Back through Perth to the Margaret River region

During our time in Perth a family friend kindly offered us accommodation at her property in Cowaramup near Margaret River, about 3 hours south of Perth. This had been playing on our minds during the camper trailer trip and after weighing up the logistics of where to go after Shark Bay we decided to head down south and return the camper trailer early. In order to make it back in time to collect the keys we endured a 10 hour drive which then gave us a rest day in Perth for cleaning up the camper trailer, eating out and enjoying a final swim at the lovely Perth beaches.

After heading back to PAWS for more food shopping and devouring another delicious falafel for lunch we attempted to go for a swim. Stingers (jellyfish with stinging tentacles) were littered across the shoreline of several beaches and clearly visible in the water which was odd as we hadn’t noticed a single one a couple of weeks earlier. As the weather was very warm, we braved the water momentarily to cool off although it wasn’t the relaxing swim we had been hoping for. A bushfire burning in the nearby Swan Valley sent clouds of smoke creeping over the otherwise clear blue sky.

We ordered take-away from Sri Melaka for dinner once again and had an alfresco meal in Kings Park. All of the meals on our first night in Perth were so good we wanted to eat them all again, even though we didn’t have the young man around to help us out this time. We couldn't resist trying some entrees and snacked on crunchy spring rolls and curry puffs. Along with main dishes it was way more food than we needed which didn't matter as the leftovers were devoured the next day. Pictured on my leftovers plate is "beef" rendang, mee goreng noodles and kangkong belacan. 

I’ll never forget our arrival at the Cowaramup property as it was like being in the lovliest dream I never wanted to wake up from. After meeting our friend at the front gate we drove down a long driveway with rows of grape vines on one side and a lake on the other. This wasn’t just any old property we had been invited to stay at, it was a huge vineyard with a tastefully decorated luxurious home overlooking an enormous  lake. Our friend showed us around the house and vegetable garden and then left it in our hands as she was staying elsewhere with family over the long weekend.

Ollie amused himself all afternoon trying to work out how to catch ducks and the hundreds of other resident water birds, thankfully without success. The man and I slowly unpacked and told each other a million times that the change of plans had definitely been our best holiday decision. When it was Ollie's bedtime we realised that his mattress had been left outside on the front verandah and discovered that a large frog had made it a temporary home. Ollie's fur is strewn across the front of it's nose.

Waking up to this view the following morning was rather surreal.

Followed by a leisurely walk around the lake and through the vines to sample some grapes.

It had been leisurely until Ollie spotted a young kangaroo! Ollie was right on the heels of the poor frightened creature at the beginning of the chase. They ran up and down the rows of vines until we lost sight of them for ages, eventually Ollie reappeared looking exhausted but very disappointed his fun game was over.

The walk worked up our appetites and it was inspiring to have an expansive kitchen at my disposal so I made a tofu and mixed veg stir fry for lunch. The sauce was thrown together from items in my portable pantry in addition to items at the house. From memory it contained soy sauce, garlic, sambal oelek, rice vinegar, sugar and sesame oil. Apart from being slightly too salty from an overload of soy sauce it was a fine meal and one I would like to replicate at home.

Lunch was followed up with a slightly less healthy dinner of pizza! We had been craving pizza ever since our disappointing one at Loving Hut. This was one of the main reasons we stopped off at PAWS, to purchase Cheezly and Redwood cheatin' pepperoni for pizzas. The man always loves a simple margherita and this one was enhanced with some fresh basil from the garden.

The other pizza was Mexican styled. I mashed a tin of Coles Mexican beans with some tomato paste and hot sauce to spread on the base and topped it with red onion, red capsicum/peppers, mushrooms, vegan pepperoni and cheezly. The dried out spinach on top that was procured from the garden was supposed to go on top of the bean layer but it was forgotten until the pizza was fully assembled and about to go in the oven. Regardless of my error, the pizza tasted great and the crunchy spinach provided a interesting texture.

