April 13th, 2012 » Brookline, MA: Curry House

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It was February when I visited Brookline’s traditional Indian restaurant, Curry House. My partner’s sister and her friend mentioned the restaurant more than once and every Tuesday, it holds a vegan buffet. I do admire Indian cuisine, but I eat out rarely (plus cooking is challenging) and because not many Indian restaurants are able to accommodate entirely vegan dishes (they add ghee or yoghurt I cannot eat at all). I prefer a 100% vegan Indian cuisine most of the time. Curry House was just within walking distance from my partner’s sister’s condo, which is pretty convenient and we wanted to try the vegan buffet out. We came when it open and it was a bit empty, except for the soap opera. The vegan pots are usually located on the right of the bar (the left side is not vegan), or you can ask the staff to point out which ones are vegan. This is a typical small buffet: take a dish, fill whatever you like, come back with a new dish and refill until you are satisfied. Kindly ask for some complimentary naan bread (they are vegan according to the staff) at the counter, and they will be ready and warm for you (they will bring them to your table). Those naan bread were freshly made and huge though.

Location & Hours & Notes

• 1335 Beacon Street Brookline, MA 02446 . Roughly 5 minutes walk from Brookline’s Trader’s Joe.
• Vegan Buffet only opens every Tuesday 11:30am to 3pm. Costs $8.95 per person (excludes taxes.)
• Comes with freshly made, and warm naan breads which are vegan.

Dishes I’ve Tried

I’ve tried all vegan dishes from that day (Tuesday, February 21st, 2012). They were all very delicious for the first try, but then when I went for a second dish, I knew I was already full. I tend to go for potatoes with peas or mushrooms since I really like them in my saucy dish. I’m not big on eggplants or chickpeas, but I would say all of these vegan dishes tasted very good especially for a vegan buffet where you can try all of them vegan! It is nice to have variety of them.

Vegan Dishes that day include:

• Matar Mushroom: Green Peas with Mushrooms (top left)
• Cabbage Bhaji: Cabbage, green peas in saute of herbs & spices (top right; with spoon)
• Chana Dal: Chick-pea lentils (top right; with no visible spoon)
• Aloo: Baigan Eggplants and potatoes in a curry sauce (bottom left)
• Kaddu: Squash in Tomato, Onion, Ginger, Garlic Sauce (bottom right)

Check out a couple of posts based in the similar location Massachusetts.

Chiang-Mai: PUN PUN Organic Vegetarian Restaurant (พันพรรณ)Interview: Arlette, Mexico City D.F.Mexico City: Azul Condesa Part IIAllston, MA: Deep Ellum Restaurant & BarMexico City: Azul CondesaMexico City: Pan Comido Vegetariano

April 13th, 2012 » Allston, MA: Deep Ellum Restaurant & Bar

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I am not very good with updating my blog when it comes to “domestic travels”, so I truly apologize. This is my third time to eat at Deep Ellum Restaurant & Bar in Allston, MA and it was in late February (fortunately it was a sunny town in Massachusetts that February). I have wrote about this restaurant before, and you can read here ( Beware, vegans, there will be a meat dish in that post since my partner’s brother-in-law is not vegan, but gluten-free, so don’t worry about it since I’m sharing all dishes we had that night). Last time, they had a couple of vegan dishes such as a vegan cassoulet, but this year, they cut down to one dish, which was perfectly fine because they do make exceptional vegan burgers!

Location & Hours & Notes

• 477 Cambridge Street, Allston, MA . Roughly 30 minutes walk from Brookline area (if you start from Beacon Street), since there aren’t any available transits by there.
• Open 7 Days a Week (Monday-Friday 11:00 a.m.-1:00 a.m. | brunch until 4:00 p.m. | dinner 4:00-midnight);
  (Saturday and Sunday 10:00 a.m.-1:00 a.m. | brunch until 4:00 p.m. | dinner 4:00-midnight)
• This restaurant does not take reservations. It is always busy in the evenings especially on weekends due to small restaurant. I would recommend coming in when the restaurant opens during weekdays if you want a quiet meal with someone.
• A vegan burger will not come with dairy cheese if you are a vegetarian, request one. It comes with fries for an extra buck.
• They do wonderful selection of beers & cocktails.
• Next door, they also run a Mexican restaurant & cafe (completely identical, but different look). They only have one vegan taco dish, which I’ve also checked, but never tried!

