Sendok Garpu

July 14, 2024

   

Two years ago Laura recommended Sendok Garpu to us, and this year while in Brisbane we took the time to cross the Victoria Bridge and try it for dinner. Its arcade location, low stools and adjoining grocery section hint that it's aimed primarily at city-worker lunchers, but it still attracts plenty of diners and delivery orders for an early dinner.

The Indonesian menu is enormous (I've linked to 20 pages below!), with vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free and spicy options well marked throughout. It was tough to prioritise. 

   

Laura had warned us that the food was very spicy, so we figured we should set ourselves up with cooling drinks. Michael's Es Kopi Gula Aren ($7) had high doses of sugar and caffeine, and kept him abuzz for some time. Es Soda Gembira ($6) was a new-to-me mix of raspberry soda and condensed milk. The carbonation-and-milk combo actually worked pretty well, and the flavour reminded me of jelly tips.

   

Michael focused on the range of rendang dishes on offer, and chose a vegetarian adjustment to the Mini Tumpeng Rendang ($29.95). Around a centre of yellow herb coconut rice, he received an excellent jackfruit rendang (instead of beef), garlic crackers (instead of prawn), chilli egg, crispy tempeh, a very hot shrimp-free sambal and salad. He loved it, and even wished for more rendang.

   

Instead, he satisfied himself with picking at my leftovers. I'd ordered the Ketoprak ($15.95), noted as a famous vegan dish in Jakarta, and available at three spice levels. The featured rice cake chunks are barely visible - they're steamed soft and starchy, not dense and bouncy like Korean rice cakes. They were tossed together with thin rice noodles, then topped with bean sprouts and a sweet, mild and thick peanut sauce. Around the edges I could pick at spongy tofu cubes, boiled egg (not vegan, in spite of that menu heading) and garlic crackers.

We were full, even satisfied, except that I'd noticed a poster advertising martabak (dessert pancakes) on the way in. Happily these were boxed up to take away, so we walked a serve back to our accommodation and enjoyed thick pandan pancakes sandwiching a cheese and condensed milk filling from the comfort of our hotel bed.

Sendok Garpu's CBD location didn't fit naturally into our other planned activities but we were so glad we made the effort to visit. The staff were very welcoming, the food was novel to us, and most of all it was tasty. We're likely to work it into the schedule when we're back in Brissy.

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The Hangry Chef was a big fan of the past Coopers Plains incarnation of Sendok Garpu.

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Sendok Garpu

Shop 6, 97 Elizabeth St, Brisbane CBD

(07) 4602 9979

story, recommendations 1, recommendations 2, entrees 1, entrees 2, set menu A, set menu B, street food 1, street food 2, rice dishes, wok dishes, soup, mains 1, mains 2, mains 3, mains 4, sides, sambal & extras, drinks, desserts  

https://www.sendokgarpu.com.au/

Accessibility: The entry is wide and the stairs up to the tables include a wheelchair lift. Tables are low with backless stools, quite densely packed with a wide pathway along one side. We ordered at our table and paid at a waist-height counter. Toilets are shared within the arcade and located two levels lower, accessible by both stairs and lift; an swipe card from the restaurant staff is needed to access them. The toilets are gendered and a large ungendered cubicle with supports is also available. 

Brisbane 2023

August 8-10, 2023

   

A family celebration brought us up to Queensland in August, and we booked a couple of nights in Brisbane afterwards. Meals were limited and precious, with so many good veg*n options around West End and South Brisbane. We started with brunch at Alphabet Cafe with our friend Tash; she took us on a tour of the local second-hand shops and advised us some of the better eating in the neighbourhood. 

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The following morning, we followed her advice to The Twin, a cafe with a gorgeous garden courtyard by its side. The Twin is best known for its sandwich rotation: all sandwiches are made with puffy, generously salted squares of house-baked focaccia and at any time there are four vegetarian fillings available. Once each fortnight, the flavour that sells the fewest sandwiches is replaced with something new.