A cooking relic in the house that captured my interest was a bean cutter. I have clear memories of my mum and grandma using these devices throughout my childhoood. Green beans are fed into the holes at the top and then you wind the handle whilst placing pressure on the beans. I don't think I ever ate a whole bean as a child, they were always sliced using one of these machines!

The days dwindled away quickly and we really hadn't seen anything at all in the region as we found it difficult to leave the magical property for long. The man suggested that we visit one of the nearby caves as he had fond memories of seeing them as a child and left it up to me to decide which one. I booked us in for a tour of the Lake Cave which begins with a descent down 300 steps through karri forest into a doline - a hole in the earth's surface.

True to it's name the Lake Cave contains a permanent lake in it's chamber. The main feature of the cave is called the "suspended table", an impressive formation which is the result of the fusion of stalagmites and stalactites and weighs several tonnes.

As we were due to hit the road again, our final meal needed to use up the frozen goods we had remaining. On my plate is a couple of Linda McCartney sausages with fried onions and gravy, mashed potatoes and some mixed frozen vegetables which were sautéed with garlic and a dash of soy sauce. 

Neither of us were ready to say goodbye to this beautiful place. Camping had lost its appeal after this comfortable instalment of our journey, and we weren't looking forward to the long drive across the Nullarbor back home either.  

Food shopping and sights around Perth

Before we headed off on our next stage of travelling which involved more road tripping throughout remote areas, I needed to stock up on foods. As well as general supermarket shopping we made a trip into the PAWS (People and Animal Welfare Society) vegan store and cafe which is centrally located in Beaufort Street in the city. PAWS stock a wide variety of vegan goodies - personal care and household products, pantry items, confectionery, pet care products, clothing, books, non-dairy alternatives and a freezer full of a variety of mock meats and ice-cream.

It was nearing lunchtime and the huge selection of meals at the cafe beckoned to us to give them a try. Amongst the choices were mock meat burgers and hot dogs, nachos, pies, aromatic curries from the bain marie, raw food and falafels. I choose the latter, the young man was sold on nachos and after a lot of indecision the man ordered a Cajun chicken burger.

I didn’t capture photos of the others meals and allowed their hungry bellies to tuck in straight away. The young man’s nachos didn’t look particularly appealing – corn chips topped with a salsa, sour cream and what appeared to be melted Toffuti cheese slices. The omission of guacamole didn't bother him as he isn’t a fan of avocado and he mentioned that the nachos were slightly better than the ones he used to get from his school canteen. The man loved the spicy kick in his Cajun burger although he would have enjoyed it more if it included a larger quantity of salad.

The falafel pockets (available in small and large sizes) differed from a falafel wrap you would typically find in a kebab shop as it contained a heap of additional condiments. Fresh jalapenos, olives, grated carrot, shredded cabbage, spring onions and coriander chutney were some of the items that made this unique. My photo doesn’t show the falafels hiding underneath the mass of salad but be assured that they were present and very tasty. Although it was a challenge to eat this without making a mess, it was totally worth the effort. The man had a serious case of food envy over my meal. The small size was perfect for my appetite that day, I recommend ordering the large if you are particularly hungry.

All of the staff at PAWS were extremely friendly, some went out of their way offering Ollie bowls of water while we ate at their outdoor tables. There was also plenty of indoor seating available on small tables, communal benches and lounges. The store and cafe were constantly busy throughout our visit and I noted that the curries, falafels and raw plates seemed to be rather popular with the regulars.

The Herdsman was another interesting store we visited. They stock a range of chilli sauces the man’s family have been particularly fond of for years, so anyone who visits Perth is requested to stock up on “Hogans”. When we pulled into the parking bay, The Herdsman was a familiar sight to the man and I. His first casual (under age) job had been there squeezing oranges although it was called Herdsman Market years ago. I also recognised the store's signage from one of Kari’s recent posts about her shopping experience there.

