Adora Chocolates

I think the original Adora Chocolates is in Earlwood, and now they have a branch in Parramatta. So I quizzed them about the vegan-friendliness of their chocolates, and they have assured me that their dark chocolate contains no animal products. You still need to be careful about the nougat and other add-ins though, but you might like to try to the chocolate covered orange rind or the chocolate Turkish delight. And the lollypop-looking thing above is for making hot chocolate – heat a cup of soy milk in the microwave then swirl the chocolate around in it until it dissolves.

2B/103 George St Parramatta

Just Green

Just Green is totally new, and it is the most amazing vegan supermarket I have ever seen! I was pretty overwhelmed walking in there, there was a really big range of things I didn’t know you could get when you were a vegan. Here’s a few of them: vanilla fudge ice-cream, waffles, mayonnaise, calamari, frozen cheese pizza, bulk dried fake meat, swan meat, fish burgers and instant congee. Best of all, you can get a vegan banh mi (Vietnamese baguette with pate, fake meats, chilli and coriander).

The woman who was behind the counter was really nice, and she said they are happy to order any products not in stock. Please support Just Green, we need places like this!

20/70 John St Cabramatta | http://www.justgreenfood.com.au/

Happy Vegan

Another one of the delicious Cabramatta vegan restaurants – Happy Vegan. I’ve tried to have dinner here a few times, but I think they close early. But they were open for lunch, and the menu looked pretty good! On the day I went, they had run out of a few things on the menu, so this was the best option – Braised Tofu. It had a really nice faux oyster sauce flavour and beautiful texture.

11/68 John St Cabramatta (actually in an arcade off John St).

Tong Li Supermarket

Tong Li – such a reliable source of fake meats and various tofus! I ran into the one in Auburn recently and sighed with delight. There is a massive freezer filled with fake prawns, fish, scallops, duck, chicken, ham, beef and mushroom nuggets (pictured above). Also, there was a ton of puffy, fried tofu and five-spice tofu. So cheap, so delicious.

Auburn Central, Queen St

Eco-Farms

Organic supermarkets are pretty expensive, but they do have some yum vegan treasures inside. I usually wander through the aisles and wish that I had enough disposable income to buy organic muesli that is $10/serve.

But I did find some good stuff at Eco-Farms in Flemington. This is opposite one of the entrances to Sydney markets, and they have a wide selection of organic tofus and fake meats. I got some dried fake sausage and some steak-like seitan. The shop itself is not that big, but maybe it only seems that way when compared to the enormous wholesale warehouse next door.

167 Parramatta Rd Flemington

Loy Krathong

Loy Krathong is a Thai festival, and yesterday I went to the one at Parramatta on the river.

The festival itself was very beautiful – lanterns and colourful banners everywhere, and heaps of people. I bought a little Krathong (polystyrene circle decorated with paper leaves, a candle and incense) to float on the river at sunset.

The food at the festival smelt so good, and then I saw a sign that said “GO VEGE THAI FOOD”. I was so excited that I totally overate. Pics are of a taro and sweet potato spring roll, Pad Thai and ‘fish cakes’ (flavoured tofu on a stick). All vegan, all yum. Thanks for being inclusive, Parramatta Loy Krathong!

Mamre festival

You could go on all day about the inequity of cultural events in Sydney. Western Sydney has half the population of the city, but only a small percentage of the events in the Crave Sydney Food Festival. Not fair!

However, the Mamre Good Food, Wine and Produce festival was pretty special, and kinda makes up for this. It’s held at Mamre Farm, which is this beautiful property near Kingswood. It’s a farm, that employs people with a disability, and does projects with local African communities. So I went to the festival and sussed out the organic green vegetables, listened to some music and hung out with the locals.

And the picture is my vegan find – Porter’s Produce have a line of sauces, and some of them are specifically labelled as vegan. They fry the spices in oil instead of butter, and this sauce is delicious.

Mamre Farm | 181 Mamre Rd Orchard Hills

In the Mood for Thai

Sometimes Parramatta is like a mini-Surry Hills. Last weekend, I went with my (newly vegan) friend to watch a performance at Riverside Theatre, then to a Thai restaurant, then out for coffee after.

Apologies for the picture – this place has mood lighting. In the Mood for Thai is a chain restaurant now, but the Parramatta one has a green noodle salad that is delicious. The tofu tastes like it’s been barbequed and the noodles are beautiful. The whole thing is tossed in lemon and chilli. A complete vegan meal. Make sure you ask them to leave out the fish sauce.

7/52-60 George St Parramatta (opposite the Roxy)

El Phoenician

There are a lot of Leb restaurants in western Sydney, and I haven’t met one that I didn’t like. But there’s a difference between one that you run into to get a felafel roll, and a schmancy one where you go for a posh dinner.

So I went to the Arab film festival last week, and before the film me + my friend went to El Phoenician for dinner. She kindly agreed to eat veg*n food, so we went for the vegetarian banquet. And it was delicious.

First came out Leb bread (fresh and deep fried) with hommos, baba ganoush, pickles, tabouli and labne (she had the labne). Then a massive platter with felafel, coriander potatoes, lentils, snow peas in tomato sauce, fried cauliflower, tahini sauce and some other stuff. It was amazing.

They have Lebanese wine as well (but you can only get it by the bottle).

So far, it’s my favourite fancy restaurant in Parramatta.

328 Church St Parramatta

http://www.el-phoenicianrestaurant.com.au

Loving Hut – Cabramatta

Loving Hut must be a chain restaurant. Last night I went there and it was really full. There are cute vegan sayings on the wall, and a menu with pages of delicious looking fake meats.

I’m not sure what the Vietnamese word for this dish is, but I had the one that was spring rolls, vegetables, noodles and tofu in a bowl, with a sauce that you pour over the top. It’s so healthy-feeling that you can eat the whole bowl and not feel sick. I was tempted by the vegan creme caramel, but I was a bit too full.

So loving Cabramatta right now – I’ll post more pictures etc when I return from my next food tourism trip.

227 Cabramatta Rd, Cabramatta.