I went for a long-term champion, the tomato ($16). Thick slices of tomato are teamed with mustard pickle, malt vinegar mayo, and French fry-style crisps (plus some bonus greens). I was ecstatic. Before I was ecstatic, I was mildly surprised that Michael looked past the BBQ jackfruit option to order the marinated zucchini sandwich ($16). With broccoli sauce, fried shallots and Dijonnaise, it was fresh and green and flavoursome.

As if ultra-fresh sandwiches in a garden weren't enough, the Twin staff were just awesome, making us feel like regulars on our first visit. I absolutely would be if I lived closer!

   

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We rarely cover alcoholic drinks on the blog, because neither of us would consider ourselves connoisseurs and because I actually drink very little at all. But even we could tell that Maker is something special. It's a teeny, fancy cocktail bar on Fish Lane staffed with a slightly serious friendliness. Cocktails are named after their feature spirit ($22 each), and the staff will concoct something just for you for a little extra ($24).

I've not had much bourbon in my life, but I looooooved sipping it in combination with passionfruit, white chocolate and lemon (pictured above left). I could barely divert myself away from its wonder to try Michael's also-excellent carbonated vodka cocktail (pictured above right), which included strawberry, coconut and lemon myrtle.

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We resisted the jaffles and cheese plates at Maker in anticipation of dinner. We were hoping to revisit El Planta, but they were taking a winter break! Instead, we hopped on the free local bus and secured an outdoor table at Bar Francine. It also feels special, though a little more relaxed, with mismatched op-shopped plates and chipper service.

Among the three of us, we tried almost everything vegetarian across the menu. The individual French toasts ($8 each, pictured above) spread with marsala onions, ostentatiously piped with mushroom parfait and garnished with a maraschino cherry were surprisingly retro, unsurprisingly rich, and very fun. We also shared a puffy house bread ($8), butter beans with cimi de rapa and pangrattato ($15), a bloomin' onion (!), aka onion fritti with sour cream and sweet chilli ($15), fried Brussels sprouts with manchego and truffle vinaigrette ($24), chips ($10), and an early spring salad ($16). 

Dessert was another throwback: golden syrup dumplings ($16)! These were served small and were easily split among us. Their creamy counterpart was goat's milk gelato, which added a welcome little tang.

   

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Though this visit to Brisbane was brief, we packed in quality time with an old friend and several new food experiences (not to mention some shops, galleries and e-scooter rides!). It's kept us eager to return again soon.

Back in Brisbane

July 6-9, 2022

   

We're so very happy to be back in south-east Queensland for a holiday, spending time with family and friends. We've been celebrating milestones, playing games with the kids, browsing op-shops for bargains, and revelling in our mums' cooking. We booked ourselves a spot in South Brisbane for the last leg of our tour: it's right by the cultural centre, it's easy to get almost anywhere else from there via public transport, it's a short walk from our old neighbourhood of West End. And there's so much veg*n eating to be had! Here are the new-to-us places we loved best.

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(Update 17/07/2024: Grassfed no longer occupy this space and operate as a food truck.)

Grassfed is a small shopfront in Fish Lane that serves all-vegan burgers, chips and soft-serve icecream. Everything is huge and over-the-top but we can happily report that it's big on quality too. Michael's fysh n chips burger (pictured above, right; $15.50) stacked beer-battered mock-fish fillets both inside and on top of the burger! My limited-time special chick'en katsu (pictured above, back centre; $14.90) was just as difficult to get my mouth around, with an ultra-crispy-crumbed mock-chicken patty, two hash browns (I pulled 'em out to eat separately) and a side of Japanese curry sauce for dipping and/or pouring. It was a mistake to order additional curly fries (above, left; $5.50 including aioli), although they were very good too. The seating is a bit of a squeeze, yet we witnessed the staff cheerfully helping a young family bring a pram in.