It is basically a gourmet type of supermarket reminiscent of the Thomas Dux grocers around Melbourne. They stock many expensive boutique brands in the pantry aisles you don’t see at regular supermarkets. As well as the requisite Hogans sauces, we also purchased a lovely tomato relish and some Sheese smoked cheddar. Cheezly was also available in the refrigerated section.

The majority of our time in Perth was spent catching up with people, at the beach, by the pool and taking nostalgic tours around the man’s primary and secondary schools and houses that he grew up in. It wasn’t until our last afternoon that we made it to Kings Park and we regretted not spending more time there as the beautifully laid out gardens are enormous and it boasts stunning views over the city and gorgeous Swan river.

For many years I haven’t been very enthusiastic about travelling to Perth as I’m not really much of a city person. As it's so far from Melbourne I always insisted that this trip needed to be paired with further travels throughout Western Australia. Clear blue skies and warm weather every day combined with a rental house (including a pool) being a 5 minute stroll away from a gorgeous dog beach turned out to be difficult to leave. I could have happily kept on reliving more of those lazy repetitive days for a lot longer than we did.

Lunch at The Raw Kitchen Cafe with Kari

Just prior to my travels to Western Australia I mentioned to Kari from Bite Sized Thoughts that I would be spending some time in Perth and was delighted that she was eager to meet up. Kari and I started blogging around the same time and have exchanged many comments on each others blogs over the past two years. Kari suggested lunch at The Raw Kitchen Cafe due to their vegan friendly menu in addition to Fremantle being an interesting location for a tourist.

I was very keen to venture into a raw food eating experience as there is NO WAY I could ever see the man dining out for this type of food.  In fact, my eating preferences normally lean towards hot food and I rarely eat salads as a meal yet I’ve wanted to try raw food after hearing so many positive things about it. After reading a few reviews on Urbanspoon about The Raw Kitchen Cafe and a glowing blog post by Bex from Vegan Sparkles, I became infatuated by the concept of a raw vegan pizza. How on earth was a raw pizza going to compare with a standard vegan pizza?

Kari kindly met me at the rental house, drove us over to Fremantle and navigated our way through the streets to the bustling cafe. Whilst the raw pizza had been on my mind for weeks, my decision was almost swayed when we were in the queue as I watched an array of mouth watering meals being taken to the tables. Raw nachos, falafel plates and bowls of pasta made with zucchini noodles all looked amazing. The spinach, basil and avocado soup and a raw club sandwich sounded great too. Everything on the menu was appealing yet I knew I would be regretful if I didn't try the pizza so I stuck with my original plan.

The slice of raw pizza ($9.50 per slice, $17.90 with salads) was on a dehydrated buckwheat base spread with a tomato capsicum salsa. It was topped with mushrooms, tomatoes, avocado, onions, dollops of a deliciously creamy, tangy macadamia and cashew based cheese and fresh basil. This pizza was incredible, a mind blowing taste sensation which had so many different flavours and textures going on. It was unlike any pizza I have ever eaten before and I mean that in a good way. The buckwheat base was slightly difficult to cut into although this was a very minor complaint.  

I ordered the slice of pizza with salads which ended up being the same types of salads Kari had selected for her bowl. My favourite was the Thai Papaya salad which was bursting with flavours of fresh coriander, mint and basil amongst the carrots, snow peas and green papaya noodles. The Tarragon salad was largely based on beetroot and it was slightly too earthy for me. I thought it was interesting to begin with but my taste buds grew bored after a while. We both ordered coffees and I found my double espresso with home made cashew and macadamia milk ($5.50) to be the most impressive coffee that I tried anywhere in Perth.

