mentioned it so we had try it.

We chose the four course dinner for $35. For the four courses you have two menu options, but only one choice was both vegan and gluten free which made for an easy time ordering.

Unfortunately we didn't get a picture of the menu or take notes. I was going to attempt descriptions but figured they may be inaccurate so instead I will let the pictures do the talking and give super vague descriptions. This was a bonus entree.

Then was yummy soup

Salad

This was our fave, a vegetable dish:

I remember this one. They gave us this lime and mint granita as a palate cleanser before dessert. It was so refreshing.

For dessert we had a cherry type cake. I didn't particularly enjoy this because it was too much like fruit cake, the one dessert I'm not a fan of.

But the rest of the food was awesome, although since the dishes were all vegie based, there was not enough protein for Toby.

I have a confession to make too, I couldn't resist trying something else from back to eden bakery again, so while we were waiting for our food, I ran down the street a few blocks to buy a few more things for after dinner and for the flight the next day. I must have been gone a while because the waitress asked Toby if I was ok. It was worth it thought because I got a vegan and gluten free boston cream pie!!!!!

This dessert was the perfect way to farewell portland with it's cream around the edges and I think custard in the middle and chocolate around the edges. While the cake itself was not the greatest the package was a little piece of heaven.

This is our last Portland post. Portland had outstanding vegan food, there was plenty of places we didn't get to try too like off the griddle.There wasn't much else to do thought beside eating except for visiting the gigantic powells bookstore, where there was two high aisles of vegan cookbooks and even a little note saying 'are you looking for vegan and gluten free cookbooks?' and the record label tender loving empire store which sold their own cds, records and cute jewellry.

Goodbye Portland, we will miss you!

For brunch we went to HomeGrown Smoker food cart- a vegan bbq themed food cart. This tiny little food cart served outstanding savoury food.



I had the frito pie. For the aussies reading fritos = brand of corn chips. This frito pie consisted of a small pack of fritos cut open with smoked beans, colesaw, and daiya cheese on top. It was magnificent. The smokiness of the beans and the bbq sauce was the best I have ever tasted and unlike anything I have ever eaten. I could have easily eaten this every day. Toby lovooooooooovvvvved his gluteny mac and cheese and burger too.

We loved it so much that we returned the following day but were so full that we shared this dish: the smoker salad with molasses cornbread, beans, soy curls, ranch dressing etc. I liked this but wasn't a fan of the molasses in the cornbread.

For dinner we met up with the friendly Ruth from Stump'd who is originally from Melbourne and who patiently asked a thousand questions and talked through lots of Portland vs Melbourne comparisons. She suggested Taqueria Los Gorditos. It is a mexican place with plenty of vegan options and pretty gluten free friendly.Toby got the tacos and chose one soyrizo, one bean and one soy curls. I wasn't sure which ones were gf so haven't posted the pic here but I tried a bit of the bean one and it was awesome particuarly with the chipolte sauce. I ordered the sopes with tofu, lettuce, avocado, cilantro and sour cream.

And to finish it off we went across the road back to Portobello and I had their ice cream. There was 3 flavours: caramel, orange cardamon and choc mint. I had choc sauce on the mint choc. It was all creamy and delicious but the salted caramel but was the star of the dish.

 The following day we went to Junior cafe for breaky. Juniors is a regular omni breakfast place which has some awesome vegan options like french toast. 

I had the vegan potato plate with gluten free vegan sausage, yes gluten free vegan sausage, how awesome is that? It comes with potatoes, corn, mushrooms, zucchini and a slightly spicy tofu sauce. It was an excellent fried breakfast. Perfect for a hangover (in my case just a food hangover). The orange on the side made it seem a little healthier too. I have to admit that I copied Meghan in my idea of choosing this breaky.

For out last dinner we went to the fancy vegetarian restaurant in the vegan meca area, yes Northeast alberta street called natural selection. Both Geanna and Kittee had mentioned it so we had try it.

We chose the four course dinner for $35. For the four courses you have two menu options, but only one choice was both vegan and gluten free which made for an easy time ordering.

Unfortunately we didn't get a picture of the menu or take notes. I was going to attempt descriptions but figured they may be inaccurate so instead I will let the pictures do the talking and give super vague descriptions. This was a bonus entree.

Then was yummy soup

Salad

This was our fave, a vegetable dish:

I remember this one. They gave us this lime and mint granita as a palate cleanser before dessert. It was so refreshing.

For dessert we had a cherry type cake. I didn't particularly enjoy this because it was too much like fruit cake, the one dessert I'm not a fan of.

