Peace Harmony Strikes Back, Sydney

I was pretty stoked to find out that Sydney has a vegan Thai restaurant. My eating crew and I had a pretty good dinner at the last night of our trip. K and I decided to have lunch there again with Bec and Craig since our flight was canceled. It is a 99.9% vegan restaurant. The only non-vegan thing is the soy milk (with milk solid).

Their lunch menu is smaller than the dinner one but still pretty big. We couldn't really decide what to get. We settled on two Mixed Entree plates ($7 each) to share between the four of us.


The satay skewers and Thai style spring rolls were pretty good but I've never been a big fan of money bags or curry puffs. Tod Mun, a pakora-like deep fried entree, was the best on the plate.

Our first plate was the lemongrass stir-fry ($12.8):

It is a double protein meal: tofu and mock meat ('chicken', I guess) with some colourful vegies, in lemongrass special sauce. It was my favourite dish of the meal.

Next dish was 'Crispy KFC' ($12.8):


When I saw the menu, I thought it will be fried battered mock chicken with the 11 secret herbs and spices, like what Vegansaurus! made before. However, it turned out to be deep fried mock meat with a sweet chill soy sauce on the side. It wasn't bad but not what I expected.

We also ordered a roasted 'duck' or 'chicken' dish($12.8):

I can't recall the name of the dish nor can I locate it on the massive lunch menu. It was a nice typical roasted 'duck'/'chicken' dish : crispy gluten with a tangy sauce.

Finally, Kristy insisted that we have Pad Thai ($12.5) again:

She liked it a lot but I agreed with what Michael said - It was enjoyable but not amazing.

So, this is the last installment of our Sydney Eat-A-Thon. Michael also blogged about our dinner there. Read what other people think on Brunch, Lunch and Munch and Diary of a Ladybird.

Peace Harmony
44 Erskine Street, Sydney
(02) 9262 2247

On my turntable:
Illuminations by Buffy Sainte-Marie

I was pretty stoked to find out that Sydney has a vegan Thai restaurant. My eating crew and I had a pretty good dinner at the last night of our trip. K and I decided to have lunch there again with Bec and Craig since our flight was canceled. It is a 99.9% vegan restaurant. The only non-vegan thing is the soy milk (with milk solid).

Their lunch menu is smaller than the dinner one but still pretty big. We couldn't really decide what to get. We settled on two Mixed Entree plates ($7 each) to share between the four of us.


The satay skewers and Thai style spring rolls were pretty good but I've never been a big fan of money bags or curry puffs. Tod Mun, a pakora-like deep fried entree, was the best on the plate.

Our first plate was the lemongrass stir-fry ($12.8):

It is a double protein meal: tofu and mock meat ('chicken', I guess) with some colourful vegies, in lemongrass special sauce. It was my favourite dish of the meal.

Next dish was 'Crispy KFC' ($12.8):


When I saw the menu, I thought it will be fried battered mock chicken with the 11 secret herbs and spices, like what Vegansaurus! made before. However, it turned out to be deep fried mock meat with a sweet chill soy sauce on the side. It wasn't bad but not what I expected.

We also ordered a roasted 'duck' or 'chicken' dish($12.8):

I can't recall the name of the dish nor can I locate it on the massive lunch menu. It was a nice typical roasted 'duck'/'chicken' dish : crispy gluten with a tangy sauce.

Finally, Kristy insisted that we have Pad Thai ($12.5) again:

She liked it a lot but I agreed with what Michael said - It was enjoyable but not amazing.

So, this is the last installment of our Sydney Eat-A-Thon. Michael also blogged about our dinner there. Read what other people think on Brunch, Lunch and Munch and Diary of a Ladybird.

Peace Harmony
44 Erskine Street, Sydney
(02) 9262 2247

On my turntable:
Illuminations by Buffy Sainte-Marie

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Late Lunch at Bodhi in the Park, Sydney

Dear readers, haven't been catching up with you for a while apart from my vegan breaking news tweets at @brunswickvegan. I blame my laziness and blogger's block. Now I'm writing this blog post on Cindy's laptop at Where's the Beef? HQ. Hopefully the Chi of Celeb blogger will help.

