Archive for the ‘VV’ CategoryV Rating: VV Back in September Andy and I had the pleasure of attending a wedding in the Margaret River region in WA. It was my first time in the area, and I was gobsmacked at the awesome scenery. There were surf beaches surrounded by low-lying hills, wild white lillies growing alongside gum trees, and bucolic wineries offering plenty of fine local wines for the tasting. Driving about half an hour down the road from our accommodation, we encountered the Evans and Tate, Leabrook Estate, and Madfish wineries and had a great time tasting wines, chatting to the winemakers and buying a few… souvernirs. After a lovely morning, we sought advice from the locals about our best bet for a vegetarian meal, and were told to head for Cullen Winery, a biodynamic, organic winery with a restaurant that served vegetarian food. Perfect. This was a particularly lucky find, as most wineries we visited still don’t serve food (unlike more established wine areas like the Barossa). As soon as we walked into the Cullen restaurant I knew we were in for a treat. The restaurant had slate floors, wooden tables, and large glass windows that soaked in the sun. The menu was fancy with a few vegetarian options indicated.
Andy and E. chose the potato, leek and asparagus soup. It was divine. The soup had the beautiful soft thickness of a traditional potato and leek soup with the asparagus adding an underlying sweet taste. I went with the artichoke and asparagus salad. And yes, it tasted as good as it looks.
For mains, we decide to share a vegetarian tasting plate. This was a master stroke.
It came with dahl, frittata, tofu in sesame seeds, marinated tempeh strips, hummus, and salad, and some semi-dried tomatoes and olives grown onsite. My favourites were the tempeh, and the creamy frittata. After a delightful time sitting on the verandah, watching frolicking children and animals, and eating fine food, we left to attend a wonderful wedding in the Wildwood valley. Congratulations Sarah and Michael!
V rating: VV ‘Bare Pear’ opened three months ago near the corner of Queen and Bourke Streets. It has a short but carefully designed menu of sandwiches using organic meat and vegetables and cheeses, breakfast muesli and toasts and a lunch special of soup (generally something vegetarian - today’s were tomato and bean or pumpkin, broccoli, lentil and spice) and a slice of sourdough bread for $4.90. Sandwiches are in the range of $6-8, which is pretty standard in the CBD. They use Bonsoy, which is the best tasting soy milk around as well as being, you guessed it, organic. They also offer muffins and organic coffee which people actually seem to drink and like (I am no coffee aficionado but am a reasonably well, if self-taught, people watcher). One of the muffins they offer has no gluten or added sugar. It is apple and cinnamon. I tried it and it was somewhat mushy - I was not keen on the texture, but the concept is good! So if you are looking for a healthy alternative at a reasonable price in the city, try it out. I am giving it a VV rating.
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: VV Today my lovely boss A. suggested we go out for lunch. I directed her to Asuka, then coyly confessed that I’d left my purse at home. Oops! Asuka is tucked away in a small mall behind the Shelbourne (but don’t hold that against it). The roof slopes, the pipes are exposed, and patrons cram in. The staff are Japanese and the menu is displayed in Japanese and English on the walls. So, y’know, it’s authentic in a Tokyo street kind of way. Like most Japanese restaurants, many of Asuka’s dishes are based on meat and seafood. However, there are some vegetarian bento boxes (agedashi tofu box and potato croquette bento box), and interesting noodle dishes. I was hopeful that the soy ramen noodles in a soy based sauce would be vegetarian. Apparently they weren’t, although I’m still not sure if the waiter and I just misunderstood each other. He did confirm that the baby buk choy, vegetarian tempura and wild grass udon were all safe for vegetarians. Faced with a choice like that, who wouldn’t have the wild grass for lunch. I’m not sure what the ‘grass’ was. It was like a combination between snake beans and morning glory. But it tasted good! I enjoyed the noodles. The broth was light and not too oily and there were lots of tasty ingredients like sliced garlic, seaweed, shallots, ginger and other shoots. To wash it down I had a calpis (insert giggle) water. A. and I agreed it was like lemonade creaming soda. Officially it’s a mix of water, non fat dry milk, and lactic acid. That tastes like vanilla yoghurt. And has health properties. All good. Asuka is a good, cheap choice for lunch in the city - but go early because it fills up real quick.
V Rating: VV (but almost a VVV). Friday night came around and Andy and I headed to Libertine with our ex-housemate and his girlfriend. It certainly upped the glamour stakes from our usual Friday nights in - although I guess it’s not hard to out do beer, TV and tracky pants.
