Veggie Kitchen

159, St George's Rd, Northcote, VIC 3071

www.veggiekitchen.com.au
Blink and you'll miss it. This restaurant is not a part of a shopping or dining strip. It is located in a tiny row of shops on St George's Road. It is across the road from Batman Park. This tiny Taiwanese vegetarian restaurant is a lovely option for diners in the north.There is not a lot of space but diners here seem quite happy with the configuration. While it is tiny, it's not cramped.

It is quite a dim restaurant as even during the early evening as there is not a lot of natural sunlight. However, it has a simple warm feel to it. You almost feel you might be visiting a friend's home (in Taiwan) for an intimate meal.

Regular readers of this blog will know that I am no vegetarian by any stretch of the imagination but I like this place enough to look forward to going for a visit regularly.

Things to do nearby: Nothing much around here other than Batman Park and it's a 10 minute walk to High Street, Northcote. The No.112 tram stops near the front.

The Food
I am going to write about the quality and tastiness of the dishes. However, in the later section, I am going to talk about Chinese Vegetarian food more generally because it is quite a different style of vegetarian cuisine to Western vegetarian in that it uses substantial gluten products.

Chai Po Omelette

My favourite dish here is the Chai Po Omelette (Omelette with preserved turnip bits), which is light and fluffy and flavoursome. Yes, there is a bit of grease on this but what good omelette doesn't. It is a great way to start the meal or even with rice. Dare I say it is even better than my Mum's? No! More that it is a different version, fluffier and very light compared to my Mum's which is packed with turnip and most solid.

The Lettuce Delight (Vegetarian Sang Choi Bao) is built on layers of texture and flavours, with crispy soy and tofu bits wrapped in fresh lettuce. I am not a huge fan of Sang Choi Bao to begin with but this is not a bad dish. I prefer their Tofu Rolls which are really flavoursome and just simply yummy (and not only because it's deep fried).  For me, the Tofu Rolls are preferable preferable to the Beancurd Rolls on offer - simply because it has different textures compared to the Beancurd Rolls.

Tofu Roll and Vegie Delight

Beancurd Rolls and Curry Puffs (homemade)

There are also the various dumplings on offer here and I think the surprise package for me are the Pearl Rice Balls - balls of glutinous rice goodness with mushroom, celery and tofu. Delicate little balls dipped in bean sauce which are really yummy, though I normally don't like celery. They also do vegetarian ShioMai (Shao Mei) which don't look great but are actually quite light and flavoursome. You can tell from the pics below that they are not factory made (given the varying sizes) and are clearly made on premises and the freshness shows.

Pearl Rice Balls

ShioMai

There are also larger dishes and mains on the menu (though I did prefer the smaller ones already described). The two larger dishes that I did like were the Panfried Oyster Mushrooms and the Stir-Fried Vermicelli (both pictured below). The Mushrooms were smokey and really flavoursome and I could have had a double serve. However, I would have like some sort of sauce to bring the brocolli and the mushrooms together (though that might have detracted from the flavour of the mushrooms). 

What was undoubtedly delicious was the vermicelli which had the right balance of flavours, texture and freshness. I loved it and it is just as good as the ones offered by many vegetarian places in SEAsia (if not better than most).

Panfried Oyster Mushrooms

Stir-Fried Vermicelli

We also tried the Sweet and Sour Tofu and the Hong Shao Tofu. To me, these dishes were more average, compared to all the ones I have already mentioned. For example, the Sweet and Sour dish needed perhaps a bit more vinegar and onions while the HongShao dish could do with a bit more smokiness. Don't get me wrong, these were not bad dishes at all but in comparison to the excellent small dishes, they just weren't as great.

Sweet and Sour Tofu and Fried Rice

Hong Shao Tofu

The Service
The understated friendly service is just charming here. They know their food and they take pride in it which is great to see. The dishes came in a very timely manner (even second orders) and the politeness and quiet pride makes this place a lovely down to earth place to dine in. What a comfortable dining space.

