Archive for the ‘O'Connor’ Category
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.
V Rating: VV All Bar Nun is one of the few genuine pubs in Canberra, and is a bit of an inner-north institution. During university terms or over summer it will often be packed out during the evenings. It can be a very pleasant place to spend a lazy Canberra Sunday afternoon. Whenever there is a rugby match on TV it will be standing room only. But on the Wednesday winter night that I went there for dinner and drinks with a few friends, there were quite a few free seats inside even at 8pm, and only a few brave souls at the outside tables. Food-wise, as far as vegetarians are concerned, All Bar Nun serves snacks and light meals. Choices for snacks include garlic or herb bread ($3.50), beer battered chips served with sour cream and salsa ($6.00), bean nachos with sour cream and guacamole ($9.00), vegetarian spring rolls ($5.00) or dips and bread ($8.00). The snack menu also features a tapas plate (”that’s like mezze…”), and although the tapas includes some meaty ingredients, you can ask for a vegetarian version (which will involve spinach and feta triangles, falafel balls and vegetarian spring rolls). The mains for vegetarians are a vegetarian pizza with roast pumpkin, bocconcini, spinach, pesto and olives ($12.50), fried pumpkin risotto balls with salad ($8.00), a falafel burger with salad and chips ($10.00), the bean tortilla with salad, guacamole and sour cream ($8.00), or there is the “big salad” ($10.00), which I suspect is named purely for the now-dated Seinfeld reference, rather than because it is actually big in size. The “big salad” is described on the menu as containing “mixed leaves, tomato, cucumber, onion, olives, feta and a dressing of tomato and basil “. Previously when I have ordered this I have received a not-all-that-big salad containing some, but not all, of these ingredients. Still, on that occasion the salad was still quite enjoyable and tasty and allowed me to convince myself I was doing something healthy to counteract the however-many pints I had to accompany the salad. I have also previously had the vegetarian pizza, which was agreeable, if a bit greasy. This time I decided to order the risotto balls. The two balls were a little smaller than a tennis ball, and were served sliced in half and lying on a bed of salad. All of this had been drizzled in a mysterious white dressing - perhaps an aioli? Whatever it was, the dressing was a bit overpowering for my liking. The risotto balls themselves were, I have to say it, a disappointment. The balls had apparently been deep fried and contained visible chunks of pumpkin and feta (I think), and yet, they weren’t very flavoursome. The frying had also made them quite fatty. All Bar Nun scores a VV. There is quite a reasonable vegetarian choice: four mains - sorry, “light meals” - as well as a selection of snacks. The choices are ok as far as bar food goes, they just seem to have the common theme of “fried and fatty”. But hey, it’s a pub, and that sort of food goes well with beer. - AC
V Rating: V-Ware Marinetti is a charming little restaurant in the O’Connor shops in North Canberra. There are many things to like about it: the loud and busy (but not overbearing) atmosphere, the fact that there is no charge for corkage, the friendly waitstaff, and the warm and unpretentious touches that make it homely (eg. menus are simply printed on plain A4 paper, stapled together). Sadly, for vegetarians, the choice of dishes is somewhat limited. For entree there is a choice between mushrooms in a creamy white wine sauce served on toasted crusty Italian bread, minestrone soup, and a cold eggplant platter. I chose the mushrooms (as did both the friends I was dining with) - they were divine. I don’t know how they manage to get such an amount of flavour from such a simple dish. Perhaps the trick is to use a variety of mushrooms - there were some types I just couldn’t recognise. For mains, the choice is more limited: in fact, there is no choice. There is only one dish available as a main for vegetarians - crepes filled with spinach and ricotta. (The crepes are also available as an entree size - $9.50 - and given how rich they are, that size would probably be enough for most people). If you don’t like cheese, you’re in trouble: the crepes are filled with ricotta and covered in melted cheese. It is, I have to say, a pretty unrewarding dish, lacking in depth of flavour. (If I were to have the meal again, I would have the eggplant platter as entree and ask for the mushrooms to be served as a main.) You would think an Italian restaurant could do some other vegetarian options: a basic vegetarian pasta, for instance. It may be the case that if you asked they would adjust one of the pasta dishes on their menu to make it vegetarian. But I did not ask if this was possible - I don’t think vegetarians should be obliged to seek special changes to be made to menu items. Marinetti does some great dishes for meat-eaters, so I am told. The kidneys, liver, snails and lamb shanks are all well-recommended by my carnivorous friends. For vegetarians it is just not so good. - AC |
Bad Behavior has blocked 2149 access attempts in the last 7 days.