My mate in…

In this episode, I catch up with my mate in Brisbane, Stephen. Stephen shares one of his favourite spots for vegan food: The Green Edge, a vegan grocery store, deli and cafe in Windsor.

Stephen talks about some of the delicious plant-based comfort food on offer, including his go-to spaghetti and meatballs and their wood-fired pizzas. The Green Edge is believed to be Australia's oldest vegan grocery store, and there's plenty to explore beyond the cafe menu.

They also have a vegan deli counter, an ice cream cone counter with more than 20 flavours, and some great mint hot chocolates. Sounds like a pretty good reason to visit!

Stephen also tells us about VEKKA, the vegan take on Brisbane's famous EKKA (Royal Queensland Show), where you can find vegan versions of classic show food like Dagwood dogs and show bags.

This is a special episode for My Mate In… as it's the first one recorded on location! Stephen and I are Laravel community friends who first met at Laravel Live Japan in May. In November, we were both in Brisbane to present at Laracon AU, so we took the opportunity to catch up in the beautiful gardens at Gardens Point.

The outdoor recording brings a little more of Brisbane into the episode. There are birds, passing lawnmowers, and even a water dragon spotted during our chat. It's a reminder that sometimes the best conversations (and unexpected wildlife encounters!) happen when you get out and about.

If you're looking for more Brisbane food recommendations, check out my earlier episode with my other mate in Brisbane, Jess, who shared her favourite local spots: 12. Brisbane x Big Roddy's Rippin Rib Shack, Cobbler & The Woods Neighbourhood Bar

What is My mate in…?

Good vibes only conversations with people from all over about their ‘go to’ places for a drink or food.

The focus isn’t on what is fanciest or most impressive. It’s on what people genuinely enjoy and so go back for more.

Have a listen and try out the places if you can.

Jaz will also create bonus episodes to share positive food and drink experiences as she adventures through life. Don’t expect a formal review. Just descriptions of cool places with yummy food and drinks.

Jaz (00:11):
Hey there and welcome to this episode of My Mate In... I'm Jaz. Today I am in Gardens Point in Brisbane with my mate, Stephen. Stephen, how you doing?

Stephen (00:22):
Yeah good. Doing well. How are you?

Jaz (00:24):
I'm really well. I love that we can be out and about and have the birds and the ride on lawnmower. And all the beautiful things of this botanic gardens while we get to have a chat.

Stephen (00:37):
Yeah, it's a great spot here. I love it.

Jaz (00:38):
What's a place that you really enjoy having food or having a drink?

Stephen (00:43):
I'm vegan, so there's limited options, unfortunately. But in Brisbane, there's a really great place called The Green Edge, which is, um, the vegan grocery store and also a cafe. And they have lots of good food options and a, a pizza oven, lots of pizzas, and yeah, just lots of good food. It's quite good.

Jaz (00:57):
Do you have a go-to order when you go there?

Stephen (01:01):
At the moment, the spaghetti meatballs is really good. Under the chair.

Jaz (01:06):
There's a lizard. Bearded dragon, is that what they're -

Stephen (01:08):
Um - Water dragon.

Jaz (01:10):
Under the, um, bench as we walk past, a water dragon. Just hanging out, soaking up the sun.

Stephen (01:14):
Yep, and there's a bin chicken.

Jaz (01:16):
Bin chicken.

Stephen (01:17):
Also known as an Ibus, but we call them bin chickens. They're hilarious. When I took the kids to the South Bank over the river. Um, when we first moved up here. We're sitting and eating donuts and this beak came over the shoulder of my youngest son and tried to seal his donut.

Jaz (01:29):
And they're, they're these creepy long beards right? - um, sorry, creepy long beaks.

Stephen (01:34):
Big beaks. Yeah. Big long beak. Yeah. Perfect for reaching over the shoulder and stealing food.

Jaz (01:38):
It is perfectly shaped for that.

Stephen (01:40):
Yes. And reaching into bins. .

Stephen (01:42):
Yep.

Jaz (01:43):
Okay. So spaghetti meatballs.

Stephen (01:45):
Yep.

