Saturday, October 23, 2010

Gasometer Hotel, Collingwood

Disclaimer: The photos are pretty shitty because we didn't have our proper camera and I hate taking flash photo in restaurants.

East Brunswick Club has been looking after Melbourne vegans' pub meal craving for a few years. We love EBC for their one and only vegan parma, 'cheese burger', '
Philly Cheese Steak' and decadent vegan desserts. EBC is probably the only pub in the world that you can eat a vegan parma while listening to The Feelies' Crazy Rhythm.

So, when Kody (ex-EBC's manager) announced on Mess+Noise that his partner and him were starting a new vegan-friendly pub in Collingwood and posted the menu, I was very excited. The premise used to be the well-known Irish Pub
Father Flanagan's and was renamed Gasometer, the building's original name in the 1800s.

Last Wednesday, K and I went there for dinner. We were welcomed by Kody's friendly smile when we stepped inside. It wasn't as packed (and not as many punks in black) as EBC but pretty busy for a new pub/restaurant on a weeknight.

There are many vegan options on the menu: stuffed fried olives (with vegan roasted pepper cheese, Spanish style mushrooms, smoked tofu strips with spicy buffalo sauce, areapas with shredded red chilli seiten, vegan chorizo burger, vegan mac and cheese, Spanish roasted pepper salad, seasonal sauteed greens and
vegan pumpkin pie. I overheard the V word from both tables next to us. It doesn't take vegans long to catch on to new vegan friendly places.

K and I wanted to try as many dishes as we could but we only have two bellies. K dislikes mushrooms and olives, so we have smoked tofu strips with spicy Buffalo sauce($12) for entree:

There were two options on the menu: spicy or "brutal"(!!!!!) but they made it mild for me (wuss). I liked it a lot but K wished it was spicier (my bad). The house made ranch dipping sauce got the thumbs up from both of us.

Following up was vegan chorizo burger($15) :

The Chorizo pattie was easily the best vegan pattie I've ever had, served with yummy roasted capscium, fried onion and chimichurri aioli. We also liked the perfectly crispy chips a lot. It was almost like they were battered.

We also shared a bowl of vegan mac and cheese ($8):


it was a little bland for my liking and K thought it is not creamy enough.

We saved enough room for dessert and ordered
the vegan pumpkin pie with gingerbread vegan ice-cream ($12):

We were not too sure about the pumpkin pie. We only had pumpkin pie once before last Wednesday night and could not get over the idea of pumpkin in dessert. I guess it is an acquired taste.

On the other hand, we both loved gingerbread vegan ice-cream a lot. I wish I can have a big bowl of it. By big, I mean a pint.


Both K and I liked the food would love to go back and try the
other dishes, especially the seitan dish. I am very happy that we now have one more vegan-friendly pub. It kinda of reminded me of our visit Yulli's in Sydney with Cindy and Michael, a hip gastropub with good beers.

For the coeliacs,
gluten-free options are not available at the moment but I heard that they are working on it and there will be a few g/f dishes and a vegan g/f dish!


Edited to add: there are now g/f options on the menu, see the comment from Annalee for more details

Gasometer
484 Smith St, Collingwood
9417 5538

On my Walkman:
Strange Tourist by Gareth Liddiard

9 comments:

  1. *flaps hands around in a tizz* Vegan pumpkin pie? Vegan pumpkin pie?! I can't even find animal-hurty pumpkin pie in a restaurant here! Oh, tragedy!

    (Though I think I, too, would be most in love with the gingerbread ice cream. Mmm, gingerbread...)

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  2. That sounds so good - stuffed fried olives & chorizo burger!I am definitely going to check it out soon.

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  3. I went there last night on this blog's advice and how freaking yummy - I had the areapas but will go the burger next time. The fries were most excellent. Hooray! Will keep space in belly for dessert on next visit. Nervous about the pie though.

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  4. @hannah, come visit! Eat and meet Melbourne veg*n bloggers!

    I don't know why can I go back there but I really want to try the areapas!

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  5. Ok,so we've re-jigged alot of dishes and there are lots of gluten-free options

    List is:

    + Garlic Prawns (ask for gluten free bread that comes with it)
    + Buffalo Chicken Wings or Smoked Tofu Strips
    + Spanish Style Mushrooms (ask for gluten free bread that comes with it)
    + Brandy and Chicken Liver Pate (ask for gluten free bread that comes with it)
    + Cheese Stuffed Meatballs (ask for gluten free bread that comes with it)
    + Pipis with Chorizo (ask for gluten free bread that comes with it)
    + Burrata, Basil and Heirloom Tomato Platter
    + Latin Grilled Swordfish
    + Arrachera (Mexican Style Sliced Steak)
    + The NYC Cheeseburger
    + BBQ Pulled Pork (ask for gluten free bread that comes with it)
    + Baked Mash Potato with Extra Virgin Olive Oil
    + Spanish Roasted Pepper Salsa
    + Sauteed Greens
    + Sourdough Bread Rubbed with Tomato, Garlic and Extra Virgin Olive Oil
    + working on the desserts to be Gluten Free Friendly asap - update shortly

    Please make sure when you order that you want gluten free and we will seriously accomodate

    Love from the Gasometer

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  6. So great to hear that there will be g/f dishes as someone who will soon be returning to eating gluten free. Also, please please please have just one vegan and g/f dish, there are few of us gluten free vegetarians around!

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  7. thanks for the info
    am going there this weekend with friends, though I am hoping they have some more Vegetarian and gluten free options (that isn't mushrooms)

    hope the mash potato is good otherwise ;)

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  8. this place sucks!!!!!!!!!!

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