The Joint Bar

The Joint Bar is a little backpackers bar and I first discovered them when they had their many drink specials. They are one level above the bottle shop and you can see the tram stop from above.

During the daytime, they are not busy but after work, they are busy with all the punters wanting cheap drinks and the sun. They have an indoor and outdoor area.

On Friday I had their Captains Morgans spiced rum as a pick me up. It really made my day then. It was only $5. I saw the food menu and decided I would come back today. Here everything is so cheap and they have a burger and beer deal for $12. How awesome is that! Normally in the city a burger and beer costs $20.

They have Smirinoff for $4.80 and some of their wines at $5-$7 as well as all of their beer for $7 during happy hour and evenings. After 5pm pizzas are $4 each.

The toilets are outside in the stairwell and there is a sign pointing to them. The toilets were just ok.

Seeing as I have promised my readers vegetarian for the month of January I went for a vegetarian burger. When it came it looked alright but then after a few bites the patty was very watery and the bun went a bit soggy. They used one of the frozen ones. The chips were very salty.

I would only come here for the drinks and not the food.

Lord of the Fries newsflash

 Lord of the Fries has been around for quite some time and RNIS was invited to their branch in Prahran along with other bloggers and people to hear about World Vegan day and try some delicious goodness.

Lord of the Fries is a vegetarian/vegan place which does stellar burgers and they support the Vegan day festival. They have been doing so for a long time. In saying that they now have eight stores in Melbourne and Sydney. They are looking to expand globally especially to India.  They used to be just a picnic spot in Albert Park with just 100 people attending a picnic. And they opened the store on Elizabeth st. It was popular for a while with about 30 blog posts but due to landlord issues they shut just last year.

World Vegan day is on Sunday the 1st of November at Melbourne Showgrounds. It is a free event for all and there will be trains to the event.

But still their goodness can be found at the Prahran store. Here I enjoyed the spicy burger and the sweet potato chips. I have also been a big fan of their onion rings as they are deep fried in goodness. But since I came late most of the other chips were demolished and I only got to sample the end bits. That being said I still liked the chunky chips and I devoured a whole bowl of the sweet potato fried goodness.

Being a spice lover I wasn't too keen on their original. I also wasn't too keen on their mock nuggets.

They also have Sunraysia juice and organic drinks so that people can drink healthly. I really like this and think that most fast food outlets should support this.

Lord of the Fries should also include Okomiyaki a Japanese pancake for those that don't like a lot of oil and don't eat gluten.

Rating: 15/20- not a mock meat fan but love my veggie burgers. Many thanks to MNG for the invite.

Pho Flinders

This is the original store in Flinders st just outside the station. At 7:30pm there were not that many people. Moreover there were some Caucasians. Here the service was rather quick. I was in and out within 30 mins.

You might remember the one that I did before and this one is much better.

The toilets are in the station so you would need your myki to get in and out

The veggie pho was great and the broth was flavoursome. But it might have had waaay too much msg to it. The noodles were skinny not fat and there were plenty of vegetables. There was also plenty of bean sprouts.

It is cash only and mine was only $10. Hence this is good for all the students. The pho filled me up. I did however wish there was free tea, but I did not mind as the soup kept me hydrated

Rating: 14/20- not bad and pho is healthy for you. Luckily I didn't go for the soft drink as they were an extra $2 and I'm trying to stay away from sugar

Mama's Buoi

Mama's Buoi is an upmarket Vietnamese restaurant in Melbourne's GPO Laneway. Here it i more like a bar rather than an eatery because of its limited menu. They don;t have a lot of food on their menu but they do have happy hour and an Instagram competition where you would win a $100 voucher.

I came at 7:30pm after Fitclub wanting something on the light side and not wanting to wait for a tram to get to the upper end. There were a few people there but the rest had gone after happy hour.

The portions were quite small for the rice vermicelli and tofu with mushrooms ($14). There was one big piece of tofu and three smaller ones. Also all the fish sauce was down the bottom making it very fishy. The one thing I did like was the Siracha. I also wished that there was more carrots rather than just the few. The vermicelli was skinny and not thick. There was no cucumber. I was expecting some.

