"i can has cheeseburger"

I usually order a burger when I don't know what I want (expect the sauce-less ones at Vegie Bar).

My favourite one is the TVP Sloppy Joe from Las Vegan:

TVP, mushrooms and lots of yummy sauce on a bed of crispy greens, in a fresh homemade sesame bun, with handcut potato chips on the side. This is the best vegan burger I have ever had. I guess both David and Margaret will give it 5 stars!

They are only open Tue-Fri 11AM-3:30PM. They are currently taking a week off from Tuesday 24th June and re-opening on Tuesday 1st July)


Black Eye Pea Burger from the new Soulfood cafe in the city:

PRO:
It looks small but the pattie is a actually quite big.
It's only $7.00
There are 4 kinds of sauce and at least 5 kinds of patties to choose from

CON:
Too dry (for me).


Vegan Cheese Burger from East Brunswick Club:


Their vegan parma is good. I would say the burger is not bad.
The one I tired is the regular vegan bacon cheese burger. (Sometimes they have different kinds of vegan burgers on the Daily Special menu) The vegan bacon slice give it extra flavour.

They also make awesome vegan cakes:

Sour cherry cake (the vegan cream is SO YUMMY!)

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cheese Cake.

Deluxe Vegan Chicken Roll from Bowl Of Soul:

Steak sandwich was sold out. Luckily, the chicken roll didn't disappoint me.
The homemade lime mayo sauce is mouthwatering.


And I highly recommend the Chocolate Figs:

NOODLE SOUP!

Fried flat rice noodles

Tomato noodle soup with raw bean sprouts and basil

Bo De Trai is a great small joint in Footscray. They make great mock meat dishes and Vietnamese style noodle soup.

We had yummy crispy spring rolls, noodle soup and fried flat rice noodles for lunch.

I missed noddle soup since I turned vegan. The Chinese style noodle at Vegie Hut doesn't appeal to me (I've had enough boring bland Chinese vego noodle soup in Hong Kong already!)

Bo De Trai's tomato noodle soup was so delicious. It's fun when you add fresh lemon juice, basil and bean sprouts to the yummy steamy noodle soup. It makes the soup taste and smell better. The raw bean sprouts also add a crispy texture, which goes well with the softness of noodles and silken tofu.

The fried noodles were okay. I wouldn't order it though because the noodle soup is 10 times better. TEN TIMES!

I will try the mock lamb claypot next time!

Also read the reviews from This is Vegan Melbourne and Where's the Beef

Bo De Trai
94 Hopkins Street, Footscray

VEGAN FOOD AND THE CITY

LORD OF THE FRIES - CHICKEN NUGGETS

(Chicken Nugget on top of chips with gravy and vegan cheese)

The nuggets are made of Chinese style mock chicken. It is great but I would not have it with gravy cos the nuggets are very salty already. It tastes much nicer when I tried it with the vegan honey mustard.

There are two Lord of The Fries in the city, you can only get the nuggets from the old store at the corner of Elizabeth St and Flinders St. But the Flinders St Station store is awesome too! There are tables and seats. Most importantly, they do Breakfast Burgers. The New York Burger is vegan.

TRADING HOURS

MON-WED	10:30am - 10:00pm
THU	10:30am - 10:30pm
FRI	10:30am - 4am (sat morn)
SAT	10:30am - 4am (sun morn)
SUN	11:00am - 10:00pm

ORTIGIA CAFE - CUSTOM MADE VEGO SANDWICH

Greasy Pretty Thing!

First of all, Ortigia doesn't have vegan food apart from the $8.50 fruit salad. However, it has the best coffee and nicest staff within 5 minutes walk from my work. I would say their coffee is as nice as the legendary Pushka's brew. They use Coffee Supreme organic fairtrade blend.

Aaron (check out his music!) once told me the Vego Sandwich is the best that he's ever had. So I tried to get them to make one for me without cheese. The guy said no in a friendly manner and explained that they are all made in advance.

One lucky day, I went there for a takeaway large soy latte. The same friendly guy was making the sandwich so I got one without cheese.