Shortly after the massive brunch at Naked Espresso and sweet treats at Vegan's Choice, I was hungry again. So we decide to have a late lunch at Bodhi in the Park.

If you haven't been to Bodhi in the Park, it is an upmarket vegan Chinese Restaurant with a modern twist. It is right next to Phillip Park swimming pool and the St Mary's Cathedral, surrounded by beautiful trees and birds.


We were a bit too late and the Yum Cha was over so we ordered some entrees to share.

To start with, we ordered the mixed steamed buns ($6.5). There were three different types of buns in the bamboo steamer: Mock BBQ "pork", chickpea and Chinese cabbage bun:


I used my mad chopstick skillz to break up the buns into quarters so everyone could have a taste of each bun. Everyone loved the BBQ bun but I was not a fan of the chickpea bun. I liked the Chinese Cabbage bun and it reminded me of Shanghaese style chicken and veg buns.

Next up is Vegatable Stewers with Malayasisn Peanut Satay ($7.5):


The skewers consisted of different vegetables, faux fishball and tofu. The satay sauce was top-notch and pretty different from the one at Satay Bar and Enlightened Cuisine.

The third dish was Mixed Dumplings ($6.5 /English Spinach, Pumpkin and Mushroom):


A basket of mixed dumplings is ideal for solo diners to sample different dumplings without stuffing themselves silly. They were pretty good too.

We also ordered Bodhi Vegetarian Peking 'duck', bbq sauce, cucumber and pancakes ($19), a dish that I was anticipating on the plane to Sydney:


The whole gang was impressed with this dish. The 'duck' was very crispy and full of flavour. It was even better than the one at Peking Palace in London.

At this point we were half full and at risk of spoiling our appetite for Peace Harmony. However, there is noway K and Cindy would leave the restaurant without desert. We decided on the Asian sweet extravaganza: Frangelico caramelised passion fruit and seasonal fruit with a chilled yellow bean sweet soup and a Frangelico lychee shot ($14.0).

While I am typing, Michael just made me a Frangelico Lychee drink.

We firstly shared the Lychee shot. It was very very delicious and inspired us to buy a bottle of Frangelico and canned lychee and make it ourselves later that night. Part two of the desert was caramelised passion fruit, in syrup form, lychees and rock melon in a Martini glass. We didn't realise there was Frangelico in the passion fruit syrup. The last part of the desert was chilled yellow bean soup with coconut cream. It was yummy and the texture was similar to sorbet, we actually thought it was some sort of exotic fruit and had to ask what it was.

K thought it was the most inventive desert of the trip. Cindy said it was the most glamorous fruit salad she's ever had. I wished I could have the whole thing all by myself!

The Fragrant Elf wrote about her dinner experience there recently. Steph and Diary of a Ladybird also blogged about Yum Cha at Bodhi.


Bodhi in the Park
Add: Cook and Philip Park, 2 College St, Sydney
Tel: 9360 2523
Yum Cha 10am-4pm 7 days/ Dinner 4:30pm-10pm Tue-Sun


On my Turntable:
It's So Hard To Tell Who's Going To Love You The Best by Karen Dalton

Dear readers, haven't been catching up with you for a while apart from my vegan breaking news tweets at @brunswickvegan. I blame my laziness and blogger's block. Now I'm writing this blog post on Cindy's laptop at Where's the Beef? HQ. Hopefully the Chi of Celeb blogger will help.

Shortly after the massive brunch at Naked Espresso and sweet treats at Vegan's Choice, I was hungry again. So we decide to have a late lunch at Bodhi in the Park.

If you haven't been to Bodhi in the Park, it is an upmarket vegan Chinese Restaurant with a modern twist. It is right next to Phillip Park swimming pool and the St Mary's Cathedral, surrounded by beautiful trees and birds.


