January 11th, 2012
Here is a very belated post on all the wonderful food I ate in Auckland, New Zealand when I was there for a conference in December. I had done some research before I left and was amazed to find that there were at least 4 vegetarian restaurants that were a 10 minute walk or less from the convention center where the conference was held. Thankfully all my school friends who were at the conference didn’t mind me always dragging them to veg restaurants!
Loving Hut (formerly Golden Age, 61 Victoria Street West)
The first place I ate out in Auckland (well besides a Pita Pit, but that doesn’t count) was The Loving Hut. Despite Loving Hut being the largest chain of veg restaurants in the world, this was actually my first time eating at one. I forget exactly which dishes we ordered but there was crispy ‘chicken’, eggplant and tofu and a veggie dish. All of it was delicious but it was very greasy! For some reason I expected Loving Hut to be a bit on the healthier side. But still a great place to go for vegan junk food.
Raw Power Cafe (10 Vulcan Lane)
The name is a bit misleading because this isn’t a raw restaurant as I was expecting. But they did have a raw salad on the menu and fresh smoothies and juice. There actually weren’t a lot of vegan options on the menu but that wasn’t a problem at all because they also have a large selection of salads every day including bean, noodle and green salads. You choose a plate or a bowl and then pile on as much of the salads as you can. I got this the first time we went there was it was great. The salads were delicious and filling without being to heavy. The second time we went I had the scrambled tofu off the menu which was very good. They also had a large selection of vegan desserts.
Revive (33 Lorne St & 16 Fort St)
Revive is the perfect spot to grab a quick takeout lunch. Every day they have a number of different salad options, most of which are vegan, along with a soup and one or two larger items like a frittata or burrito. Everything I tried was great, especially the vegan potato salad which was gorgeously creamy and didn’t taste like any potato salad I’ve had before. They also have a few packaged mostly raw snacks for sale.
Basilicum (41 Elliott Stables, Elliott Street)
Of all the veg restaurants I went to in Auckland, Basilicum had the best atmosphere for a nice sit down meal. It’s located in a neat little area called the Elliot Stables where a bunch of different restaurants share a gorgeous seating space. There were only 4 or 5 vegan entrees on the menu but all of them looked really appealing. I had some fried eggplant to start and the Hakka Fried Noddles for my main. The dish was simple but very fresh and flavorful. They had a decent selection of vegan desserts and they regularly hold vegan dinner nights, so watch out for that!
Revel (146 Karangahape Rd)
This restaurant isn’t as close to down town as all the others and it’s not completely vegetarian but it is worth checking out. Karangahape Rd, referred to as “K street” by kiwis has a hipstery vibe with lots of veg friendly restaurants, cool shops and even a vegan store. And it’s only about a 35 min walk from the city centre. There is also a free bus that you can take from almost anywhere along Queen St up to K St. I had the tofu flourentine for breakfast at Revel. Lightely seasoned tofu, tomatoes and a rich creamy sauce, I savored every bite! I got their chocolate midnight pie to go and it was heavenly. A thick shortbread crust topped with incredibly rich and smooth chocolate.
And, right across the street from Revel is a small all vegan store called the Safe Shop that sells all sorts of vegan goodies.
I was also lucky enough to meet another vegan blogger, Moira from An Auckland Vegan and her partner Erin who were nice enough to let me couch surf there for a night!
Posted in Reviews | 3 Comments »
December 13th, 2011
After spending a week traveling through smaller towns in New Zealand and living off luncheon tofu sandwiches (more on that later), I was super excited to arrive in Wellington for some real food. I headed straight for Cuba St and instantly fell in love with its upscale hippy vibe. Full of nice second hand clothing stores, veg friendly restaurants and cafes and cute specialty shops you could easily spend the whole day there. All of the restaurants I went to are within a few blocks of each other on Cuba St.
I went to Aunty Mena’s for dinner the first night. It’s a completely vegetarian Malaysian restaurant which a lot of fake meat options. I had the dumplings to start and a pineapple fried rice dish with gluten pork for my main dish. The meal was delicious, fresh tasting and not at all too greasy.
The next day I went to Midnight Espresso for lunch and had a tofu sandwich and a soy mocha. Both were incredible! It was one of the yummiest lunches I’ve had in awhile. Then I went to a health food store a few blocks away on Cuba St and had a vegan ice cream mixed with frozen fruit. It was amazing! But sadly they said they wouldn’t be carrying the soy option for much longer because it was too expensive.
That night for dinner I ended up going back to Midnight Espresso . I had the vegan nachos which were piled high with beans, hummus, salsa, homemade vegan mayo and avocado slices. That may sound like a weird combo of toppings for nachos but it was delicious! But be warned – even the small was so large I could barely finish it! They also had a bunch of vegan desserts but I was too stuffed to try them.
There is another restaurant near by called Olive cafe that looked promising but the two days I was there they didn’t actually have anything vegan on the menu besides hummus and pita. But it may be worth checking out.
Posted in Uncategorized | 4 Comments »
November 26th, 2011
I left bright and early this morning for a trip to New Zealand. I know a lot of people (including me) struggle to eat healthy while travelling so I thought I would show you what food I’m bringing along.
I probably went a little bit overboard in the food department. For the first week of my trip I’m going to be travelling around to small towns and doing a lot of hiking so I wanted to have lots of ready-to-eat food handy. For the second week I’ll be at a conference in Auckland so I’m sure i wont have any problems finding good food there. But, i usually find getting enough protein with breakfast can be a challenge so I really wanted to bring enough protein powder to have some with breakfast each day.
So here is what I brought:
- Vega Shake and Go Smoothie in chocolate flavour
- 20 servings of Sun Warrior brown rice protein in chocolate flavour (I find this one is actually palatable when mixed with water)
- Dried mango and golden berried
- Almonds and pistachios
- Chia seeds
- Cliff, Builder, Luna and Lara bars (4 of each)
- Kale chips
- Raw chocolate banana bites (a modification of Gena’s recipe)
As I mentioned above, I plan to have a protein shake with breakfast each day. I’m going to make chia pudding with the chia seeds and Vega. I brought along an empty nut butter jar and a spork for mixing and serving the shakes and puddings.
I have a 10 hour layover in Vancouver today so check back later for some vegan food highlights from Vancouver!
Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments »
