St. Kilda and Lord of the Fries

While staying in Melbourne, we took a day trip to St. Kilda, a suburb just south of the city.  We walked around and headed to the breakwater to look for fairy penguins.  Camera poised and ready, we carefully climbed wet rocks on the lookout for these tiny birds...unfortunately, we didn't see any.  Overall, it was a quiet kind of day.  It reminded me of November at the Jersey Shore, most of the rides and games are closed, few people walking around, and just one or two restaurants open.  St. Kilda sort of had a less seedy Coney Island kind of vibe. 

 

The quiet streets had some fun little shops and some of the houses had Victorian architecture.  The slanted boardwalk surprised me, this was my first time seeing a boardwalk that wasn't raised off the sand. Kind of weird, but cool.

It was the middle of Australian winter with temps in the low 50's F.  The beach was empty, but I could see why this would be a popular destination in the hot summer months.  I don't have food pictures, but we did eat at Soul Mama, a vegetarian buffet-style restaurant with beach views.

After walking around for a while, the cold sea breeze started to get a bite to it.  We walked into the building that housed the St. Kilda Sea Baths, a spa, and Soul Mama.  The place was expansive with a nice lounge area, really fancy restrooms, and a fireplace going.  It kind of had a high end beach restaurant/ski lodge effect, and it was most welcome!  Hunting for fairy penguins works up an appetite, and it gets cold in southern Victoria! 

We settled in and after figuring out that we wanted the option of rice and four selections from the buffet (we had three choices: soup and salad, rice and four choices, and a bigger one that I can't remember), we ate.  Overall, I was happy with Soul Mama.  Some of the selections were a little plain, but their menu does change seasonally and you can definitely taste the freshness of the veggies.   As always, we couldn't turn down a vegan chocolate cake, so we topped off our meal with that and headed back to Melbourne on the tram.

Earlier in the day, after finding enough change to cover the journey and before making our way to the tram, breakfast was in order.  Since Lord of the Fries was right across from the train station, we decided on some vegan fast food.

You would never know that this place was vegetarian if you didn't come up close and read their sign that says, "100% veg".  It was always packed with students and business people.

While their delicious fries are in the name, their other specialty is vegan nuggets and veggie burgers. On this particular day, I decided on the breaded and fried soy protein that is their chicken nuggets.

You had a choice of sauce, and I went with the "Aussie": they call it tomato sauce and vinegar, I call it ketchup.  The "American" sauce is barbeque, and I definitely had that on another occasion.  Sometimes you just have to go for the quick and easy food.  Lord of the Fries was a really fun and economical treat for a couple of traveling vegans!