But the rest of the food was awesome, although since the dishes were all vegie based, there was not enough protein for Toby.

I have a confession to make too, I couldn't resist trying something else from back to eden bakery again, so while we were waiting for our food, I ran down the street a few blocks to buy a few more things for after dinner and for the flight the next day. I must have been gone a while because the waitress asked Toby if I was ok. It was worth it thought because I got a vegan and gluten free boston cream pie!!!!!

This dessert was the perfect way to farewell portland with it's cream around the edges and I think custard in the middle and chocolate around the edges. While the cake itself was not the greatest the package was a little piece of heaven.

This is our last Portland post. Portland had outstanding vegan food, there was plenty of places we didn't get to try too like off the griddle.There wasn't much else to do thought beside eating except for visiting the gigantic powells bookstore, where there was two high aisles of vegan cookbooks and even a little note saying 'are you looking for vegan and gluten free cookbooks?' and the record label tender loving empire store which sold their own cds, records and cute jewellry.

Goodbye Portland, we will miss you!

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Portland Day 1 and 2: Portobello, Hunger Tiger Too, Prasad

We arrived on Thu afternoon and for our first meal in Portland, we met up with the lovely Geanna from Green Vegan living at Portobello.  Portobello is a slightly upmarket but affordable vegan Italian restaurant. Our first impressions of Portland were that there was lots of gorgeous trees, the city itself was quite small and that restaurants like Portobello were in the middle of nowhere.We shared the cashew cheese stuffed sweety peps, which were not spicy and had a slightly sweet flavour. The cashew cheese was smooth and creamy. They were a great start to an excellent meal.

I couldn't resist ordering a gluten free pizza, I chose the Patata pizza which has thin slices of potato, carmelised onions, pine nuts and fir tips on it. I was surprised that there was no vegan cheese on this pizza or any pesto/tomato base but it was still tasty. The gf base was excellent and made me realise that gf pizza in Australia is inferior.

Toby and I shared the nectarine-beet risotto croquettes and both enjoyed this dish.  Toby also enjoyed his gluteny dish.

For dessert, I had the cookies and cream. For some reason I just presumed that this was ice cream but instead it was coconut and black pepper 'cream' which was mousse like in texture. The black pepper was not strong but occasionally provided a slight amount of heat to the coconut 'cream'. The cookies were maple flavoured and were quite crispy and thin and great with the 'cream'. I also enjoyed the grilled fruit that come with this dish.

I also tried a bit of Genna's chocolate and rosemary tart. I hate rosemary but wanted to see if it was subtle, unfortunately it wasn't but I'm certain that if you like rosemary you would enjoy it.

Day 2

On second day, we met up with fellow Aussie Susan from Kittens Gone Lentil who was also in town and staying at the same hotel as us. We went to Hungry Tiger Too, an omni cafe/bar which is super vegan friendly and lots of gf options for brunch too. We ordered way too much food which including this giant gluten free and vegan pancake as a side to my breakfast.  It actually tasted good too

Small scrambled tofu:

And this was Toby and my favourite tofu 'chicken' with  a gluten free and vegan waffle. The tofu was super tasty. I'm not sure what the batter/spices were but it was addictive. This place had me announcing on my first full day that I already loved Portland. I mean where else could you find gluten free and vegan pancakes, waffles etc.

And then we walked the short walk to vegan mini mall and visited 3 out of the 4 stores, since none of us wanted a tattoo :-) Susan and I spent a long time browsing very carefully at everything and spending a fare bit of money at food fight-vegan grocery store while Toby went to find coffee. We also both bought the same top from herbivore, thankfully we live in different ciies in Australia!

And lastly we visited sweetpea bakery- a vegan bakery. I didn't have much room in my belly, but you know dessert is a different stomach compartment, right? I ordered the gluten free chocolate chip cookie which was huge but unfortunately a bit disappointing flavour wise, it just kind of screamed gluten free, I can't name it, but perhaps it was strong rice flour flavour.

For dinner, we decided to go for healthy option near out hotel and visited Prasad.  They share a space with a yoga studio and seemed to focus on healthy/raw dishes.  Toby had the soul salad with tempeh, avocado, slow roasted tomatoes, spinach and a red chilli vinagrette. He said that it 'not boring and very refreshing'.

I had the dragon bowl which comes with quinoa, avocado, kale, seaweed and beans. You then choose what sauce and Susan shared her secret that last time she selected two sauces, I copied her and ordered lemon ginger and peanut. I loved both and it seemed like a great way to balance out the junk food that we had for brunch.

