Long Weekend Fooding - Destination: Melbourne!

Had a lovely break out of Sydney over the long weekend with one of my best. Our mantra for the coming days in Melbourne? Markets, Massages and FOOD. Considering how constant a theme Food has proven to be in this space over the last year in particular, there was no way I wasn't going to continue the tradition, especially considering how many excellent, allergy-friendly foods there were.

Onwards with the drool! 

Friday

Pork Bellying it up at Borngo in Chinatown. After landing on the Friday afternoon, we decided to just go for a walk in the city and see what the place had to offer by way of culinary options. After a nice, long amble, we ended up in Chinatown and decided what better to eat there? Korean BBQ, of course. 

Afterwards, we decided to walk off dinner and go on the hunt for dessert, as you do, and we ended up at San Churro. Ok, yes, they have this back in Sydney but who wants to truck all the way out to Harbourside on a work night? Heading in, I thought I might just grab some churros, but then I happened upon this sign. YES.

Again, YES. This was so good! Yes, quite sweet, but not sickly, and the little honeycomb balls were weird at first, but they gave it a nice bit of crunch. I'm so pleased to have yet another ice cream option!

Ruby Chocolate at San Churro. So I'd heard there was now a fourth chocolate for the first in years, but this was the first I'd seen of it. Ok, not necessarily allergy-friendly, but it looked interesting so I bought some to take home to the family. They seemed to enjoy the fruitier flavour in the chocolate.

Saturday

Saturday morning at Queen Victoria Markets. Alright, this packaging may not look all that flash, and the picture below is messy as all get out, but these churros were BOMB. Freshly made, crisp, not too oily, just right. They came in packs of 6, but I went for the single tester first, lest the allergies come roaring up. When all was clearly safe, I went right back for the 6.

Again, not the most glamorous of photos, but they were so good, who cares? The icing sugar seemed a bit much at first, but then they melted onto the churros into this smooth and surprisingly not too sweet icing. Yum.

Yes, so yum, I couldn't even stop for a photo.

Saturday Eve may have ended in an unsuccessful attempt to patronise the vegan desserts at Girls and Boys in Fitzroy, but we did have a lovely dinner at Lantern Lounge on Smith Street in Collingwood. It was apparently day two after a grand opening so we felt bad having to say we were from Sydney and therefore wouldn't likely be back for a while, but the food was excellent. Those vegetable spring rolls there were crunchy and full of flavour and my Char Siu was delicious. Mench got herself some dumplings and sticky Pork Belly, which sounded a bit sweet, but were still good.

Sunday

Sunday Morning in Camberwell! Hot vegan jam doughnut balls! That didn't kill me! Life could literally not be sweeter than that! Yes, did the single tester and went back for the 6 because OF COURSE I WOULD. 

Sunday Night in the CBD and we went for something easy and familiar because unfortunately, I wasn't feeling too well. Crust was a reliable option and there we discovered a new vegan pizza - Mediterranean Romesco, pictured on the right. To the left is Mench's usual - Vegetarian Supreme.

Ok, as I wasn't well at the time, I was wary, quite wary, but this turned out to be happily unnecessary. I love my Mediterranean food and flavours and this was amazing. The vegan cheese was also better than previous ones I've tried, so I also got to enjoy the usually melted 'cheesiness' of pizza whereas normally my toppings are kind of loose due to the lack of cheese gluing everything together. I liked it so much that after getting back to Sydney the next day, I ordered it again for dinner. Whoo!

CUPCAKE CENTRAL! Come to Sydney, please! We found these entirely by accident while wandering around Melbourne Central and holy crap. They had so many vegan options, four of which are visible in the box to the left. Clockwise from the upper left corner, we have Birthday Cake, Vegan Chocolate, Snickers and Cookie Butter. In Mench's box, she got Baklava, Red Velvet, Salted Caramel and Snickers. So fresh, so moist, absolutely heavenly, the right level of sweet and savoury. I would make a move south for these bad boys.

It was definitely an excellent weekend overall, but the food absolutely took it up there. Cheers to Melbourne for the options!

How living with food allergies can be a most wonderful thing...

Yep, another one about food because not only have I royally stuffed myself since arriving in Bourton-on-the-Water (exhibits A - G for your perusal), but today I had my first ever scone and therefore my first ever Cream Tea 😄 Apparently I inadvertently favoured the Devonshire style of scone by going 'cream' (or in this case, Vitalite) first. Either way, all the cheers, Green and Pleasant!

This is one of the nicest things I've ever had. Seriously, holycrapYUM. I fully plan to get another one tomorrow before we head to Heathrow and have already found places back home that do vegan scones and vegan high teas so we're all in for a treat, my loves, because you are all getting dragged.

