Veg Out at Chado ~ Hobart City

Chado: The Way Of Tea
134 Elizabeth Street, Hobart
Phone 62 31 64 11


Go for? Lunch and Tea (The drink, not the meal)
Tues to Sat: 11am - 4pm

Chado's Facebook page

Veg Rating:
Veg/Vegan friendly. Best Vegetarian Japanese food going around.

Elizabeth street opposite the Melville street carpark

I always find myself saying the standard "Let's meet for Coffee", when really, I don't drink coffee that much. I'ld much prefer a hot chocolate, or better, a good cuppa tea. 

Tea drinkers rejoice! "Let's meet for tea" won't sound so strange when you follow it with "At Chado"!

(According to their facebook page) They have over 80 teas from China, Taiwan, Japan, Sri Lanka, India, South Africa, Egypt, South America and Australia. I sort of got overwhelmed by the fact that they have a whole tea menu and didn't count or take note of all the different types and countries, so I'll believe that. There were a lot of teas!

It has everything good. Ever.

There's basically two food options: A bento box or donburi. You then choose what "protein" you want with this, one of the options being Organic tofu. I had the bento with the tofu (above) but it was so exciting and delish that I tucked in before remembering to take a photo! I have been to most of the Japanese restaurants around Tassie now, and I have to say, this is the best bento I have had.

Even more exciting, they have Natto! If you don't know, Natto is fermented soy bean, and Natto is to Japanese like Vegemite is to Australians. Let's just say, most foreigners don't like it. I do, and if you haven't tried it before, I would highly recommend trying Chado's. I've had some pretty nasty Natto before (in Japan), and this was good. 

Although I would highly rate this as a great veg out spot, there is only on veg option in each of the Bento and donburi menu. However, there is only 4-5 options in each of these sections anyway. It's a small menu.

The tea is brewed how it is meant to be ( the right temperature and seep time), and you get an extra jug of hot water so you get a few pots out of your order. Just as things should be yes?

To top it all off...Best chai milkshake, hands down. And I drink a lot of chai things. They also do a matcha one, and apparently? make their own soy milk.

Speaking of matcha, you can also get your own mini tea ceremony at your table. I know right!?

Dairy free Choc-Hazelnut Cheesecake...attempt

Dairy Free. Gluten Free. Nutella. Hazelnuts. Dark Chocolate.

Got your attention?

^^See that? There's a hazelnut crust, a dark chocolate swirled filling, and the dark gooey part is *nutella* (ie. not-ella) with roast hazelnut pieces.

This is my first attempt at a vegan cheesecake based off this recipe (genius)... whilst it is sooo good as it is, it doesn't quite hold up as a cheesecake per say,  and I refuse to use soy cream cheese.

 Hmm. More work needed! 

But in the mean time.... there's some eating to be done.

Anyone got any tips?

Veg Out at Basket & Green, Hobart City

Basket & Green
179 Elizabeth Street, Hobart 7000
Phone 62 31 52 49

Go for? Breakfast and Lunch

Mon - Fri: 7:30-16:00 

Sat - Sun: 8:30-14:30

Basket & Green's Facebook Page

Veg Rating:

Vegetarian Friendly. Decent breakfast spot.

Vegan, not really.

When it first opened, Basket & Green was a favourite among my friends and I for a quiet spot to grab brekkie. Now it's been around awhile it's gotten quite a bit busier, and for good reasons

They do fresh juices, good coffee, all day breakfast and a few after 12 selections, including a special soup and pasta. There's a range of cakes, slices and other sweet treats too, including some GF. They also do a good loose leaf chai tea, which of course is very important. The staff are always lovely too.

Rosti Stack with roasted tomatoes, mushroom and pesto

As far as vego food goes, they have a decent selection. Apart from your basic eggs all ways, they have french toast, a rosti stack and bircher muesli. Both the soup and the pasta for the day were also vegetarian.  There were no vegan options that I could tell, apart from the plain ol' toast.

French toast with berries, candied walnuts and mascarpone

The rosti stack and french toast are worth a try, but while the french toast is a decent size, the rosti is rather small for the price. The muesli that I had was rather average, and not really worth a mention.

Bircher Muesli with fruit and house-made yoghurt 

Overall, not a bad place to pop in for breakfast, especially if you're taking meat-eaters as all their eggs and meat are free-range, and they do try to source organic where they can. And if your a french toast fan, this is the place to get it.

Ferrero Rocher Chocolate Cookies

Does anyone need an introduction to sell these cookies?

Here's everything good in the world in a cookie that's crisp on the outside and slightly chewy on the inside. YUM.

After a billion google searches, I couldn't find many recipes that actually use Ferrero Rochers, most just try and make things taste like them. Maybe people are too concerned with just them eating as is. Fair enough.

If you haven't been overloaded at Christmas or want a vegan version for this recipe, no worries! Just use about a cup total of roasted hazelnuts, choc-hazelnut spread, choc chips and wafer. Oh I know that's very vague, but just use your good judgement of how much you want to put in of each.

Ferrero Rocher Chocolate Cookies

Based Loosely on Chocolaty Crinkle Cookies from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar

1/2 C Sugar

1/3 C Canola Oil

2 Tbs dark corn syrup, or I used golden syrup

1 Tsp vanilla

1/3 C non dairy milk (I used Almond)

1Tbs LSA or ground flax

around 8 Ferrero Rocher chocolates. Or make up 1 cup total { hazelnuts+choc hazelnut spread+choc chips + wafer}

1/4 C cocoa

3/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 1/2 C flour (I used Organs GF) 

First things first, grab a morter and pestle and smash up your rochers (or mix ins). Get it fairly mushed, but leave a few small chunks. 

Chuck in a large bowl the sugar, oil, syrup, vanilla, milk, flax (or LSA) and smashed rocher, and mix until combined.

Sift in the flour, cocoa, baking poweder and salt, mix until combined.

Roll out tablespoons of dough into balls, place on lined trays and flatten with a fork.

Bake at 180C for about 12 minutes, rest on tray for 5 then move to cooling rack.

New Year and New Things! + Manning Reef Cafe; Sandy Bay

Hello everyone, sorry it's been awhile! I've been a tad busy, but I have managed to have an amazing time in Thailand, have a lovely family Christmas, acquire some Global knifes (!!!) in the Boxing Day sales, and then brought in the new year at the Falls Festival in Marion Bay!

Since it's a new year, I've decided to start something I've been wanting to do for awhile, and that's share veg- friendly cafe/restaurant reviews, and hopefully some product reviews too. So here goes....

Manning Reef Cafe

Sandy Bay, Tas

(Licensed)

I would recommend a visit to this little cafe purely on the fact that it is the home of the delish tempura mushrooms that pop up at festivals around Tasmania.

Tempura Mushies

The menu has quite a few vego options that are marked as well. They include:

Pulglise Pizza, Classic Margherita Pizza, Funghi Bufalina Pizza, Quattro Formaggi Pizza, Moderna Pizza, Sweet Potato Chips, Sweet Potato Cakes, and The Original Tempura Mushrooms (the only vegan option)

The pizzas are "Traditional thin base Italian wood fired", and whilst no one on my table ordered one, I did see one made and they looked quite tasty.

I tried some mushrooms and sweet potato chips, the mushrooms were the best I've tasted, thinly coated with a crisp layer of batter and they come with a choice of dipping sauce. The sweet potato chips were also very more-ish and tasty. 

Sweet Potato Chips

This place is nothing fancy inside, but the staff are friendly and the food is good.  I'll definitely be heading back for more of those mushies.