Jaz (01:45):
But it's vegan.

Stephen (01:47):
Yeah.

Jaz (01:47):
So, um, talk us through it. What's it like?

Stephen (01:49):
Um, so your fake meat in the meatball.

Jaz (01:51):
Yep.

Jaz (01:52):
Um, nice big meatballs and then a tomato sauce and then on a pasta. Um, and then, you know, fake cheese cheese. I don't know what it's made out of, but it's quite good. Yeah, it's just a nice comfort food.

Jaz (02:02):
How did you find this place?

Stephen (02:03):
Oh, because we moved up to Brisbane about 10 years ago and then went vegan. And then it's a case of what can we eat? Where is there good food? And The Green Edge has been around for about 20 something years now, I think.

Jaz (02:13):
Oh, wow.

Stephen (02:14):
So it was kind of, we live in Brisbane, that's one of the main vegan places. So we tried it and kept going back.

Jaz (02:21):
I would think that for, you know, 20 years in a city like Brisbane, almost any Australian city to have been vegan that long, that's, that's pretty impressive actually.

Stephen (02:31):
Yeah, I think they say that they're Australia's oldest vegan grocery store. So they started off, I think, just as a grocery store and then added cafe in there as well and recently had new owners who, um, have added in the pizza oven and made it a lot more expansive. They have a lot more options than they used to, so it' quite good. It seems like it's doing really well.

Jaz (02:46):
That's awesome.

Stephen (02:47):
When we have the EKKA, which is the Brisbane show, they run VEKKA, which is their vegan version. They have a bunch of different show foods, all vegan varieties of them, like dagwood dogs and things.

Jaz (02:56):
Oh, beautiful.

Stephen (02:56):
And show bags and so they make a big thing of it. It's really good.

Jaz (03:00):
I like that because there's all this conditioning. If you grow up eating meat, there's certain things like sport events or festivals. There's conditioning we have with a certain kind of food.

Stephen (03:09):
Yeah.

Jaz (03:09):
Like mini pies or sausage rolls, hot dogs. So to have vegan versions of that, but still have that sentimental, I don't know, conditioning -

Stephen (03:19):
Yeah.

Jaz (03:19):
That's pretty cool.

Stephen (03:20):
Yeah, it's quite good taking the kids to these things so they can experience some of those foods. I don't know how accurate they are compared to the original flavors, but, you know, we're used to vegan flavors, so, you know, it works for us.

Jaz (03:31):
YEah. And whereabouts is it in Brissy?

Stephen (03:33):
Um, it's about 10 minutes north of the city.

Jaz (03:36):
Yeah?

Stephen (03:37):
Um, about 20 minutes from my place. So pretty easy to get to.

Jaz (03:40):
If you were staying in the city, what would be the best way to get there?

Stephen (03:43):
Uh, if you're staying in the city, there's a train station nearby, so you get to the train up to Windsor.

Jaz (03:48):
Mm-hmm.

Stephen (03:48):
Um, and then just cross over the road to that, to get to it.

Jaz (03:51):
Yeah, cool.

Stephen (03:52):
If you're driving, go up the ICB, then up onto Lutwyche Road, and then it's on there on the right.

Jaz (03:57):
And is there anything else on the menu or in the grocery where you're like, you should try this while you're there?

Stephen (04:02):
The pizzas are really good.

Jaz (04:03):
Yeah.

Stephen (04:03):
Pizzas are very good. And they often have, um, specials of different types. So yeah, pizza.

Jaz (04:07):
Cool. Thanks so much, Stephen. It's always nice to have the tips from folks who know. Sometimes you travel to a city and you're in the CBD and you're looking around or, you know, what are those kind of the obvious places?

Stephen (04:19):
Yeah.

Jaz (04:19):
But to have locals to talk about actually, you know, it's not far, get on the train, go check this out. And maybe folks aren't necessarily thinking pizza when they think vegan or spaghetti bolognese, you know, like, oh spaghetti and past, uh, meatballs and, and spaghetti. So, uh, that's really cool. I appreciate your time.

Stephen (04:36):
No worries. Thanks.