Veggie Bites

Date: 5 August 2010

We were having a coffee and a snack here before doing ‘kid stuff’, and I have to admit to being pleasantly surprised. They had a huge array of cakes which looked delicious. I didn’t have a good look at the entire menu, but what I did scan and what I heard about sounded good. I ordered a Devonshire tea and asked if they could do it with a hot chocolate instead of tea or coffee – and this was the first time in a very long time that I have received the answer ‘of course’ when asking if I can alter a meal listed on the menu. The Devonshire tea was $6.50 (no charge for the change in beverage) and no charge for a babycino! The scones were huge, and there were 2 of them. The serving of jam and cream was very generous. The hot chocolate was delicious. The food came quickly and the service was efficient, although the waitress seemed a little annoyed when we were trying to decide whether to move tables or add a table to where we were sitting. However, when they came to clear the plates away and we apologised for the mess, the waitress seemed to relax a bit and assured us it was not the worst she had seen. All in all – a pleasant surprise, and there is a play area for the kids, a fish pond, as well as ample high chairs and a little table as well!

Date: 24 April 2010

This is a cafe at Lerida Estate Winery near Lake George. We stopped on impulse as we are often unable to stop at places like this when en route to/from Sydney, thanks to the dogs! However this time we were sans dogs and thought it would be nice to stop and eat and take a break from driving. Cafe Lerida has a beautiful view, however it was raining, so we were unable to sit outside and enjoy it. Inside the cafe, which is also the wine tasting area, has a warm buzzing atmosphere – and the food was really good as well! They have a smallish menu, however there were a few veggie options which were very clearly marked. Martin opted for the soup of the day – zucchini and chestnut, while I had the mushroom and leek quiche. The soup sounded like a slightly strange combination, and I think we were both a little wary of how it would taste – but it was divine! So divine, that one day soon I am going to find a recipe and make it! The mushroom and leek quiche was delicious and came with salad – but given the cold and dreary weather, I wanted to add the creamy mashed potato and tomato chilli jam that was listed on one of the other menu items – this was no problem. We also both ordered the recommended accompanying glass of wine from their range. For the soup this was a rose and the quiche it was a pinot gris. Both wines were lovely and matched the meals perfectly. Although the deserts looked delicious, we decided to taste some wine instead. And bought a few bottles, of course! If you are in the area, I would definitely recommend taking the time to stop!

Date: 24 October 2009

This is the cafe at the National Library. I have been here a few times for afternoon tea, but never had a meal here. So, when we were going to be here for another reason, around lunch time, we decided to try it out. They don’t have a hiuge variety of meals, but there was a decent choice. I had the spinach and feta fritata which came with salad. Martin opted for lemon souffle pancakes. The fritata was delicious and Martin said his pancakes were very good as well. We didn’t get the chance for dessert – a shame since everything I have had on previous visits for afternoon tea has been great! The only annoying thing is if it is full, it is very noisy and you can wait a while to order, however, the food arrived very quickly, so I guess that kind of cancels out the wait to order!

Date: 4 October 2009

Well, having said we don’t get to eat out much any more, it is kind of ironic that the first two reviews are from consecutive days!

Cream is a relatively new place in the centre of Canberra and we have checked out their menu a couple of times and decided not to go in as, at the time, the menu had a ‘v’ (which they said meant vegetarian) next to a number of meat dishes! Their menu seems to have been edited and it seems that ‘v’ now means able to be adapted to vegetarian rather than actually vegetarian! We have eaten here twice now – both times for brunch/lunch which basically means we ate breakfast! I have had the blini (done vegetarian of course!) with a chai latte, and the eggs benedict with spinach and a side of kipfler potatoes and mushrooms with a hot chocolate. Both meals were delicious. The blini wasn’t huge, but was fine for me. The eggs benedict was some of the better ones I have had – the eggs were poached beautifully, which for me means the white was not very runny at all! The hot chocolate was divine! It was made with actual melted chocolate in the bottom of lovely hot frothy milk – oh, heaven!! The downside to this place is that it is very, very noisy… Oh well, maybe in summer we can sit outside – but summer might mean it is too warm for a hot chocolate!

We were going to try a new cafe in Civic called Cream, but a quick perusal of the menu indicated that they have very little idea of what a vegetarian dish actually is. Their menu has little ‘v’s on it, indicating vegetarian meals – but they were listed next to lamb and seafood dishes! Anyway, we decided that was a little too dodgy for us! So we ended up here for lunch. It has been ages since we ate here, and despite it being lunch time, we both ended up ordering breakfast! I love restaurant breakfasts – I could eat them all the time (and then I would be really fat!!). I had the eggs benedict with spinach and a side of tomatoes and potatoes. Martin had scrambled eggs with a side of mushrooms, tomatoes and potatoes. We also both had fresh juices, Martin had a hot stuff and I had a citrus splice. The food and drinks were great, however, it seemed to take forever for the food to arrive. While it is good, it is probably not my first choice of place to eat in Civic!

A lovely friend of mine took me out for a belated birthday lunch. We decided this would be a great place where we could sit and chat overlooking the lake. Well, it would have been if it hadn’t rained the whole time we were there! Yes, I know, rain is a good thing! I ended up ordering a roasted veggie salad and some garlic bread, and I also shared some wedges. The salad was ok, the roasted veggies were mainly eggplant which was a bit too much for me. The garlic bread was average and the wedges were ok. So all in all, an average meal – certainly nothing spectacular!

This feels like it was an eternity ago, but I can still remember it – just! This was lunch with a ‘new’ friend and we spent a lot of time chatting. We both ended up having the zucchini balls which were delicious and came with a yummy tzaziki sauce and lots of salad. There were quite a few veggie options on the menu, so I would like to go back again and try something else as well.

We were shopping and we were hungry, this was a last minute decision and we only just got in before kitchen closed – but we didn’t realise that until we went to pay. There are not a lot of veggie options on the menu, so we both opted for the vegetarian breakfast – which came with mushrooms, spinach, hash browns, tomatoes, eggs and toast. It was pretty good. Martin had a fresh OJ and I had a caramel milkshake which was a little disappointing as it wasn’t as caramelly as I would have liked… Oh well, been there, done that!

We looked at a couple of places for lunch before heading back to this one – let me just say this – there are not good options for vegetarians in Hokitika! Now I will probably get a stack of emails saying that there are – but we certainly couldn’t find them! I ordered the Wild Westcoast breakfast (despite the fact that it was lunch time!) without the bacon and sausage – which left hash browns, tomatoes, mushrooms, eggs and toast, the girl who served us was kind enough to ask if I would like extra of something, or if I would like her to make it cheaper – I opted for cheaper – I was amazed as that was the first time anyone had asked me that! Martin ordered the maple hotcake without bacon – his was just the same price! He was a little disappointed because it was smaller than he expected, so he tried to convince me to give him some of my hash browns – at first I decided not a chance (being a potato head and all that), but then I felt sorry for him and gave him some. The food was pretty good, but there were not a lot of vegetarian choices. It is not that I wouldn’t go back here in particular, just that I wouldn’t bother with Hokitika in general (well except for the amazing glass shop!).

This was a tiny little place in a pretty small town, and we stopped here because it was the first place we saw and we weren’t sure there would be anything else. They didn’t have a lot of veggie options on the menu, and we were not very hungry anyway. We both had a cheese, tomato and pineapple toasted sandwich and a hot chocolate. To their credit, it was quick, well made and hot – just what we wanted on a cold rainy, day!