Vegan eating NZ - post Milford Tramp

Have you ever done a tramp in NZ? Or a multi-day hike anywhere in the world? If you have, you'll know that after 4 days of eating the same food, you'll be craving something different in a big way. That's how I felt when we got back to Te Anau after completing the Milford Tramp.

First thing on the menu was one very long, very hot shower. It was awesome, the best shower I have EVER had. I was so in love with that shower I wanted to marry it.

Anyway, moving on, second thing on the menu was a nice glass of whiskey - which definitely hit the spot. And third thing on the menu was a hot, tasty meal. The Ranch in Te Anau provided just that. It's not a fancy place - just a country cafe/bistro/pub playing some pretty bad country music. But it was warm, the staff were friendly & they had vegetarian nachos on the menu. All i had to do was pass on the cheese & I was delivered a beautiful, tasty, crunchy, hot plate of goodness. The topping was the best thing about these nachos - with a whole mix of sauteed vegetables & beans.

The Ranch Cafe & Bar
111 Town Centre, Te Anau
7 days, 12pm til late

The fourth thing on the menu had to wait until the next morning - a real coffee. NZ is like France - they do bowls of coffee. Bowls of coffee are so awesome. Especially when you haven't had a real coffee in 4 days... sigh :-)

Vegan eating NZ - Otago Rail Trail

When we headed off on our adventure on the Otago Rail Trail, I wasn't expecting a whole lot in the way of vegan food. After all, once you leave the big cities behind in Australia, you're pretty much left with chips or salad at the pub. Not so in NZ. Not only is vegan not a dirty word, I actually found that people went out of their way to please me. Obviously, there were a couple of times when I resorted to a bowl of wedges at the pub, but considering we were on the road for 4 full days, that's not too bad.

Here are a couple of the highlights, starting with the Dunstan Hotel in Clyde. This is a baked potato stuffed with stir-fried vegies. I asked for no dairy & voila! This monster of a meal was promptly delivered. Awesome. I struggled to finish it, but forced myself to swallow every last mouthful, because I was worried I wouldn't see that many vegetables again for the next 4 days. I was wrong (happily).

Dunstan Hotel
35 Sunderland St, Clyde
7 days 11am-11.30pm
www.dunstanhotel.co.nz

My other highlight was the Oturehua Tavern. Grahame & Liz run this awesome country pub & were our saviours after we were caught in 30min of drenching rain on the final leg into town. After settling into our room & changing into dry clothes, we wandered into the pub in our socks, put our shoes by the fire to dry & pretty much spent the rest of the evening curled up next to the fire sampling the local reds.

Having been told I was vegan (because our room came with breakfast), Liz very kindly went out of her way to make me a special lentil pie (& also made the bro a vegetarian version of the same pie). It was so awesome I can't really describe it in words. Because it wasn't just that the pie tasted good (& it tasted really really good). It was the friendliness, the welcoming atmosphere, the willingness to go out of their way to please & the feeling of having a warm, delicious meal at the end of a long day's cycling.

I highly recommend paying Grahame & Liz a visit. If you're planning to visit for lunch or dinner I would call ahead because I don't think there's anything vegan on the menu, but the tavern is equally worth a visit for a drink & a good chat.

Oturehua Tavern
Main Rd, Oturehua
Not sure about opening hours - give them a call 03 444 5856

Vegan eating NZ - Wellington

After 3 weeks in NZ I was pleasantly surprised with how well I was eating. I knew from prior research that Auckland (which I didn't even get around to visiting) & Wellington were going to be good, but I was a bit unsure about the rest of the country.

Here's a summary of the vegan eats I sampled in Wellington at the beginning & end of my trip. Starting off with a snack at Matterhorn. Matterhorn is all dark wood, dim lighting & trendy as can be. I liked it, but would have felt more comfortable at a laid-back bar. We got there too late for the full menu so had to satisfy ourselves with the bar snacks (there isn't really a whole lot more choice on the other menus for a vegan anyway). There are a couple of vegan options in the snacks - I went for the White Bean & Lemon Dip with Crispy Pitas & Spring Onion Relish.

This was yummy - not much different from what I make at home, but then, I wasn't at home was I?

Matterhorn
106 Cuba St, Wellington
Mon-Fri 11.30am-late; Sat-Sun 10am-late
www.matterhorn.co.nz

While discussing where we should go for dinner one evening I discovered Southern Cross. This pub/bar has a very vegan-friendly menu, making it oh so easy by actually marking the suitable items with the goold ol' 'v' for vegetarian or 'vg' for vegan. Love it. First visit I chose the Homemade Dips with Olives & Toasted Bread.

Not super-fancy, but everything it promised to be - there was a kumara & a beetroot dip & all the breads were really tasty.

The bro went with something a little more adventurous - a Stonegrill with Marinated Tofu, Veggies & Sesame Soy Noodles. The stonegrill is a volcanic rock heated to 400 degrees celsius, which you then use to grill your own meal. It's pretty cool. And also very tasty.