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El Planta is a nearby vegan Mexican restaurant with a more grown-up atmosphere. I appreciated that they offered specialty mocktails and house-made sodas alongside their alcoholic drinks, and I showed it by ordering one of each (a $12 pineapple margarita mocktail with a smoked salt rim, and the $5 cherry-hibiscus soda of the week). The menu changes often, and we loved everything we ate: cauliflower tacos with crispy kale and cashew cream ($15); beer-battered mock-fish tacos with a thick, dominating morita  ($17); fried Brussels sprouts with almond and habanero mole ($13); and the queso fundido (pictured above; $14), a shallow dip of queso cheeze with black beans, carne asada, chilli oil and spring onion scooped onto thick corn chips. Again, the staff were high energy and happy to help.

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Our friend Tash recommended Alphabet Café as one of the best local breakfasts, and sure enough we were smitten. It's tough to choose across a menu of breakfast tacos and waffles, mushrooms on polenta and a cabinet full of the most luscious looking baked goods and ready-to-toast sandwiches (vegan adaptations to the savoury porridge and sautéed mushrooms are clearly marked). The warmed pesto, pumpkin and parmesan scroll (pictured above, front centre) was perfectly balanced in flavour and texture, and my iced chai (pictured above, back right; $6.50) was gently brewed and not too sweet. Michael was just as enamoured of his savoury porridge (pictured above, back left; $24) which was pumpkin coloured, miso flavoured and topped with spinach, soy eggs, sweet potato, cauliflower, chilli oil, sesame and scallions. We snagged the last coffee cruller for breakfast-dessert.

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(Update 17/07/2024: Botanical Lab has been replaced by teaffee.)

I've been following Botanical Lab's social media for some time, inspired by Susan's many positive posts. Sadly they were closed for several months after bad weather damaged their shop, and I felt very lucky that our visit coincided with their second week of reopening! Botanical Lab offers an overwhelming variety of cute, pastel sweets that I would associate with Japan and Taiwan: bubble teas, cream puffs, mochi, and soft-serve sundaes. There are a decent number of well-marked vegan options.  We were both impressed by the chewy-cakey taro-iced mochi donut (pictured above front). A huge portion of mango popping jelly and a lychee in Michael's iced tea slowed down his usually-speedy drinking in the best possible way (pictured above left; $7). I built a vegan-friendly sundae of Thai milk tea-style soft serve, brown sugar syrup and crunchy nut cereal (pictured above right; $6.80) - it was very cold and surprisingly refreshing, without the strong soy or coconut flavours that often bug me with mock dairy. It's possible to order even more decadently with mochi waffles, parfaits, and layered ombre teas. I can only dream of attending one of Botanical Lab's high tea events.

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(Update 17/07/2024: Nonna's Nightmare has since closed.)

Nonna's Nightmare is a vegan Italian restaurant that's willing to put pineapple on pizza and an eggplant parma in a burger. (In this way, it reminded me of dinner time at Sable.) We stuck with some of the more conventional, albeit veganised, main dishes. My plate of ravioli al tartufo (pictured above front; $28.50) was a study in deep umami: truffle mushroom, salted sage leaves, toasted pine nuts, and parmesan. Michael tried their current pizza special (pictured blurrily above back), a tomato base with roasted artichoke, bacon, black olives and a judicious, understated layer of mozzarella. While we cleared our plates with pleasure, we agreed that we didn't have the appetite for extras like the red wine arancini, crostini ai fichi, cannoli or (my usual weakness) tiramisu. Next time!

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Of course our primary purpose on this trip was to reconnect with people and places that are dear to us, and we've largely succeeded in that. Trying all these terrific restaurants was just a bonus! We both noticed how consistently sunny the staff were at every venue, and it was the easiest thing in the world to beam right back at them.

Newer flavours in West End, Brisbane

 April 17-22, 2021

   

West End has long had one of the more veg-friendly restaurant strips in Brisbane. A quick browse of the Happy Cow map shows that it now has more vegan and vegetarian restaurants than ever before, in a higher concentration than any other Brisbane neighbourhood. Here are three of the all-vegetarian restaurants that we most appreciated during our short stay.

