Rob settled in for a half litre of German beer, the waiter took his order, and then scampered off without even giving me a look. It was all downhill from there.
We ordered up big time, excited that there were potential options on the menu. After I chased the waiter down again, clarified that I was a vegan, and asked if the dishes I was ordering were suitable, I was told a ‘yes, definitely’. Cool! Except the chargrilled veggies had been removed from the menu due to lack of popularity. I upgraded to my back-up option of Hindu pizza, minus the two cheeses (obviously), and minus the onion (time to give my poor bod a break from the substance it doesn’t like).
Our ‘Bites’ were probably the best dishes of the evening. I had the simple tomato, basil and olive oil, the man ordered something with cheese. They came out on the same serving slab, but there was no contamination.
The marinated olives were quite nice. This was a dish Rob ordered, so I never asked about whether the bread was vegan, since he’s not.
Then my ‘Taste’ was a real disappointment. It came out with a white coloured sauce beside it. This is the dish I was told ‘yes, definitely’ to my question of being suitable for a vegan. Rob tasted it for me and clarified that it was actually a cheese sauce. I gave a corn and capsicum fitter a bite, declared it egg, and put it back down again. I won’t go into Rob’s disappointment at me refusing ‘good’ food. But then he tried a bite too, and even though he loves egg, he said these were not very good. He did eat two out of the four though. When the waiter reappeared, I asked him if they had egg in them, just to confirm my suspicions. He went away and confirmed that there was egg ‘just to combine the ingredients’. HELLO! NOT VEGAN! I just nodded my head but said no more; my consideration for the dining experience of my companion. I’d already over-stepped his preferred line by even questioning what was in my food.
And the pizza? Well, I generally find veganised pizzas quite nice. But with this gourmet variety, I found it only just doable. And given that they had no idea what vegan is, I actually have no idea whether it really was, as ‘milk solids’ can be hidden in both the base and the sauce. The flavours were okay, but overall it was quite dry, especially the mushrooms which were a dried variety to begin with.
I ate it. I needed to be fed, it was in front of me, we would be paying for it, and it really did save ruining the night by creating a scene and then tramping all over town to repeat the experience. But I know most other vegans would have demanded their money back. I wouldn’t be going back there, unless it was just to drink. Then I’d have to do a LOT of research to know what it was I was drinking! Bon Apetit hey?
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