Archive for March, 2007
V Rating: VVV Swell restaurant is one of a handful of cafes on a short strip of road overlooking Bronte Beach. Like the local residents, each cafe is immaculately presented, with an easy charm and an appreciation for the finer things in life.
Arriving slightly sweaty and red-faced from the coastal walk, I was almost intimated by its breezy, beautiful look. Like a little piece of California in Bronte, Swell has an open, clean design, and friendly waiting staff with perfect tans set off by crisp white shirts. However, we soon settled into our outdoor table and scanned the breakfast menu. The Swell menu reminded me a little of bills: simple food built around fresh ingredients and presented with flair.
There were plenty of options for vegetarians, including banana bread with berries and ricotta, an egg white omelette with mushrooms, roasted tomato and spinach, fresh fruit with vanilla yoghurt and muesli or granola. As with most breakfast menus, vegans had fewer choices, although the fresh fruit and muesli options seemed adaptable and you could make up your own meal from the extensive range of sides. The menu was reasonably expensive, even by Eastern Suburbs standards, but it was clear from the food that you were paying for quality produce, not simply a view of the Bronte breaks. My friend and Canberra reviewer, AC, chose the roasted pumpkin, spinach and feta on Turkish toast. It came with poached eggs, which he substituted for hash browns. He seemed very content with this choice.
Two other friends tried the swell granola with fresh banana and vanilla yoghurt, and the bircher muesli with a fresh fruit compote.
Andy had his typically spartan poached eggs on toast. He ordered a side of mushrooms, but received roasted tomatoes instead. Fortunately, I had ordered (and received) mushrooms, roasted tomatoes and avocado on toast, so could confirm that the tomatoes were the better option.
My dish was not off the menu - I put together three sides on toast. I debated this because the Swell dishes seemed carefully composed, but when a produce supplier walked through carrying a box of taut, plump avocados I couldn’t resist. Lovers of soy milk will be pleased to know that Swell is a strictly Bonsoy establishment. They also offer a number of freshly squeezed juices, and smoothies.
By 9.30am on a Saturday morning, Swell was frantic. Their website warns that on weekends they only take bookings for groups of 4 or more, and this is advice well-heeded. It’s a lovely spot for a quality breakfast overlooking the beach. This recipe is ideal when the family is about to cook a BBQ dinner and the vegetarians need to whip up something – and quickly – to go with the salads. Start with a packet of firm tofu – definitely not the silken variety that is more gelatinous and falls apart at the first sign of heat.
Slice the tofu into thick, generous “steaks” of about 1cm in width. Getting this right is important – too wide and the tofu will take longer to absorb the flavour of the marinade, too narrow and you risk compromising the structural integrity of the tofu once it hits the barbie. Make up the marinade. All sorts of variations are possible but a good starting point would be half a cup of soy sauce, 1-2 teaspoons of sesame oil, half a cup of boiling water, 3-4 finely chopped garlic cloves, a knuckle of grated fresh ginger, 1-2 shallots, 1 small chilli, some pepper. I also like to add star anise for its aroma and flavour.
Stand the tofu steaks in the marinade for as long as you have got. For best results, marinate for at least half an hour, turning if necessary to ensure that the tofu gets a good soak. You could leave it in for 24 hours if you are planning ahead. When you are ready to cook, put a little oil on the BBQ plate and cook the tofu through on both sides. Once you have done that you can pour the rest of the marinade on the tofu and let the tofu sizzle in it (both sides) to pick up some extra flavour. You can also cook this on a stove grill or in a fry pan if a BBQ is not at hand.
Serve and deal with the compliments with sophistication and dignity. I was upset last year when I heard that legendary Bondi cafe, Gertrude and Alice, was shutting down after some real estate “ischews”.
Fortunately, they packed up the books and Moroccan mint tea, and moved three doors up on Hall Street.
On an overcast Sunday afternoon, the new Gertrude and Alice was as busy as ever. It’s still a bit shiny and fresh-looking, but it hasn’t lost its charm and I’m sure it’s only a matter of time before dust creeps back over the bookshelves, and nooks and crannies form for bookworms to get lost in.
Who says shoes can’t be cute and cruelty-free?