We were a bit too late and the Yum Cha was over so we ordered some entrees to share.

To start with, we ordered the mixed steamed buns ($6.5). There were three different types of buns in the bamboo steamer: Mock BBQ "pork", chickpea and Chinese cabbage bun:


I used my mad chopstick skillz to break up the buns into quarters so everyone could have a taste of each bun. Everyone loved the BBQ bun but I was not a fan of the chickpea bun. I liked the Chinese Cabbage bun and it reminded me of Shanghaese style chicken and veg buns.

Next up is Vegatable Stewers with Malayasisn Peanut Satay ($7.5):


The skewers consisted of different vegetables, faux fishball and tofu. The satay sauce was top-notch and pretty different from the one at Satay Bar and Enlightened Cuisine.

The third dish was Mixed Dumplings ($6.5 /English Spinach, Pumpkin and Mushroom):


A basket of mixed dumplings is ideal for solo diners to sample different dumplings without stuffing themselves silly. They were pretty good too.

We also ordered Bodhi Vegetarian Peking 'duck', bbq sauce, cucumber and pancakes ($19), a dish that I was anticipating on the plane to Sydney:


The whole gang was impressed with this dish. The 'duck' was very crispy and full of flavour. It was even better than the one at Peking Palace in London.

At this point we were half full and at risk of spoiling our appetite for Peace Harmony. However, there is noway K and Cindy would leave the restaurant without desert. We decided on the Asian sweet extravaganza: Frangelico caramelised passion fruit and seasonal fruit with a chilled yellow bean sweet soup and a Frangelico lychee shot ($14.0).

While I am typing, Michael just made me a Frangelico Lychee drink.

We firstly shared the Lychee shot. It was very very delicious and inspired us to buy a bottle of Frangelico and canned lychee and make it ourselves later that night. Part two of the desert was caramelised passion fruit, in syrup form, lychees and rock melon in a Martini glass. We didn't realise there was Frangelico in the passion fruit syrup. The last part of the desert was chilled yellow bean soup with coconut cream. It was yummy and the texture was similar to sorbet, we actually thought it was some sort of exotic fruit and had to ask what it was.

K thought it was the most inventive desert of the trip. Cindy said it was the most glamorous fruit salad she's ever had. I wished I could have the whole thing all by myself!

The Fragrant Elf wrote about her dinner experience there recently. Steph and Diary of a Ladybird also blogged about Yum Cha at Bodhi.


Bodhi in the Park
Add: Cook and Philip Park, 2 College St, Sydney
Tel: 9360 2523
Yum Cha 10am-4pm 7 days/ Dinner 4:30pm-10pm Tue-Sun


On my Turntable:
It's So Hard To Tell Who's Going To Love You The Best by Karen Dalton

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Veg Out Time

The other day, I was with K shopping in South Yarra. I felt kind of funny in the Republic of Orange-coloured People but was happy to see an old friend on Chapel street: Veg Out Time.

We both missed the food as we haven't been back since Vegan Fitness Week. We could both enjoy their cheap, fast, yummy, vegan and gluten-free food.

You can get half a plate of brown/white rice with two dishes from the Bain-Marie for $9 or three dishes for $10.

I had Yellow Tofu, Mapo Tofu and stir-fried Chinese greens with garlic. They were all full of flavour and, relatively, healthy. Yellow Tofu is my all time favourite. It is basically a very mild Malaysian style curry with mushroom and tofu. I order it every single time I go there.


K ordered Eggplant Masala and some sort of other curry. I tasted them both and thought they are both yum but a little bit too spicy for me.


Vegan options are clearly marked but you would need to ask them what is gluten-free.

If you don't like Bain-Marie food, you can also order fried noodles/rice dishes from the menu.

