The Press Club

I went to The Press Club for my work Christmas lunch today. We were trying to work out somewhere to go months ago & having read a review on Where's the Beef I had been looking forward to trying it so I suggested it, everyone was happy & off we went today.

When we first got there the waitress knew 2 of us were vegan & said that we could get a-la carte meals of spring vegetables or stuffed zucchini flowers or go for the 4 course kerasma where they bring out a variety of dishes. At this point, after essentially being offered a plate of vegies I was not too optimistic so we decided to go for the kerasma which proved to be the right decision. My meal was AMAZING! I didn't take photos but I should have because the food not only tasted amazing but looked amazing.

The 5 courses were:

• Tomato tea, marinated olives, pickled cabbage
  
• Steamed zucchini floweres with a watermelon & cherry tomato salad
• Risoni with mushrooms & roasted capsicums - seriously simple & the best meal I have eaten in a long time
• Spring vegetables with pine nuts, greek salad, cabbage salad & green beans in a tomato & breadcrumb sauce
• Dessert tasting plate - this was enormous & the absolute highlight, it was: watermelon, orange & mint salad, mango sorbet, berry sorbet, greek donuts with an orange sugar syrup

There was heaps of food & it was well considered & the service was friendly & attentive despite how busy it was. The only issue was that it was quite noisy, but we were seated close to the kitchen & there were a lot of big groups there. I am definitely going back there again.

The excitement of fantastic vegan food when you least expect it

I think most vegans who attend events that are catered for often expect the worst. I organise & attend meetings in hotel conference rooms quite frequently. When organising the catering they always ask for dietary requirements & I always ask for a vegan meal. Sometimes my meals are fantastic (The Prince in St Kilda gave me incredible food) & sometimes I get nothing but fruit salad (I hate Hilton on the Park in East Melbourne) & sometimes my food isn't separated or labelled so others eat it or I don't even know what is suitable & there is no one around to ask (MCEC).

So, this week I am attending an Events Management course & they said that they cater morning tea, lunch & afternoon tea, they didn't ask for dietary requirements but I emailed them to let them know I was vegan, expected the worst & packed my bag with lots of snacks.

Yesterday was my first day & at morning tea I was a little bit excited to see soy milk with the tea & coffee & was happy that there were apricots available to eat in a bowl alongside the omni cake. I was eating some apricots when the caterer sought me out & said that he had prepared a special lunch for me & that he also had dried fruit & almonds available for me for morning tea if I wanted so I was pretty happy that they had gone to an effort. Then lunchtime came. At the food table there was a box, labelled vegan - filled with food for me!! There was heaps of food! I got delicious rice paper rolls filled with marinated asparagus, a big salad with kidney beans as well as apricots, strawberries, a muesli bar & a bag of biscuits labelled "afternoon tea". There was way too much food to eat but I was so excited that I took most of it home. So when lunch rolled around today I wondered if I would get the same again, but no & it was even better! Today I got a cup of salad of freekeh, pomegranate, tomato, baby spinach & almonds (aka the best salad I have ever eaten) as well as 2 big rice paper rolls, a small bread roll filled with tapenade & roasted vegies, a muesli bar & nectarines & strawberries.

It is such a small thing to make a little bit of effort but it makes such a difference. I am so used to feeling like I am a nuisance & getting boring salads with no imagination that to come across a caterer who is not only lovely but makes great food is a welcome change!