Australia has a special place in my heart. I lived in the busting hubbub of Sydney for 5 months while studying abroad and instantly fell in love with the plethora of beaches, diverse neighborhoods, easy-to-achieve work/life/balance and healthy food joints. Where there's one plant-based restaurant, there's hundreds more. It was in the land of kangaroos that I attended my first real Aussie BBQ, tasted the highly debated Vegemite spread and ate too many Tim Tams to count. Here are the top 10 foods (and drank) that I loved while studying abroad.
1. Açaí bowls. I cannot deny that these were one of the reasons I settled on Sydney as the place to be for my study abroad experience. My ties run deep with the millennial meal: my go-to order at Caribou Coffee growing up was the açaí (pronounced ah-sigh-ee) berry smoothie, I adventured around Boston on an açaí bowl crawl for my college newspaper and today, I drive a nautical-themed smoothie bowl food truck. My favorite bowl I tried? The Rio bowl—double organic açaí berry, banana, coconut water topped with Irrewara nut granola, banana, strawberries, goji berries, blueberries, organic hemp seeds and homemade natural PB drizzle—from Bare Naked Bowls in Manly, NSW. It’s even better enjoyed as takeaway on the beach.
2. Spice Alley. This place is the Diagon Alley of Asian delicacies and conveniently located directly behind the BU Study abroad building in Chippendale. Located on Kensington Street, individual stands offer an array of cuisines—Singaporean, Thai, Chinese, Japanese, Malaysian, Cantonese, Indonesian, and Vietnamese. After class, I’d pick up 2 BBQ pork bao buns from Hong Kong Diner and one prawn crunch sushi roll from the Japanese stall (which doesn’t exist anymore, so if you’re craving Japanese head to nearby KYO-TO).
3. Turkish gözleme. This is one of the first things I ate in the land down under. An orientation scavenger hunt landed us in the middle of The Rocks Market, a tourist hotspot in Sydney’s historic district. The crisp Turkish flatbreads are stuffed with a protein, greens and feta. I ordered chicken and spinach and wow was it divine.
5. Cookie monster donut from Nútie Dessert Bar at the Sydney Royal Easter Show. The cuteness factor alone added this guy to the list. On another occasion, my friend and I picked up some treats at Nútie Donuts in Balmain.
6. Fluffy coconut and cacao nib pancakes from The Grounds of Alexandria. This garden eatery & extravaganza features chickens, two charming goats—Selena Goatmez and Lady Baba—and, at one time, the plump and pink icon known as Kevin Bacon! Like most places in Australia, The Grounds offers a slew of vegan and gluten-free options in each of its three main eateries and coffee shop. Want a quick treat? Snatch a Nutella donut from the laneway cart adjacent to The Café.
4. Pavlova. It’s light, fluffy and like eating a cloud. I tried the fruit and whipped cream-covered meringue while visiting a friend and this one was made dairy-free especially for me.
7. Dark chocolate and strawberry sorbet from Anita’s. The ice cream boutique, started by a mother and her son in a small Mediterranean town, found international success with locations in Australia, Israel and New York. Some unique flavors include mango pineapple and passion fruit (vegan), popcorn with honey and caramel, mascarpone chocolate waffle and salted bagel.
8. Strawberry & mint-choco chip gelato from Gelato Blue in Newtown is a close-second favorite (and everything is 100% vegan!)
9. Exotic Fruit Sorbets from the Daintree Ice Cream Company. While in Port Douglas, my family booked a private tour through Daintree Wonder Tours with our fabulous and extremely knowledgeable guide, Dean Nutly. On the ice cream pit stop portion of the full-day adventure, we enjoyed trying exotic fruits we’d never heard of! My non-dairy trio consisted of soursop, Davidson plum and mango. Flavors switch daily so every combo is a surprise. Other possibilities include sapodilla, star fruit, lychee, macadamia and durian.
10. Tyrell’s 2012 Semillon. My favorite class to-date was The Australian Wine Industry, taught by two women who decided to leave their teaching jobs and open a winery together. Now, they teach about wine to college students! What a sweet deal. Part of the class was an overnight field trip to the Hunter Valley, a major wine region in NSW. We sipped on Shiraz, Chardonnay and Semillon at the family-owned Tyrell’s, established in 1858. It was indeed the most lavish field trip I ever took.
Favorite Woolie's finds:
1. Tim Tams – Double Coat and Dark Mint. It’s an Australian Oreo but better. There’s something special about the chocolatey-layered goodness of the double coat. Freeze a dark mint and it tastes like straight-up ice cream.
2. Uncle Toby’s Cheerios. My college days were filled with PB and cheerios. Naturally, I had to try the Aussie variety. This kind is made of four different grains: corn, wheat, oats and rice. While I remain loyal to the OG Cheerio brand, I enjoyed the extra crunch of these little O’s.
3. Anzac biscuits. These oatmeal, coconut and golden syrup cookies’ namesake hails from the soldiers who made up the Australia and New Zealand Army Corps during World War I. Now, they’re an Aussie classic and commonly enjoyed on ANZAC Day, the nation’s annual day of remembrance observed every April 25.
4. Shapes Originals Chicken Crimpy flavor. I chowed down on these salty Ritz-like crackers on a picnic with a friend in Adelaide. Chicken salt is a thing in Australia. Made of chicken stock, garlic powder, paprika, pepper, onion powder, and celery, it’s usually sprinkled onto hot chips aka “french fries.”
-MJ