We arrived on Thu afternoon and for our first meal in Portland, we met up with the lovely Geanna from Green Vegan living at Portobello.  Portobello is a slightly upmarket but affordable vegan Italian restaurant. Our first impressions of Portland were that there was lots of gorgeous trees, the city itself was quite small and that restaurants like Portobello were in the middle of nowhere.We shared the cashew cheese stuffed sweety peps, which were not spicy and had a slightly sweet flavour. The cashew cheese was smooth and creamy. They were a great start to an excellent meal.

I couldn't resist ordering a gluten free pizza, I chose the Patata pizza which has thin slices of potato, carmelised onions, pine nuts and fir tips on it. I was surprised that there was no vegan cheese on this pizza or any pesto/tomato base but it was still tasty. The gf base was excellent and made me realise that gf pizza in Australia is inferior.

Toby and I shared the nectarine-beet risotto croquettes and both enjoyed this dish.  Toby also enjoyed his gluteny dish.

For dessert, I had the cookies and cream. For some reason I just presumed that this was ice cream but instead it was coconut and black pepper 'cream' which was mousse like in texture. The black pepper was not strong but occasionally provided a slight amount of heat to the coconut 'cream'. The cookies were maple flavoured and were quite crispy and thin and great with the 'cream'. I also enjoyed the grilled fruit that come with this dish.

I also tried a bit of Genna's chocolate and rosemary tart. I hate rosemary but wanted to see if it was subtle, unfortunately it wasn't but I'm certain that if you like rosemary you would enjoy it.

Day 2

On second day, we met up with fellow Aussie Susan from Kittens Gone Lentil who was also in town and staying at the same hotel as us. We went to Hungry Tiger Too, an omni cafe/bar which is super vegan friendly and lots of gf options for brunch too. We ordered way too much food which including this giant gluten free and vegan pancake as a side to my breakfast.  It actually tasted good too

Small scrambled tofu:

And this was Toby and my favourite tofu 'chicken' with  a gluten free and vegan waffle. The tofu was super tasty. I'm not sure what the batter/spices were but it was addictive. This place had me announcing on my first full day that I already loved Portland. I mean where else could you find gluten free and vegan pancakes, waffles etc.

And then we walked the short walk to vegan mini mall and visited 3 out of the 4 stores, since none of us wanted a tattoo :-) Susan and I spent a long time browsing very carefully at everything and spending a fare bit of money at food fight-vegan grocery store while Toby went to find coffee. We also both bought the same top from herbivore, thankfully we live in different ciies in Australia!

And lastly we visited sweetpea bakery- a vegan bakery. I didn't have much room in my belly, but you know dessert is a different stomach compartment, right? I ordered the gluten free chocolate chip cookie which was huge but unfortunately a bit disappointing flavour wise, it just kind of screamed gluten free, I can't name it, but perhaps it was strong rice flour flavour.

For dinner, we decided to go for healthy option near out hotel and visited Prasad.  They share a space with a yoga studio and seemed to focus on healthy/raw dishes.  Toby had the soul salad with tempeh, avocado, slow roasted tomatoes, spinach and a red chilli vinagrette. He said that it 'not boring and very refreshing'.

I had the dragon bowl which comes with quinoa, avocado, kale, seaweed and beans. You then choose what sauce and Susan shared her secret that last time she selected two sauces, I copied her and ordered lemon ginger and peanut. I loved both and it seemed like a great way to balance out the junk food that we had for brunch.

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

NYC Day 10: Stogo, Souen Noodle Restaurant and Lulas

I am writing this from the plane (although will have to click publish at the hotel) as we fly from New York to San Fran. I have loved New York so much and can't imagine San Fran and then Portland being able to compete. Jess and I keep joking that San Fran is going to suck and that we wish our flight was cancelled but I'm sure it is going to be great. New York really is amazing though. It's crazy I wasn't the biggest fan of London and I really thought New York would be similar but it's not. I can't even fully put my finger on what is different, but there is just this amazing energy in New York, it also doesn't hurt that there are 3 vegan dessert places in New York and vegan food everywhere. I didn't even get to try the gluten free (and vegan) cannelloni at a regular italian restaurant called John's of 12th, plenty of raw desserts and vegan treats. The graffiti, buildings, markets, accents are also super cool and it just kind of feels like anything is possible. Corny, right? It's inspiring and definitely my favourite city so far.

Today on our last day so I went to Stogo and had this piece of heaven, aka chocolate chip cookie ice cream sandwich with Bourbon ginger ice cream which had a hemp base. Excuse the phone pics!

