james test

Today we have another in-the-background blog update for you. We've refined our 12-hour bucket list of things to do in the inner northern suburbs of Melbourne, with lots of new photos and a few new venues. To join the expedition, click here!

March 6, 2015 We first visited Maha a few years ago and had a good, but not amazing meal. Since then, seemingly every vegan we know has raved non-stop about how well they're catered for at Maha. So when friends organised a big group vegan feast there we joined in to see if it measured up. Everything was pre-arranged - we booked in for a five-course vegan degustation ($95 a head) and turned up with nothing to decide except what to drink. I sampled various wines ordered by more focussed dining companions, while Cindy dived into the cocktails with a very satisfactory Amman Sash (Ketel One Citron, cointreau, vanilla syrup, Kinnie and a red liquorice garnish). Also pictured below are our first couple of shared plates - some lightly spiced chickpea chips and a plate of young carrots simply dressed with oil and lemon. After the table demolished the shared dishes, we moved onto a few individual plates - firstly the excellently crunchy zucchini felafel with pumpkin puree, tomatoes and a cri...

A special milestone is a good time for blog updates, and we've just performed our annual audit of our where's the best? page. It's been a good year for breakfasts, with Admiral Cheng-Ho , El Chino , True North and Twenty & Six Espresso earning adds to our list. Pub-wise, meat mockers The Cornish Arms were long overdue for inclusion, while The Sporting Club Hotel has been rebranded as the Charles Weston Hotel . There's been more cheap mock at Loving Hut Northcote , Springvale's Nha Hang 5 Sao and Trang Bakery , where Michael has embarked on a banh mi bonanza. In the city, Super charger has been offering a much fresher, wholefoods alternative. The spectacular new veg*n opening of the past year, though, has undoubtedly been Smith & Daughters . It's about bloody time Melbourne got a cool vegan bar, and this one offers a lot more besides - irresistible fried snacks, 'eggy' brunches and luscious desserts. They might even have a new entry ...

March 1, 2015 Once back home from Sydney I was eager to have some fun in the kitchen. I pulled out Vegan Soul Kitchen and committed to some serious cooking, preparing my own seitan in the slow cooker throughout the afternoon, then trying two new Soul Kitchen  recipes for dinner. I was a little surprised that Bryant Terry didn't include a seitan recipe in his book, but there are plenty of others around. I had a go at the moo-free seitan in Vegan Sandwiches Save The Day and it proved very successful. Once the seitan slices were dredged in arrowroot and shallow-fried by Terry's method I got pretty excited. "I think I've made chops!" I told Michael. We tested a small piece; it was very juicy inside and crisp on the outer. The other handy thing about making my own seitan was all the gluteny stock I ended up with. Much of it was used for the mushroom gravy that these 'chops' were simmered in. Terry has an elaborate recipe for making mushroom gravy from scratch...

We're celebrating another blog millennium with some alterations to our site design - hope you like the new look! Actually, there's not much time to write as we're cooking all sorts of goodies for tomorrow's celebratory picnic . It'll be great to see some of you there. I can't imagine what our years in Melbourne, eating habits and circle of friends would be like if we hadn't set up where's the beef? . Thanks for your readership, your recommendations and your encouragement.

In our 1999th post, we'd like to remind you that we're holding a 2000-post celebratory picnic this Sunday March 22 from noon. We'll set up at the northern end of Princes Park, near the pond. Come by and say hi, and if you want to stick around a while, please bring your own picnic gear too - blankets or chairs, plates, cups and cutlery and a plate of food to share. (The most sharing plates of food are ones that are vegan, gluten-free and otherwise diet-inclusive.) We couldn't have asked for a better weather forecast- it's likely to be 27°C and sunny! If you're a facebooker, join the event page for last-minute updates.  Note: this food is for illustrative purposes only, actual picnic food may vary

February 24 & 25, 2015 We both had to work during our couple of days in Surry Hills, but there was enough time to squeeze in breakfast each morning. Having knocked off one Sydney icon in bills , we headed for another - Reuben Hills, one of Surry Hills' key hipster haunts. It's a beautiful space, repurposed industrial and split into two levels: roastery upstairs, cafe downstairs. The cafe has low key neon artwork on the walls, gorgeous native plant centrepieces on the tables and lots of light streaming in the big back door. The coffee is excellent, the best I've had in Sydney (added bonus: they do an almond and macadamia milk option if you're over dairy and soy). The menu is interesting too, inspired by South and Central American food. Vegans have pretty limited options: avocado, coriander and lime on toast ($13.50) and a sago pudding (see below), but there are plenty of egg and dairy-based options for vegetarians. On the first morning I ordered the baleada, a Hondur...

