#anxiety eats

[secretcoderkid]

Can’t breathe

That moment when you can’t breathe cause you know you messed something up and the anxiety is eating a hole through you. You want to bleed and your gag on your own conscience and guilt. You swallow your tongue trying to find the words. Everything crashes.

[apoeticmindset]

Anxiety Eats: Green Gourmet

I’m currently staying in Newtown, Sydney, which is basically the city’s equivalent of Shoreditch in East London. The main street, King Street, is littered with too-cool-for-me clothing and other boutique shops, whose prices are as high as local hipster beards are artfully long. 

The great thing about this area is that it appears to be littered with vegan and vegetarian friendly eateries. Although no longer vegan, I always try local vegan cafes, restaurants, hole-in-the-walls and food trucks to see what people can do with such dietary restrictions. Obviously for anyone who has ever been vegan we know there’s plenty you can cook, but that aside, it’s great to see more options opening up.

Green Gourmet came at the recommendation of vegan reviewers across different sites I checked. Why different sites? One of the aspects of my anxiety is the need to check and cross-check again, just to make sure my facts are all right. 

It was very close to my disturbingly-sticky hostel, so I took a short wall over and hovered outside, puffing away furiously on my e-cig.

I have a lot of little habits before I go in anywhere and vaping is one of them. If you’re the type of anxious that needs to hide before going in somewhere, it is close to a street corner that you can hide round and catch your breath. 

As no-one went in before me to be able to scout out how it worked, I bit the bullet and headed in. 

At Green Gourmet you can either have a buffet and pay by the weight, or you can sit down and choose from the very extensive menu. Luckily, one of the servers was near the front and I asked him where I order. 

I sat facing the counter, and he bought over a menu. There are a lot of choices, so if you’re anxious about having too much choice they do have a menu you can download so you can check beforehand. 

If you’re worried about pronunciation, you can order by number, and there are pictures of each dish on each page of the menu with the number of the dish next to it. 

It did take a little while for the server to come back, but mostly because there was a large party taking up some time. He asked if I wanted rice, which I hadn’t thought about. I asked what he recommended, and he said that when he bought out my food I could see if I wanted rice. 

I ordered mock duck and BBQ “pork” buns with a coconut and mint drink.

The “duck” came first, with a healthy helping of seasonal greens on the side. I have to say that I’ve never had duck or pork buns, so I’m just going by deliciousness. 

The duck was plentiful, and each strip had a deliciously crispy “skin” that gave way to juicy, fatty-tasting mock duck that I can only describe as voluptuous. I definitely didn’t need the rice, it was so filling. 

The “pork” buns arrived shortly after I began eating. I realised that I have no idea what the proper way to eat pork buns is, so after furious Googling and not finding much, I just picked them up. 

The outside was soft and springy in texture, with a slightly sweet filling that was delicious, but slightly too sweet for my tastes. With soy sauce, it worked really well.

The drink was lovely and cooling, the mint working unexpectedly well with the coconut. 

Once I had finished it did take me a while to get the attention of the server, even with trying to meet him in the eye and doing the YOU GUYS I’M LEAVING method of pushing my plates away from me, and when that failed, putting my wallet on the table. 

I eventually got the attention of the server and paid with cash. 

Food: 9/10

Service: 7/10, bit hard to get their attention, even when it’s not super busy

Anxiety notes:

* has a downloadable menu so you can go over your options online

* for those who are gluten intolerant or coeliac, the menu does list low gluten and gluten free options

* near to a street corner so you can hide and gather yourself

* I went on a Saturday and it wasn’t that busy

* you can either sit down and they’ll bring you a menu, or you can take a plate and do the buffet by weight. I didn’t do this but I believe you take your plate to the counter and they weigh it and then you pay?

* it can be hard to get the attention of the server

* my food came with chopsticks and a spoon, so there are Western cutlery choices if you can’t eat with chopsticks

* I ate the “pork” buns using my hands, if this isn’t right pls let me know

* you can tip here

* I paid by cash but they do take card. I prefer paying by cash so I can put down the cash and leave without having to wait for my card to be returned

* there doesn’t seem to be a dress code of any description

If you have any other questions, please let me know!