Chinese medicine says that ice cream (and cold things in general) are bad for colds so I figured that the ginger might kind of counteract it. The woman who I guess runs/owns the place is super friendly and joked with me that I could come back for free sample spoons since it was my last day. I was so so tempted! This little place kind of makes me want to work on starting a similar vegan ice cream place in Melbourne, which won't happen but it's nice to feel inspired.

For lunch, we tried to go to pukk (vegetarian thai place) but the waiter very honestly explained that the only gluten free option would be greens. Atlas was a similar situation. I think New York is super vegan friendly but not quite as gluten free friendly. So we went to Souen Noodle Restaurant. I had the mapo tofu minus the seitan and Toby had the ramen special lunch deal but with rice noodles instead of ramen. The noodles were a bit bland but Toby said that was exactly what he wanted and the mapo tofu was not spicy at all which suited me fine, I felt that it was the perfect healthy dish to sandwich between two ice cream desserts.



As part of the lunch deal, you could choose what side you wanted, toby chose the brown rice ball which was really subtle.

Here are his noodles:

And here is the mapo tofu (brown rice on the side not pictured):

I also managed to fit in one last visit to lulas right before we had to leave. I got a brownie a la mode which basically just means brownie (gf in my case) with one large scoop of ice cream. I had already decided that I was going to have the peanut butter flavour but they didn't had it. Both lulas and stogo seem to rotate flavours. So I settled on mint choc chip which was refreshing. I was pleased that the brownie was soft and gooey and served warm.



Jess and I sat and ate in a community garden near by. I love that there are these tiny little community gardens, all quite different and free and so cool on a hot summers day. This one was one of my favourites, although I have to admit I didn't get to visit quite as many as I wanted to.

Also while on the plane I ate more mini banana choc chip muffins and gluten free brownies from Babycakes. Yes 3 lots of desserts in one day from my 3 fave places in NYC.

10 days was not enough, I think I could have easily spent 3 weeks there, as there still so many places we didn't get to explore/see/eat but it's been a blast NYC!

I am writing this from the plane (although will have to click publish at the hotel) as we fly from New York to San Fran. I have loved New York so much and can't imagine San Fran and then Portland being able to compete. Jess and I keep joking that San Fran is going to suck and that we wish our flight was cancelled but I'm sure it is going to be great. New York really is amazing though. It's crazy I wasn't the biggest fan of London and I really thought New York would be similar but it's not. I can't even fully put my finger on what is different, but there is just this amazing energy in New York, it also doesn't hurt that there are 3 vegan dessert places in New York and vegan food everywhere. I didn't even get to try the gluten free (and vegan) cannelloni at a regular italian restaurant called John's of 12th, plenty of raw desserts and vegan treats. The graffiti, buildings, markets, accents are also super cool and it just kind of feels like anything is possible. Corny, right? It's inspiring and definitely my favourite city so far.

Today on our last day so I went to Stogo and had this piece of heaven, aka chocolate chip cookie ice cream sandwich with Bourbon ginger ice cream which had a hemp base. Excuse the phone pics!

Chinese medicine says that ice cream (and cold things in general) are bad for colds so I figured that the ginger might kind of counteract it. The woman who I guess runs/owns the place is super friendly and joked with me that I could come back for free sample spoons since it was my last day. I was so so tempted! This little place kind of makes me want to work on starting a similar vegan ice cream place in Melbourne, which won't happen but it's nice to feel inspired.

For lunch, we tried to go to pukk (vegetarian thai place) but the waiter very honestly explained that the only gluten free option would be greens. Atlas was a similar situation. I think New York is super vegan friendly but not quite as gluten free friendly. So we went to Souen Noodle Restaurant. I had the mapo tofu minus the seitan and Toby had the ramen special lunch deal but with rice noodles instead of ramen. The noodles were a bit bland but Toby said that was exactly what he wanted and the mapo tofu was not spicy at all which suited me fine, I felt that it was the perfect healthy dish to sandwich between two ice cream desserts.



As part of the lunch deal, you could choose what side you wanted, toby chose the brown rice ball which was really subtle.

Here are his noodles:

And here is the mapo tofu (brown rice on the side not pictured):

I also managed to fit in one last visit to lulas right before we had to leave. I got a brownie a la mode which basically just means brownie (gf in my case) with one large scoop of ice cream. I had already decided that I was going to have the peanut butter flavour but they didn't had it. Both lulas and stogo seem to rotate flavours. So I settled on mint choc chip which was refreshing. I was pleased that the brownie was soft and gooey and served warm.



