Kuala Lumpar Malaysian Restaurant

After two and a half years of blogging, I'm ashamed that it's taken this long to post about the place we eat out at most regularly. Kuala Lumpar Malaysian Restaurant (which we usually refer to as KL) has been our favourite place to dine at for many years as their delicious veg food won us over and still entices us back often. It's always worth the 10 minute car trip to the suburb of Carnegie which is bustling with so many other types of restaurants we simply cannot bring ourselves to try. 

A variety of dishes have been sampled over the years although our order rarely changes from our favourites these days. The vegetarian Mee Goreng (ordered without egg) is a pile of stir-fried wheat based noodles with some onion, carrot, Asian greens and beanshoots. The sauce can vary in spiciness on a given night so if we are feeling like some extra heat we ask for it to be extra spicy and they never disappoint us. The man loves this dish and gets especially excited by the slightly charred noodles.

Spicy salted tofu is adored by everyone who tries it, our extended family members also order it regularly too. The deep fried chunks of tofu are cooked in a salted batter with a subtle hint of Chinese 5 spice. The tofu is served on a bed of deep fried vermicelli noodles and topped with shallots, spring onions, chillies and lots of garlic. It's important to note that all of the tofu items on the menu use a homemade egg tofu by default which can be switched to a standard tofu upon request. Ask for the "white tofu" when placing your order as that's how they refer to it at KL.

Last but not least is the Claypot mixed vegetables in a Malaysian curry sauce. The claypot is full to the brim of carrots, broccoli florets, snow peas, a mixture of Asian greens and occasionally some mushrooms. It is delivered to the table with a piping hot bubbling sauce which the claypot keeps warm for ages - we learnt the hard way to let it cool down a bit before diving in. The curry sauce is spiced with star anise, cloves, curry leaves, chilli and coconut milk amongst other things. The quantity of curry sauce and it's spiciness can vary on a given night, we love it when there is loads of sauce so we can finish our meals with extra curry sauce ladled over the remaining rice in our bowls.

Some of the other meals we have sampled over the years are curry eggplant, mixed vegetables with garlic sauce, spinach with garlic sauce and other noodle dishes. A new dish called Nonya tofu was recently added to the specials board  - we haven't ordered this yet but plan to in the near future. We were advised during a recent conversation with one of the owners that they are looking to expand the veg section of the menu as their vegetarian customers have been on the rise.

Kuala Lumpar has been in operation for many years and maintains a very good reputation amongst the locals. It's advisable to book a table for dining on Friday or Saturday night as the restaurant is generally very busy. The service is usually efficient and the food is always delicious. 

Kuala Lumpar Malaysian Restaurant

123 Koornang Road, Carnegie 

9563 6707

Open Tues-Sun for lunch and dinner

Veg main meals range from $13-$16

Ren Dao

We headed over to Elsternwick on Monday evening to dine at Ren Dao, an Asian vegetarian restaurant. The extensive menu offers a wide range of entrees, soups, curries, stir-frys, noodles, and rice based dishes. The majority of the meals are vegan and it's also possible to remove egg from some of the rice and noodle dishes. The mock meat used in the meals is based on gluten, soy or mushrooms and there are plenty of gluten free meals available. It can be overwhelming being presented with so many choices when you aren't used to having many so I left it to the man to chose the entrees while the young man and struggled to decide on a main.

The man surprised me by selecting an entree outside of his standard order of spring rolls. The 5 Spice Loh-Bak Rolls ($7.50) contained a subtly spiced taro mince filling wrapped in crispy bean curd skin. These tasty parcels got us off to a good start.

Curry puffs are always hard for us to resist and these large ones ($7.50) happened to be a fantastic choice this time. The mixed vegetable filling was blended with a perfect amount of curry spices and the sweet sticky dipping sauce was a nice condiment.

Penang Curry ($19.50) was a mild-medium spiced coconut based curry containing mock chicken chunks, tofu and potato cubes. It wasn't quite as spicy as we were led to believe yet it was still thoroughly enjoyable.

