I grew up on Brisbane’s southside eating a lot of Chinese cuisine, but since going vegetarian I haven’t eaten much of it because many of the meals are centred around meat. When Nick told me we were going to the Gold Coast for vegetarian Chinese I was terribly excited because Brisbane has a real lack of vegetarian dining. Now, I’m not a food blogger but I had to blog about this restaurant. If you’re a veg*n in south-east Queensland and you haven’t heard of Easy House Vegetarian Restaurant I have come to inform you it is DELICIOUS! Had I known what a fantastic meal we were to eat I would have brought my proper camera with me, but these iPhone snaps will just have to do.
These rice paper rolls were complimentary and we were both kind of astounded after tasting them. They have chicken flavoured TVP in them as a substitute for meat as well as loads of fresh vegetables like mushrooms and carrot and whatnot.
I ordered the chicken and corn soup (a long time favourite comfort food) and Nick got the fried dim sim. We ended up sharing with each other because the servings were so generous. The soup had TVP once again, probably not necessary but it was still yum. The dim sim were AMAZINGLY tasty and full of fresh vegetables.
These dishes are HUGE! On the left is the satay “chicken” and on the right is the sizzling pepper “beef”. I don’t usually eat mock meat, but I was surprised by how tender it was in both dishes. My favourite was the “beef” dish – those vegetables had the perfect crunch factor.
DESSERTS! Nick got the banana fritter with coconut soy ice cream, and while I passed on the banana (ewww) the ice cream was fantastic. I am not an ice cream fan but this stuff might turn me into one. Apparently the brand is “Cocolicious” and if anyone knows where to get it in Brisbane pls advise! I had the thousand layer cake, a steamed cake with wintermelon and a coconut layer. It was beautiful – not very sweet, but moist (I hate that word!) with a delicate flavour.
The staff are absolutely gorgeous and Mary, the owner, had a chat to us about the food. Apparently lots of Sunnybank natives (where I’m from!) come down because Easy House do the only vegan yum cha in Queensland at this stage. All the doughs and mock meats are prepared fresh daily, and I assume all the vegetables are bought fresh too because they tasted fantastic.
If you’re local, run don’t walk to Easy House, but if you’re going to make the trip I’ve got a feeling it’ll be worth it! We drove back to Brisbane in the drizzling rain with very contented tummies (and leftovers for lunch tomorrow).
Easy House Vegetarian Restaurant
Shop 8
90 Markeri Street & Sunshine Blvd Mermaid Waters
Gold Coast, Australia
(07) 5572 8808
Open Tuesday to Sunday: 10am – 3pm and 5pm – 9.30pm
Seriously awesome food. I’m already planning the trip down with some other friends for Yum Cha. I can’t wait. No really.
I love it. I would be full-time vegan if I could juggle the gluten allergy as well as veganism (I tried and got very sick for a while there). TVP is full of gluten! But the rest of the stuff sounds fabulous. Must drive down there.
There’s a great little Asian veg place on King Street, Newtown next time you are in Sydney – I can’t remember the name but it is near the corner of Missenden Rd, heading back towards the city. Buffet-style though, so you kinda have to either be there early or hang for a while waiting for fresh dishes to come out.
I’m glad someone is prepping their own mock meats… a place I went to a while back tasted like they were using that Sanitarium tinned stuff and it was EWWWWWWWWW
Oooh that’s good to know, because I usually feel a bit stuck for food when I go interstate!!!
Mock meat freaks me out a little bit, and the stuff at Easy House looks EXACTLY like the real thing, but it’s delicious!
Ohhhh, yum! I definitely want to try this place when we come over next year! We live in Chinatown and while we get pretty good food, like you being a vegetarian makes it fairly limiting. I love places like this though with the fake meat so I can still have all the yummy, greasy Chinese treats I grew up on!
Natalie or anyone else for that matter: I’m wondering where good places are to eat in Brisbane that you can get allergy-free food? In particular gluten, dairy, egg, msg, & additives free? I am fairly new to to this, and is wanting ideas. (I’m not vegetarian, so meat is ok for me). Any pointers would be well recieved :D
A friend of mine from Brisbane was telling me he’d happily go vegetarian if Brisbane actually had any decent vegetarian options. I’ll have to pass this onto him, but it does make me wonder why Brisbane is so lacking in vegetarian options??
Green Gourmet? That place is legend!
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” coconut soy ice cream, and while I passed on the banana (ewww) the ice cream was fantastic. I am not an ice cream fan but this stuff might turn me into one. Apparently the brand is “Cocolicious” and if anyone knows where to get it in Brisbane pls advise!”
Hi Natalie. The brand is actually ‘CocoLuscious’ (and is soy free) and is available in Brisbane at the following stores: The Green Edge, Wray Organic Newmarket & Indooroopilly, Mrs Flannery’s Taringa, Wynnum, Woolloongabba, Loganholme, Fundies Paddington, Sun & Earth Organics and GoVita Hawthorne (formerly Vive). http://cocoluscious.com.au/stockists/ Hope that helps. :-)