A funny thing - Ma was taken aback by the awe, which is fair enough considering surely someone has come up with vegan scones by now and surely it's not hard to make them yourselves with the right substitutes, but thinking about it, when you've had allergies spanning 3 decades (oh waah, I know, but hear me out), you've pretty much erased certain foods from possibility. It doesn't occur to you to even think of alternatives until someone presents the very thing right to you. The chocolate and a bunch of cakes, biscuits and other previously unthought of treats have thankfully made their way into my brain over the last decade (all thanks to a random Easter present, by the way) but new stuff will inevitably keep coming - like scones. After years of being told they're off limits, you write them off and the thought of having one simply doesnt occur to you till some bloke in a village in the Cotswolds says, 'I make vegan scones here'.

Then you eat, grin, gush (if you're me) because holycrapdeliciousthankyou and add it to the growing list of new awesome foods that you previously assumed you'd never have and had practically 'forgotten'. Long story short, it's pretty much why I'll never stop getting so freaking excited about food and it's a fun ride along with those of you who get just as excited for me 😃❤

#greenandpleasanttearooms #bourtononthewater #cotswolds #allthefood #allthesweets #allthestepsfromthisholiday #happilynegated #😊

My scones - carefully made and stored separately from the other goods in the cafe.

Lemon Drizzle Cake.

This steak fell somewhere in the middle of the final rankings of the Battle of the Steaks. Lovely bruschetta, though.

My amazing breakfast, courtesy of the amazing Katie at the Red House East B&B. Go there! She is an absolute gem of a human being. Not only was she a great host, she took my allergy info and made that gorgeous plate of food. My love is eternal.

Apple Puff Pastry Pies from the Bourton Co-op. These weren't even labeled vegan, they were just free from dairy and eggs. Amazing.

Me and my vegies from the Co-op.

Life can be pretty sweet sometimes, literally, figuratively...

... either way, this is the first ever proper dairy free chocolate box I've ever seen. Not in any way disregarding the chocolate blocks, biscuits, eggs or amazing, amazing truffles that friends have made me over the last decade or so, but there's something about little firsts like this.

My first taste of chocolate since the late 80s was in 2006 and since then, these really awesome firsts just keep on coming and I will never not be grateful that something that continues to cause me so much bother simultaneously acts as this continuing source of moments like this.

Cheers, life.

#ohandcheersm&s #thesaltedcarameldiscisbomb #gettingmistyoverchocolate #whatafreakinggirl

Writing while waiting for Steak Bakes to bake...

Ah geez, how cute is this little guy?? I said, minutes before biting his tiny grinning head off.

I've actually been pretty spoiled for food over here (food-filled photos below). Loads of vegan options for the fake vegans among us and fairly stringent allergy laws have meant eating has mostly gone down a treat. Also the Battle of the Steaks rages on with the Devonshire Arms in Baslow still well in the lead, Morelands Grill in Dublin battling it out with the Bank Tavern in Keswick for second place and Lolanda (aka Gristle City) in Paris a distant last.

Oh and I'm now obsessed with Steak Bakes. If we have anything similar to them anywhere in Sydney, I'm in big trouble.

No points for guessing what's on my mind. Dinner will be ready in a half hour so here were 100 words on steak.

#mmmmmmm

This was my first cake in the UK - Vegan Carrot Cake! Cheers to Kat's Kitchen in Keswick!

Also from Kat's Kitchen - nice little vegan version of a Victoria Sponge. 

Mother's Day lunching at the Bank Tavern in Keswick, in the Lake District.

Me and my capsicums, even on holiday!

Steak Bake! I am still trying to locate something similar to this here.

Irish Stew in Killarney! Amazing! They used thickener instead of cream so I could eat it and it was perfect - hearty, delicious and warming on what was becoming an increasingly cold and windy day in the Ring of Kerry.

Chicken wings at Old Mill, in Temple Bar. Oh man, was I missing chicken by that point!

Amazing vegan doughnuts from The Rolling Donut on O'Connell Street Lower - Lemon and Poppyseed, Chocolate and Jam with Icing Sugar. Not pictured: Vanilla Icing already wolfed down. Seriously, Sydney, pick up your vegan/allergy game! I think I'm going to have to do something about this... yes, that is a threat that I may attempt to start a vegan doughnut business.

Morelands Red Quinoa Salad - avocado, pear, toasted cashews, tender stem broccoli, overnight tomatoes, virgin olive oil and grapefruit dressing. My official conversion to quinoa is complete.

We decided to go fancy for our last dinner in Dublin and ended up at Morelands. 

Our first little 'homemade' dinner in Penzance - steak bakes, spring rolls, veggies, salad and chilli con carne.