The King Do Pork Chop Hot Plate ($21.90) was a tangy sizzling hot plate piled high with a large assortment of vegetables and soy-based mock meat slices hiding underneath. This was the most realistic mock meat I have ever eaten but I actually found the flavour and texture a little disturbing as it was too close to my omnivorous recollections. The man and young man adored this and declared it their pick of the night.

Penang Rendang ($18.50) was too intriguing for me to pass up as we all love rendang and I was interested to try this version made with a variety of mushrooms. In addition to the coconut based curry sauce, it was full of grated coconut which made the coconut flavours too intense for my liking. It probably wasn't the wisest menu choice given we had already selected another coconut based curry.

The staff at Ren Dao were incredibly attentive throughout the evening and extremely helpful with making menu suggestions when the young man and I were stalling. The serving sizes were very generous, we could have easily done without one of the mains and this would have been sufficient food for the three of us. The staff offered to package up the leftovers which we happily enjoyed for lunch the next day. I'm keen to head back to Ren Dao as there are many more dishes I would like to try.


Where's the beef are the only other veg*n bloggers that have written about Ren Dao to date. Ren Dao was also mentioned by Brianna in her Southside staples article in the Planet VeGMeL zine.


Ren Dao Vegetarian Asian Cuisine
275 Glenhuntly Road, Elsternwick
9523 0150
Lunch Monday to Friday
Dinner Monday to Saturday
Closed Sundays
BYO Beer and Wine

Recent eats around town

As someone who blogs about food, I do an extremely poor job when it comes to posting about eating out experiences. This is something I aim to improve on which means I'll have to remember to take my camera with me more often. My dining companions aren't the most patient people and generally want to chow down as soon as the meals arrive which can be another problem at times.

In the past couple of months we have ventured out of our South Eastern suburban haunts on numerous occasions to sample some of the plentiful vegan food that the inner suburbs have to offer. Buying a pair of shoes from Vegan Wares has been a great way to entice us into tasting food around Collingwood as my one purchase has resulted in three visits; the initial selection, a second for a fitting and finally to pick them up.  

Trippy Taco has been one of the stand-outs so far and you could say that I'm slightly obsessed with their Tofu Asado Burrito (ordering the same meal 3 times in a row is only a mild obsession, right?). I would love to be able to replicate the way they cook the tofu as I find that the smoky, char-grilled flavour is to die for. It took me ages to convince the man to return to Trippy Taco as he had a memory of it being just average when we first went there years ago, but now he's been converted! Our son has been with us once and thoroughly enjoyed a small but deceivingly filling plate of nachos. The smoky seasoning on the trippy fries is sensational too!

Trippy Taco
234 Gertrude Street, Fitzroy
9415 7711

Gasometer is a fantastic pub to sample some American styled diner food with plenty of vegan options on the menu to choose from. The man and I both tried the Southern Fried "Chicken" Burger on our first visit several months ago as I had read so many glowing reviews about it. I found that the burger was nice although the herbs in the seitan were a bit overpowering and it was incredibly filling too. The crispy seasoned fries with their soft fluffy interior were sensational.

On our second visit I spotted a Buffalo Tofu salad on the menu and thought that it would be a lighter meal. Upon ordering I was advised that it came with cornbread and not a choice of 2 sides as stated on the menu which was a bit disappointing. I'm not a fan of cornbread so I ordered some fries as well as my meal. The tofu was amazing, buffalo seasoning is not a flavour I have tried previously but it was so delicious. The salad comprised of lettuce, carrots, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, red onion, corn chips and facon although it was slathered in too much dressing for my liking. As suspected, I didn't like the cornbread! I found it to be a bit dry and didn't appreciate the sweetness of the corn nor could I detect any heat from the jalapeno so I was happy with my decision to order a side of fries. Again we walked out of there feeling too full and have fondly being calling it the Bloatometer ever since!

