V-Rating: VVV
Where: 247 Victoria St, Darlinghurst
When: Tues - Sun: Lunch: 11 - 3. Dinner: 5.30 - 10 - 11.
Tel: (02) 9360 7865
Prices: Veggie tapas: About $8 - $11 per dish.

Friday night I ended up in Kings Cross with a couple of my favourite friends. We’d spent a pleasant few hours at the Darlo Bar and were looking for dinner on our way to seeing The Vasco Era at Spectrum.

It was one of those nights where everyone was at a crossroad. One friend was on her way to Brisbane to start a new job. A second friend was spending her last weekend in Australia before returning to her home in Cambodia and had invited along a friend who had just returned to Australia after a year overseas.

Perhaps reflecting our transient state, we were at a loss to find a restaurant on Victoria Street. (There are a lot of restaurants on Victoria Street. This is no mean feat). We’d ruled out Italian, Thai, anything expensive, or anything with limited vegetarian options. That doesn’t leave much in King’s Cross.

Fortunately, our bingo like approach to eating led us to Kika Tapas Bar. For a Spanish restaurant, Kika had a great range of veggie dishes. There were about ten vegetarian tapas options (with their own menu page, no less).

We tried the eggplant in parsley butter, the patas bravas, the green beans in butter, garlic mushrooms, and the veggie tortilla. I liked every dish, but made sure to take a second serve of the patas bravas and eggplant. We washed it down with a jug of not-too-sweet sangria, which added a festive touch to the night.

We had one heart-stopping moment just after we sat down. One my eagle-eyed friends noticed a small caveat on the back page of the menu: on Fridays and Saturdays each person had to spend $25 on food alone. We queried the waitress and were assured that ’so long as didn’t just order coffee’ we were fine. This kind of begged the question of why they put the rule on the menu in the first place, but sure enough there were no recriminations when the bill came and we were well under budget.

Kika is handily situated just across the road from the Green Park Hotel. The decor is bright and cheery, and there are some large tables on footpath that are perfect for dinner on a warm night. Even with a full restaurant, the food came quickly and let us with plenty of time to amble off to see the band.

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