Veggie Bites

We decided to check this place out to see what they were like since we were shopping at Belconnen markets for a change. They have an interesting assortment of dishes on the menu as well as a rather large range of smoothies – most of which have spirulina or wheat grass or something in them. Martin ordered the zucchini slice which was pretty good, although it could have used a little something else in it to give it a little more flavour. I ordered the vegeterian foccacia and was surprised to discover the there was nothing except capsicum that I would have expected to find on a veggie foccacia. This is not nescessarily a bad thing, it is just a little freaky to have a foccacia with parsnip, swede and sweet potato on it! It tasted ok, but not really what I was in the mood for. I also wanted a plain old banana smoothie, which I got (after a nervous wait) and Martin ordered a strange mix of apple, banana, something else and soy milk – a “special” concoction which he described as “lumpy”! We don’t shop at Belconnen markets very often (we prefer Fyshwick!) so I am not sure I would bother again…

Having been away from home for just over a week and eating a whole lot of “modern Australian” type food, I was absolutely craving some Thai food and luckily just down the road from where we ended up staying in Griffith was a Thai restaurant (although it did have a pizza place in the same restaurant). Since we were exhausted we decided to get take away and eat in our hotel room, which meant that we needed plastic cutlery and some form of plates. Luckily the restaurant was quite obliging and gave us an empty container and some plastic forks and spoons. Martin was left to order by himself and opted for curry puffs (yes, they had peas!), a veggie pad thai and a veggie stir fry – in which he asked them to add chilli as it didn’t seem to be listed in the sauce. The food was pretty good. The stir fry was very saucy, so it was kind of a cross between a stir fry and a curry (which is what I actually felt like, but Martin said they didn’t really have any on the menu) and the pad thai was one of the better ones that I have eaten. I can’t really comment on the rest of the menu since I didn’t see it, but they seem to be happy to oblige by adding or removing things from dishes. The blurb in the Griffith tourist book mentions a karaoke machine that anyone can use any time – if you are not into karaoke, you might like to check it out and decide whether to eat in or get take away when you get there!

When this place was recommended by someone at a cellar door, she claimed it was all vegetarian and organic. Well, it is organic, but it certainly isn’t vegetarian! We rang to check before we went and they do have quite a few vegetarian choices on the menu, so we decided to check it out. The place itself is an old house converted into a restaurant so there is a choice of two dining rooms. The dinner menu was very meat based, so we ignored it and checked out the specials and the pizza. I also checked out the “all day breakfast” but then realised that all day actually only means until 3pm! I decided to go with the tomato and basil soup to start followed by a garden fresh pizza without artichokes. Martin went for the artichoke bruschetta and the special pasta (also full of artichokes!). The soup was fantastic – full of fresh herbs and cracked pepper – I have vowed to try and make soup like this in winter. The pizza was also good – it had roasted pumpkin, boccancini, olives and fresh spinach on top and it had a nice crisp base that wasn’t too thick and the topping went all the way to the edge! Martin enjoyed his dinner of artichokes, although I have to say that you could barely taste them in the pasta which also had mushrooms and other veggies in a yummy cheesy sauce. Not sure whether I would call it “edible art” (as advertised on their card) from a vegetarian perspective, but it was pretty good!

Hmmm, I am not really sure what to say about this place. They pretty much only had one vegetarian entree on the menu, but we were able to adapt a pasta dish (omitting the ham), and ordered the entree as a main and therefore we were able to eat a decent meal. The pasta came with a shallot, tomato and (a minuscule amount of) chilli and I really can’t see why it even would have needed ham, but each to their own! Martin had the mushroom stack which came with a garlic aoli and balsamic vinegar sauce, as well as piled high with deep fried sprouts. We also decided to share a salad and some steamed veggies. The food was ok. The steamed veggies were the highlight, but that could have been because we were just craving plain old veggies at this point! But I don’t think it was really worth the money. I wouldn’t bother going back.

This is a cute little place in a converted church and was recommended by someone at one of the cellar doors we visited in the morning. They had a couple of veggie things on the menu, but the choice wasn’t huge. I had the pumpkin soup which was lovely and chunky and came served with fresh tasted herb bread. Martin had the risotto stuffed red peppers which he said was pretty good. They also do fresh fruit juices – which we both wanted, not having eaten much fruit recently and they do yummy looking cakes which we decided not to try, having eaten far too much recently! If you are looking for a good lunch, then check it out.

Oscar’s was recommended by the woman running the b&b that we were staying at, we also checked out the menu and there seemed to be a decent range of gourmet pizzas and the potential for some veggie pasta as well. And there was a good range of veggie pizzas, but I really couldn’t go past the Idaho potato pizza without the bacon. It came with caramelised onions and citrus zest and was topped with sour cream and sweet chilli sauce – yummo! We also had the pasta special, but ordered it without the sausage, and it was good too, along with a salad. But before we ate all that, we had the cheese and garlic flatbread, which was like a small pizza with just cheese and garlic on top… oh it was all so yummy… I would definitely eat here again – it is really good Italian food!