Check out Alternative Outfitters for these Pink Studio shoes. On Saturday, my home state New South Wales went to the polls. Because Andy and I are To get people in the mood, we decided to theme our food to the occasion by referencing some of the campaign issues and personalities. Hence, the menu was: Entree Cross city tunnel tarts* Mains Mushroom Morrisotto topped with with baked pear and goat’s cheese* Dessert (Still criminalised) ice with raspberries and rockmelon. Unfortunately we were too busy watching the results and debating the quality of Asian versus Europeans beers to take photos but I did take one of the leftover dessert on Sunday:
This was actually a Rose Elliot recipe from her fantastic cook book Veggie Chic. It’s called pink champagne granita with raspberries and is simple to make: Ingredients 200 ml of water 225g, plus 2 tablespoons, of caster sugar 1 bottle of pink champagne 375g raspberries Method Gently dissolve the 225g of sugar in a saucepan with the water. Bring to the boil, then remove from the heat and let the mixture cool. Mix the syrup with the pink champagne and pour it into a shallow container so it’s about 1cm thick. Because of the alcohol in the champagne it takes a long time to freeze (especially if you try to double the recipe to cater for all of your guests. Then it takes forever). Good idea to make it the day before if possible to avoid tears and / or a slushy mess. To serve, you’re meant to swish the raspberries in sugar then top with the granita. I forgot the sugar swishing bit, but it tasted fine anyway. * For non New South Welsh people, the cross city tunnel is a beleagured toll road that opened in late 2005 and was immediately mired in controversy. To be fair, it’s blaring headline quota has dipped in the last couple of months, thanks partly to a series of public transport issues. However, “city rail” was harder to work into the name of a dinner party dish. *Morris Iemma is the NSW premier. I’m taking a quick break from the honeymoon updates to catch up on some local news. After such a variety of wonderful vegetarian experiences overseas, it was hard to return to Australia and discover that vegetarian yum cha had suffered a body blow with the closure of two great vegetarian restaurants. Vegan Sydney reports that Pitt Street Vegetarian served its last meal at lunch on Tuesday, 27 February and that Purple Lotus closed down less than four weeks later. Both offered cheap, tasty vegan yum cha, and were a good alternative to the more expensive but better known Green Gourmet and Bodhi. If anyone knows the reason for their closure please email me at veggiefriendly[at]gmail.com. I’ve decided to keep the reviews of them on the site in case people are searching for them, but move them to a new section called closed down. The closure of Purple Lotus and Pitt Street Vegetarian follows the demise of Vegal Kitchen and Celestial Palace last year. I hope it doesn’t signify that times are getting tough for vegetarian restaurants. In any event, it’s a reminder of how important it is to support the vegetarian restaurants you love.
V Rating: Super V After a beautiful first week of marriage, we reached our last day in New York. Determined to pack as much in as possible, we went on a fascinating and funny Greenwich Village Literary Pub Crawl run by the very talented Bakerloo Theatre company. It was a highlight of our trip, combining both our loves: books (me) and beer (Andy). Actually, I also love beer, so I was a double winner! As we had a pressing date with books and pubs, we had to rush to our lunchspot, Counter an organic wine and martini bar, and vegetarian bistro.
We got off near NYU and negotiated the East Village streets, jumping over mounds of greying snow and ice water puddles, rushing past shops selling Russian clothes and record stores until we hit the modern storefront of Counter, all sans serif fonts and no capitals here please. The decor was promising. The front quarter of the room had large, circular bar and (faux?) leather armchairs cosily arranged around small wooden tables. Out the back, Counter became more 50s diner, with fancy laminated green tables, banquettes, and art on the wall. Counter is vegetarian, not vegan, which sets it apart from many of its upmarket competitors. There are some dishes with cheese, albeit rennet free. All the food is organic.
We were only after a quick lunch, and I felt soaked in calories after a week of the New York high life, so I ordered the vegetable white bean soup with basil pesto. Andy went for the veggie burger with a side of seasoned wedges. My soup came without bread, and was light and reshreshing. The pesto was mixed through the soup, rather than served on the top, and so it flavoured it with the slightly sweet, slightly bitter basil. I was a little disappointed by the lack of flavour - I like my soups to have a strong, distinctive base, and thought it needed more salt.
Andy’s burger was a generously sized, and served as a large, white bread roll, cut in halves, with a meaty pattie of mushrooms and seitan and some salad on the side. It seemed the ideas was to put the burger together yourself, then squeeze it with a vice-like grip and hope, vainly, that it would fit into your mouth. I was a bit disappointed by the burger. White bread just does not do it for me, and the burger could have done with more salad to make it less dry. The seasoned wedges were the highlight of the meal, however, and came with a yummy sour cream.
Counter is a gorgeous venue, but in the late afternoon it didn’t have the easy chic of Gobo, or the bohemian charm of Candle 79 or Caravan of Dreams. However, in Counter is famous for being an organic wine bar and I have no doubt that it at night it would make a fantastic bar and bistro. Sadly, our time in New York was at an end and there was no time to go back. |
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