Melbourne Vegan eats weekend

Inspired by the adelaide vegan festival, refreshed by the completion of exam marking we drove to Melbourne for a weekend of vegan eats. First stop, Keith’s landrover on a pole. Next stop, the rather ugly giant koala. First eatery on the list after being stuck in Melbourne traffic for the better part of an hour, Las Vegan bakery/cafe. Second lunch was down the street at Soul Cafe. Next, after a little drive, was Lord of the Fries where we ate at a 20% discount fries, mini-burger and fried v-chicken pieces. Needing a rest after 3 meals, we waited until dinner and ate an amazing whole v-fish at Vegie Mum. The waiter was hilarious and not true to his word “bad service, great food”; the service was fantastic as was the food. Feeling hungry again the next morning we ventured round to the very atmospheric Monk Bodhi Dharma for some great coffee, chai, french toast and banana bread with lemon tofu ricotta. The waiter had a “black coffee” tattoo on the back of his calf and eating was done on a large shared table. Lunch was at the famous Box Hill Vegie Hut for more Asian cusine including mock duck, pork and chicken and a Sunday-only dim sum menu that included 4 seasons buns and grilled dumplings. I think my stomach is still reeling from the overload of too much good food.

Retro Benno with the ugly Giant Koala that has red lights in its eyes and bizarre ear hair.

Golden Age veg store – a great place to stock up on instant noodles.

Highlights of 5am: Landrover on a pole.

Lord of the Fries – fries handcut with love.

Lord of the Fries veg-chicken pieces with Aussie sauce.

Fries with gravy and vegan cheese.

Don’t walk past, go in and try Lord of the Fries.

Original Mini-burger at Lord of the Fries

Breakfast at Monk Bodhi Dharma in St Kilda included Banana Bread with Lemon Ricotta (made from tofu cream cheese)

Decadent vegan french toast with a spiced pear at Monk Bodhi Dharma

The water jugs were old bottle, the sugar was in glass jars with cork lids making Monk Bodhi Dharma feel a bit like an old apothecary.

Down a lane behind a supermarket, Monk Bodhi Dharma was worth finding.

Santa try outs.

Vegie Hut’s 4 Seasons Buns

Mock with black bean sauce at Vegie Hut

Complementary congee for ordering 2 items off the dim sum Sunday menu.

Vegie Hut grilled dumplings

Vegie Hut noodles where the mock was made out of something like potato.

Vegie Hut v-pork.

Vegie Hut on Whitehorse Road, Box Hill.

Vegie mum free dessert of watermelon and fruit jellies.

Vegie Mum front of shop

Vegie Mum waiter – fashion designer by day, waiter by night, and after midnight, gigolo.

Vegie mum entree of skewers with peanut satay sauce

Vegie Mum special dish that took a whole day to make – whole v-fish.

Eating like Kings and Queens

M & M took us out to lunch on Saturday at Bliss Organic Cafe where we feasted like kings and queens. We ordered a main each, but cut it into four and shared it around so we each got to try a bit of every main. Then afterwards we stuffed ourselves with banana cake, mocha joy cake and shakes. Yum!

Bliss burger with a huge pattie inside.

Bliss wrap.

Scrambled tofu with mushroom, potato, seeds and sultanas.

Avocado and tomato bruchetta with a PEA POD!

Hana yori dango

We’ve been clearing out the cupboards and eating leftover food this week.

We’ve eaten eggplant lasagne,

chickpea and coconut curry,

DANGO!!!

Made with love by us… a packet of mochi flour, 190mL water, stir it up, roll into 2cm balls and put in boiling water for 3 minutes.

Cooked mochi balls...parfait?

Cooked dango drizzled with golden syrup. I think it needs a skewer.

Celebrating our 5th wedding anniversary in Sapporo

Coming all the way to Hokkaido, Benno wanted to visit an Ainu culture museum. Ainu are the indigenous peoples of Japan, the last remnants live in Hokkaido. The Sapporo Ainu Culture Promotion Center, Pirka Kotan, was at the end of a subway line followed by a 40 minute bus journey. We got on a number 12 bus, which is what we thought was the right one according to sightseeing map. However, it took a different route. The bus driver stopped at the terminal and pointed us in the right direction of the main road to get the bus that goes to “Koganeyu onsen” bus stop. It was a little slippery walking on the ice, but we found the next bus stop and soon a bus came. We got to “Koganeyu” bus stop and asked the driver if it was the same as “Koganeyu onsen”. He said no, keep going. So we waited, then he stopped 3 stops later and said that if you want “Koganeyu onsen” stop, it was back there. We walked all the way back in the snow and ice (stupid bus driver) and finally found the Ainu museum. It took us about 2 hours to reach it.

The Ainu made interesting clothing. They made woven bark fabric for gloves, cloaks, headbands and bags. We went outside and saw some traditional buildings covered in snow. There was also a hut that they kept stolen bear cubs for fattening up then eating. It made Benno feel sad.