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You Came Again is a vegan bar, now occupying a shopfront that previously housed a Tibetan Momo Café. Though it looked small from the street we were led past the front room, through a corridor, and down the back stairs to a buzzing courtyard. You Came Again isn't sleek, but it is cool, evidence that West End is still home to a sub-culture of haphazard artworks and youths in second-hand clothes. The menu is medium-fancy and reasonably priced. It's more about vegetables than mock meats, though there's aqua faba meringue, mozzarella sticks and Kentucky-fried jackfruit on the menu. 

The centrepiece of our meal was the vegan cheese platter ($25), a gorgeous spread of cashew and coconut-based cheeses, olive tapenade and quince paste, apples, walnuts and Turkish bread. We also loved the harissa roasted carrots ($12), served on red pepper hummus and sprinkled with hazelnuts and pomegranate seeds.

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West End Vegan Restaurant is a Supreme Master-led business, with all the mock meat meals we've come to expect from Chinese restaurants in Australia. It's got something of a food court atmosphere and that suited us just fine for lunch. We were a little too ambitious: yuba drumsticks (3 for $7.50) to start, garlic 'beef' in black bean sauce ($16) for Michael, sweet and sour pork ($15) for me, and rice all round. Ordering from the 'rice dishes' page (rice, steamed vegetables and a feature dish for $15) would have been more sensible, but we really enjoyed the food and appreciated that they mixed in a decent serving of vegetables with the mock meats. 

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Vegeme was the perfect setting to grab an early weeknight dinner with some friends and their young kids. The menu was well labelled, had lots of fun smaller dishes for the kids to graze on (edamame, okonomiyaki, spring rolls) and larger rice and noodle-centred dishes for the larger appetites. I ordered out of character - my body was telling me I needed less fried food and more vegetables - and a $12.50 satay noodle soup sounded modest but tasty. It was a good order - lots of veges, a smattering of tofu and soy protein, plenty of noodles, and a hot flavoursome broth - but it was also enormous. It both nourished and defeated me.

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This is but a sampler of the great foods that West End has to offer. There were too few meals in the day to visit every restaurant and café that interested us, and our stay wasn't timed right to hang out at the Davies Park Market or the Brisbane Vegan Market. Regardless, it's lovely to see a thriving veg scene for the local community.

Stalwarts of West End, Brisbane

 April 17-22, 2021

   

We took some time off work to travel to south-east Queensland in April. It's been about two years since either of us has visited, and we had lots of family and friends to reconnect with. Our trip included almost a week in Brisbane's West End, where we lived just before moving to Melbourne. The neighbourhood has changed enormously, yet also retains many features that we remember fondly. We're amazed at some of the cafés still going strong 15 years later - here are three that we revisited.

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(Update 11/07/2022: Three Monkeys is now closed.)

To enter The Three Monkeys Coffee & Teahouse is to travel back in time 20 or more years (QR code check-in and hand sanny excepted!). It's a rambling converted home with tables tucked in nooks and crannies, opening eventually onto a leafy courtyard. Though I believe it's changed management along the way, the menu seems immovable: foccacia is stuffed with chicken, avocado and sundried tomato; there's Greek salad and quiche, spanakopita and lasagne (beef and vegetarian). A display case bursts with a dozen or more cakes and they're cut in huge slabs. 

After a long walk in the sun, I ordered a Sweet Passion blended fruit drink ($6.95) - unfortunately it was more cordial than fruit juice, but it was refreshing nonetheless. The main appeal of Three Monkeys is that you can laze for hours in the shady back garden without bothering the staff, and that's exactly what I did, with a big plate of nachos and three of my high school friends.

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Indian Kitchen opened up in West End while I lived there. I was a student, and their food was cheap, so a couple boxes of their curries and a naan was a favourite easy takeaway. On this visit we stuck around for lunch, and splurged on a full vegetarian thali each ($10 each) and the special naan of the day, paneer and herb ($5.50), which was cooked specially to order. The curries weren't quite as special as the naan, but still incredible value - on this day we were served (left to right) English cabbage and potato, vege kadhi curry (a new one for me!), and garlic dahl.

