Vegan Mofo Day #16: Conscious 108

For Vegan Mofo post number 16, is a first of several restaurant reviews-- each one peppered in adventure and mayhem. According to Google Maps, taking a walk from Protea to all vegan, HappyCow recommended Conscious 108 was supposed to be an hour and a half. I left hotel around noon. When I sat at the restaurant, rounded wall clock read 3:15PM. Yes. It took over three hours to get there. In between walking up and down hills, taking sun reflecting photographs, smelling fresh scattered lavender perfuming pavements, I believe it was well worth the journey.

The black and white menu, chic and adorable, reminded me a little bit of Chloe.

The dessert menu is always the most difficult. From cakes to ice cream to tiramisu, I admit wanting to try them all out.

Raspberry cordial (very, very sweet) paired with Schweppe's lemonade to temper down sugary syrup flavor.

The Conscious "Cheese Beef" Burger is a massive soy wheat patty topped with their house made cheese sauce, juicy tomatoes, grated carrot, caramelized onions, and pickled cucumbers on a plump whole wheat roll. This was definitely the bee's knees. Tasty and hearty, cooked to perfection, I thought it was one of the most amazing vegan burgers ever eaten. The cheese sauce is unique and takes some getting used to after being accustomed to Daiya and Field Roast Chao.

Thick cut, naked sweet potato fries-- delicious component that doubled as cheese sauce scoopers.

Oryx Sea Salt and Oryx Black Pepper, when ground out, let big crystallized flecks and sparks escape, coarsely pouring over food-- a tiny bit went a long, flavorful way and glorified eating experience.

Corinne Bailey Rae's "Put Your Records On" played, a song I had once badly sang in karaoke, soft guitar strumming to romantic lyrics chirping on about loving afro hairdos and summer tasting like cinnamon, I dug into this beautiful slice of sugar free, gluten free carrot cake.

To this day, I'm not sure how I felt about the cake. Without sugar, it certainly lacked for something. I couldn't even describe how enticingly dripped icing tasted. Maybe Rae's ginger tune was seducing me, but I did honestly enjoy cinnamon notes inside moist, fork tender cake and sprinkled sparsely on white plate. That's for sure. On the other hand, I definitely ate more walnuts than needed and can vaguely remember carrots. I recall the carrots in my burger more so than in this cake. Also, soy milk was a heavy flavor here. Still, I ate the whole slice and wondered if over sugared American lifestyle had tarnished my eagerness to try sugar free dessert.

Doodles of crumb coated plates, sweet guilty pleasures, and adult contemporary music track lists.

A selfie inside space where natural light came shining through. Simplistic aesthetic of the restaurant's interior design provided comfortable, relaxing atmosphere. Plus my funny, inquisitive waitress thought I was spying-- taking a gazillion pictures of food and layout in every single instance. Afterwards, I picked up groceries and traveled three hours back to the hotel, skipping along and taking more photographs.