All the food smelt good and looked good so I expected a lot.


Rating: 10/20- not great. I have had better at the Wat the Pho and in Footscray.

For me I had to agree with Bureaucrat with meh. It was not worth the $14 I paid and I did have to buy some bread to get rid of the fishy aftertaste in my mouth.

My week on being vegetarian by Katherine

As part of our Health and Human development series.

The aim of the challenge is to try and learn as much as I can about being vegetarian. That means no meat this week. That means also trying a lot of different vegetarian places.

I was really inspired to do this story after reading many of Meld's vegetarian stories. Some of my friends at uni are vegetarian.

So for this week I cannot have much meat; it has to be mainly vegetables. Also all the vegetables that I use has be bought from the market.

I can still have fruits, my usual snacks (without any meat that is) and my breakfasts. I can also go to places which serve vegetarian meals

Day 1.
Woke up and had museli with Chia seeds and my usual tea. Was at home all day today so I had a salad and Easy Mac which is just cheese and macaroni. It was cold outside so I was tempted to have meat, but I stopped myself in time by having more cheese

Saw an email from Crown saying that there was $9.90 footy specials at Jimbo and Rex, Emporio Della Pasta and Cotta. But then when I saw the menu for Jimbo and Rex, I saw that it was all meat options. I saw the same for Emporio Della Pasta. Ahh it's going to be a bit of a challenge to find things which are vegetarian but I will get there eventually.
For dinner that night I had a potato ball, rice, greens and faux chicken schnitzel

Day 2.
It was so cold last night that I could hardly sleep at all. Today for breakfast I had just cereal. For lunch I had sushi, miso soup and salad. I'm really happy with the way how things are going. I found that most vegetarian things are cheaper than meat. Am happy that I'm saving money by being a vegetarian.
As I was going home from school, whilst waiting for my train I could smell meat and fried food. I wished I could eat some but restrained myself. I wonder how the next few days will pan out.

Day 3.
Had vegetarian sushi and coffee for breakfast. Yes I know it was a bit late today but I struggled to get out of bed this morning and was rushing to my first class. Now don't try this at home. It was such a bad idea as I lost my concentration and nearly fainted.
Had mock meat with spices for dinner. It was yum.

Day 4.
I really want meat today. Naw.
Its so cold outside. But I have my salad with nuts and chia seeds and for breakfast I had bananas on toast with chia seeds.
For lunch I had a lettuce salad with nuts and chia seeds. Am really loving using chia seeds as they are full of fibre and makes me fuller for longer.
I really wanted to visit the Shandong Mama but I saw that they had meat and no veg options.

Day 5.
I went to Zest wraps for breakfast. Saw that they didn't have any vegetarian options on the menu but was happy to ask them to do a vegetarian wrap for me. And they did
Went to the regional living expo and forgotten about being vegetarian and accidentally ate one of KR Castlemaines meat.
But I remembered at the The Merrywell where I ordered a vegetarian burger ($12.5) and onion rings.
For dinner that night I had noodles with vegetarian wontons at home.

Day 6.
Now I'm beginning to have pangs for meat. Oh well just another two more days and I can have meat again. Yay!
Went to the supermarket that day (Coles I think it was) and was pleasantly surprised when I saw that some of the vegetables were cheap (under $5 mainly) so I stocked up on heaps and heaps.
Later on that night from all that hunger I ate some dried sultanas.

Day 7
Was at home today but went for a walk. Can't wait to go back to meat. Made some soup for lunch and dinner that day. Loved it. In fact it was a simple dinner meal and books that night. I know I am devoid of proteins but I know that I can meat and other stuff tomorrow.

Lessons learnt
* More and more places should have some sort of vegetarian dishes on the menu
* Its cheaper being a vegetarian, but if you have any weight concerns see a dietician. If you have any medical concerns see a doctor first before attempting this
* If you are in a restaurant and see that they aren't vegetarian see if you can get them to make your order vegetarian. If they can't maybe leave.
* You can make lots of stuff with vegetables- you just have to know what goes with what
* Substitute meat for cheese, eggs and tofu/tempeh as they are cheap but high in protein and will keep you fuller for longer