We arrived in McLaren Vale mid morning, but hadn’t really given much thought to which wineries we wanted to go to yet, so we decided to sit down somewhere and have something to eat while we made up our minds. It was going to be a snack, but once we looked at the menu it ended up being brunch and we decided we would just have a snack mid-afternoon to tide us over until dinner. Martin was quite taken with the pancakes, which came served with ice cream – which I think is a little indulgent for brunch, let alone breakfast which is what they were listed under on the menu! I decided on bacon and eggs with melted cheese on toast – without the bacon of course! I not sure exactly what I was expecting, but the eggs were on the toast and then that was covered in melted cheese and it came with salad and a dash of pesto to taste. Yum. The melted cheese put a really nice spin on the boring old eggs on toast and the pesto also added something good. We also ordered hot chocolates and Martin was very excited when he found out he could have white chocolate. I on the other hand simply wanted a standard hot chocolate, but I think I ended up with a dark hot chocolate as it was very bitter and I had to add more sugar than usual. We also popped back into here to pick up some cheese on our way to the Barossa Valley and the cheese was fantastic. They also sell crackers and dippy type things to have with the cheese and crackers. You can pick up a cheese hamper here and then match the suggested wines to it from different wineries. I think we might do that next time…

We decided to head here because we were starving and it was pretty much the only place open at this time of the afternoon… We did hear that they did nice platters of local foods and that they could probably do a veggie version. So, we asked and they said they could do a veggie version – however, when it arrived it was very disappointing. The only thing more disappointing was that they charged us full price and all they seemed to do was remove the meat and add more pickled vegetables. I may be over reacting, but $28 for a couple of bits of cheese, a few olives, some bread and a whole stack of pickled vegetables is not what I would call value for money.

Well, this is going to be a rave about a fantastic new restaurant that I hope does really well! We picked up a brochure from the McLaren Vale information centre from this place which had bits of the menu on it including a couple of veggie dishes, so we thought we would check it out. We rang and booked, although that wasn’t entirely necessary as we were the only people there that night! They had only been open for about six weeks, doing lunch and dinner three days a week to start with, and are located in a cellar door which also has an olive grove. My only complaint is that it was a bit difficult to figure out which building they are in – if you are planning to go there then they are in the first building that you see as you drive in the driveway! We mentioned that we were vegetarian to the maitre-d as she started to explain the meat based specials, so she left us with the menu. A few moments later the chef appeared and said that if there wasn’t enough choice on the menu he could adapt something, or if we felt like something in particular and he had the ingredients he would cook us something else. We were happy with the menu options and decided on homemade bread with olive oil and dukkah, pear and fetta salad with a shiraz vinegarette as our entree, followed by a green Thai curry with organic tofu and wholemeal fettuccine puttanesca (listed without anchovies). The pear and fetta salad was to die for and is one of the best salads I have ever eaten – the fetta was creamy and non-crumbly and the vinegarette was amazing, with chopped up bits of red cabbage or red grapes which added a lovely sweetness. The pasta was great – full of lovely capers and olives and the fettuccine itself was cooked to perfection. The Thai green curry was something else – the chef said it was hot, but it wasn’t a lingering heat, and he was right. It was hot and fresh but your mouth didn’t burn for the rest of the night! Martin opted for dessert while I simply had hot chocolate. He claims that the marbled chocolate veneer is the best dessert he has ever eaten – which is a big call and I tried to remember previous desserts that he/we had eaten that came close and I couldn’t. This dessert was a pure creation – a nutty base filled with pistachios, topped with a chocolate moussey cake type thing and finished with a thick layer of white and dark chocolate mousse. All of this was drizzled with a chocolate and honey sauce (inspired – adding honey to chocolate sauce!) and chunks of toffee! Truely divine! I would definitely recommend trying this place if you are in McLaren Vale at any time! And we will certainly be going back next time we are over that way!

We discovered this place a couple of years ago when we were in Adelaide and when we were planning this trip to Adelaide we were very excited to go back to this restaurant. I can’t remember what we ate here last time, but I know it was great – the food really blew us away as it was good quality imaginative food that was also vegetarian! The menu this time was a little disappointing as four of the eight or so mains were burgers. While veggie burgers do have their place, I would have thought that one would have been sufficient on a menu in a restaurant! However, we managed to find other things that we wanted to eat! We started with the house platter which included bread, roasted veggies, salad, olives and crispy veggie balls and a yoghurt sauce. Yum, yum, yum. Those crispy veggie balls (although deep fried) are really good! For mains, Martin had the maize and ricotta hotcake stack – which was huge and almost defeated him! While I had the spinach and ricotta cannelloni which also had some sort of roasted nut in it that I can’t remember, and the nut flavour really made it special… I think it is one of the best cannelloni I have ever eaten! We also ordered a side of garlic potatoes – I simply can’t go past potatoes and these came roasted with the perfect amount of garlic. I could have eaten the whole plate myself! This is a great restaurant and I would highly recommend a visit if you are anywhere near Adelaide!