Gasometer
484 Smith Street, Collingwood
9415 7711

It was exciting when I heard a few years ago that Lord of the Fries had just opened a new store at Chadstone. I usually detest shopping centres but it's wonderful for us to having a place selling all vegetarian and vegan food 10 minutes from home. We have sampled different burgers, hot dogs and nuggets as well as chips with various sauces over the years and now have settled on the original burgers and chips with gravy as our standard order. I love that they offer mini sized burgers because it's not the healthiest food going around but at least I don't feel as bad eating it in a smaller size.

Lord of the Fries
Chadstone Shopping Centre
Check their website for the store closest to you

Shakahari used to be one of our favourite places to dine and has been our choice to celebrate birthdays and wedding anniversaries over the last few years. After a disappointing experience for my birthday in December, I'm not keen to go back again soon. December is usually a busy month for restaurants with Christmas celebrations but I was advised that the table would be ours for the night when I made the booking for a later time. It certainly didn't feel like that was the case when we arrived. We felt under pressure to order quickly, drinks were extremely slow to arrive after ordering and there were several kerfuffles with the service. I'm generally easy to please when eating out but was rather annoyed that our main meals were plonked onto the table and the waitress didn't even take note that there was no cutlery on the table. Some of the items on the menu that haven't changed are ones that I have ordered and not enjoyed. The latest additions didn't really appeal so I ending up playing if safe and ordering an Indian curry which I have liked previously. There are plenty of other veg*n restaurants around town that I still haven't been to yet so I'm certainly not in a rush to go back to Shakahari.  

Shakahari
201-203 Faraday Street, Carlton
9347 3848

We have also revisited The Mercy Seat a couple more times which I have reviewed previously. The tofu scramble didn't seem to have as much flavour the second time I ordered it, so the blackened tofu and avocado burger remains as my favourite pick. Then man is still enamoured with the Creole "chicken" soul burger and won't order anything else. The Mercy Seat has expanded their menu to include some other items, the details of which I can't recall but I think they now have a range of focaccias.

The Mercy Seat @ 99 Problems
31 Johnston Street, Collingwood
0406 290 353

FNQ - Eating out

This feels like a rather pathetic post as over the course of the week that we were on holidays, we only dined out a few times and not once did I take a photo! The camera didn't make it with us to one of these dinners, once the light wasn't great so I didn't bother and another time I was too darn hungry to remember to take a shot before shovelling the food into my mouth. Nonetheless, I thought I would write a bit about the places we ate at as finding vegan food around Cairns and particularly Mission Beach was a bit challenging! To jazz the post up a little I have added in a few shots from our week away...

Someone getting ready for a swim, definitely not me!

After our return from Russell Heads, the man and I stayed a night in Cairns and strolled around town for a long time trying to settle on a place to eat. He felt like a Malaysian style vegetable curry but we were put off by limited veg options in a few Asian restaurants and staff standing by the door trying to intice you in just like they do on Lygon Street in Melbourne. We recalled having a decent vegetarian curry on our last trip to Cairns two years ago and wandered in the direction of a place called Mondo's at the Hilton. The Hilton has a couple of restaurants, Mondo's being the more casual of the two which also has the bonus of outdoor tables by the water.

The menu stated the items that contained dairy and we were disappointed to find that out of the 4 or 5 vegetarian items, all had the little "d" symbol next to them. We were getting tired and hungry by this stage and after questioning whether the Sri Lankan vegetable curry could be made without dairy we were given the thumbs up! This was just what we needed, a mild-moderately spiced bowl of curried vegetables served with rice, a tasty tomato chutney and a crispy pappadum.

Bananas growing in the garden of our rental house in the Daintree

Before we headed to the Daintree, I dragged the man down to Lillipad Cafe as I had seen it listed on the Happy Cow website as being vegetarian friendly. It was a very casual laid-back place and it took us a little while to realise that we needed to grab menus from the counter inside where you also ordered meals. There was only was breakfast item that didn't contain eggs so we both went with that after verifying with the staff that it would be vegan. The man was disappointed that they didn't provide any Nuttelex even though I pointed out that there was more than enough avocado to spread on the lovely light pieces of toast. The brekky also came with some cute mini hash browns, yummy pan grilled tofu, grilled tomatoes and mushrooms cooked with spring onions. We also enjoyed well-made coffees and freshly squeezed orange juice and waddled out of there full to the brim.

