Vegan munchies in Sydney part 1

Living in Sydney as a vegan has been nothing short of awesome. It seems everywhere is so much more knowledgeable, its not just limited to the fully vegan establishments. For example coffee (something that the Aussies take almost as seriously as their sport), in the UK, if you want a coffee with soy milk you’d either have to go to a vegan café or a huge chain such as Starbucks, but here all vendors be it a small hole in the wall at the station or a quirky hidden oasis, all carry soy and damn do they make good coffee. I don’t think I’ll ever be satisfied when I go back to the UK. And most restaurants seem to do at least something vegetarian that isn’t just a cheese loaded pasta. I think the Asian influence in Australia helps a lot. If you are stuck you can always find something like sushi or pho on nearly every corner.
The suburb where I live is Newtown and its famed for its quirky residents and vegan food. I love living here, if I had more money I’d probably eat out every night. You can get cheap Chinese and Thai food at Green Gourmet and Blossom Lotus on King St, both do hot plate buffets that you can take away as well as order from the menu. Vegans’ Choice supermarket next to Green Gourmet stocks lots of faux meat products in their freezers as well as cheeses, cakes and homemade tofu ice cream. There is Vina a vegetarian Vietnamese too. Your best choice for vegan pizza is at Basil Pizza, try the animal lovers its amazing! They also do a great brekky on the weekends. You can also get vegan pizza at Mad which is situated in Civic video, its not as good as Basil but you can get good offers when you rent a movie too. For weekend brunch APT in Berkelouw books on O' Connell St, is fantastic. They have different specials every week as well as staples such as pancakes and full breakfasts. Sadhana Kitchen does stunning raw foods, I love to go there for a coffee and one of their many raw cakes which are always very decadent. On Enmore Road close by, there is Spoons vegetarian butcher, they do hot snacks like ‘popcorn’ tofu bites to take away and you can buy packs of sausages, burgers and schnitzels to stock up your fridge. I am especially fond of the schnitzels. You can get vegan options in may other places too, like the Indian restaurants, they advertise their dairy-free options on the menu, you can veganise a couple of burgers in the chain store Burgerlicious, and Gelato Blue ice-cream parlour has a whole section of sorbets, but be sure to try the chocolate- it’s the best chocolate ice cream/sorbet I have ever had.
Bondi is remarkably vegan friendly. My favourite Funky Pies (not biased or anything!!) is situated a couple of streets back from the beach but well worth going to. A large range of fully vegan pies, (available with mash, peas and gravy if you wish) coffee, cakes, ice-cream and a small selection of grocery items such as vegan cheese and bacon, make this a winner. Close to Funky Pies there's also Sababba, which does the most amazing falafel pockets, and IKU Whole food where you will find lots of healthy options such as salads, macro burgers, millet balls and stews. IKU is a chain of stores, they also have locations in the city, Glebe, Rozelle and Neutral Bay. Close to the beach, ice cream giants Gelatissimo, do a large range of dairy free sorbets. Miss Chu, a popular Vietnamese tuck shop chain, has a spot on Campbell’s’ parade, they have a few vegan options such as dumplings. Laurie’s Vegetarian on Bondi road, is bit of a walk from the beach but they do lots of lovely fresh salads and burgers. I believe there is a new place near Laurie’s, called Bondi Organic café which stocks a lot of IKU whole foods items but I have not been in yet.

Phew! thats a lot of places and I haven't even started on the city centre yet! Sydney vegans sure are lucky. Sorry for the lack of photos but I don't tend to photograph my food, I just get stuck in!

Some Funky Pies to wet your appetite.

Sydney beaches put bluntly

In summer Bondi is a backpacker Mecca with its endless fast food joints and ice cream parlours, hoards of tanked-up womanisers and giggling college girls, so therefor, as far from alternative as Justin Bieber. It's also packed in summer and has no real charm. But bitching aside, Bondi does have its good points. The water: clean and crystal clear, great for a dip when it starts to seriously heat up. I was there the other week when it was 42c and that deep, refreshing water was a godsend. There is a large amount of vegan fare on offer here compared to any of the other beaches which is awesome. True to reports, Bondi is full of surfers! and I found it nice on a winter evening, to just sit on the beach brown-bagging it, whilst scoffing a  hot pie(from Funky Pies obviously) and watch them do their thing. 

If you are into skateboarding there is skatepark and bowl at the beach and I've watched a couple of competitions go on there which is fun, I'm looking forward to catching the Vans Bowl-a-rama from February 19-24th 1013.

 If you are in Bondi over winter check out the ice rink on the beach. Pretty busy, but surreal to experience none the less! 

Other city beaches I am fond of are, Bronte because its far less crowded and has heaps of bbqs and you can easily have a sly drink without being caught. Clovelly and La Perouse for snorkelling cos I'm a bit of a dork when it comes to that stuff and I love it. Shark bay is lovely because it is next to parkland and its nice and deep, then further along that stretch, Camp Cove is super cute and from there you can start a great walk around the Watsons bay headland, where you get a great view of the harbour and in the right season you can spot whales off the coast.  Cronulla seemed to have a bit more of a grungy sea-side town vibe, I guess because its further from the city but unfortuately I was not there long enough to check out the nightlife. I just bought a tub of vegan ice-cream from the Go-Vita and munched it on the beach.

There's tons more beaches around Sydney but not much of interest to report apart from sand and water. Please do let me know if there is something of interest I'm missing out on.