Vegan eat out at Balmain

I was asked to run cooking classes at Tramsheds in Sydney city so I took my assistant to check out the venue. Since we had to drop a lot of stuff at my assistant’s home in Crows Nest, I decided to go through Balmain to check out their vegan-friendly eateries.

We planned to eat out in Balmain after checking the venue and have a meeting if we should run classes at Tramsheds and what sort of classes to run.

First stop- Nutie’s Donuts at Balmain

We both got so excited to see the varieties of sweets there… and started to wonder which to buy. There was one regular customer who lives nearby when we were there, but it still took him 5 minutes to make a choice … Too many delicious options!

I was so determined to have donuts but I saw cakes – especially one cheesecake was looking at me…

We both don’t like “too sweet” foods so we knew we did not want to go for donuts with heavy icing but we asked which one is less sweet compared to the others – then the very friendly staff told us it would be a sour fruit flavour one like raspberry.

So, we decided to share one raspberry chocolate donut and one slice of passionfruit cheesecake (and some extra take away raspberry donuts)

Passionfruit Cheesecake and Raspberry Chocolate Donut

 
I saw a review saying that coffee there is amazing even though it is just a donuts shop. So, I allowed myself to have a naughty day – having sugar + coffee which we should have now and then, right? And I am super happy that we ordered soy flat white…. Perfect coffee.

Soy Flat White

I don’t drink coffee that often anymore so when I have it, I really want to have a good one so I was super happy.

We wish we could eat more but we knew that we will have dinner right after this so we both behaved.

We both were too excited about the sweets and coffee that we weren’t able to have a conversation about the cooking class…

Second stop – Gigi’s Pizzeria at Balmain

Gigi in New town is a well-known vegan pizzeria among vegans and I totally adore the pizzeria but it can be confusing with the one I went to, Gigi’s Pizzeria in Balmain. Gigi in Balmain has the same name but has nothing to do with the Gigi New Town (just in case, you care…)

Gigi in Balmain is an Italian restaurant that serves meat and fish but has a good vegan menu. Unlike the totally vegan Gigi in New Town

For entrée

We ordered

Calamari sale e peppe- salt &pepper calamari served with wild rocket & homemade aioli

I loved it soo much! The Calamari is really like real calamari and also the homemade egg free aioli was absolutely gorgeous!!!

For main

We were struggling to choose over

1. Ravioli alla barbabietola
2. Campagnola

Campagnola- parpadelle, mixed mushrooms, friarelli, roasted tomatoes in a pinot giorgio, olive oil sauce topped with grana padano & basil

We both love mushrooms and according to my research, many people are recommending mushroom pasta

But cute pink beetroot ravioli can be so perfect for my Instagram! In the end, after thinking so hard… we decided to go for taste rather than look. And yes, the pasta was absolutely gorgeous. I can’t decide which is my most favorite dish this pasta or calamari…

For pizza

We have no doubt. We both believe that Margherita is always the best pizza choice – simple is the best

Margherita- mozzarella, grated parmesan, cherry tomatoes, basil puree & evoo

It wasn’t wood-fired oven pizza, but still had a good crust

There are some vegan dessert choices in Gigi…but again we were too full so we had to skip

Finally, we chatted about the cooking class at Gigi (although the first one hour at Gigi’s had no cooking class discussion). And we were even able to create two menus for the cooking class in Tramsheds.

We will run some cooking classes there from next year. So, stay tuned!

So…. Yes, eating out in Balmain was lots of fun!

Nutie Donuts
13 Beattie Street Balmain

Gigi’s pizzeria restaurant
239 Darling Street Balmain