Veg Out Time
8/63 Fitzroy St, St Kilda
(03) 9534 0077
Open Daily 12pm-10pm

366 Chapel Street, South Yarra
(03) 9827 7570
Open Daily 11:30am-10pm

On the Stereo:
Good Morning Spider by Sparklehorse

The other day, I was with K shopping in South Yarra. I felt kind of funny in the Republic of Orange-coloured People but was happy to see an old friend on Chapel street: Veg Out Time.

We both missed the food as we haven't been back since Vegan Fitness Week. We could both enjoy their cheap, fast, yummy, vegan and gluten-free food.

You can get half a plate of brown/white rice with two dishes from the Bain-Marie for $9 or three dishes for $10.

I had Yellow Tofu, Mapo Tofu and stir-fried Chinese greens with garlic. They were all full of flavour and, relatively, healthy. Yellow Tofu is my all time favourite. It is basically a very mild Malaysian style curry with mushroom and tofu. I order it every single time I go there.


K ordered Eggplant Masala and some sort of other curry. I tasted them both and thought they are both yum but a little bit too spicy for me.


Vegan options are clearly marked but you would need to ask them what is gluten-free.

If you don't like Bain-Marie food, you can also order fried noodles/rice dishes from the menu.

Veg Out Time
8/63 Fitzroy St, St Kilda
(03) 9534 0077
Open Daily 12pm-10pm

366 Chapel Street, South Yarra
(03) 9827 7570
Open Daily 11:30am-10pm

On the Stereo:
Good Morning Spider by Sparklehorse

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Upcoming chocolate vegan cookbook...

Those of you who went to the g/f potluck, may remember Keira's standout amazing caramel slice. She is working on a vegan chocolate themed cookbook which includes the caramel slice recipe, as well as recipes for cheesecakes, fudge and much more. I have been lucky enough to test out a few of the g/f recipes, yes several recipes are g/f! I've made a couple of things so far but this is the only one that I took photos of. It is chocolate hazelnut slice, which has buckwheat flour in it. This was my first time using buckwheat flour in a dessert and I was pretty pleased that you couldn't taste the buckwheat. This slice was pretty easy to make and is delicious. It also makes a great dessert for sharing and is just as tasty the next day.

Between this recipe and the caramel slice recipe, I've already decided that this cookbook is a winner. I can't wait til it comes out!

Those of you who went to the g/f potluck, may remember Keira's standout amazing caramel slice. She is working on a vegan chocolate themed cookbook which includes the caramel slice recipe, as well as recipes for cheesecakes, fudge and much more. I have been lucky enough to test out a few of the g/f recipes, yes several recipes are g/f! I've made a couple of things so far but this is the only one that I took photos of. It is chocolate hazelnut slice, which has buckwheat flour in it. This was my first time using buckwheat flour in a dessert and I was pretty pleased that you couldn't taste the buckwheat. This slice was pretty easy to make and is delicious. It also makes a great dessert for sharing and is just as tasty the next day.

Between this recipe and the caramel slice recipe, I've already decided that this cookbook is a winner. I can't wait til it comes out!

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Revisting My Childhood

My father and his siblings grew up in a Public Housing Estate in Hong Kong called So Uk Estate (蘇屋邨). My late grandparents were still living there after my father & Co. married, moved out and had children. They knocked most of the buildings down because they are way too old and the 6 remaining buildings will go in 2012.

In the 80's/90's and maybe the early millennium, we often went back to So UK Estate to visit my grandparents and sometimes have dinner at Lily Chinese Restaurant (百合酒樓). The grand kids, who are all in their 20's/30's now, would sit around a special table and eat children-friendly food. My favourite were deep fried fish fillets with corn sauce, sweet and sour pork, Cantonese style steak fillets and lemon chicken.

I made lemon tofu chicken last week using the amazing Health Wise gluten free batter mix from Absolutely Gluten Free. K thinks it taste a lot like batter from fish and chip shops.

The tofu chicken part is damn simple:

- Cut tofu to bite size.
- Marinade the tofu in a bit of salt (and/or gluten free soy sauce), white pepper (I use black pepper), paprika and dried thyme.
- Dip them in the batter mix.
- Shallow-fry (or deep-fry) them!

