Procrastinating studying so I guess I'll share about the BrisVegan Fest yesterday (instead of watching more shows lol)! I arrived at 10+ with a friend and it was SUPER crowded. 

There were food stalls, non-food (clothing, accessories etc.) stalls, an indoor space with talks being held, and a huge grass patch with live music. Everything's vegan so I was spoiled for choice wow. I don't think I've been to a 100% vegan fest before

Pardon the crappy photo quality (they're screenshots of my Instastory videos). It was really sunny so the first thing I got was a Chocky Timmy cone ($8) because vegan Tim Tams?! Actually it wasn't really the first thing I ate because there was a half hour wait. It tasted okay and not-too-sweet (there was only half a Tim Tam in it though) but I expected it to be a bit creamier?

Also Aquafaba meringue ($1!!!!)

Aquafaba is made from the water that comes in canned chickpeas by the way. This innovation has been around for years and I've never got around to making it myself. So this was my first time experiencing ~aquafaba magic~ and I'm surprised good it was! Doesn't taste like chickpeas or smell like farts (aka what chickpeas smell like when you open the can) by the way hahaha 

Super cute necklaces!

Was thinking about getting one after seeing it on FB but alas it was out of my budget

We also waited half an hour for the large Vegan One pizza ($13 - special price) ^^; 

If this was Singapore umbrellas would be covering the field LOL

Overall quite a lovely experience with great company but probably should've gotten there earlier because so many people!

Oh yeah and back in Singapore the Green and Healthy Festival was happening! Omg I love going for these kinda vegfests and I look for them when I travel because they didn't happen in SG and THEN the first year I'm not in SG it happens. Also it'll probably be held around the same time each year if it does continue (seems likely!) which means I'll miss like 2 more? Actually I've only been here for 6 months+ and suddenly it's like there're so many veg/vegan things I'm missing out on. Such as Souley Green and those cute vegan donuts from Well Dressed Salad Bar & Cafe! Major case of FOMO lol. (note to mummy: FOMO = fear of missing out)

I'll be back in SG in end Nov for summer break and I'll eat out so much and support vegan businesses haha. And perhaps make new friends and get more involved in the vegan community lol. Okay that sounds ambitious but I'll try ^^

(Also just realised that I'm a featured Instagrammer and Blogger on animalallies.sg omg I feel so undeserving especially because I'm not in SG ;x)

✧ Sadhana Kitchen ✧

Sadhana Kitchen is a 100% plant-based, all-vegan, gluten-free and refined-sugar-free cafe! They have many raw dishes too. I was deciding between this and Zeitgeist Mylk Bar (vegan treats including donuts!) but on the day before this I saw on their Instagram that they were closed temporarily... and then later this day I realised that they weren't closed yet but it was their last day?? :(

But I also saw Sadhana Kitchen's Instagram - upon seeing their eggs benny I decided that I had to try it lol :) 

They have another branch at Enmore too!

Their decor is a lovely mix of rustic and modern ^^

We were there for breakfast, which is available from 9am-12nn. Lunch is available from 11am-3pm.

We shared the Eggs Benedict ($18) and Epic Acai ($18), and mum had a flat white ($4.5) while I had a cappuccino ($4.5).

The acai bowl wasn't anything special (I guess acai bowls all taste the same?) but the eggs benny was yummy - mopped up all the 'yolk' sauce! The only other eggs benny I've had, vegan or otherwise (lol I was vegan before cafe hopping was a thing ;)), was at Champs Diner in NYC last year! Visual- and texture-wise this one is more realistic but to be fair the Champs Diner one is called 'Tofu Benedict' lol. ^^ 

Btw their bronze cutlery is so pretty!

Sadhana Kitchen

132 Warners Avenue

Bondi NSW 2026

Daily 9am-4pm

✧ Sunday Market ✧

This market is somewhere between Sadhana Kitchen and the beach, at the Bondi Beach Public School Grounds! The food market is on Saturday, the Sunday one is more of goods - clothing, candles, jewellery etc. There are a few food trucks though!