Overall
It is lovely to know that Chinese Vegetarian Cuisine is well represented here in Melbourne. Sure, they have made some nods to Australian sensibilities but in a positive manner. For example, there is a lot less grease in the dishes here compared to similar dishes in Asia. That is surely a good thing. The layers of flavours are still there and for a non-vegetarian, I still enjoy going there.

Cultural Moment
There are two main ways to indicate vegetarian dishes in Chinese cuisine; There's sùshí (素食) ("vegetarian cuisine") and  zhāicài (斋菜) ("Buddhist cuisine"). Instead of me writing about it extensively, there's a pretty good wikipedia entry on this topic - Buddhist cuisine.

While western vegetarian dishes rely primarily on fresh vegetables, Chinese vegetarian cuisine extensively employs the use of bean curd (tofu) of various types and wheat gluten (used in many of the 'mock' meats), in addition to fresh vegetables.

It is also crucial to remember that Chinese cuisine is not just about freshness and balance of flavours, textures are just as important. The inter-play between crunchiness, softness and chewiness in the one dish is sometimes seens as really crucial. For example, the Lettuce Delight served at Veggie Kitchen does this well in that it has the fresh crisp lettuce, the crunchiness of the soy and tofu flakes, and chewiness of little bits of beancurd. Another example is soy crisp, and Chinese doughnut, and boiled peanuts in congee.This is one of the things that many who have not grown up with Chinese cuisine struggle with. Enjoying differing textures is important in many dishes. The use of wheat gluten is a bit of an art in Chinese vegetarian cuisine because you get completely different textures ranging from really soft to really crunchy varieties. So, the long and short of it is - this is an acquired taste for those who are not familiar but it is all very Chinese.

Taiwan Cafe

273, Swanston St, VIC 3000

This is another cramped cafe where they have a 'quick in quick out' policy. The food is generally rather delicious if you can put up with the cramped space and eating in very very very close vicinity to your neighbours. The offerings can be rather salty and somewhat filled with MSG - perhaps that accounts for the low Urbanspoon rating - or perhaps it's because how cramped it is.

The Place

Seriously, this is a not a place to 'hangout' because of a number of things. Firstly, there's the low comfort seats and if you are really tall, the tables are probably too low for you, and you'll look like an overgrown spider crouched over a morsel. Then, you have to put up with really cramped space and close dining. Hopefully, you don't have a big bag with you, no space really to put anything. Finally, because of the crowd and space, you tend to have a pretty high level of noise. Given it's location, parking will usually have to be paid undercover parking at QV or Melb Central. This place is most definitely NOT toddler friendly.

Things to do nearby: This is set near the corner of Swanston and Lonsdale, so there's mostly plenty of shopping around.

The Food
The food is pretty yummy if a bit salty for some and let's be honest - with plenty of deep fried offerings, braised fatty belly meats, and rich salty tasty sauces and soups, this is NOT the place for the very health conscious. Some highlights include their Pork Belly, Taiwanese Beef Noodles (with or without various condiments such as the preserved vegies which makes it even more salty, but I like the tanginess), Crispy Fried Chicken (XL) in different dishes. Personally, I am not so sure about the overly battered popcorn chicken but what ever floats your boat I guess. These are huge servings by the way.

The Service
Consider this a fast food joint and you won't be disappointed. It's not better or worse than the countless other Chinese fastfood joints. They don't go out of their way to be friendly or rude - they are just food pushers. It gets a bit worse when it's busy and timing of dishes for diners is never good as no attempt to bring the food out together for those dining together.

Overall
I would go only during offpeak hours for a number of key dishes when I am craving it. For example, I like my preserved Chinese vegetables (mustard green) and most places do not cook with this ingredient. It's too salty. There are times when I feel like it and this is where I go for that.

Cultural Moment
Taiwanese cuisine, although Chinese, is different to the many Cantonese style or Sichuan and Shanghainese Style restaurants around town. There tends to be a stronger Hokkien and Hakka influence, moderated by a Japanese tinge. This is largely because of their history in the last 150 odd years. Although there has been waves of migration for many different reasons from the Fujian province to Taiwan (Formosa) since the 1600s, I think that the influences and changes of the last 150 years have been most marked.

One thing I am really curious about and have never experiences are the indigenous cuisine of Taiwan.