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I used to pick up the odd sausage roll from Kim Thanh Hot Bread before I was vegetarian. I don't think I knew a thing about banh mi then, but now I know well what I was missing out on. We grabbed a couple of their tofu-stuffed ones ($7 each) for a quick lunch and walked them home. I felt a pang of regret when I noticed another Boundary Street café touting vegan duck banh mi, but that was assuaged when I sat down and took a bite of my own. This was the most intensely marinated, 'meaty'-textured tofu I'd ever eaten: it had Chinese 5 spice, a slow-burning heat and a sweetness to it that I don't have a hope of replicating.

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Amongst these tasty servings of nostalgia, we also ate at some of West End's newer establishments! I'll highlight some of them in my next post.

A few bites in Brisbane

November 27-30, 2018

I've been back in my home town of Brisbane! It's now more than 12 years since I've lived there, and the Bowen Hills neighbourhood where I was based is unrecognisable. Thankfully Susan of Kittens Gone Lentil is still posting regular updates of vegan eats around town, and most of my choices were inspired by her online recommendations.

First up, I stopped in at Netherworld. It still has the architectural bones of the pub I've always known in this spot but it's been transformed into a low-lit, loud-music pub full of arcade games. The American diner-inspired menu has a vegan baseline, with options to add dairy and cheese on many dishes. I ordered a nice, house-made lemon soda and decided to check out their classic vegan cheeseburger, called the Burgatory ($14), with a side of shoestring fries ($3). This was a solid, salty mock-meat burger, tending towards the mushy-messy, and I liked the onion rings they snuck inside. The fries were pretty good too!

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(Update 17/07/2024: I Like Ramen has since closed.)

I got the word on I Like Ramen from a sharp-eyed vegan colleague. This eatery has been open in Brisbane only a little over a month and is completely 'plant-based'. I was picturing a small counter with just a few stools to perch on, but actually this is another sprawling pub-like environment. I boldly eschewed the ramen bowls and tried some more bunly food. First, a holy 'duck' bao ($8) with excellent crispy edged mock-duck and saucy 'slaw, but not all the subtlety of plum, mint, chilli and pomegranate that I was promised. 

I was nervous that the panko mushroom po' boy ($13) smelled so strongly of seaweed, but the flavours and textures in this roll were actually well balanced: the mushrooms were juicy but not too drippy, with thick crunchy panko crumbs, nestled in with more slaw. I had no regrets, even though I knew I had no room to try Doughlord down the street.

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My trip to Tea Master was a spontaneous nod to nostalgia on my day off. I loved the vegetarian roasted duck noodle ($11.80): the mock meat was thick and fatty, the noodles had a dark sesame oil flavour, and the greens were sauteed in a sweet and salty soy sauce. My pineapple green tea ($3.70) with lychee jelly ($0.50) was indistinguishable from any other bubble tea I've ever ordered here - sweet and fun, but not flavoured with any precision.

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(Update 17/07/2024: Greenhouse Canteen seems to have moved to the Gold Coast.)

I took myself out on a date on Friday night, picking out the vegan Greenhouse Canteen for dinner. It's got a light, instagram-wellness vibe, and friendly staff that were happy to squeeze in an early table for one. I was #blessed with a choice of house-made sodas again (not just kombucha!), and really liked the strawberry and balsamic one ($9). The zucchini flower stuffed with almond fetta ($8) was also a stunner, set on a pillow of broccoli puree with a refreshing garnish of cucumber and pickled onion. The cauliflower wings ($14) were less impressive, lacking crispiness and spiciness.

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I rounded out the night with a Malt Brownie scoop ($5.30) at Gelato Messina. This is no Brisbane original, of course, but it's a chain of great quality gelato that I'm glad to eat in any city I encounter it. This special edition flavour was everything I hoped for, tasting unmistakably of malted milk powder, with a couple big cubes of soft brownie stirred in.

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On this visit, I really felt the time and distance between me and this sunny city... but this wasn't sad at all! Rather, I enjoyed the changes I observed, getting to know what Brisbane has grown to be instead of looking for what I knew it once was.