I came here expecting to be able to find Nutie donuts but seems like I was mistaken and they're only there on Saturday. Their Space Jam donut looks amazing T.T

Bought a few candles here - I've never owned candles before because open flames are scary but they were too pretty.. and I couldn't buy donuts so I had to buy something LOL

Beautiful blooms!

Bondi Market
Sunday 10am-4pm
Bondi Beach Public School
Campbell Parade
Sydney NSW 2026

✧ Bondi Beach ✧

We were at the beach around noon and it was HOT. There were people surfing and sun tanning! We expected it to be windy and cold though haha

Blue skies and clear waters!

This photo and its colours look so calming ✧

There was a storm a few weeks back and the path hasn't been fixed yet, so this sign said to walk inside and not on the beach

But people were just crossing over the barrier tape lol. At the part in this photo where there's a lot of people, the pavement is seriously cracked and chunks were sticking out. Those people were just hopping over the pieces o_o 

In my original plan we'd walk from Bondi to Bronte but we were lazy and there's a lot of people. Maybe next time on a weekday... at 5pm when the skies are pretty ^^

✧ Funky Pies ✧

Funky Pies is an all-vegan pie shop! They have gluten-free pies too. I don't remember eating many pies in my life, let alone vegan ones!

They have many flavours of pies, and they sell raw desserts too. You can also buy their hot/frozen pies elsewhere, like at The Cruelty Free Shop! 

Their most famous pie is the Funky Chunky (shiitake mushrooms + gravy + mash) but it wasn't in the display when we ordered. 

So we had the Chilli Non Carne and Butterish Chicken (I think) with mashed potatoes and gravy! The pies were really yummy - perfect crust and saucy, not-dry filling - but I loved the mash the most!! I can't remember exactly but I think it was around it was around $6 a pie and +$4 for the mash :) Great place for a treat! 

Funky Pies Cafe
Shop 2/144-148 Gleaner Avenue
Bondi NSW 2026
Weekdays 7am-8.30pm
Weekends 11am-8.30pm

✧ Badde Manors ✧

Badde Manors is a 100% vegetarian cafe! We came here for brunch on the second last day in Sydney.

The decor is cosy and old-fashioned, with wooden seating booths! They have a large selection of desserts, but just one of the cakes is vegan. They have a few vegan sorbets to choose from though.

Somehow I couldn't find online when breakfast is served until (it's on their website lol idk why I couldn't see it), but we arrived around 11am so we didn't miss it!

Breakfast hours are 7am-12nn Mon-Fri, 6.30am-12.30pm on Sat, and 7am-12.30pm on Sun.

Lunch/Dinner hours are 12nn-11pm Mon-Fri, 12.30pm-11pm on Sat & Sun.

(On their website their opening hours are different though hmm)

There aren't as many vegan options for Breakfast as there are for Lunch & Dinner, but the Vegan Breakfast looked good from reviews I saw!

So many cakes but none are vegan T.T

Only the brownie under the Small Treats section is.

As expected by now (did you notice that like 90% of the time on this trip Mum gets Chai tea??), Mum had the Badde Manors Chai with almond milk ($5). There were lots of ingredients (including many bits of ginger) in the pot and it was pretty rich.

We shared the Vegan Breakfast ($13.5), Avocado on Toast ($7), and Chocolate Fudge Brownie ($5.5) with Raspberry Gelato (+$3). Initially when the avo toast arrived we regretted not ordering another vegan breakfast instead since it was more worth it, but we were really full from eating this lol! The brownie was yummy - really fudgy and dense, and got chewier as it cooled down. Like this is the chewy-est brownie I've ever had!

Badde Manors Cafe

37 Glebe Point Road

Glebe NSW 2037

Sun-Thur 7am-12mn

Fri-Sat 7am-1am

✧ The Cruelty Free Shop ✧

A little further down the street from Badde Manors is this all vegan grocery store! :) They also sell skincare & makeup products, shoes, Matt & Nat bags and more.