On my second visit I wasn't as hungry, so chose the Warm Winter Salad of parsnip, pear, walnuts, greens & marinated tofu. It was a big meal & extremely satisfying. Really hit the spot.

I loved this place. The vibe was great, the staff were friendly, the service was efficient & the music was cool. You should definitely put it on your Wellington list.

Southern Cross
39 Abel Smith St, Te Aro, Wellington
No idea what their hours are, but you could give them a call - 04 384 9085
www.thecross.co.nz

Here we have one of the vegan breakfast options at the Maranui Cafe - the Scrambled Tofu with Avocado. There was way too much soy sauce on this - especially for a breakfast dish. But I loved the avocado toast - it went some way to balancing out that overwhelming salty flavour.

Maranui is a really cool cafe with great staff, great music, a laid-back vibe & fantastic views over the harbour. There's not a great deal on offer for vegans, but the coffee is good, so I recommend you at least give it a go.

Maranui Cafe
Maranui Surf Life Saving Club
The Parade, Lyall Bay, Wellington,
7 days, 7am-5pm
www.maranuicafe.co.nz

Last but not least is the Wellington stalwart - Midnight Espresso. For an omni cafe, this place is uber-vegan friendly. There's loads to choose from - whether you want a quick counter snack or something more substantial off the menu.

On my first visit I was just after a refreshing drink & decided to ask if their milkshakes could be made vegan. The answer? Yes they can. And to replace the dairy ice-cream they used avocado... aweseome! So here is my Vegan Raspberry & Avocado milkshake - super creamy, beautifully rich & even a little bit good for me :-)

My second visit to Midnight was at lunchtime & I was starving after a morning of tourist-type activities. I chose the vegan nachos. They came loaded with vegan goodies - beans, olives, jalapenos, salsa, avocado, vegan mayo & hommus. Yum yum yum!

Wellington knows how to do cool without pretension like nowhere else I've ever been & Midnight is no exception. Friendly staff, awesome laid-back vibe, good music (of course) & a menu that will leave you wanting to come back again & again until you have tried it all. A must for any veg*n in town.

Midnight Espresso
178 Cuba St, Wellington
Mon-Fri 7.30am-late; Sat-Sun 8am-late

Sydney Cruelty Free Festival

Last Sunday I was lucky enough to be in Sydney for the Cruelty Free Festival. I stopped off early in the morning to have a quick look around, but having just eaten a big breakfast, I decided to head off to do some work & return later in the day.

By the time I got back it was about 2pm & my tummy was rumbling pretty loudly. After umming & ahhing for a while I decided on the spinach & mushroom gozleme for lunch.

The gozleme was much more filling that I anticipated, so I had to walk around a bit before I could face dessert. There was SO MUCH to choose from. Cupcakes, cheescake, brownies, icecream, pastries, cookies, I was overwhelmed with choice.

In the end I couldn't go past the vegan cornetti (cream horn). Look at that beauty!

The pastry was super-light & flaky, filled with a delicious soy cream. I'm normally not a big soy-cream fan, but this one was nice.

Because there was so much choice I decided to have a second dessert course. This is a hazelnut Hungarian pull-apart pastry. It was their last one, so even though I only wanted a half, I got the whole thing for $5 - bargain! It was huge - about the length of a paper towel roll but much wider. And it was still warm from the oven - I had to stop myself from devouring the whole thing & making myself sick.

After another day of eating way too much I settled down on the grass in front of the main stage to watch some bands. It was so nice I abandoned my plans to move on and stayed for the rest of the afternoon. I was lucky enough to catch one of my favourite Australian artists - Diana Anaid.

Diana is a long-term vegan and animal rights activist. It was the perfect end to the festival to lie in the sun and listen to her beautiful music.

Thanks CFF organisers! Hopefully next year I'll be able to help out as well.

More Sydney vegan eats

I had one of those moments when I was uploading the photos for this post (all of stuff I ate on Saturday). I suddenly realised, 'holy crap, that's a lot of food!'. As one friend said, it's OK, you're on holiday. I like her thinking, but I'm not sure that I can justify the 'I'm on holiday, I'll eat whatever I want' thing for 3 months (and counting)... It's just so exciting to be in a new place - I want to try everything and I want it now!

Anyway, lets talk about the food. Next on my list of Sydney vegan-eats was Naked Espresso in Newtown. I was extremely tempted by the giant fry up and the Aussie vegan feast, but I decided to be sensible and went for the BLAT instead (using redwood vegan bacon). It came as an open sandwich with a side of vegan mayo & Dijon mustard. This was tasty, but I was left feeling a little dissatisfied. I think it's because this is the kind of meal I can make easily at home. When I go out for a meal I like to get stuff that's a bit different, or fancier than what I can be bothered to do myself. Not that I'm blaming Naked, I should have put more thought into my order.