With the Lemon sauce, I used this recipe from Christine's Recipe. It is a bi-lingual omni home cooking blog. Christine is a Chinese mum in Queensland.

When they are ready, pour the lemon sauce and serve!

I did the dish again, two big packs of tofu worth, at the gluten-free flour testing party at Cindy and Michael's home and five of us finished the whole thing in a blink of eye.

If you are too lazy to make the sauce, you can just sprinkle Chinese five spices or salt and pepper on it. Enjoy it with Cooper's Pale Ale or Gypsy Pear Cider. La Dolce Vita!

I also made the Cantonese Style Steak, combining different traditional omni recipes online.

What you need is two packs of tempeh.

- Halve tempeh lengthwise, then halve each half crosswise, then halve each portion crosswise again so you will get 8 thin "steak fillets".
- Boil them in water for 5 to 7mins.
- Marinade them in gluten-free few splashes of gluten-free soy sauce, a tablespoon of sugar, a dash of rice wine vinegar, some white/black pepper and few drops of seasame oil.
- In the mean time, slice 2 medium onions. Fry them but remove it from the pan/wok before they turn brown. Put it aside.
- Fry the tempeh til they are brown on both side.
- In the meantime, mix 2 tablespoons of Tomato Sauce and Spring Gully Gluten Free Worcestershire Sauce (vegan-safe and available at Coles), 1/2 tablespoon sugar and salt and dash of rice wine vinegar together in a bowl.
- Add cooked onions and sauce to the tempeh fillets and gently stir fry it on low/medium heat. Add in corn flour water mixture (1 tablespoon of corn flour with 4 tablespoons of water) and cook til the sauce thicken up.

Here you go:


On my walkman:
The North Wind Blew South by Philamore Lincoln

My father and his siblings grew up in a Public Housing Estate in Hong Kong called So Uk Estate (蘇屋邨). My late grandparents were still living there after my father & Co. married, moved out and had children. They knocked most of the buildings down because they are way too old and the 6 remaining buildings will go in 2012.

In the 80's/90's and maybe the early millennium, we often went back to So UK Estate to visit my grandparents and sometimes have dinner at Lily Chinese Restaurant (百合酒樓). The grand kids, who are all in their 20's/30's now, would sit around a special table and eat children-friendly food. My favourite were deep fried fish fillets with corn sauce, sweet and sour pork, Cantonese style steak fillets and lemon chicken.

I made lemon tofu chicken last week using the amazing Health Wise gluten free batter mix from Absolutely Gluten Free. K thinks it taste a lot like batter from fish and chip shops.

The tofu chicken part is damn simple:

- Cut tofu to bite size.
- Marinade the tofu in a bit of salt (and/or gluten free soy sauce), white pepper (I use black pepper), paprika and dried thyme.
- Dip them in the batter mix.
- Shallow-fry (or deep-fry) them!

With the Lemon sauce, I used this recipe from Christine's Recipe. It is a bi-lingual omni home cooking blog. Christine is a Chinese mum in Queensland.

When they are ready, pour the lemon sauce and serve!

I did the dish again, two big packs of tofu worth, at the gluten-free flour testing party at Cindy and Michael's home and five of us finished the whole thing in a blink of eye.

If you are too lazy to make the sauce, you can just sprinkle Chinese five spices or salt and pepper on it. Enjoy it with Cooper's Pale Ale or Gypsy Pear Cider. La Dolce Vita!

I also made the Cantonese Style Steak, combining different traditional omni recipes online.

What you need is two packs of tempeh.

