V Rating: V-ware
Where: North Sydney pool, Cnr Paul & Northcliff Streets, Milsons Point
When: Lunch: 12.00pm - 2.30pm. Dinner: 6.30pm - 10.00pm.
Tel: (02 )9964 9998
Price: Entrees: $25 - $27. Mains: $35 – 38.

I was recently treated to a lovely lunch at Aqua Dining, located on top of the North Sydney pool and within spitting distance of some of Sydney’s best-known harbourside landmarks.

Despite the fact that the Aqua adjoins a swimming pool, the spectacular harbour views ensured Aqua would be a modern Australian, fine dining restaurant rather than your average chips and icy-poles sports venue cafe. The upshot is that you can eat gourmet food while idly watching swimmers toiling through their laps below.

If watching exercise curbs your appetite, the other windows overlook Luna Park and the Harbour. We sat at the end table which offered a very close-up view of Luna Park’s eerily surreal giant face. The eyelashes are amazing - coyly curled yet unbending in the strong harbour wind.

Aqua gets a pat on the back for having a separate vegetarian section to the menu, and for ensuring a vegan option for entree and main. However, with only only one vegetarian main, and two vegetarian entrees, I’ve given them a V-ware.

I tried the tomato, haloumi and asparagus salad for entrée, which was lovely. The pieces were served as a stack in a reflective metal plate artistically smeared with pesto. The grilled haloumi was salty and seared, but without being over oily. The asparagus was crisp and lemon dressed and with the fresh slices of tomato it made a good complement to the haloumi. For an entrée the serve was large – in fact it was bigger than my main.

The other vegetarian entrée was stuffed bonsai-sized zucchini flowers - if you’re not vegan go with the haloumi salad.

The vegetarian main was stuffed eggplant rolls with a side of spicy beetroot. The eggplant rolls were delicate, while the beetroot mash was deceptively spicy and had me gulping my water with unladylike haste.

While I wouldn’t recommend Aqua for special vegetarian occasions, at least they make sure that vegetarians and vegans can still eat there with a minimum of fuss.

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