Seven bites of Brisbane

July 2-9, 2017

I visited Brisbane for a week this month. My trip was scheduled for work, and I stayed on campus at the University of Queensland. My accommodation was on the pretty lake side, near a bus stop and a bridge that didn't exist when I was a student there 15 years ago. I made the best of them, venturing to my old neighbourhood in West End, meeting up and eating out with friends, family and past colleagues at every available opportunity. The weather was stunning and I clocked up more steps on my phone's pedometer than I have since summer. Here are the seven meals that most delighted me during my stay.

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The Tibetan Momo Cafe is less than a month old, and located just around the corner from my first sharehouse in West End. It is a total charmer, with friendly generous hosts just bursting to share their traditional foods with new customers. There's a full vegan menu in addition to the standard meaty one, and they make both flour-based and gluten-free momo doughs on site (they recommend booking ahead for the gluten-free options). I sampled a mix of their vegetarian momos (7 for $15.90), including a gently sweet pumpkin one, a lovely savoury mushroom mix, and an ultra-comfort-carby potato. At my host's recommendation I sampled the vegan version of their Tibetan butter tea ($6) and obediently mixed in lots of salt as I was told Tibetans do. It reminded me, weirdly, of my grandmother's salted butter scones.

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Word is that the Lakeside Cafe (on the far side of the water body in that top pic) does the best lunches on campus. Its menu is short and includes just two veg options, but they are good. I loved the vegetarian noodle salad ($13) for all its fun trimmings - a spring roll, strips of mock meat, crispy fried shallots and roasted peanuts. The vegetarian rice paper rolls ($7.50) are presumably the gluten-free choice, but check with the staff before ordering.

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(Update 17/07/2024: Suki has since closed.)

Suki at Southbank is leading the poke bowl craze in Brisbane, and pushing this 'sushi burrito' nonsense too. There's a lot of fish going on, but us vegos can pick tofu as our centring protein. I was pretty disappointed to note that it was uncooked, unseasoned tofu but the ponzu salad dressing I chose had plenty of zest to carry through my salad bowl (~$16). I sprang extra cash for avocado and didn't have a moment's boredom as I nibbled through my radishes, carrots and edamame. Three days into my trip I was already starved for fresh veges!

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Visiting the Pizza Caffe at UQ brings the pleasure and pain of nostalgia, as it has outlasted the Schonell Cinema that it originally served. Their menu runs through the alphabet with many pizzas named after cinematic greats; I ordered the Zurlini ($15) and picked off the onions, while enjoying the sprawling pumpkin slices, feta bursts and pine nuts. I only wish I'd noticed their new smaller, cheaper pizzettas. As it was the staff and the pigeons squabbled over who could take my leftover slices when I got up to leave.

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The Davies Park Markets are another fond favourite from my years as a local. I looked longingly at the fresh produce, skipped past the faith healers, admired some beautiful, hand-made cotton clothes, lingered over the second-hand jewellery, and tasted the grain-free seedy crackers. I could barely believe that the Ykillamoocow team still have a stall, selling vegan dagwood dogs (!), pies, and samosas. A no-bull pie ($5) was the only thing I pulled my wallet out for all morning; I ate it sitting on the edge of the sports field and spilled tomato sauce all down my dress (no regrets).

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The Burrow has been displaced by an enormous development since our last visit. It now inhabits an old Queenslander home that lends it a relaxed, sub-tropical atmosphere even mid-winter. Beyond breakfast, the menu's all pizzas, fries and burgers with a couple of token salads. Michael dug into a vegan Sausage Scandal Dawg ($18) generously stuffed with sauteed sausage chunks, capsicum, onions and mushrooms plus relish, lettuce and mustard. I was mostly just in the mood for a mojito ($18), but picked at the beer battered chips and a fattoush salad we'd ordered to share across the table.

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Lokal + Co is another eatery within an old Queenslander residence. Where the Burrow around the corner is rambling and casual, L+C is all reserved white walls and spartan Scandinavian design. We would gladly have picked three dishes each from the menu and were roundly satisfied by the ones we settled on: for Michael, De-Puy spiced lentils, roasted cauliflower, braised silverbeet, coconut sambol & taro crisps ($20) and for me, an apple pie waffle served with hung cinnamon sour cream, braised apple and toffee crunch ($19). 

