Archive for March, 2006
V-Rating: VV Concrete is discreetly set on the busy junction of Harris St and Pyrmont Bridge Road. The design is modern and welcoming, with a warm charcoal exterior, open and light eating space, and a shaded outdoor area. The menu isn’t extensive, but the dishes are interesting. The lunch menu is divided into sandwiches, salads and mains. One dish in each section is vegetarian, as was one of the specials, although vegan options are limited. I tried the grilled haloumi salad with asparagus, rocket, green beans, avocado and macadamia nuts with a summer lemon and oil dressing - so did 80% of the other female customers. The flavours were fresh and well set off by the lemon, although there was a touch too much oil for my liking. One of the nicest parts of the experience was the friendly, attentive and speedy service. All up, Concrete is a lovely spot for a casual lunch or whiling away the hours. Reviewed 27 March 2006.
V Rating: VV On Mulgoa road in Penrith everything comes in mega sizes. There’s the mega piano shop, the mega Freedom store and the mega Toys ‘R’ Us. But amongst this field of oversized dreams, nothing compares to the megaopolis that is Panthers World.
Panthers World is one of 14 Penrith Panther rugby league clubs. It is not a building - it is a city. Panthers World houses multiple restaurants and bars, a theatre, shops and a dedicated gaming area. There are staff stationed all around as tour guides. Befriend them. You will need their help to get around. Panthers even has a currency, ‘Panther points’, which you can use to pay for meals. I wasn’t confident that Panthers would cater for vegetarians. Actually, I was sure they wouldn’t. However, Flavours Cafe and Bar proved me wrong. There was a separate vegetarian section to the menu with four or five options, and a vegetarian special advertised everyday on a mega-sized dedicated blackboard. While we’re not talking gourmet fare, my pasta with sun dried tomatoes, zucchini and feta was fine, albeit 15 sizes too big for my generally greedy tummy. Andy went with the veggie lasagne with salad and chips, which was also bigger than he could manage. Interestingly, the trays that you use to collect your food, and the serving plates, are all over-sized. This made me feel a bit like Alice in Wonderland. The only veggie downsides are that there are no real vegan main options, the kids menu is only for carnivores and you can’t escape the pervasive razzle dazzle of the pokies. Otherwise, it’s commendable that Flavours makes a real effort to cater for veggies. Reviewed 24 March 2006. We recently went to our first ever all vegetarian wedding. It was fabulous. The wedding took place at the Megalong Valley Heritage Farm in the Blue Mountains. The ceremony picked up on some Lao wedding traditions, like phouk kene, where the bride, groom and guests have white string tied to their wrists while the person tying the string gives them a blessing.
The traditional blessing goes something like ‘may you grow fat and have lots of children’. Realising that he was not allowed to wish either of these things on me, Andy went for the modern version ‘may we always be happy and healthy together.’ The vegetarian wedding was catered for by the bridal party and their guests. Everyone was sent a recipe or ingredient with the wedding invite which they were asked to bring along. The food was really tasty - certainly not the bland, mass-produced effort you get at some big functions. There were a lot of vegetarians at the wedding, but I think everyone enjoyed the food and liked the feeling that they were making a contribution to the special day. In possibly an Australian first, the wedding was also carbon neutral. Madeline Lyons from local company Climate Friendly calculated how much CO2 was release as a consequence of the wedding (mainly emissions from travelling, but also lighting and cooking for the reception). Climate Friendly then ‘neutralised’ the emissions by supporting a clean energy project to offset the carbon we used. For a less lame explanation of how this worked you might want to refer to their website. The reception was rounded off with some spirited bush dancing. I discovered that the patience of dancing partners at a wedding is infinite, even when you persist in turning the wrong way or stepping on their feet. Sorry! After the reception some of us retreated back to our tents for a good night’s sleep. Even the bride and groom camped out in a special tent under some Tibetan prayer flags - check out the photos on flickr. Congratulations Dan and Gus!
V-Rating: Super V As a vegetarian, being invited to yum cha is always something of a dread experience. It’s not quite as bad as being invited to the Black Stump Char Grill, but it can be up there. First, it’s meaty. Then there’s the indignity of having to pick from just two or three dishes when the carnivores are sharing twelve or fifteen. So it is truly a wonderful thing when you can go to a yum cha restaurant and know that you can eat everything on the menu. Bodhis is Sydney’s original vegan yum cha – and probably still the best. There’s an old Bodhi’s crowd that still remember the romantic first floor premises they had down on Hay Street five or six years ago and rue that the new Bodhi’s is not what it used to be. I say bunkum. Now located beneath the forecourt of St Mary’s Cathedral, Bodhi’s still puts on a great yum cha. There is something for everyone. Among the dishes are spring and spinach rolls, steamed snow pea dim sum, bean curd rolls, sticky rice, steamed green vegetables, lotus root, steamed buns with chick pea and pumpkin inside, and a variety of delicious dumplings. It’s also worth saving room for dessert – the sago pudding is an old favourite. I’ve taken many non-vegetarian friends here over the years and most have come away pleasantly surprised. It’s a great place to introduce people to vegetarian/vegan food because there is a great range and each individual dish is small enough that if it doesn’t pass muster it can be polished off by someone else. Service can be haphazard, particularly if members of your party arrive at different times. But Bodhi’s remains one of the most pleasant vegan dining experiences that you can find in Sydney. Still a Super-V. Reviewed 23 March 2006. Tonight I tried this recipe for a tomato salad with haloumi and broadbeans. I liked the look of it because it was very simple to make, and I thought that the fresh taste of tomatoes and the mint would complement the salty haloumi, which they did. The recipe doesn’t include quantities, but I used three decent sized tomatos, a small block of haloumi, a big handful of mint, two teaspspoons of white vinegar and about one teaspoon of brown sugar. These seemed to be about right, although if you find haloumi strong you should probably add an extra tomato or two. I didn’t use any broadbeans because halfway through making the salad I realised that I didn’t have any. I think this would have been a nice touch.