February 24, 2015 I first read about Gelato Messina on The Unbearable Lightness of Being Hungry a few years ago. Though it sounded good, N2 Extreme Gelato seemed more exciting still and the former recommendation lapsed in the back of my mind. Both businesses have since opened stores in Melbourne and again N2 grabbed earlier exposure on our blog. Gelato Messina nevertheless seemed to have something good going on, with the Melbourne and Surry Hills stores clogged with queues every time I walked past them. After dinner at Sugarcane , I finally decided to attach myself to the end of it and find out what all the fuss was about. The standard menu runs to two dozen gelato flavours and almost a dozen more vegan-friendly sorbets, and that's not even counting the half-dozen specials they offer at any one time. Scoops with gluten, nuts, eggs and alcohol are clearly marked, though the gelateria prints a disclaimer that they cannot guarantee any product in the shop is truly allergen-free. Mi...

February 24, 2015 For our last night in Sydney we decided we should grab some Thai - the city's specialty. We tracked down Sugarcane, a slightly fancy option in the neighbourhood with good reviews and a decent range of veggie options. We nabbed one of the last few unbooked tables and scoped out the menu. It's the kind of place where you compile a meal out of bits and pieces - there are little dishes like grilled corn with coconut cream ($5), seasoned cashews with shallots, chilli and garlic ($6) and more sizable options like veggie pad thai ($15) and tofu with Malaysian curry sauce, snake beans and baby corn ($13). We started with a plate of roti with curry sauce, cucumber and chilli ($10). It's pretty hard to go too badly wrong with fried bread and curried sauce, and Sugarcane didn't mess this up - probably not quite up to the standards set by the likes of Mamak , but excellent nonetheless. Next up: vegetarian dumplings with soy, coriander and ginger dressing ($12). Th...

February 24, 2015 For a couple of years my mates K and Worbit have screeched about the potato-based vegan nachos at some cafe in Sydney. While walking home from Maya Vegetarian we spotted Mad Spuds Cafe and I confirmed with K that they were the venue of said nachos. A walk back to the cafe made a nice break in my hotel-bound working Tuesday. Mad Spuds Cafe is the kind of cute and slightly daggy cafe that reminds me of the places I ate out as a student - charmingly cluttered with furniture, potato-themed knick-knacks and postcard-sized pictures. The spud-centred menu didn't do much to dispel this feeling, filled as it was with big eggy breakfasts, burgers, 'chicken n avo' sandwiches, stacks and nachos. Nevertheless, this cafe has found its niche and been widely, regularly blogged for years. Their many vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free options are labelled clearly. The famed potato nachos ($15) are available in beefy, vegetarian and vegan versions. Unfortunately working to...

February 23, 2015 Once back in Sydney, I googled around for a vegetarian dinner option in Surry Hills. I thought I'd hit on something new with Maya Vegetarian, but the other blog posts listed below revealed that it was just new to us. There are several Maya Indian restaurants clustered together on Cleveland St, and at number 470 you'll find an all-vegetarian menu and a display case stacked with sweets.  The setting is casual and comfortable - you need to order at a counter and fetch your own water, but food is delivered to the freshly-wiped tables and there are Bollywood posters and televised film clips to enjoy as you eat. There's a lot to choose from - crispy-fried starters, a range of mains, Punjabi and South Indian thali, dosa, uttapam, breads, chaat, desserts and daily specials. I noticed helpful (v)s on vegan dishes throughout their online menu but not in store, so a bit of preparation may be in order. Michael loves the variety and vastness of a thali ($15.90) - thi...

February 21-23, 2015 Leura has a vegan cafe that I'd heard of long before our plans to visit the Blue Mountains, thanks to The Lentil Institution and Little Vegan Bear . Pretty much every time Michael wanted to plan some detail of our mini-holiday, I'd try to insert a visit to Rubyfruit into the schedule. This was probably starting to grate on him but I (or Rubyfruit) clearly did alright because we ate there three times in three days. Our first visit was for breakfast on a drizzly Saturday morning. Michael settled in with his usual soy flat white ($4), while I sampled their chai latte ($4.50). It was tough to choose our meals with chia pudding, polenta pancakes and scrambled tofu all on offer. Michael actually skipped straight to the specials board and ordered the Oriental Bowl ($18) - greens, tomatoes, pickled ginger, avocado, shredded nori, kimchi, tamari ginger tempeh skewers and a miso dressing on a bed of black bean noodles. He made short work of it, declaring between mou...

February 20 & 22, 2015 We had done very little in the way of pre-trip food research for this weekend, so one of our first tasks was to have a wander up and down the main street and see what grabbed our attention. Leura Garage had the sort of vibe that attracts us - more relaxed than the slightly stuffy white tablecloth style of Silk's - and a menu that was pretty well stocked with vego options. We headed there for dinner on our first night. It took us a while to hit upon a plan for the meal - Cindy was keen on the pizzas, while I wanted to sample more broadly from the menu. In the end we decided to sneak a side in along with a pizza and come back for a second visit if things measured up. The pumpkin pizza with house made onion jam, feta and spinach ($26) was impressive. A great base, with some crispness to the crust and a wonderful salty and sweet combination of toppings. Our side dish was a summer bean mix ($17) - snake, borlotti and flat beans with toasted garlic flakes, pin...