Mirkwood & Shire Cafe, Arlington WA

Mirkwood & Shire Cafe is kind of out of the way for us, but when we go camping in the North Cascades it is right on the way so we can stop for dinner on the way. We tried a chicken philly steak sandwich - mock chicken pieces, grilled onion and peppers, 1,000 island sauce on a hoagie roll served with french fries. This was alright. Nothing really special, but good for a smaller town in Washington. It is not like the Georgetown Liquor Company or anything, but it is good.


We also had a small taco salad - romaine lettuce, tomato, black beans, soy taco meat, sour cream, salsa, red wine vinaigrette, and tortilla chips. The small is a lot of food and it is super delicious. This is probably one of my favorite salads I have had. It is so good that if we are in the area I will stop by.

Overall - If you are in the area and need some food it is a good choice. Everything is vegetarian and almost everything can be made vegan. It is a little pricey, the food takes forever, but it is overall pretty tasty.

Moonlight Cafe, Seattle WA

Moonlight Cafe is one of my favorite restaurants in Seattle. The have an entire vegan menu full of mock meats and delicious foods. This visit we tried Kung-Pao beef. I love the texture of the mock meats they use. I don't know how they make them so tasty, but it is by far my favorite. The veggies are cooked well and the sauces have nice flavors.


We also had the chicken pho which is one of my favorites in Seattle. The broth is so tasty and full of flavor, the veggies are crisp, the mock chicken delicious. It is always a ton of soup, but it is so tasty I cannot help but eat it all. So good.

Overall - I love the Moonlight Cafe. Their mock meats are some of the best I have ever had and the pho is one of the best in Seattle. Definitely stop by and have some food if you have the time.

Zen Yai Noodles, Bellevue WA

We had a coupon for Zen Yai Noodles in Bellevue so we decided to go check it out. They do not have a large vegetarian menu, but there are a few options. We tried the Royal Tofu Noodles - steamed small rice noodles, vegetables, fresh tofu and fried tofu topped with peanut sauce. This was better than I had expected. The peanut sauce was not the best I have ever had, but ti was good. The veggies crisp and I like that they have fresh and fried tofu in all of the dishes instead of just fried tofu.


We also tried the veggie udon - vegetables, fresh tofu, fried tofu and udon noodles in a clear broth. I've never had an udon noodle soup before, and I rarely have udon noodles themselves, so I wanted to try something different.


We were sharing so they gave us some small bowls. This was really light. The broth was not really flavorful, but had a really light flavor. The veggies were crisp still and the noodles tasty. It felt really healthy - healthier than most noodle dishes we get.

Overall - Zen Yai seems to try and make healthier Asian food than you normally get while eating out. It was tasty, but had light flavors.

Potato Champions & Whiffies Fried Pies, Portland OR

Looking for some late night eats we stopped by the food carts on SE Hawthorne. Potato Champions was an obvious choice as I love french fries and they have so many options! You can choose from lots of different sauces to dip your fries in or get the vegan poutine like we did. This was just alright - I wanted to like it more. The gravy was not my favorite, and the cheese was like pieces of tofu but it just wasn't the best. The fries themselves though were delicious.

Whiffies Fried Pies intrigued me so we had to try one of them as well.


We tried one of the veggie pies which was really tasty. Some tofu and veggies fried in a very flaky shell - it was super tasty. They also had a large selection of dessert pies with fruit filling that we will have to try next time we visit.

Overall - The food carts at SE Hawthorne were great. There are lots of delicious unhealthy fried food options!

The Bye and Bye, Portland OR

The Bye and Bye is one of my favorite places to eat in Portland. Their menu has sandwiches and different  bowls and they have fancy drinks that are delicious. It is quite popular every time we have gone, but we always manage to find a place to sit and enjoy our food and drinks. My favorite bowl is the BBQ Brussel bowl. Tofu in a slightly spicy BBQ sauce over brown rice which is delicious. The brussel sprouts were cooked and seasoned with lots of pepper and are delicious! But then again brussel sprouts are one of my favorite foods.


We also tried the eastern bowl - tofu and broccoli covered in nutritional yeast and tahini sauce served over brown rice. This is also incredibly tasty, Really if I could get this tofu and the brussel sprouts I think I would have the perfect meal. It is nice to have healthy bar food instead of all the greasy food that you usually get at bars.

Overall - I really like the Bye and Bye and stop by pretty much every time we visit Portland. The food is tasty and seemingly healthy, or at least healthier than normal bar foods, and the drinks are tasty.

Petunia's Pies & Pastries, Portland OR

On a weekend trip to Portland we started off our morning by hitting up the Farmers market to see what treats we could find. Petunia's Pies & Pastries caught my eye for some delicious looking treats.


We tried the chocolate peanut butter banana cupcake which was tasty. The frosting wasn't way too sweet like it can sometimes be for me. We also tried a peanut butter bar which was like a peanut butter rice crispy treat with chocolate on top. Delicious! Who needs marshmallows when you can have peanut butter?

Overall - They are apparently opening a storefront early next year and I will be excited to try out some more of their baked goods. If you are at the farmers market why not stop and pick up a treat?

Pow Wow, Berlin Germany

We were out and about exploring Kreuzberg one day and needed some dinner. We searched on the map and found a pizza place that was supposed to have vegan pizza, but it was not to be had there. We were stuck so we looked at the place across the street, Pow Wow, to see if they had anything good. They had a list of veggie burgers to choose from that could be vegan so we checked it out. I mean normally places might have one if it is not a veggie restaurant so we were excited. First we tried the tofu-peanut burger (tofu, peanut sauce, soy sauce, sesame seeds with tomato, pickles and onions) with french fries. This was Raymond's favorite, but I just thought the other burger we got was better. The soy with the peanut sauce was a little too...it just wasn't my favorite combination, and the peanut sauce wasn't my favorite I have had ever, but it wasn't bad. If this was all we had gotten I would have been happy with it.


The other burger we tried was the Soja Burger ("soy meat", grilled eggplant, zucchini, soy sauce with tomato, onion and pickles) served with home fries. I loved this one. The soy meat is like seitan and the grilled veggies were just delicious. The home fries were also way better than the french fries and we both wished we would have gotten them with both burgers (oh well now we know next time). Everything on this burger went together perfectly and the flavors were great.

Overall - We will definitely be going back to Pow Wow to get burgers again. If you go get the home fries as they are way better than the french fries.