Bought some black salt (kala namak) and Kewpie mayo! I've seen the mayo before but wasn't sure if it was vegan - sounds too good to be true - so I'm glad to find it here!

The Cruelty Free Shop

83 Glebe Point Road

Glebe NSW 2037

Mon-Wed 11am-6.30pm

Thur-Fri 10am-6.30pm

Sat 10am-5pm

Sun 11am-5pm

✧ Hari's Vegetarian ✧

Hari's vegetarian serves both Indian and Western food.

Their Indian meals (left side of the menu) are really cheap and from what I could see, portions are quite big! I overheard that all of the curries that day are vegan, but I'm not sure if that's the case every day.

We ordered Western food haha! We got the Pizza ($14) and Lasagne ($14). They come in both vegan and veg versions so be sure to specify the one you want.

The pizza crust wasn't really thin but it was quite crispy which was nice. Also there's quite a lot of veggies. The lasagne was pretty good but I'd like if it had more tomato sauce!

My main gripe about these two dishes is that I thought that they were unnecessarily oily. Like there's a pool of oil on the plate/dish under the food. o_o Perhaps it's possible to ask for less oil..?

They have lots of vegan desserts! All except the 2 slices of pie in the middle are vegan! We had the Sticky Date Pudding ($8.5, middle of second row) and Blackforest Cake ($8.5, left of last row) takeaway for supper. Sadly they weren't fantastic - the blackforest cake was highly recommended in reviews I read but I found it okay compared to other similar vegan cakes I've had. The sticky date pudding had date paste in the middle but was kinda dry overall. It'll probably taste better heated up but alas our hotel room didn't have a microwave :(

Hari's Vegetarian

157 Broadway

Ultimo NSW 2007

Mon-Sat 11am-9pm

We ate at Iku Wholefood for the first meal and Zeitgeist Cuisine for the last meal in Sydney!

✧ Iku Wholefood ✧

This Iku Wholefood we went to was in a food court at Westfield Mall. They have many branches across Sydney.

All their food is vegan omg! The name sounds Japanese but the food is mostly Western-style.

Ended up with three salads, soup and rice in three forms (nori roll + inari pocket + fried ball). The set of salads with 2 items was $13.9 and the set of soup with fried rice ball was $10.9. Doesn't look like much but the rice was so packed and so filling. I've never seen a nori roll like this lol - the ingredients are all jumbled up! We also got veggie dumplings ($5.8) from Din Tai Fung at the foodcourt.

Iku Wholefood Westfield

Level 5, Shop 5009

Pitt Street Mall

NSW 2000

✧ Zeitgeist Cuisine ✧

Zeitgeist Cuisine is a tiny vegan cafe in the CBD! Their fruit and veg prints are super cute! 

Oops didn't include the Breakfast and Lunch pricing but it's $8.9 for most breakfast items and lunch items cost an average of $12.9. 

Many reviews I read said that the food here is good but overpriced, particularly the smoothies ($9.9). I think the Breakfast and Lunch items are quite reasonable (especially if you eat-in) for a cafe though!

I had the Lox Bagel ($8.9) and mum had the Porridge ($8.9). I enjoyed my bagel - the carrot is made to look like lox (salmon) and it tasted pretty good with the cashew philly cheese. Mum's porridge was filled with lotsa goodness - quinoa, oats, almond milk and strawberries! I got The Green Z smoothie ($9.9) and Mum had the Chai tea I think. The smoothie wasn't really sweet and it made me feel really healthy haha! 

Afterwards we walked along Darling Harbour and this sounds weird but I've always wanted to drink a green smoothie while walking LOL. In that weather people's normal drink-of-choice while walking is hot coffee but I was feeling blissful with cold hands ^^

Zeitgeist Cuisine
153 Clarence Street
Sydney NSW 2000
Mon-Fri 7am-4pm

✧ Rubyfruit Vegan Bakery & Cafe ✧

We went to Blue Mountains on Friday (1st July) by train (about 2.5h which sounds long but not when you're watching a kdrama :P ). The closest train station to the Three Sisters lookout is Katoomba but we stopped by Leura (one station before) to eat at Rubyfruit!