After lunch Kari took me for a wander through Fremantle. We stopped off at The Round House, the oldest public building in Western Australia which was originally opened as a gaol (with 8 cells) in 1931, 18 months after settlement. It was a fascinating but slightly eerie place with loads of interesting historical information to take in. I kicked myself later for forgetting to take photos here. On the way home, Kari gave me a container of smoky roasted almonds which she had made for me as thoughtful snack for the rest of our travels. Half of the batch was demolished by the man in an instant before I insisted that some restraint be shown. The rest of the nuts did last a considerable while longer and given their popularity I will definitely be trying out Kari’s easy recipe soon.

Kari promptly wrote up her thoughts about The Raw Kitchen Cafe and the afternoon we spent together. As it was her first time meeting another blogger in person I wasn’t surprised to read that she felt slightly intimidated as it's a feeling I have experienced in previous meet ups. Kari certainly didn’t come across that way to me, I thought she was a lovely confident interesting person and I thoroughly enjoyed the conversations we engaged in.

Thanks again Kari for the wonderful afternoon, the raw food experience and the lovely smoky almonds. It was an absolute pleasure to meet you in person and I hope we cross paths again one day!

The Raw Kitchen Cafe

Shop 14, The Piazza Arcade

36 South Terrace, Fremantle

Eating out around Perth

After a six hour drive from Kalgoorlie, unpacking the car and driving out to the airport to pick up the young man (he spent six nights with us in Perth before heading back home to start University), a quick meal was in order. I envisaged we would be tired and hungry on our first night in Perth and had printed a menu from Sri Melaka's website so we could pick up some take away food on our way back from the airport to the rental house. Sri Melaka vegetarian restaurant was one of the recommendations Steph suggested when I mentioned my travel plans to Perth. Steph formerly lived in Perth and is now based in Melbourne, so I used her blog as one of my resources for seeking out vegan food.  

Sri Melaka’s menu is Malaysian styled Nyonya cuisine predominately based on mock meat. It was difficult to choose from a large number of dishes as they all sounded fantastic. We ordered Chicken Kapitan, Kangkong Belacan and two of our favourite dishes Mee Goreng noodles and Lamb Rendang. The Chicken Kapitan contained chunks of mock meat and potatoes in a very spicy coconut curry gravy, the Lamb Rendang was 100% mock meat in a thick spicy coconut paste. Mee Goreng had a combination of vegetables, mock prawns and possibly some other form of mock meat I couldn’t identify and the Kangkong was Asian water spinach stir fried with chillies and mock shrimp paste. Every single dish was very spicy and our noses were running by the end of the meal. No-one could pick a favourite as we thoroughly enjoyed them all. I’ve been to a few Asian mock meat restaurants around Melbourne but none of them have managed to serve up food as delicious as this! It cost a little over $50 and there were enough leftovers to provide the three of us with a light lunch so it was also very good value.   

After reading about the Thai Vegan stall located at the Fremantle markets on Happy Cow, I put it high on my must visit list. I’ve travelled to Thailand a couple of times and haven’t been able to enjoy Thai food in Melbourne restaurants since. A reviewer on Happy Cow piqued my interest by mentioning that the food was that best they had eaten outside of Thailand. The stall is open on market days (Friday to Sunday) and is managed by two lovely women who were run off their feet pounding fresh herbs and spices, stir-frying and preparing fresh salads in addition to taking many orders. There are only a couple of seats to eat at the stall but there is a park nearby as well as plenty of benches in the surrounding streets.

In addition to a few precooked deep fried snacks, the menu is largely based on Thai salads, soups and noodle dishes (priced between $7 - $11). The man had left me to organise our food while he waited outside with Ollie and the young man ventured off to eat whatever he pleased. Salads are usually not popular with the man yet I recalled that he enjoyed the ones we ate in Thailand and boldly ordered a Larb salad, two spicy tofu sticks and a Pad Se Ew noodles. Somehow I managed to order an extra noodle dish which may have been due to the noise level in the markets and my substandard hearing. The amount of heat can be varied to your personal taste so I ordered all of our meals to be spicy.

