Zoe Moffatt
The edgy veg competition has come to a close with the Corner Boutique Coffee Bar, Sizzler Restobar and Flying Pigeon Dumpling Bar announced as the award winners.
The month-long edgy veg trail returned to the Macedon Ranges for its second year to encourage residents to eat more vegetables and try new local dishes.
Gisborne’s Corner Boutique Coffee Bar won the award for the best dish for a cafe, with its eggplant, onions, tomatoes, chillies and chickpeas baked dish called magmour.
Cafe owner Salwa El Amin said she use to cook magmour with her grandma, and was shocked when she found out she won the award.
“I was shocked but humbled at the same time,” Ms El Amin said.
“[Magmour is] something my grandma used to make in the summer … There’s an abundance of eggplant in the villages, it’s delicious, I love eggplant.”
Ms El Amin said her regular customers have enjoyed the dish and offered a lot of support during the competition.
“[Our] customers would say ‘we haven’t tried [magmour], but we’re going to buy it because everything you make is delicious’,” she said.
Woodend’s Sizzler Restobar tied with the Flying Pigeon Dumpling Bar in Gisborne for the best dish at a restaurant.
Restobar owner Sam Deol said it was his first time in the competition, and he decided to enter saag methi mushroom, featuring fresh mushrooms and spinach puree fragrant with fenugreek leaves.
“We’ve been doing this dish for six years, it’s on the main menu [and]… is 100 per cent plant based for vegans and vegetarians,” Mr Deol said.
“We actually had no idea about the veg awards [before we entered], so I was surprised [the dish won].”
Mr Deol said a lot of his customers who usually eat meat tried the dish and enjoyed it.
“There’s a lot of new customers trying this dish… [who] are the meat eater customers,” he said. “They don’t [normally] even look at the menu [or] go that far into the veggie section.“
Flying Pigeon owners Stephen Rocard and Liyi Zhou won the award for their fried eggplant, bean sprouts, coriander, sichuan pepper and black bean dish called Yuxiang Eggplant.
Liyi Zhou said the inspiration for the dish came from when they were both living and travelling around China.
“The reason we put this dish on the menu is because… Australian people love their sweet and sours,” Ms Zhou said.
“This [dish] is a different type of sweet and sour and we wanted to introduce authentic Chinese dishes to our clients.”
“We work very hard trying to make very true vegan dishes and… we are very honoured… [to be] recognised.”
Social Foundry in Kyneton took out the award for the most veg friendly eatery in the competition.