Jess and I sat and ate in a community garden near by. I love that there are these tiny little community gardens, all quite different and free and so cool on a hot summers day. This one was one of my favourites, although I have to admit I didn't get to visit quite as many as I wanted to.

Also while on the plane I ate more mini banana choc chip muffins and gluten free brownies from Babycakes. Yes 3 lots of desserts in one day from my 3 fave places in NYC.

10 days was not enough, I think I could have easily spent 3 weeks there, as there still so many places we didn't get to explore/see/eat but it's been a blast NYC!

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

NYC Day 9: Brooklyn Flea Market, Cocoa V, Babycakes and Pala

Today was our last full day in nyc, we leave tomorrow afternoon for san fran. We started the day by walking over the brooklyn bridge, which was so pretty, see:


We visited the brooklyn flea market again, on saturdays it is held at fortgreen and sundays it is held in Williamsburg. For details check out here, I preferred the williamsburg sunday one which we visited last week. This one didn't have the blackstrap molasses or the raw vegan stall. So I settled for bean and cheese tacos without cheese which were bland:



Then we went to Cocoa V, an all vegan chocolate and wine bar. I ordered the nut cheese platter for one, which I'm pretty sure is Dr cow cheese bran.

It comes with gluten free crackers, dried figs, apples and regular pretzels.  The flavours of cheese from left to right are: regular, aged cashew and dulse and aged cashew and crystal manna algae cheese. I was skeptical because I vaguely remember Troy and Bec saying that they didn't like it but Toby and I both loved it. Toby loved the algae variety and I liked the regular flavour. The tetxure was excellent too.

 

We also got spiced hot chocolate which had a range of spices including cinnamon and burned my throat a tiny amount as a result of the cayenne pepper in it. It was quite creamy though and I wonder what dairy free milk they use, I'm sure it wasn't soy:

 

I worked up quite an appetite when we wondered around MOMA, so glad I got to visit afterall. We then visited babycakes for the last time, sob sob. I got a chocolate chip cookie and a brownie bite (the sugar variety instead of the agave one). The cookie was crispy and the brownie was more cakey than fudgey but both were so yummy. I also got some treats for the long plane trip tomorrow and choc mint cookie, which was thin chocolate cookie covered in minty icing.

 

 For dinner we went to Pala Pizza again. We shared the spring salad which felt healthy after lots of sugar although not particularly exciting.

And of course I had to get THE PIZZA again. The base wasn't as spectacular as last time, I think because it was slightly undercooked but was still the best pizza i've had. It's called the etna, and it turns out it is super crispy eggplant not caramelised onions.

Today was our last full day in nyc, we leave tomorrow afternoon for san fran. We started the day by walking over the brooklyn bridge, which was so pretty, see:


We visited the brooklyn flea market again, on saturdays it is held at fortgreen and sundays it is held in Williamsburg. For details check out here, I preferred the williamsburg sunday one which we visited last week. This one didn't have the blackstrap molasses or the raw vegan stall. So I settled for bean and cheese tacos without cheese which were bland:



Then we went to Cocoa V, an all vegan chocolate and wine bar. I ordered the nut cheese platter for one, which I'm pretty sure is Dr cow cheese bran.

It comes with gluten free crackers, dried figs, apples and regular pretzels.  The flavours of cheese from left to right are: regular, aged cashew and dulse and aged cashew and crystal manna algae cheese. I was skeptical because I vaguely remember Troy and Bec saying that they didn't like it but Toby and I both loved it. Toby loved the algae variety and I liked the regular flavour. The tetxure was excellent too.

 

We also got spiced hot chocolate which had a range of spices including cinnamon and burned my throat a tiny amount as a result of the cayenne pepper in it. It was quite creamy though and I wonder what dairy free milk they use, I'm sure it wasn't soy:

 

I worked up quite an appetite when we wondered around MOMA, so glad I got to visit afterall. We then visited babycakes for the last time, sob sob. I got a chocolate chip cookie and a brownie bite (the sugar variety instead of the agave one). The cookie was crispy and the brownie was more cakey than fudgey but both were so yummy. I also got some treats for the long plane trip tomorrow and choc mint cookie, which was thin chocolate cookie covered in minty icing.

 

 For dinner we went to Pala Pizza again. We shared the spring salad which felt healthy after lots of sugar although not particularly exciting.

And of course I had to get THE PIZZA again. The base wasn't as spectacular as last time, I think because it was slightly undercooked but was still the best pizza i've had. It's called the etna, and it turns out it is super crispy eggplant not caramelised onions.

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