It was a strange sensation to walk down that same street and check in on the first apartment Michael and I rented together - a time before food blogging, when we rented DVDs from Trash Video and relied on a meagre dial-up internet quota supplied through my UQ enrollment. In my sun-drenched week, I eagerly found both comfort in the old and plenty of positives in the new.

Bites 'round Brisbane

December 19-23, 2016

We took a long overdue trip to Brisbane this summer, to visit family. Mostly we took it easy - jigsaws, beach walks, reading novels, chatting over cool drinks and cheese plates. I ate avocados and mangoes at every opportunity. Amid all that we visited just a couple of veg*n cafes that have sprouted up recently.

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Vegan 'superfood bar' Charlie's Raw Squeeze has nine outlets around town, with more in the works. One is on the Redcliffe peninsula, where I grew up - this area has certainly evolved from those days of Sizzler and KFC. Charlie's Clontarf is staffed by numerous fresh-faced young women, who whip up juices, smoothies, acai bowls and banana-based 'loaded nice creams'.

Mum & I stopped in for a browse right from the airport. We took away a taco bowl (~$12, not pictured) to share for lunch - we were impressed by the walnut mince and the bean salad, and glad for the fresh veges on a hot day. We browsed the Vegan Pantry, where I spotted all sorts of non-perishable goodies I've come to love in Melbourne - mock meats and dairy, icecreams and chocolates, lip balm, nooch, and on and on.

A couple of days later I took home a couple of raw cakes that Mum was curious about, a Tim Tam raw 'doughnut', and a black forest slice ($6-8). While there was nothing doughnutty going on here at all, these were pretty and tasty. They had a smooth richness that must've come from cocoa butter or coconut oil. (And I think the half-Tim Tam was a non-raw Leda Choculence.)

An old high school friend and I laughed at the incongruity of meeting up there for breakfast. Instead of the popcorn and Burger Rings we once shared, we picked out acai bowls. I was delighted by my small bubblegum bowl ($12) with its frosty base of blended acai, dragonfruit and coconut water and cheery fan of apple and banana slices, chopped mango, coconut chips and cocoa nibs.

I don't whole-heartedly endorse Charlie's superfood ethos, but their fresh foods were great summer holiday treats. I hope they'll see great success in my hometown.

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Next door to Charlie's Everton Park is Veganyumm, a bakehouse with all the white sugar, flour and non-raw foods that Charlie's avoids. I persuaded my Mum that we should lunch there after picking Michael up from the airport.

Though most of Veganyumm's customers seem to pick up their choice of desserts and leave, there are a few tables available for sitting in. We made good use of them, enjoying the shade, the people-watching, and the time to gaze across the sweets and consider the best combination for dessert.

For those of us taking a seat, there are a wide range of beverages to sip. The usual coffee menu extends to red velvet and turmeric ginger lattes; tea comes in a variety of colours, hot and iced; and then there are milkshakes, frappes, and fruit whips. I loved their gently sweet and very icy chai frappe, while Michael and Mum had berry iced teas.

Savoury options are limited but hearty. Their pumpkin pies were huge, flat rectangles formed from puff pastry sheets, stuffed not just with pumpkin but with tofu and mixed vegetables. A vegemite scroll was served warm and fluffy - I've never been a big cheesymite fan but this rendition won me over.

Sated for the time being, we negotiated sweets to take home and agreed to a wedge of chewy pecan pie, silky peanut butter chocolate tart, and a melting moment. The latter was our unexpected favourite, with its gorgeously tangy passionfruit icing. All these desserts are great ambassadors for the joys of vegan eating, and happily they seemed to have a bit of a following in suburban Brisbane.

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(Update 11/07/2022: Vegeto is now closed.)