The spicy tofu sticks ($3 each) consisted of three triangular pieces of crispy tofu on skewers, they were slightly disappointing as they didn't live up to their name in the spice department yet they were tasty enough to enjoy as a starter. The Larb salad was made up of lettuce, spinach, carrot, green papaya and cucumber topped with soy mince and was bursting with fresh flavours of lemongrass, chilli, coriander, mint and lime. It reminded us of the fantastic salads we had eaten in Thailand and I was thrilled that my brave selection turned out to be a success. Pad Se Ew was full of an assortment of vegetables (cauliflower, broccoli, carrot, cabbage and bean sprouts) as well as nicely seasoned tofu and lovely wide rice noodles. I think the extra noodle dish was called Rad Na, it had the same vegetables, tofu and noodles as Pad Se Ew yet it contained more sour flavours and it was spiciest dish of the lot. We loved both of the noodle dishes although the man said that the Rad Na was verging on being too spicy for him.    

Perth is fortunate to have a couple of Loving Hut restaurants which are located a suburb apart from each other. Loving Hut at Victoria Park is open for lunches (Wednesday to Sunday) and weekend breakfasts and East Victoria Park is open for dinners (Wednesday to Sunday). I had looked at both of their online menus and after mentioning to the man that there was an opportunity to eat pizza with vegan cheese he was super keen to drive across and get some take away food.

The menu begins with Asian entrees, mains are a combination of Asian meals, pasta dishes and pizza. They also offer a range of desserts and like all of the stores in the Loving Hut chain, everything on the menu is vegan. We were in the mood for pizza and pasta, the entrees also sounded great so we ordered way too much food! The spring rolls and samosas were both good but it was the crispy bites (above) that were the most popular starter. These pieces of mock meat coated in a slightly spicy batter and deep fried may not have been the healthiest choice but boy did they taste good! I've been requested to pull out the deep fryer and recreate this at home one day.

While the vegan pizza had been a draw card, it ended up to be slightly disappointing. The base wasn't great, it was thin but the edges were not rolled out evenly and it was unlike a base you would get from a pizza shop. The vegetable toppings of capsicum, mushrooms, spinach and pineapple were fine but there was a scant quantity of Notzarella cheese covering them. By the time we demolished this amount of food we were too full to tackle the pasta dishes and put them aside for next days lunch. We enjoyed ravioli with a tomato based sauce and I was less impressed with spaghetti carbonara with mushrooms as I thought the sauce had a weird flavour but the man seemed to enjoy it. Loving Hut's strengths may be in their Asian meals given the success we had with the entrees. We paid $64 for three entrees, a pizza and two pasta dishes which was pretty good value.

Beautiful dog beach at Swanbourne which had a clear blue sky every day

The Naked Fig in Swanbourne boasts a lovely view across the ocean and was on our daily walking route from our accommodation to the closest dog beach. It is one of three trendy restaurants in Perth, their other locations are in Swanbourne and Fremantle and each of them has a dedicated vego night. We ordered take away soy lattes (with extra shots of coffee) from The Naked Fig twice after early morning swims. We decided not to return as the wait times were 15 minutes one day, over 20 minutes the following day and the coffees were very weak and milky, apparently made with St Ali coffee beans from Melbourne. It was a shame as The Naked Fig had a vegan breakfast on their menu and veggie burgers with vegan options for lunch and dinner.

Ollie waiting for the ball to be thrown in the ocean (yet again)

There were several other eateries I had wanted to visit but was most disappointed that we didn't make it to Heavenly Plate in Applecross as Kari's pre-wedding high tea sounded amazing as did Steph's dining experience there. The man spent half of his childhood growing up in Perth and was astounded by the amount of vegan food that is on offer these days. Vegans who are planning a trip to Perth should check out the following blogs for heaps of food options around town: Vegan4Life, Bite Sized Thoughts, vegan about town and Vegan Sparkles as well as Happy Cow.