I checked out the vegan pizzas on the Basil Pizza menu while I was there and I can't wait to get back and try them!

Naked Espresso
126 King St, Newtown
Sat-Sun 9am-2pm
www.cafenaked.com

For lunch I went back to my old Sydney backup - Iku. This time I opted for a change to my regular mezze box and got a rice ball wrap. It was all kinds of delicious, mainly because there was no skimping on the sauces. There were 2 different sauces in there, something tahini-ish and the other mayo-like and there was heaps!

Iku Wholefood
Various locations throughout Sydney, check website for opening hours
www.ikuwholefood.com.au

S & I met up with a couple of friends in Newtown for dinner & by the time we wandered down King St & chose Arabella - a Lebanese restaurant that K had visited before, we were all starving. Hence these photos are of the carnage left behind after our feast - we just couldn't wait for the photos to be taken!

This is what's left of my Fatoush - the salad was loaded up with beautiful deep-fried flat bread and tons of olive oil & lemon juice - yum yum yum!

The dips - only two of which were vegan - the hummus on the left & the garlic on the right. The waiter (possibly the owner?) had said originally that since we had ordered so much food he would 'bring us some dips'. This implied to all of us that they were complimentary. We were wrong - they were on the final bill. Oh well, they tasted good!

My fried cauliflower with tahini dipping sauce. I'm a huge fan of cauliflower but I've never eaten it like this before - I will be in future because it was delicious!

Two lonely felafels that no-one could squeeze in. I think these were my favourite dish - they were super-crispy & came with a side of pickled vegetables and the same tahini sauce I had with the cauliflower.

Just as we were all groaning & moaning about having eaten too much, the bellydancers came out (I think they are there Saturday & Sunday nights). I would have like to stay for the entertainment, but the others were all pretty tired so we said goodbye.

The food at Arabella was really really good - for that reason alone I'll go back. The service was friendly & efficient and there was a pleasant atmosphere. The prices are fairly high but now that we know how much you get for your money, next time we won't order so much.

Arabella
489 King St, Newtown
7 days 5-11pm; Fri-Sun 12-3pm
www.arabella.com.au

O Organic Produce, Surry Hills

On my quest for a vegan breakfast in Surry Hills, I happily stumbled across O Organic Produce - a recommendation from Mandee at Cupcake Kitteh. I have since discovered they have 2 other stores - at Bondi Westfield & Wynyard station.

O has that healthy, friendly vibe you get in most organic places. Lots of timber, lots of smiling staff and nice chilled music. We were there for breakfast, but I was sorely tempted by the array of takeaway lunch treats in the cabinet - the salads looked amazing.

I've actually been a couple of times now - it's the kind of place I know I will go back to again and again until I have tried every vegan thing on the menu.

On the first visit S got his favourite juice - apple, carrot & ginger. It was delivered quickly & was as fresh as you would expect.

I didn't have to think much about what to order for breakfast - the vegan french toast was a no-brainer. I was very curious to see how it would stack up to the Monk Bodhi Dharma version (see 1 & 2).

It stacked up well. The bread was super fresh, perfectly fried & topped with lovely sweet fresh fruit, toasted coconut & agave syrup. I still have a soft-spot for that vegan cream cheese at Monk Bodhi, but this version has to be at least equal for flavour.

There was only one hiccup - they forgot my coffee and when I finally got it after I had finished my breakfast the milk was burnt, which wasn't the nicest end to the meal.

Visit 2 went off without a hitch. This time I opted for savoury - organic baked beans on sourdough, with a soy banana smoothie.

The beans were really really good. The sauce had tons of flavour - based around their zucchini & tomato chutney and there were lots of nice fresh greens to balance the heavier, spicy flavour of the sauce.

O Organic Produce
487 Crown St, Surry Hills
Mon-Sat 7.30am-4.30pm; Sun 8.30am-3.30pm
www.organicproduce.com.au

Crave Sushi, Terrigal

Just a quick note to tell you about a new cafe in Terrigal. Crave Sushi has taken the place of a cafe (which I can't recall the name of) that was stupidly trendy & overpriced.

Unfortunately it seems to have maintained the status quo. While the staff were very friendly the day we visited (in complete opposition to what other reviewers have described), the prices are high, even for Terrigal standards. This is no fine-dining Japanese restaurant and offers nothing different from a standard Japanese takeaway that you would get on every corner in Sydney & Melbourne.

But, it still offers vegans another choice on the Coast, so I thought I should share. Here are the vegetarian inside-out rolls - crammed with lots of yummy tofu & fresh vegies.

I would still recommend vegans go to Body Fuel for a decent meal, but, if you find it closed (as we did), Crave at least offers a healthy alternative.

Crave
16 Church St, Terrigal
7 days, breakfast & lunch; dinner on the weekends in summer (call for exact times - 4384 6751)