Vegan Burger (includes extra Fries): $9

When it comes to a decent, homemade vegan burger made in a restaurant in Boston/Allston, I always go to Deep Ellum. They seriously make the best seitan ever, and I really would love to know a recipe. It also comes with these perfect, crispy and downright tasty fries in reasonable portion (just for a dollar more). The vegan burger was a perfect dish for that restaurant and I hope they will not discontinue that dish. I noticed they removed the vegan cassoulet dish from the menu this year.

Check out a couple of posts based in the similar location Massachusetts or another post on Deep Ellum here.

Chiang-Mai: PUN PUN Organic Vegetarian Restaurant (พันพรรณ)Mexico City: Yug Vegetariano Part IIMexico City: Pan Comido VegetarianoBrookline, MA: Curry HouseMexico City: Tacos HolaMexico City: Falafelito

March 10th, 2011 » Peace O’ Pie Gourmet Vegan Pizza

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This was my second and third time with Peace O’ Pie as carry-outs. For the second time I had a vegan Not-So-Secret Garden specialty pie or calzone (green bell peppers, onions, mushrooms and spinach) with smoked apple sage sausage (Field Roast Grain meat Co. brand), garlicky basic breadstick (four pieces) served with organic pizza sauce and a very delicious coconut cupcake.

Quite frankly, the organic pizza sauce that was served with garlicky and puffy-like basic breadsticks was an overwhelming raw garlic flavour. It overpowered the organic tomato pizza sauce already. Maybe I’m not quite a fan of raw garlic, though the garlic wasn’t quite thoroughly cooked within the organic pizza sauce.

I do like the Not-So-Secret Garden calzone fillings, however the raw onions still overwhelm the flavour (so had to take them out completely, but happy that they are wee big to pick out).

The coconut cupcake was orgasmic, an utter heavens despite how tiny it was. I was glad it was replaced by a cinnamon sweet roll, the one I was dying about, however I liked the coconut cupcake so far.

The third time, I had “The MD” specialty pie (calzone). The fillings include herb-roasted onions, zucchini, smoked apple sage sausage, mushrooms and lastly the pesto (which was bland without a spark of flavour, perhaps slightly bitter). I had to admit that the Not-So-Secret Garden specialty pie was better (without the raw onions), but the garlicky breadsticks are to die for, absolute flavourful and gorgeous.

Brookline, MA: Curry HouseAllston, MA: Deep Ellum Restaurant & BarVegan Mofo 9: Philadelphia - Blackbird PizzeriaWellington: Vegan Eateries that I haven't been to...Wellington: Hell PizzaWellington: Burger Fuel

March 10th, 2011 » Deep Ellum

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Doni and I had the best vegan burgers in Allston, MA at Deep Ellum (view website). The seitan was neither mushy or over-cooked, plus it tasted perfect for a burger. The menu was vegan-friendly, which was a plus.

Doni’s sister Nicole had a vegan cassoulet which was interesting (with braised white beans, swiss chard, wild mushrooms with housemade seitan fennel “sausage” and tomato confit), unfortunately I am not a huge fan of a bean dish. Her lovely fiancee George had a fried gorgonzola and apple salad with a Confit Duck leg (fennel, golden raisins, roasted sweet potato and maple-cider vinaigrette). We all had decent beers and cocktails to begin and end with.

Fabulous food, however the only downside regarding this bar/restaurant was the loud ambience due to high ceilings plus it was a very dark (quite not dimly lit) area to eat and chat in.

Pardon the photos; they were taken by Canon Powershot S95 (sadly not my 5D MarkII) and it was way too dark to shoot these photos especially in a tight seating area. So I apologize for these grainy and ugly photos.

Allston, MA: Deep Ellum Restaurant & BarInterview: Andrea, Mexico City DFMexico City: Orígenes OrgánicosBerlin,Germany: Voner der Vegetarische DonerBerlin,Germany: Dolores California Gourmet BurritosMünchen: Royal Kebabhaus/Vegan Döner

October 9th, 2010 » Myers and Chang

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It was very dark in the restaurant. So I had to snap photos at really high ISO. But they turned out fab.
Check out their website at:  www.myersandchang.com

Mexico City: Pan Comido VegetarianoAllston, MA: Deep Ellum Restaurant & BarMexico City: The Green Corner GroceryVegan Mofo 8: Philadelphia - The AbbayeWellington: Hell PizzaWellington: Sushi Bi