Archive for January, 2008
V-Rating: VVV Before I go any further, I have to confess a special attachment to Tudo. You see, it’s the site of my first date with my now-husband Andy on a wintry Canberra evening in June 2002. It was a great choice for such a nervous occasion - low-key, cosy and ten metres away from local pub, All Bar Nun, ensuring just the right amount of Dutch courage. There’s still plenty to like about this small suburban restaurant. For one, it’s a resisted the trend to ‘funkify’ its interior, sticking to the unassuming combo of sparkling white walls, blue carpet and an outdoor toilet that’s accessed via the carpark. More importantly, unlike so many Canberra restaurants, its prices have stayed low, making it possible for to have a filling dinner and bottle of BYO wine for under $15 per person (trust me Sydneysiders, that’s good value by inner-suburban Canberra standards).
Tudo is not the kind of restaurant where vegetarians have to scratch around to find something to eat. My friend swears that Tudo’s Vegetarian spring rolls are some of the best she’s come across, and certainly they are plenty crispy on the outside and yet stuffed full of still fresh veggies on the inside.
There are five vegetarian mains, so you won’t go hungry. I went with a group that included four vegetarians, so we ended up trying four of them, including the red cooked tofu above.
My favourite was the curry vegetables with tofu. It cames in a coconut milk sauce, and had a lovely richness without being too hot.
The rice noodles with vegetables and bean curd was quite bland, but made a good accompaniement to the stronger curry and satay dishes.
The satay vegetables was my second favourite dish - the sauce was nice and peanuty, and not too rich when consumed in moderate quantities. The only catch with Tudo’s vegetarian menu is that the tofu and vegetable base is the same in all of the vegetable dishes. If you order a few of their dishes, you can’t help feeling that you are getting the same meal just dressed in a different sauce. Still, with a decent vegetarian selection and great prices Tudo is going to stay on my favourites list. I’m a vegetable fiend, easily seduced by juicy green beans, rich maroon beetroot or soft, comforting potatoes. But if I had to name my favourite vegetables, the humble cauliflower would be right up there. OK, so it doesn’t have the strong flavour or brilliant colour of many of its vegetable compatriots, but the intricate florets and delicate taste make a wonderful addition to so many recipes.
Cauliflower cheese has been a favourite recipe of mine since childhood, but I’m also fan of the Indian standard aloo gobi (or potatoes and cauliflower). Andy and I would regularly order aloo gobi while we were in India, because it’s one of the few North Indian curries that doesn’t come slathered in a rich creamy sauce or served with paneer. Since we’ve been back in Australia we’ve had a couple of Indian dinner parties, all of which have featured our cauliflower fave.
This aloo gobi recipe is a modified version of one my friend Bianca picked up during a cooking class in Udaipur. Aloo gobi Ingredients 1 flower of cauliflower, chopped into florets Heat oil in pan. Drop in a single mustard seed. If it pops, add the fennel, mustard and fenugreek seeds and fry for a minute. Then add turmeric powder, potatoes, cauliflower, and garam masala. Cover and cook until potato and cauliflower are soft. If your stove top is hot, you can steam or microwave the potatoes and cauliflower for 5 minutes before cooking to soften them. Add chopped tomatoes, ginger, and chilli, cook a few minutes more then serve with lemon and coriander to taste/garnish. The cauliflower
For more information, check out wikipedia and food.org. This is my entry in Weekend Herb Blogging, originally started by Kalyn from he Kalyn’s Kitchen blog. This week it’s being hosted at Anna’s Cool Finds, so make sure you stop by to check out the full wrap-up.
V-Rating: VV When I think of stalwarts of the Canberra restaurant scene, Chairman and Yip is one of the first that comes to mind. In many ways the restaurant typifies Canberra. Understated, smart, and subtly suggestive of politics and diplomacy, it’s a comfortable fit in the national capital. Chairman and Yip is not the kind of restaurant you visit every day. With most entrees above the $10 mark, and no mains below $25 it’d definitely a work function or special occasion place. Like many expensive restaurants, the ala carte menu is a little thin on the ground for vegetarians, although there they make a respectable attempt with two vegetarian entrees and mains.
My favourite dish at Chairman and Yip has to be the entree of char-grilled mushrooms with coriander and chilli pesto. I remembered it from a visit of five years ago, and five years on it still doesn’t disappoint. The mushrooms are large, juicy and smoky from the grill, while the pesto is soft and bright green. The flavours and texture feel more European than Chinese to me, although the coriander and chilli keeps the dish in tune with the rest of the food. The vegetarian bean curd pastry rolls were delicious and comparatively filling, making them good value as the only sub $10 entree on the menu. Thin sheets of tofu are wrapped around a soft vegetable filling then deep fried, giving the vegetables a crunchy and delicate casing.
The two vegetarian mains are eggplant and tofu in yellow sauce, and stir-fried pumpkin and cucumber with caramelised chilli. The words ‘eggplant’ and ‘tofu’ together on a menu induce a Pavlovian response from me where I have to order the dish, and this was my favourite of the two vegetarian choices. The yellow sauce is pleasantly savoury, and the eggplant is lusciously soft. The tofu comes as small, hard squares with a deep-fried outer crust. It does contrast with the eggplant’s texture, but it’s too dry for my taste.
The standard version of the pumpkin and cucumber dish comes with a fish sauce so make sure you ask the kitchen to leave this out if you’re a strict vegetarian. I was intrigued by the combination of cucumber and pumpkin, but the dish was very sweet due to the caramelised sauce, making it a less is more choice for me and not something I would order if there was a third vegetarian dish on offer. For a party of three, we ordered one of each of the vegetarian dishes. If you go in a bigger group try the excellent value dinner banquet ($37.50 per head) or the exquisite vegetarian degustation ($75 or $105 including 5 small glasses of matched wine). Ignore the standard menu listed on the website for the banquet - if you tell the restaurant the number of vegetarians in your party they’ll make sure to bring out the right number of vegetarian dishes. As an added bonus, they will usually make dishes that aren’t on the ala carte menu like salt and pepper tofu. My favourite Chairman and Yip experiences were the two evenings I tried the degustation menu. The restaurant will happily cater for special dietary needs, and on one occasion we had a party of four with two of us having a vegetarian version and two others also eating seafood dishes. The degustation is great value with or without the wine, and a lovely way to celebrate a special occasion over a long and relaxed meal. I had an inkling that life wouldn’t return to normal when Andy and I came back to Australia. Now I can confess that after four very happy years in Sydney, Andy and I are moving to Australia’s capital, Canberra, this week. Despite already missing Bondi Beach and Bodhi’s, I’m looking forward to Canberra’s strong sense of community, living in a house with a veggie patch, and being a mere 20 minutes from work on the bus. This does mean that my restaurant reviews will be much more Canberra focussed than previously - but the good news is Canberra has a great restaurant scene and foodie culture. Not to mention, I’m always open to guest reviews and would love to find someone who wants to keep a keen vegetarian eye on Sydney restauranteurs. So thanks to all my readers who’ve followed me halfway around the world in the last five months - I hope you join me for the home stretch to the Canberra. |
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