Wednesday, September 10, 2008

We heart Brisbane-part 2

Disclaimer: Sorry about some of these pics they were taken with a camera phone but it's better to have crappy pics than no pics, right? Mr T also wanted to let you know that he took most of the pics.

So after our wonderful morning at the market we decided to go to Kuan Yin teahouse for late lunch. It kind of reminds me of the FGY gallery except it's a cuter place, and cheaper and better tasting. We had the best fried dumplings EVER, the texture and the presentation and the taste was so bloody perfect. Mr T agreed and since he's from Hong Kong I think I can safely say he has good dumpling credibility. Ahh I will miss these awesome dumplings with their slightly crispy outside, delicate centre and look how how cute they are:


We also had the Taiwanese 'chicken' which was nice and salty and was spiced with paprika:



and the 3 meat set meal (I can't remember the exact name but it had 'pork', 'fish' and 'chicken' in it)



and their super sweet and tasty lemon kumquat tea (just the thing for our colds)



After that we went to the forest for dinner. The meals were so-so. They had burgers, wraps and already cooked mix and match meals available. For some reason I was expecting it to be a fancy place, but it looked a little like this:

I had the tempeh burger:



and Mr T had various dishes (curry, potato dish and some salad):


The best thing about the forest though is the cakes. They rotate the flavours, so we had to try as many flavours as possible, we shared 5 pieces over the 2 days we were there. The first choc one had cherries on top and a vanilla creamy centre and was by far my favourite but all of them were great. Here's the fav first:



Coffee cheesecake (i'm not a fan of coffee but Mr T loved it):


And then the strawberry cheesecake (probably my second fav):

And then chai cake (again don't like chai so won't comment):

And finally another choc cake which was more dense and had shaved choc on top:



Then it was on to Alibi room for the ultimate vegan breakfast. The kombie drivers breakfast for 2, which is $35 and includes two soy coffees and two juices and a crazy ridiculous amount of food. Bacon, scarmbled tofu (which is shredded), baked beans, toast, sweet potato chips, homemade hash browns, fried tomatoes, falafel, mushrooms, and spinach. I can't believe how much we ate, although it was mostly Mr T. Mr T and I were saying that even Noah and Ivan (the biggest vegan guys were know) probably couldn't finish it. We were so full that we skipped lunch on that day. I can't believe that a omni restaurant sells such an amazing vegan breakfast, they also have vegan pizzas which we didn't get to try. Here are the before and after shots.


Since I hate coffee I had two juices and Mr T had two coffees, this was my fav, it was a combination of beetroot- orange with a tiny bit of carrot:



Our final meal in the Brisbane was at Pu Kwong, thankfully we booked because it was fully booked and they were turning people away. Pu Kwong is situated away from Brisbane centre in an area that reminds me a little of Box Hill. We loved all of the dishes and I think it is a good rival to all of the chinese restuarants here and perhaps slightly more authentic and cheaper too. Here are the dishes we shared:

Chicken drumsticks

Turnip cake (it was good quality so it didn't even need soy sauce)

Coriander-ginger chicken dish (so full of flavour)

Pineapple duck dish.


The only meal we didn't get a pic of was in the Gold Coast and our final breakfast which was yummy scrambled tofu with sun dried tomatoes. We got it from this cute omni place called Elephant Rock Cafe which overlooks the beach.

Mr T and I have decided that we have to go back and spend a bit of time in the gold coast next time too. The dumplings, market food, amazing super sized breakfast and the forest cakes have to be the biggest highlights food wise. Oh and the weather rocked this time of the year, ahh just being able to wear t-shirts again was so friggin awesome! Can you tell I'm in lurrrrve with Brisbane?

A big thanks to Indriya for the awesome guide to vegan eats in Brisbane and Lena for suggesting it and to all of your other suggestions.

8 comments:

  1. Wow, you really did taste the best of vegan Brisbane - even trekking out to Pu Kwong!

    I had my first experience of the Kombie Drivers' breakfast for two on Saturday... you got through a lot more of it than we did - well done!

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  2. Oh wow, that Alibi Room breakfast looks incredible! Like I seriously want to go to Brisbane just to try it! Good effort on the eating :)
    Miss T

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  3. You're making me miss brisbane food so much! and you guys ate so much of the kombi breakfast! I think it's so gross, so will never order it again, but it took me 2 atempts to come to that conclusion! KUAN YIN IS AMAZING!!!!

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  4. Oh wow, all those cakes! They look so fantastic.

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  5. Oh my, EVERYTHING looks scrumptious - yum!! But I must say, I'm particularly awestruck by those desserts :0)

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  6. Wow, everything looks so great. I'll have to try a few more of those places when I head down to Brisbane in three weeks!

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  7. EEE!! I miss home very very very much! I'm so glad you went to the green flea markets, the kids doing the cupcake distro there are working SO BLOODY HARD to do positive things. my heart skipped a beat at the mention of the dagwood dogs, to my own fatalism would I ever dare to try one, but oh how i lust, kristy! how i lust indeed!

    I don't remember the Kombi Driver's Breakie having FELAFEL in it. will check with A if this has always been the case. I've only ever dare the shared feast once, with A. We are good eaters and got through the ENTIRE thing, plus the spares of some friends. Except for the baked beans as we did not like.

    IMO, Brisbane fares INCREDIBLEY well for the vegans with respect to things like population differences between Melbourne and Brisbane, I think the ratio of Vegan Stuff : Vegans : People in the city is possibly equal to if not a little greater than what we have here.

    eeeeee. oh my, I can't wait to go back.

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  8. Thanks Everyone!

    Cindy, it was a eating holiday more than anything else :-)

    Phillipa, I agree completely!

    Lena, it doesn't normally half felafal I think it was a replacement or sausages. I can't believe that you finished it. Mr T is like one of the biggest eaters that I've ever met. Maybe you should enter the possible upcoming vegan eating competition!

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