Melbourne food post #1...Vegie Bar.

Well it has certainly been an age since I typed anything in here. Last time I did I believe it was freezing cold. Now it's practically Christmas, which is a scary thought in itself.

Anyway, Nadine and I went on holiday a couple of months back to Melbourne. We often go to Melbourne (well this is the second time together, and I'm sure there'll be many more trips there in the future). I love Melbourne for the food, the cute little old houses and the fact that it is as flat as a pancake. (Likewise I love Brisbane for the cute big old houses and it's hills). We spent almost our entire holiday budget for Melbourne on food and alcohol. Almost, because on the first day there we had to buy warm jumpers because we were idiots and took cardigans that didn't even have full sleeves. We also hired a car to drive out to Hanging Rock where we drank nice wine and had a picnic.

Anyway onto some food. Vegie Bar is always a winner because it is so cheap, the meals are huge and it's always delicious. We went a couple of times this trip.

Nadine had the burrito. Barely managed to finish it.

I had the nachos, which were indeed the biggest plate of nachos I have ever eaten. They don't really skimp on anything, this Vegie Bar place.

We also had a carafe of sangria this time too, since we were eaten Mexican food. It was good sangria but not as nice as my own recipe. That might be because of the amount of vodka I pour into it.

We went to vegie Bar again just before the end of our trip, since we were running out of money and I didn't have anywhere to access the internet to look up other vegan friendly establishments...And I was so desperate for food this time because I'd just gotten a new tattoo and on the tram trip up the road there it hit me that I'd just had needles scraping my wrist and therefore felt a little faint.

Our starter was the dumplings. I love dumplings. I should make my own again one day soon. Can you get gluten free dumpling wrappers? Or does anyone know a good recipe for me to make my own? These ones were filled with some sort of vegetable/mushroom/tvp(?) mixture and had a soy sauce dip.

Nadine ordered the faux duck stir fry, which was delicious and spicy and oily, but I avoided too much of it since by this point in the trip I'd eaten so much gluten my intestines were about to wrench themselves out of my gut to put themselves out of their misery.

I ordered...I can't remember really, also can't remember if it was technically gluten free, but it was thick rice noodles with lots of different types of mushrooms (and as far as I can recall, no fake meat things). It was delicious. Savoured every last bite.

So that was our Vegie Bar experience this time. No desserts were sampled because there is no way we would have fit them in! Maybe next time. I would also like to try them for breakfast - we wanted to this time but the day we chose they were closed.

Next installment will be pub food! Yes, pubs in Melbourne have vegan stuff. I was floored. Vegan parma? Bring it on.