- Halve tempeh lengthwise, then halve each half crosswise, then halve each portion crosswise again so you will get 8 thin "steak fillets".
- Boil them in water for 5 to 7mins.
- Marinade them in gluten-free few splashes of gluten-free soy sauce, a tablespoon of sugar, a dash of rice wine vinegar, some white/black pepper and few drops of seasame oil.
- In the mean time, slice 2 medium onions. Fry them but remove it from the pan/wok before they turn brown. Put it aside.
- Fry the tempeh til they are brown on both side.
- In the meantime, mix 2 tablespoons of Tomato Sauce and Spring Gully Gluten Free Worcestershire Sauce (vegan-safe and available at Coles), 1/2 tablespoon sugar and salt and dash of rice wine vinegar together in a bowl.
- Add cooked onions and sauce to the tempeh fillets and gently stir fry it on low/medium heat. Add in corn flour water mixture (1 tablespoon of corn flour with 4 tablespoons of water) and cook til the sauce thicken up.

Here you go:


On my walkman:
The North Wind Blew South by Philamore Lincoln

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

White Lotus Vegetarian Restaurant

There are a few Chinese Vegetarian Restaurants in Melbourne. Enlightened Cuisine in the CBD is probably the most popular one. Vegie Hut in Boxhill is the only vegan Yum Cha place in town and their faux meat dishes draw vegans from different suburbs to the De Facto Chinatown of Melbourne. My favourite one, however, is White Lotus.

Their food is more home style, has much less (if any) MSG compared to other mock meat places and I like their friendly but laid back service. I have eaten there for my last few birthdays. I also ate there before my neck surgery in case I couldn't leave the hospital alive.

If the contestants of MasterChef Australia are cooking off with the chef of White Lotus, the signature dish would be:

Tamarind "Fish"!

I love the contrast of the soft rolled bean curd sheets and the crispiness of seaweed. The tamarind sauce is perfect, with the right amount of spiciness and sourness.

The cream corn soup is not bad neither

The gluten free options however are very limited. Kristy had the stir-fried tofu and vegies with satay sauce. It was pretty right-on and refreshing.

They also do really cool "drumsticks", roasted "duck" and lemon "chicken".

Steph went there recently and blogged about it. Cindy and Michael went there back in April, 2007. I don't know why I have never blogged about it.

White Lotus has been opened for four decades. Owner Peter Li is retiring so his children are running it on the weekend. My friend called up to book a table last week and was notified by the answering machine that they are closed till further notice due to family illness.

I wish the Li family well and I look forward to enjoying their awesome food again very soon.

Address: 185 Victoria St, West Melbourne
Ph: 9326 6040

On the walkman:
Live! At Meredith - The Dirty Three

There are a few Chinese Vegetarian Restaurants in Melbourne. Enlightened Cuisine in the CBD is probably the most popular one. Vegie Hut in Boxhill is the only vegan Yum Cha place in town and their faux meat dishes draw vegans from different suburbs to the De Facto Chinatown of Melbourne. My favourite one, however, is White Lotus.

Their food is more home style, has much less (if any) MSG compared to other mock meat places and I like their friendly but laid back service. I have eaten there for my last few birthdays. I also ate there before my neck surgery in case I couldn't leave the hospital alive.

If the contestants of MasterChef Australia are cooking off with the chef of White Lotus, the signature dish would be:

Tamarind "Fish"!

I love the contrast of the soft rolled bean curd sheets and the crispiness of seaweed. The tamarind sauce is perfect, with the right amount of spiciness and sourness.

The cream corn soup is not bad neither

The gluten free options however are very limited. Kristy had the stir-fried tofu and vegies with satay sauce. It was pretty right-on and refreshing.

They also do really cool "drumsticks", roasted "duck" and lemon "chicken".

Steph went there recently and blogged about it. Cindy and Michael went there back in April, 2007. I don't know why I have never blogged about it.

White Lotus has been opened for four decades. Owner Peter Li is retiring so his children are running it on the weekend. My friend called up to book a table last week and was notified by the answering machine that they are closed till further notice due to family illness.

I wish the Li family well and I look forward to enjoying their awesome food again very soon.

Address: 185 Victoria St, West Melbourne
Ph: 9326 6040

On the walkman:
Live! At Meredith - The Dirty Three

reade more... Résuméabuiyad