Cairns is a destination we have been to several times so we like to travel around the region and spend time in different locations as there is so much diversity. Rainforests, islands, mountains, beaches, beautiful croc-free freshwater swimming places and even goldfields and the outback are accessible. We still haven't seen it all!

Although the sky looks clear at Mission Beach is was quite windy and not very warm

Cyclone Yasi tore through Mission Beach and the surrounding area in February causing a huge amount of damage to local residences, businesses and surrounding national parks. As we hadn't been to this area before I felt it would be a good time to visit. Many businesses only started to re-open in July and really need all the tourism dollars they can get. The cyclone must have been too much for some people as there were plenty of businesses closed down and shops up for lease.

There are three main towns in the Mission Beach area and although we stayed closest to the largest one we didn't eat there as there wasn't much that looked vegan friendly. After driving through the Wongaling Beach shops and then a bit further down to the beach we spotted a Thai restaurant opposite the beach. The man and I don't usually frequent Thai restaurants as we find that Thai food in Australia contains way too much coconut milk, not enough spices and tastes nothing like what you eat over in Thailand. As we were rather limited for options this time, we decided to give it a try.

Tully's Golden Gumboot - it's height of 79m represents the highest rainfall in one year!

Many dishes had the option of being made with tofu or vegetables including soups, noodles, stir-frys and curries so there was plenty to choose from. The man surprised me by selecting pad grapow (stir-fry with chilli, garlic and thai basil) which is what I would usually choose. I had my eye on a jungle curry which is something you don't see very often. This appealed to me as the description indicated it was water based rather than coconut based which sounded like it would be nice and spicy. We ordered both of these meals with tofu as they already contained vegetables and ensured that there would not be any fish or oyster sauce added.

When our meals were delivered we were in heaven as they were absolutely delicious. I don't think we have eaten Thai food this authentic since going to Thailand. The jungle curry tasted so fresh and spicy and I was relieved that the man didn't want to split our meals down the middle. He was more than happy with his meal so we were both satisfied with simply tasting a few bites of each others. I was curious about the jungle curry ingredients so I questioned the owner as I wanted to know if he had used fresh peppercorns in the paste. Oh yes indeed, they were grown in Silkwood (20 kms down the road). This meal was the absolute highlight of our trip and now I am on the hunt to find some fresh peppercorns so I can attempt to recreate this sensational curry at home!      

Josephine falls near Innisvale. None of our photos do this beautiful place justice.

Mondos
34 Esplanade, Cairns
(07) 4052 6780
Lunch and dinner only

Lillipad Cafe
72 Grafton St, Cairns
(07) 4051 9565
Breakfast and lunch only

Nana Thai
165 Reid St, Wongaling Beach
(07) 4068 9101
Only open for dinner, dine-in or take-away

Enlightened Cuisine

The Crown complex is somewhere I usually try to avoid like the plague and have only had the displeasure of attending on a few rare occasions. When the man mentioned taking our son to see the last Harry Potter movie there, I agreed straight away as this would be my chance to introduce us to a nearby restaurant I had been wanting to go to for so long - Enlightened Cuisine.

Enlightened Cuisine is a popular and well renowned Chinese vegetarian restaurant that specialises in mock meat meals as well as a variety of tofu and vegetable based dishes. The man and I were very impressed when we sampled a selection of their dishes at World Vegan Day last year and ever since I had wanted the chance to choose from their full range of meals.

Rendang love extends throughout the three of us as our son made us proud and settled upon this as his choice almost straight away. The man and I were in debate mode for quite some time. My initial thought had been to order a tofu or vegetable dish so we weren't just eating mock meat. The man thought that if we were taking the rare opportunity to go to a mock meat restaurant we shouldn't be choosing tofu or vegies as we already eat them on a regular basis. We eventually put ourselves on the spot, ordered without final consultation and ended up with two Kung Po's between us; chicken and lamb. 