Afterwards we headed back on the bus and subway to Sapporo, then down to the end of another subway line and on another bus to lunch at Chi-e no ki, a vegan macrobiotic restaurant. It felt like a blizzard walking from the bus stop to the restaurant through all the snow. We had a lovely late lunch at around 3pm to celebrate our 5th wedding anniversary. We ate the curry set that came with tempeh (Benno is happy) and the fried rice set. Then we had the moist and rich carob cake for dessert and the waffle set with ginger herb tea. Unable to move but needing to get home, we waited in outside in the snow for the bus, throwing snowballs at each other and having snow fights.

We stopped off at the Jupiter International supermarket in Sapporo eki for some treats, then booked our limited express and shinkansen tickets for tomorrow’s ride home.

We ate out at Aoi Sora again for dinner. It was very enjoyable and the staff are lovely. While the menu is small, every item is delicious and beautifully presented. It was a fantastic wedding anniversary dinner. We had the fish burger (awesome, best ever) and the millet burger set with many salad options. For dessert (even though Lara was already full) Benno ordered (and ate almost entirely on his own) the hot apple pie, the parfait and genmai amezake. To top it off, we got given presents again- free rich chocolate balls that were so creamy and chocolatey. And, I think he gave us a big discount for coming again as we only paid Y4000 for all that.

On the way back to the hotel we stopped at Odori and saw the remains of the snow sculptures – a pile of snow blocks. It was almost -7 degrees and noticably chillier.

If you go to Sapporo, please eat at Aoi Sora! It’s so tasty and welcoming!

Aoi Sora’s “fish” burger. It was so tasty. The tartare sauce was awesome, as was the crumbed tofu/nori “fish”.

Traditional Ainu building. This is a toilet room, covered in snow.

Benno with his parfait. Soy icecream, fruit, cheesecake, YUM!

Chi-e no ki and their waffle set.

Chi-e no ki’s curry set. Brown rice, salad, lentil curry with veg and tempeh!

Chi-e no ki’s fried rice set. Soup and brown rice with gluten pieces.

The TV tower at night surrounded by clouds.

The Ainu cage. They would steal bear cubs from the den when the mother bear had gone hunting. Then they would tie up the baby bear in the hut, fatten it up and eat it later.

Carob cake from Chi-e no ki. Really rich and delicious.

Apple pie. Aoi Sora has awesome chefs.

Aoi Sora’s millet burger set. Brown rice, veg soup, millet burger, little sample of curry, salad, pumpkin and grain salad, tofu slice with mustard topping.

The remains of an ice statue after being crushed up into blocks by the machine.

Benno feels sad about the poor baby bear cub.

Traditional Ainu building covered in snow. Quite roomy on the inside, and smokey, and with self closing door.

Eat more greens

On our way home from Sendai we had dinner with Benno’s friend in Tokyo at Eat More Greens.

Tofu and mikan risotto

Rich chocolate tart with jam and soy cream.

Hommus and pita

Burdock curry dish

Christmas lunch

Christmas wasn’t quite the same this year… it was a normal workday for most of Japan, and it was just the two of us for Christmas lunch.

Still, we had cashew nut loaf with roast sweet potato and hassleback potatoes, gravy and broccoli with “cheesy sauce” followed by mini pumpkin pies with strawberries and maple syrup.

mini pumpkin pies with strawberries and maple syrup.

Cashew nut loaf.

Hassleback potatoes.

Gingerbread biscuits.

Kamakura

We woke up to a 22 degree sunny day for Kamakura, although no doubt up in the mountainous Hakone it was still foggy and raining.

We caught the train south to Kamakura (along with the Sunday crowds) and then a local bus to the Daibutsu. We wandered around and inside the Daibutsu, marvelling at it’s (hollow) construction. The seated Buddha is about 11 m tall and was built almost 800 years ago. The buildings that housed the Daibutsu were destroyed multiple times by tsunami and today it sits uncovered.

We walked down the hill to Hase Dera and ambled through the gardens, looking at the Kannon statues and buildings. The main Kannon statue was carved from a single piece of camphor wood and was covered in gold leaf. There was a nice view of the beach, and several hawks circling the skies about the temple. We walked through a dark cave with a low ceiling , the Benten-kutsu cave, that contained statues of mostly female gods.

We walked back in the direction of the station, having lunch at Cafe Life Force on the way. We had the soup set and the ume pilaf followed by a rhubarb cheesecake, brown rice waffle with maple syrup and rum and rasin icecream.

We caught the train back to Yokohama where mum and dad wandered around China town. Then we had curry-rice for dinner.

Inside the daibutsu, looking up into the head.

Brown rice waffle with maple syrup from Cafe Life Force.

Daibutsu at Kamakura.

Rum and Raisin ice cream at Cafe Life Force.