V-Rating: VVVV Disclosure: I’m a massive curry fan. My obsession started back in Brisbane in my late teenage years when a friend introduced me to the — what were then — exotic delights of a non-meat-and-three-veg meal (I was an early twenties veggie convert.) I continued my curry quest in London while living there and became accustomed to enjoying an outstanding curry experience at least once a week. Since returning to Melbourne I’ve been satisfied with, but not blown away by, curries in various Melbourne and Sydney locations. Enter Kake Di Hatti. Kake (as it’s affectionately known) is undoubtedly the best curry I’ve discovered in Australia. Don’t let the dingy and eclectic appearance of the restaurant put you off — the food is amazing. And as with all curry houses, veggie choices abound. For starters you can’t go past a round of papadams with pickles. For second starters the onion bhajis, vegetable samosas and subjee pakoras are to die for. If there are three or more dining, give the $10 mixed platter a whirl. You will be overwhelmed and overstuffed by vegetarian tidbits with a small salad, chutnees and pickles. Moving on to main course, there are a range of curries all available with vegetables. In my Kake career I have eagerly devoured degchis (roasted spices, tomato, onion, ginger, garlic and capsicum), kadhais (fresh tomato, ginger, garlic and capsicum) and my personal favourite, vindaloos. I’m not a huge fan of creamy curries but my various dining companions will heartily vouch for the makhani (butter, cream, spices, tomato), korma (cashews, cream, tomato, onion, ginger and garlic) and madras (coconut cream, chilli, onion, tomato, ginger and garlic). If standard curry isn’t really your thing there are nine vegetarian house specials to sample. Standouts include daal makhani, alu cholle (chickpea cooked with potato, ginger, garlic and spices) and muttar mushroom (green pea and mushroom curry). There is, however, one menu item that lets the team down: garlic naan. While the curries and other dishes pleasingly avoid the over-oily feel of a lot of Indian food the garlic naan is dripping with butter. Stick to the plain naan or the excellent roti. Wash it all down with a BYO beer (don’t rely upon the cheap, but undrinkable, supply of house brew — see here for more information) and rejoice when your wallet barely takes a hit. It’s possible to walk away from Kake Di Hatti feeling uncomfortably full and sufficiently boozed for less than $20 each. With a fantastic range of veggie delights, friendly down-to-earth service, all at the right price, Kake is a must-visit.
V Rating: VV Come 7pm the business district in Sydney’s city becomes a dining wasteland. You can wander down to the beautiful Circular Quay, however the view adds a significant premium to restaurant prices. Alternatively, you can eat at Wagamama on Bridge Street. Wagamama is a fine place for veggies and vegans to eat. The Wagamama menu is divided into sections (ramen, katsu, teriyaki etc.). Each section has at least one vegetarian option, helpfully marked by a V. I went for the moyashi soba, a vegetable soup with noodles and tofu.
The ingredients were all fresh. I’m sure that it was genuinely vegetarian because the soup base was relatively tasteless, suggesting that it hadn’t be seasoned (where’s the msg when you need it?) Unfortunately, some of the vegetables were chopped in large chunks that weren’t quite cooked. I ended up drowning my dish in soy sauce, which helped. Wagamama is certainly better than your average chain restaurant. There are some things I really like about Wagamama, such as their communal tables and well-presented food in large clay bowls with helpful Asian style soup spoons. However, I think the concept behind Wagamama is outdated. For example, as soon as you’re seated the waiting staff come over and ask if you’ve eaten there before. If you say you haven’t, they proceed to explain how the menu works. It’s not rocket science. Wagamama don’t have entrees. They have sides, which you can share. The mains and sides will come out at different times because they are cooked fresh. Just in case you miss the initial explanation, it’s written on the placement. Maybe the didactic approach makes sense for people who’ve never eaten at a Japanese, or other Asian, restaurant. However, this is Sydney. We have an abundance of Japanese and Asian restaurants. I’d venture a guess that most Wagamama customers have eaten at one these and they get how the menu works. I don’t mean to be overly critical - it’s just this is approach is a bit patronising because it assumes Japanese food is exotic and needs to be interpreted for the average customer. Approach aside, Wagamama represents reasonable value for money, and is probably the most reliable option if you find yourself stranded in the business district of an evening. Reviewed 20 March 2006. |
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