Apologies for the poor quality phone pics throughout this post...

The Beef Rendang was served with potatoes, the sauce was nicely spiced and the mock meat full of flavour. Our son is not vegan nor vegetarian but declared this to taste better than meat. From memory the rendang at Loving Hut had a slightly superior sauce (although I can't put my finger on why or how it was different) but their mock meat slices were not as nice as the chunks that Enlightened Cuisine use.

The Kung Po lamb was also delicious with a wonderful spicy sauce that was full of whole chillies and thankfully, a good selection of vegetables. The Kung Po chicken was a bit different to the lamb as it was served in a nest of fried potatoes and topped with cashews. It also contained a large amount of whole chillies and the same selection of vegies but the sauce was much sweeter and lighter in colour than the Kung Po lamb sauce. Of these two dishes, we all preferred the lamb over the chicken.

The service on the night was prompt and attentive and the meal was deemed to be a success in all of our eyes. Now that we have finally made it to Enlightened Cuisine, I'm sure we will visit again to sample more of the extensive menu as my boys do love their mock meat!

Enlightened Cuisine has been reviewed in the past by many bloggers but more recently by Where's the Beef,  Vegetarian Life Australia, vegan about town and easy as vegan pie.

Enlightened Cuisine
113 Queensbridge Road, Southbank
Phone: 9686 9188
Web: www.ecuisine.com.au

Loving Hut

A trip to Ikea last Friday evening had me in two minds for dinner options - back to Thanh Nga Nine for some delicious Vietnamese food or to give the Loving Hut a try. I'm satisfied with our choice to visit the Loving Hut despite not being blown away by all of the dishes we tried...

The traffic into Richmond was horrendous and by the time the man and I arrived at the Loving Hut we were extremely hungry. The place was only about 1/4 full when we walked in but became progressively busier during our dinner.

We started with some spring rolls and fried dumplings. The spring rolls were incredibly crispy and along with their dipping sauce were a fantastic start to the meal. The only problem with the serve was the odd number of rolls which meant that it couldn't be split evenly. The fried dumplings were OK but the ginger and 5-spice in the filling was too overpowering for my liking. 

Then we were onto the mains. The man selected the rendang which arrived first so we tucked into this straight away and it was sensational. It's a meal I wouldn't recommended if you are not a mock meat fan as this makes up the majority although there were a few potatoes and carrots included as well. The sauce had a wonderfully spicy coconutty flavour, of which I could have drank a whole bowl and I would have indulged a lot more if I wasn't waiting on my laksa... 

When the laksa finally arrived, my stomach was getting to the point where it really didn't need much more food and I could tell that the man was not going to be very helpful with assisting me in tackling this almighty bowl. The laksa turned out to be a disappointing choice, mainly because the broth seemed to be lacking in the blend of intricate flavours that makes a good laksa shine. My other gripe with it was that there was only one type of vegetable included, green beans. The other components of the bowl were fried tofu puffs (not my favourite type of tofu), different varieties of mock meat and two types of noodles.

The service throughout was attentive and cheerful, however the wait staff were a little bit confused about which meals were ordered at each table. The sequence of meals was also rather strange, one entree came out first, followed by the other entree served with one of the mains and then a long wait for the laksa. It was a cheap feed, the bill coming in at a bit over $30 for 2 entrees and 2 mains! The rendang and spring rolls are definitely an incentive for us to revisit the Loving Hut and one of their many tofu dishes might be a better selection next time.

Unfortunately there are no photos to share as my camera wasn't with me and I'm blaming my hunger for forgetting to take some phone pics. ;-)

Loving Hut was also reviewed soon after it's opening by Shawna, K @ In the Mood for Noodles and Katie Carrot.

Loving Hut
Shop 10, 242 Victoria Street
Richmond
9427 8916