I saw on their Facebook the weekend before that it was SNOWING omg!! But too bad it didn't snow when we were there! :( It was about 5 deg C when we arrived at about 11am.

Rubyfruit is 100% vegan and it's the only vegan place in the area. They serve breakfast and lunch. It's a small cafe with just 5 or so tables!

Specials of the day!

I got the Pump Up The Volume Frittata with Rainbow Salad ($14.5) and Mum got The Ruby Burger with Slaw ($17.5). We also shared the Curried Lentil and Zucchini Soup ($11), Turmeric Milk ($5.5) and Chili Hot Chocolate ($5). 

Really enjoyed both drinks because it's my first time trying turmeric in a milk and spicy hot chocolate! I add turmeric powder to my veggie stews all the time because it's good for me lol but I don't particularly enjoy the taste - this turmeric milk didn't taste bitter at all though! :) 

The frittata wasn't too tofu-y which was great, and the soup was quite a large portion and had lotsa ingredients. We were too full to try their desserts but they looked really yummy!

Rubyfruit Vegan Bakery & Cafe

10/166-168 Leura Mall

Leura NSW 2780

Thur-Mon 10am-4pm

✧ Carrington Hotel ✧

We stayed at Carrington Hotel for a night! It's like a heritage site and it's so grand and historical. Location-wise it's really convenient because it's quite near the Katoomba train station and the bus (686) to the Three Sisters lookout is right outside!

Look at the stained glass windows! So pretty! This costed $255 (probably because it was Friday too) but I think for the location and the fact that it's an attraction in itself it's pretty worth it!

Also the hotel breakfast!!!!!! On other days we stayed at Park Regis which was budget so there wasn't breakfast, and for previous trips (Melbourne, Tokyo, NYC, BKK and more) we stayed in Airbnb or non-breakfast hotels...... Hotel breakfasts are always something I look forward to haha!

There are quite a few rooms to explore and they all look old-fashioned and somewhat grand. There's even a fireplace here (behind me).

The Carrington Hotel

15-47 Katoomba Street

Katoomba NSW 2780

✧ Three Sisters (Echo Point Lookout) ✧

This lookout is actually quite near by bus (686 from the stop outside The Carrington Hotel)!

I enjoy looking at the sky more though haha

Particularly the 5pm sky!

✧ Sanwiye ✧

There isn't any vegan/vego restaurant open for dinner so we just searched for somewhere close to the hotel. Sanwiye is a Korean restaurant with really great reviews! It's a pretty small restaurant run by Koreans.

It was almost full when we arrived at 6pm but luckily someone just left. If you're planning on eating here it's better to make a reservation!

We asked about what was vegan (they don't use dairy but some have egg) and ended up ordering Spicy Noodle Soup ($11), Japchae ($16) and Dukbokki ($16). Maybe you can't really tell from the photo but the portion size was huge!! Especially for the japchae and dukbokki - I think 2 people with a normal-female-sized appetite can share either one lol! We were stuffed and dabao-ed the japchae leftovers (which I had for supper).

Also I've never seen Korean food with so much veggies before! Especially for the dukbokki omg wow

Sanwiye Korean Restaurant

2/177 Katoomba Street

Katoomba NSW 2780

✧ Street Art Walk ✧

I found this on Trip Advisor and it looked cool.

It's a really tiny street that you can finish in 5 mins ^^;

Street Art Walk

1 Beverly Place

Katoomba NSW 2780

We didn't do a lot of sightseeing (Mum's been to Blue Mountains before anyway) or go for day tours or to Scenic World (we watched Youtube videos of people experiencing Scenic World while in the hotel LOL vicarious experience) but we had quite an eventful and yet chill time ^^