IT WAS AWESOME. The fresh warm bread has a English Muffin kind of texture. It is filled with rocket and pine nut pesto and a lot of grilled vegetables.

Ortigia
Shop 1, 443 Little Collins Street

Cat Power / Spectrum

She was nothing like the Notorious Chan Marshall people talked about. No 7 1/2 songs in 2 hours + crying and breaking down on stage.

I was so excited that she started it with Don't Explain. Her version, without a doubt, would not beat Billie Holiday's performance, but it also has a magic touch. My favourite moment was Metalheart. I almost cried when she started singing. Well, I would have if she did Moonshiner.

Spectrum/Dimmer (12 April 2008 Northcote Social Club)

Went to see the legendary Pete Kember (Ex-Spacemen 3) with Dan, Tim and Caroline. Our "opening act" was Vegan Parma from East Brunswick Club!

Peter's solo set was great. 100% PURE SONIC/NOISE! It took me to another planet. Honestly his set is a bit boring to ''watch''. It was just a bunch of effects on the stage, no "musical instrument" in the traditional sense at all. At the end, the supporting act Dimmer joined him and did Che and Suicide in a full band manner.

Talking about Dimmer, they were great. I wish I could see them again on their own or with Peter. I talked with the bassist (about her bass) after the show, while Tim was talking to the drummer about his other band. Her precision bass has a Jazz pick up on the very end of the bridge. She said it is a modified 77 P bass. Awesome bassist with an awesome bass in an awesome band = triple awesome.

Dean and Britta in Taiwan (I wasn't there)

If you know me well, you should know the most important band in my life is Galaxie 500.

I saw Damon and Naomi (2/3 of Galaxie 500) in Taiwan few years and I was lucky enough to have a quick conversation with Naomi (She also signed my albums and had a photo with me). It was fucking awesome.

This year, the ex-Galaxie 500 frontman Dean Wareham and his musical/life partner Britta Phillips (singing voice of the cartoon character JEM). My friend Sky was around them during their stay. I'm so jealous.

Click here for Sky's photos of Formoz Festival 2007.

Click here for Sky's article about Dean & Britta, if you know how to read Chinese :-)

(All photos are from Sky's photo site)

Formoz Festival , Taiwan 2007

Britta and Dean in a cafe in Taiwan

My favourite behind the scene picture

WHAT THE HELL AM I DOING?

I picked up a bass after listening to this album

I was talking to myself:

To concentrate on a thought is not easy for you.
The only beat you can count is 1 & 2 & 3 & 4.
You're too lazy to think. you only feel.
You could be very present and grounded. You can't now. NOT ANYMORE.
You ruined things every time when You almost succeed.
You always choose to stay in your comfort zone.


Yes, I haven't touched my bass for a long time. It's much easier to look at basses in music shops than playing them. (I don't even dare trying out them out there.) I haven't written anything in Chinese for ages. Last time I wrote was a few months ago and it was less than 100 words.

I said to myself:

You need to listen to the subtle signal of your mind, body and heart.
You need to stop wasting time on the internet!

Death on the Stairs

5mins before midnight,
I was the only one at the train station
My tram stop, after work.

Life goes on.

I've got "Tara" 2CD edition by Batrider for my birthday (Thanks Nikki). I fell in love with the band and found out they are leaving Australia. My friend told me they're playing a farewell show at a small pub.

So I went to the gig. It was very good but I felt (extremely) lonely for the first time in Melbourne.

The small venue was full of people who are "young and alive". I missed my wonderful friends in Hong Kong, the lovely people who make lovely music.

I jumped on a tram. There were two Chinese students making some stupid comment about a Chinese art house movie. I went to the other end of the tram. I really wished I couldn't understand their language. What made it worse is, I found out I jumped on the wrong tram. I, like the hero of a road movie, walked to a train station, along a quiet highway.

I was the only one at the Train station. Where the bloody hell am I? Only two stations away from home... but the next train was half an hour away.

Recent choice:
"Delivery" by Babyshambles
"Dinosaur Training" by Brooks Kubik