After sampling a cocktail we moved on to the restaurant for dinner. Some of us weren’t quite finished when the waiting staff came to shoosh us on, but I guess beautiful people wait for no-one. The restaurant is decorated in an opulent, rich style. Intricate chandeliers fall from the roof, their sparkles reflecting in the gilt-edged mirrors. What I liked most was that the designers haven’t sacrificed warmth for ostentation - Libertine has a feeling of openess, generosity and fun. For example, the restaurant is divided into different sections, including an outdoor area, but they all open onto each other. While Libertine is tagged as a French / Vietnamese menu, it’s more accurately described on the website as Vietnamese food with French influences. That suits me because I prefer the lighter Vietnamese flavours. There’s one vegetarian entree - a crispy noodle salad with nuoc xoat (a vegetarian version of a traditional table sauce with lemongrass, garlic, spring onions, chilli and soy). However, we skipped the not so veggie friendly entree menu and went straight for the mains. I was happy to see that three of the ten main options were vegetarian. We ordered two - the crispy spiced tofu and the Southern style vegetable curry with okra, sweet potato and eggplant. We also tried two of the side dishes - (chef) Ryan’s magic mushrooms, and wok-seared Asian greens.
For dessert Andy had the lemongrass creme brulee and I had the more traditional rhubarb, pear and Vietnamese mint crumble with vanilla ice cream and creme anglaise. Unlike Ed at Tomato I like my old faithful vanilla, and have been hankering for rhubarb lately (we used to have it a lot when I was quite young) and the crumble hit the spot.
The creme brulee produced more mixed feelings. I really liked it - I can’t remember having lemongrass in a dessert, so initially the sweet creaminess of the brulee was at odds with the strong lemongrass aftertaste, but once I was accustomed to it I enjoyed the combination. The others were less convinced - perhaps they have more of a sweet tooth than I do. I really enjoyed Libertine. I loved the decor, ambience, and combination of restaurant and refined cocktail lounge. I thought that the food was tasty and happily unpretentious. I’d rate Libertine as a borderline VV / VVV for food - the only downside for vegetarians is that there’s only one entree. However, making up for this is a great range of unique, all vegetarian salads. Definitely one to try again.
V Rating: VV Jimbaran sits serenely on Avoca Street in Randwick, a world away from the squashed and noisy Indonesian cafes on nearby Anzac Parade.
I assume that the restaurant is named for Jimbaran Bay in Bali, tragic site of bombings in October 2005, and whose upmarket restaurants were popular with Western tourists. Last Sunday, L. and I were led away from this romantic front area (perhaps they knew that even with plastic covers I wasn’t to be trusted) and into the large, covered back courtyard.
We eyed off the vegetable curry (lodeh), but opted for the fried egg noodles with vegetables and Morning Glory stir-fried with a preserved soya bean sauce. The noodles were huge and beautifully presented on a banana leaf. There were not a lot of vegetables in amongst the noodles, but it was certainly a filling dish. I was keen to try the morning glory and it reminds me of being in Asia. I don’t remember morning glory from Indonesia but ate a lot of it in Laos (not an overly veggie friendly place). It’s not a dish you see a lot in Australia - perhaps because it’s less euphemistically known as river weed, which makes it hard to move on a menu.
I ummed and ahhed about giving Jimbaran a VVV - the food is well-priced, the atmosphere is lovely and the menu has a good range of traditional Indonesian and vegetarian dishes, although other friends tell me that Jimbaran is famous for its seafood dishes. My only hesitation was that the vegetarian food I tried was pleasant but not particularly flavoursome. Disappointingly, Jimbaran doesn’t make use of tempeh or tofu, which are common in Indonesian, and half of the vegetarian dishes were variations on noodle or fried rice. The rating is provisional - I’d like to go again and try the lodeh, fried eggplant, and cap cay which might make better vegetarian choices than the options.
V Rating: VV Look, we’d been out for beers in a largish group and wanted some food, okay? We wanted somewhere close and simple and Blue Train was at least close. Their website describes the ambiance thus:
Spew. They were right about the delay but “comfy and funky lounge area” is stretching it a bit. When we were finally shown to a table I was starting to get a bit edgy about the awful noise of 200 drunken “young professionals” and “funky young things” shouting to each other across tables. But enough about my grumpy nature. The food was adequate. Veggie choices are restricted to a dahl, a pasta, a risotto, a few salads and a couple of pizzas. The menu was so boring I’m running out of motivation to type. I had the pumpkin, fetta, leek, pine nuts and roquette pizza which was okay. Somebody else had the mushroom, spinach, sage and marscapone pizza. It was okay. Ugh. Go if you must, but don’t say I didn’t warn you. Reviewed 21 July ‘06, SDEB. |
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