The 11m tall sitting daibutsu at Kamakura, with beautiful blue sunny Sunday skies.

Soup set with brown rice onigiri at Cafe life Force.

Statues at Hase dera.

Lanterns hanging from a building at Hase dera.

Hase dera.

praying statues at Hase dera

Rhubarb tofu cheesecake at Cafe Life Force

The ume pilaf set meal at Cafe Life Force

Hase dera, Kamakura.

Yokohama

From Hakone we took a local bus to Odawara station, took the Excellent Express 30000 romance car train to Shinjuku, then went out to Kichijoji to Deva Deva cafe. We ate pizzas and burgers with hot lemonade and ginger chai. Benno had a banana cheesecake to finish.

Then we headed south to Yokohama. We walked through MM21, past the Landmark Tower (the tallest building in Japan at 296m, apparently), the old sailing ship, the Cosmo World amusements, into World Porters and around the shops. It was still too misty to see across the bay to Kisarazu, or behind us to Mt Fuji.

We had dinner in Yokohama station’s Lumine department store at Chaya. We had another delicious meal – panini, bean curry, vegetable curry, millet burger followed by more desserts of berry pie, tofu cheesecake, nut caramel slice and a sweet potato slice. All very yum.

We walked off our dinner and rode on the tallest clock in the world, the Cosmo Clock ferris wheel. The view by night was very pretty, but we still couldn’t see Kisarazu across the bay.

Pizzas and yogi burgers from Deva Deva cafe, Kichijoji.

Dinner from Chaya, Yokohama. From top left, bean curry, millet burg, vegetable curry and roasted vegetable panini.

Desserts from Chaya. From top left, berry pie, nut caramel pie, backed tofu cheesecake and sweet potato pie.

Benno and Lara by Nippon Maru, an old sailing ship in Yokohama.

Cosmo Clock by night.

All 70 floors of the 296m tall Landmark Tower by night, Yokohama.

Yokohama's night time cityscape.

Clear skies, cold weather

Down to 11 degrees today, so winter is on it’s way. However, that also means that we see Mt Fuji more often through the clear, cold skies. Yay for Fuji-san!

I rode my bike to school today and cut my riding time in half. Maybe it’s because the weather is no longer humid that it’s easier to exercise… anyway, the first time I rode my bike it took 50 minutes but today it only took 25 minutes and I barely broke a sweat (yep, must be the lack of humidity).

We cooked with gluten pieces for the first time after we bought a packet at the Tokyo VegFood Festa. Not too bad, but we need Sunny Place’s secret recipe, I think. The other interesting food item is the young ginger bud (the pink/purple flower things). Crispy and strong tasting, just like ginger (maybe also called Torch ginger bud / Bunga Kantan in other parts of asia).

Brrr…. time for a big curry to warm us up.

Kimono and Kaimono

The need for sleep (especially after the overnight bus ride) overtook us so our first outing was for brunch at noon. We went to Cafe Proverbs 15:17 as we had enjoyed it so much last time we went. There seasonal menu had changed for autumn so there were new dishes to choose from. We feasted on the tempeh burger XD and teriyaki tofu set. Then we had the fig tart with tofu cream and cinnamon for dessert.

We caught the bus to the Nishijin Textile Center and watched the last few minutes of a kimono fashion show. However, there was a bus load of Chinese? tourists with all their cameras out so it was difficult to see. After the show the tour-group raced upstairs, tore the shop to pieces and then ran out the their buses again. We looked around at the silk kimono fabrics and watched people working the looms.

Although it was raining we next went for a walk along the Philosophers Path. From below Ginkakuji we wandered along the river, doing some shopping along the way for omiyage (chestnut yatsuhashi, a bamboo water gun, a wooden doll) and followed the path all the way to Nanzenji where we got on a bus back to where Atsu lives.

After dinner we went to the station near where our overnight bus was departing and found a Karaoke place. We sang songs until it was almost time for our bus to leave. Our bus was a ‘relax’ bus so we had these space-age seats. They tilted back 140 degrees, had extra padding around the sides and head, a little canopy to pull over your head when sleeping and long leg/foot rests. See the futurist seats here . We slept much better on the bus home, and then caught the express bus from Tokyo to Kisarazu where it was still raining, just as we left it.

The distant future, the year 2000, futuristic space seats on overnight buses - the canopy you can pull over your head to sleep well on the bus.

The Philosopher’s Path, Kyoto.

Kyoto tower by night, just north of the station.

Warm fig tart with tofu cream.

Tempeh burger XD

Teriyaki tofu with miso, brown rice, salad, tea.

Benno becoming wise on the Philosopher’s Walk.

Kimono show at the Nishijin Textile Centre.

Hand weaving fabrics on the loom.

The distant future, the year 2000, futuristic space seats on overnight buses – the canopy you can pull over your head to sleep well on the bus.