Veggie Bites

We were out and about, getting not very much done, and it was about lunchtime, so we decided to try something new instead of going home for boring old sandwiches. We were close to Yarralumla, so decided to head to Yarralumla shops because we thought we remembered that there was a vegetarian restaurant/café here. There doesn’t seem to be one any more, so we decided to eat at Beess & Co instead – although, we didn’t really look at any of the other places – we just decided that this would do. Fairly obviously, this place is not veggie, but it did have a number of different dishes on the menu as well as on the specials board. I opted for the haloumi, couscous and mint patties, which came with a mountain of greens and a yummy creamy mustardy sauce. And thank goodness for the sauce – the patties would have been a little dry and bland without it. Martin ordered the special bruschetta with roasted fennel, capsicum, cheese and baby spinach. When it arrived, it didn’t look quite right, but we couldn’t remember what was supposed to be in it, so couldn’t figure out what was wrong with it. After checking the specials board we realised it was missing the capsicum and baby spinach!! And it was quite small, so I gladly shared some of my salad with Martin. We also both ordered fresh juices. The service was a little slow, I was just starting to get annoyed at how long it was taking when they finally brought our food out. And one thing that really annoyed me: a couple who ordered after us got their food before us – and it wasn’t entrées! That really bugs me… Anyway, overall it was ok. A bit expensive, especially Martin’s meal, considering the size and the fact that some ingredients were missing. I’m not sure I would bother going back – I would prefer to try some of the other places that are there…

I think I was a little disappointed by the food from here this time – it didn’t seem up to its usual standard. However, I was sick with the flu so, it is possible that I was not up to my usual standard! We had curry puffs (picking out the peas!), a red veggie curry, tofu with chilli and cashew nuts, and pad thai. The tofu with chilli and cashew nuts was the stand out dish this time. I am not a huge fan of their pad thai – they put a lot of extra veggies etc in it, whereas I prefer my pad thai to be mainly noodles and a lot of taste! I was also a little freaked out, because some of the egg in the pad thai looked a lot like bits of chicken – it was definitely egg though, I spent a bit of time double checking! In fact, it is possible that I might admire someone who can cook egg and make it look like chicken – that is quite a feat! As I said, it wasn’t bad, but I am still looking for a new favourite Thai restaurant!

We were Christmas shopping and required sustenance before actually wandering around the shops and dealing with the other shoppers! We also couldn’t face the madness of the food court. We have eaten here once before and it is ok – better than food court food, but also more expensive. This time I had the vegetarian pizza and Martin had the vegetarian focaccia, we both ordered a citrus splice drink. I have to say the pizza was pretty good – I was actually impressed, although the only down side was that it could have had a little more topping. It came with tomato, eggplant, feta and topped with pesto. I was glad that the eggplant strips were small, but I was disappointed that there was only a little bit of feta! Martin didn’t complain about his focaccia, so it must have been ok. The drinks were also great! I could have drank 2 or 3 of them, but they were about $7 each, so I don’t think I will!

Home delivery – there is nothing better when you are unwell and tired! I had planned to cook this night, however got distracted and it got late, so decided to get delivery instead! I really like this place – it does good Chinese food which is hard to find when you are vegetarian. We started with spring rolls as usual, and had the veggie chow mein and 5 spicy tofu (as usual – these are my favourite dishes!). We also decided to try something a little different and ordered the veggies with Thai sweet chilli sauce – which was a little saucier than we both expected, but it was good. It was a little spicy and came with chunks of garlic in it as well. As usual we ordered too much and ended up with leftovers – which is not such a bad thing! It tastes just as good for lunch the next day!

If you read veggie bites regularly then you’ll know that I am a fan of Mexican/Tex-Mex food and that I think Montezuma’s is pretty good! We started with the combination dips again (man, call us boring but they are great!) and requested extra corn chips when we ran out! Since I wasn’t overly excited by my choice of main meal last time, I spent a little more time reading the menu. And after actually eating, I have figured out how the menu works! I have been ordering things that I think are probably classified as entrées. Maybe this is not a bad thing, but it is not completely clear from the menu that these meals are smaller than the others unless you are looking at the prices! This time I ordered the picadillo (beans and almonds and sultanas) tostada – which was very yummy, but not overly big. Whereas everyone else’s meals were huge… I felt a little left out, but I think my tummy thanked me later. We also ordered sides of sour cream and guacamole – because, even though I think they are a con, no Mexican meal is the same without them! Martin claimed not to be able to fit in dessert, however then changed his mind since it took them a while to actually take our order. We all had mousse – mainly chocolate although someone was adventurous and tried the mango – I believe it was a disappointment… gotta stick with the favourites… Of course, we washed it all down with the obligatory couple of jugs of margarita’s which we all agreed are just like drinking cordial!

This was a take away meal with after a very long day! We went for 2 serves of the veggie pakoras (yum!) and a variety of mains. Old favourites such as dahl Bollywood and palak paneer, and we tried the veggie korma instead of the veggie jalfrezzi, and our friends opted for some tandoori chicken as well. We also ordered a mixed raita and some garlic naan and some sun dried tomato naan. All the old favourites were great, the veggie korma was a very nice change and may become an old favourite in the future (the only down side was the inclusion of peas!) and our friends managed to eat all of their chicken! There wasn’t a whole lot left over, but we still managed to make room for some home made chocolate chip cookie pie…