by Dianne
Nadia and the hungry Chemical-Free Landcare team visit for lunch after a busy morning weeding the foredunes at Brunswick Heads beach.
Here’s an interview with a Cafe customer, Avi, visiting from Brazil. Avi is a well-known restaurateur and chef with a fine sense of flavour and composition. When asked to comment on Kristina’s cooking in general, she had this to say: “She’s the best from the area, I tell you. She knows how to make food. It’s a real art”.
KRISTINA’S VEGAN POLENTA BAKE
Today in Byron Shire it’s COLD! After a long, hot, wet summer it’s suddenly cold (to us) and the smell of wood smoke is everywhere. So Kristina’s Polenta Bake (and her generous serving size) is perfect: substantial, very tasty, yet with a light, moist texture. Served hot, drizzled with tahini and sweet chilli sauce, finished off with greens, it would be equally yummy in summer. As I ploughed through it, enjoying not only the taste but the rainbow colours, out popped an olive or four! I did not expect that in a polenta dish, and it was a delicious addition.
SUGAR-FREE BANANA SULTANA CAKE
This one’s my favourite and Kristina has me mystified - the body of this cake is utterly enigmatic to me. I love the firm moistness, the way the flavour of the sultanas is infused all through the banana and the firm tahini-based cream topping. Even though it has no added sucrose, it’s quite sweet in a healthy-feeling way. The goji berries on top are not dry and hard, but soft and juicy without being wet.
KRISTINA’S MOROCCAN SHEPHERD’S PIE
I had a big problem with Shepherd’s Pie when I was a student living-in at college, and that problem was the meat. To me it totally spoiled what could have been an acceptable sort of pie. So in the 34 years since then I have avoided Shepherd’s Pie and not had it at all. Until in Brunswick Heads Health Foods I saw a big orange one speckled with green pepitas (good Irish colour combo there!) and brandishing the gluten-free vegan sign. Hmmm….I overcame my historical reluctance and gave it a go. Yum! It was tasty, warm, filling, great on that cold, windy winter’s day as per its original intent, but I could also imagine it served cold in the sweltering sub-tropical summer. Comes served with salad.
KRISTINA’S RICE BALLS
I’ve had rice balls before in other places and not liked them – too bland. However Kristina’s are different with their spicy flavours. Ask for them hot, served with sweet chilli sauce.
SALAD BAR
With my main dish I had the CAULIFLOWER WITH TAHINI AND CASHEW, no poor substitute for the classic cheesey cauliflower which sadly left my menu after going dairy-free, but a rich, satisfying dish which would work as a main course on its own. It
adds a nice variety for people who are tired of the usual monotonous choice of salad,
salad or salad that most of us are faced with in restaurants with less imagination.
To the above I added TOFU & RICE NOODLES, a good accompaniment to the Indian spiced lentils, and varying the protein types in the meal. And believe it or not I also had FRESH SALAD - good flavour, not like the common wilted lettuce and tomato swimming in vinaigrette with an occasional olive!
KRISTINA’S RAW CHOCOLATE MOUSSE CAKE
I’ve never been much of a chocolate eater, especially not dark chocolate, and had I not been doing this food review I would not have sampled Kris’s chocolate mousse slice. Being 100% gluten-free and dairy-free I notice that there’s very little suitable chocolatey stuff around that’s worth eating and I wonder how the GF-vegan chocolate enthusiasts get on. However when I took my first spoonful of this very attractive-looking slice, I was quite surprised; perhaps I’d been expecting the rough, over-sugariness of most things chocolate, the oily texture of substituted soy and the hard blandness of gluten-free pie crusts. This is different! It’s so smooth and silky, with contrasting flavours passing by in each mouthful. It was a most unusual combination of ingredients that worked like magic, and nutritious as well. For any of you chocoholics out there, whether gluten-free, vegan or with no dietary specializations, this is a slice to investigate!
BYRON CAKE’S ORANGE POPPYSEED ALMOND CAKE
So you’re a gluten-free vegan and you’d like a “conventional” delicious cake with no disappointments? At a good size for the price, this cake is just right: not too sweet, not too moist or dry, with a nice, light, springy texture. There are little bursts of intense orange from the peel and the tiny crunch of poppy seed. A delightful dessert!
PUMPKIN GINGER CAKE
Calling all sweet-tooths! Although we’re on a health journey here, if you just have to have the sweet icing experience on your moist, spongy cake, this one is a winner. The ginger lifts it into the extraordinary and there’s no pumpkin taste. Now how did she do that? (And how much is that photographer in the window?)
