Last night - after seeing local pub rock band, Dr Bombay - Renata, Ange, Pete, Amanda and I had dinner at Freestyle Tout. Renata had suggested dinner here, and as their menu had quite a lot of new vegan options added somewhat recently, we all made our way to the Emporium complex to Freestyle.

Years ago, when Freestyle was first in Rosalie, I used to frequent the dessert restaurant - it was the only vegan ice cream/dessert at a restaurant in the late 1990s. I would go to Freestyle for my birthday, and only be able to eat a platter of dips and the berry deluxe sundae. They have quite an extensive savoury menu now - including a lot of vegan, vegetarian, raw etc options.

Ange and Peter started with the cheese platter: almond and cashew nut cheeses with crackers and quince paste AU$9:

With the help of the vegan alcohol app Barnivore, Amanda found out that one of the wines is vegan - the Ranchy Red: d'Arenberg The Love Grass Shiraz from the McLaren Vale in South Australia. AU$8.50 per glass.

Renata ordered the vegan pizza - topped with vegan almond cheese AU$16.50:

Ange, Amanda and I all ordered the Vegan Wild Mushroom Paper Parcel served wrapped IN PAPER with brown rice, pine nuts and pumpkin seeds and a salad AU$14.50:

We all were hoping for filo pastry, so were a bit disappointed about the paper, though I did let the owner, Martin know about Antonio's fillo pastry for future reference. Here's what the inside was filled with:

All good vegans know that you have to leave room for dessert, which we did. Ange had a soy latte:

Renata ordered the sugar and nut-free Raw Chocolate Hazelnut Tart with chocolate coconut sauce, and cookies & cream coconut ice cream AU$13.90:

Amanda had the gluten and sugar-free Raw Lemon Cheesecake Tart served with vanilla coconut ice cream AU$13.90:

And I had the wonderfully decadent gluten free Chocolate and Coconut Cheesecake with cookie dough ice cream - all the ice cream was CocoLuscious - AU$13.90:

Great meals and service. Make sure you check out the vegan options at Freestyle next time you're in the Fortitude Valley area. Here's Martin and I: