Seattle: Bamboo Garden, The Highline, Plum Bistro.

This is the last in my three part series of Seattle posts, read parts one and two here and here!

We decided to eat at Bamboo Garden because I got crazy-person hungry whilst exploring the EMP Museum and it was the nearest restaurant. We hadn't planned on spending a tonne of time there but we got really into the Nirvana exhibit and stuck around for hours.

My favourite parts of the exhibition were the interactive listening posts dotted around showcasing bands that were also around the Seattle scene at the time. I mean how could anyone dislike a museum where you can just sit on the floor and listen to Fugazi and The Gits?! It was rad. It was also cool to see kids engaging with museum exhibits, I often see school groups going around museums and they just look bored, bored, bored. I remember those days and I know that I would have loved to visit somewhere like this.

Anyway, the food! I am not a fun person to hang out with when I'm hungry, I get a liiiiitle grumpy and it's best to feed me asap! Due to the mega hunger and forgetting how big American portions can be we totally over-ordered.

We got the Crispy Fried Spring Rolls...

...and the Fried Taro Cake Patties to start. We both enjoyed the spring rolls but were underwhelmed by the taro cakes. I thought they'd be like the the pan fried ones I'd tried previously in NYC but these were deep fried and I didn't enjoy them anywhere near as much. Next time I see taro cakes on the menu I'll ask because I love the pan fried kind.

I chose much better when it came to the main course and I picked the Sautéed Almond and Cashew Nut Chicken which came with a side of steamed rice and loads of delicious crisp veggies

Nick went for the Chicken and Mixed Vegetables which comes on a sizzling plate atop a bed of Japanese noodles.

This sizzling plate was super hot and almost as delicious as my plate of nutty chicken veggies. I love the mock meat heavy menus at Chinese and Vietnamese places and we were also lucky enough to check out Moonlight Cafe on our trip. I'd say that Moonlight was probably our favourite of the two places but we forgot to take any pictures because we went with a group and were too busy talking!

The next day we visited Twice Sold Tales in Capitol Hill, I love to browse in bookstores whilst travelling and this was the best one ever, okay, second best, Powell's is the best. Anyway this one's second best because it's full of kitties! Look!

It was brilliant!!

Before our trip I was super excited about checking out The Highline, I love vegan bars and we'd heard great things about the place. Sadly neither the food nor the service were great. Our food was left on the bar for 20 minutes before it was brought around to us, it was then popped down on the table with a sort-of apology and we were told we could exchange it if it was cold. Obviously it was stone cold and after I spent literally 10 whole minutes trying to find a member of staff to tell that we wanted a new order they seemed super shocked by our request.

Unfortunately the new piping hot versions of our orders weren't much better, soggy fries are never a-ok in my book and sadly we didn't get the chance to re-visit The Highline to give them a second chance. We did enjoy the punk rock atmosphere of this all vegan bar though and our choice of seats on the balcony area overlooking the street was a good 'un. I also spoke to some Seattleites and got the lowdown on what to order for you, apparently the sandwiches are where it's at especially the vegan tuna melt and when I'm next in Seattle I'll be trying it for sure.

*Update! You can check out the food currently being served at The Highline right here*

Later on in my trip Randi and I together with our lovely hostess Kirsten and Helen from Vegtastic scored a weekend night table at Plum Bistro.

My love of carbs drew me straight towards the Oyster Mushroom Fettuccini with kale, seitan, parsley & garlic. This was a truly delightful plate of food and you can just imagine how happy I was when it arrived with a chunk of bread on the side! I've since re-created this simple dish at home and whilst it wasn't quite as good I think I made a pretty decent go of it.

Next to carbs my other favourite food group is probably chocolate so when I spotted the warm brownie with ice cream and chocolate sauce on the dessert menu I couldn't resist.

The version on the menu actually comes with vanilla ice cream but I'm an all or nothin' kinda girl and they were happy to switch it for chocolate for me. This was a lovely little sweet treat to end the meal and I would certainly visit Plum Bistro again as there are at least five other things on the menu I'd like to try.

In the next west coast travel instalment I'll be posting about Olympia and our all too brief stay at the beach so stay tuned!