For one day Michael and I roamed the city centre, meeting up with friends, bumping into others, and checking in on GOMA's anniversary exhibition. Tucked into a shopping centre food court, vegetarian-Indian stall Vegeto was a neat spot to grab a quick meal. Their dosa ($8.80) weren't extravagant but they really hit the spot; I paired mine with a ready-made mango lassi.

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Sharp eyes would've seen a tell-tale bag in that dosa pic - yep, we stopped by the Noosa Chocolate Factory outlet for their signature vegan rocky road. We did our best to pack it coolly and safely to share with friends back in Melbourne but as the chip packets say, some settling of contents may have occurred during transit. This chocolatier was absolute chaos in the lead-up to Christmas, so we took a raincheck on the vegan-friendly hot and iced coffees and chocolates we noticed on their menu.

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Fancy dining was never a goal for our Brisbane visit, but we had fun at these few newer spots we checked in on. 

Vegerama II

(Update 11/07/2022: the West End outlet of Vegerama has closed.)

November 29, 2014

I found myself in Brisbane for a quick work trip and stumbled across the freshly opened Vegerama restaurant in West End. Vegerama have been running a couple of food court hotbox-style places in the Brisbane CBD for more than five years (I visited one way back in 2009), but their new location in West End is a proper sit-down restaurant aiming for a more impressive experience. It's smack bang in the middle of the Boundary St/Melbourne St shopping strip and accessible via loads of great bus lines (and probably only a 20 minute walk from the CBD). Excuse the dodgy photos - I was caught short with just my phone to capture the experience.

The space is bright and airy, with a mix of exposed brick and wood panelling and some colourful tiles behind the big front counter. There're seats for about fifty people, including a few tables out on the street. The menu is a grab-bag of cuisines and touches on all the standard vego dishes - noodles, curries, burgers, pastas and stir-fries. It's mostly vegan, but there are a few dishes that lean on cheese for flavour.

Mum went with the South Italian salad of mixed heritage tomatoes, basil, cucumber, olives, capers, toasted almonds and olive oil ($14). It's supposed to come with buffalo mozzarella as well, but they forgot to add it - they were very apologetic about it when we let them know and knocked a few bucks off our bill to make up for it.

Even without the cheese this was a success - fresh, simple and tasty with the olives and capers adding some salty bite to the sweet tomatoes.

I went for something a bit heftier - the Vegerama green stiry-fry with broccoli, capsicum, zucchini, kale and cashews with tempeh and brown rice ($15).

This was a gigantic meal - probably a whole block of tempeh and certainly more than I could finish (at least if i was going to eat my share the rice paper rolls we'd ordered). It ticked a few boxes for me - I desperately needed something loaded with veggies and I liked the relatively simple flavours. It's the kind of dish you can throw together yourself in 15 minutes at home, so it feels a bit weird to pay $15 for it, but if you're in need of something healthy and filling you won't be disappointed.

Our final dish was an entree (which was meant to come out first but had been lost in some kitchen confusion) - Vietnamese rice paper rolls with fresh veggies, Vietnamese mint, rice noodles and tofu and a sesame peanut dipping sauce ($10).

This is another simple but effective dish - all freshness and natural flavours. The peanut/soy dipping sauce was a bit weird (the two elements weren't quite combined properly), but the flavour was fine.

Vegerama is a good addition to West End - it's Brisbane's hippiest suburb and a straightforward veggie place with a wide array of options is a good bet to succeed there. It's not an overly exciting place - the dishes really feel like the kind of dishes that competent but not particularly adventurous home cooks could churn out without too much trouble. I'm glad I got a chance to visit and will probably swing by again next time I'm in town, so hopefully Vegerama thrives.

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I think we're the first bloggers to get to the West End Vegerama restaurant. You can read about our trip to their Post Office Square food court outlet here.  

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Vegerama
220 Melbourne St, West End
(07) 3255 3388
menu (it's not a great photo, sorry)
http://vegerama.com.au/ (although it's currently being updated - their facebook page might be a better option)

Accessibility: Excellent - there's a wide, flat entryway and plenty of space inside. Orders are taken at the table and you pay at a low counter. We didn't visit the toilets.