Archive for the ‘VVV’ Category
V-Rating: VVV My biggest gripe about moving to Sydney was the lack of good Indian restaurants. But then I’d been spoiled by four years of living in Canberra. Ask a Canberran where to get Indian and 9 out of ten times they’ll suggest Rama’s, an Indian Fijian restaurant located in the sleepy local shops in the southern suburb of Pearce. For first time visitors the setting may seem incongruous, but don’t be fooled by first appearances: Rama’s is one of Canberra’s most beloved, and high quality, restaurants.
I had the good oil from a couple of locals and was prepped to order the vegetarian samosas and the potato and peas pan-fried roti wrap. Yum! The samosas had a crunchy, “I’ve been made in this here kitchen” taste, while the roti wrap was a creamy korma curry encased in a sandwich - why this is not a staple of more lunch menus beats me.
Like many Indian restaurants, Rama’s had a separate vegetarian section on the menu. We ordered the vegetarian dahl and and the palak paneer (again on some local recommendations).
The dahl was mild, but strongly flavoured with lemon and coriander, giving it a crisp, fresh taste.
The palak paneer was unlike any other I’ve tasted - maybe this was the Fijian influence. The sauce was creamy with flecks of shredded spinach mixed in, rather than regle de jeu pokerpoker en ligne argent virtueldes règles du jeu du pokertelecharger jeu poker gratuitespoker en argent virtuelmalette jeu de pokertexas holdem pocket pcpoker en ligne gratuitesonline poker roomjeu poker gratuites francaisworld tour pokerle poker onlinepoker online francevideo poker onlinejeux poker tourcasino poker en lignetelecharger poker 3djeux de poker gratuitementtélécharger gratuitement jeu de poker en lignepoker en ligne gratuitspoker 3d gratuitesstrip poker en lignepoker gratuites cadeaupoker tour regletournoi poker gratuitesparty pokerregles poker hold hemplay seven card studcasino poker texas holdemjeu poker texas holdem gratuitesjeu de poker online gratuitespoker le jeuune régle du jeu du pokersexy pokerjouer wam pokertournoi de pokertexas holdem 2007jouer au poker onlinepoker les regles du jeulogiciel de poker en lignepoker gratuites a telechargeroù jouer au poker en lignepoker texas holdemjouer poker texasjeu de poker gratuitesomaha poker règlesjeu tour de pokertelecharger poker gratuiteslogiciel de poker gratuitesles règles de jeu poker the spinach being the base of the dish. It felt indulgent, but tasted delicious. I gave two thumbs up to the paneer, which was thick and generously cut. Rama’s has more than just great food going for it. The service is warm and professional, you can BYO beer or wine, and the decor is modern and inviting. It’s hard to believe that a modest suburban shopping centre can offer such foodie goodness, but Rama’s is a Canberra institution that sets a high bar for Indian restaurants in other Australian capital cities.
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 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.
Litohoro is a pretty town at the foot of Mount Olympus. It’s the base camp for climbers and a ski resort in winter. In the 38 degree Greek summer, it combines the air of an alpine sanatarium with the attitude of a lazy beach resort.
We stopped off in the central square (plaka) for some carbohydrate loading before starting our trek up Mount Olympus. Our restaurant was situated diagonally across from the village church, with plenty of shaded outdoor tables. Andy instinctively chose the restaurant because its tables were filled, although the special ‘vegetarian’ section on its menu was an added bonus. His gut was right - we ordered two hot mezedes and a Greek salad and they were all hits. Stuffed vegetables (usually eggplant, tomato or capsicum) are a common feature of Greek menus in summer. This was our first taste of eggplant stuffed with tomato and cooked in the oven. It was superb.
The eggplant flesh was saturated with flavour, and soft enough to melt on contact with our mouths. The rich tomato filling gave some bite to the dish, and the combination was enough for Andy to declare this some of the best eggplant he’s ever had. The fava beans cooked in a tomato sauce with dill were also above average, partly thanks to the light touch of chilli, and the Greek salad was a refreshing counterpart to our hot dishes.
Hearing our delighted sighs at the eggplant, the restaurant owner came over to chat, explained that the Olympus restaurant specialised in home cooking, not tourist food - just what we were looking for before starting our ascent of the restaurant’s namesake. Vegetarian in Greece: More posts on Greek veggie food
V Rating: VVV Ordering from a menu in a Greek Taverna is simple for vegetarians - you just head straight for the mezedes section. It follows that a restaurant specialising in mezedes is likely to be more vegetarian friendly than most, which is how Andy and I came to try our favourite restaurant in Athens, Filistron.
A mezedopoleio is a restaurant that serves only mezedes, which are shared amongst the table (a little like a tapas bar). Traditionally, mezedes are accompanied by a bucket of ice and a bottle of ouzo so you can “clear” your palate between courses (in my experience, unless you also dilute the ouzo with water “clear” means like with dynamite, not gently washing away lingering flavours). Filistron is a well-known mezedopoleio with a rooftop terrace looking back onto the Acropolis. It’s not in the traditional tourist restaurant area of Athens, Plaka (thankfully), but on a wide, paved boulevard which runs between the far side of the Acropolis and the Hill of the Pynx . The boulevard is a fun place to visit at night, when cafes set up endless outside lounges and tables, and Athenians come out en masse to drink, talk, promenade, and watch tout le monde. Although Filistron is a popular restaurant, locals don’t go out to dinner until it’s dark (and cooler) so if you arrive before 9pm you won’t need to book. As we’d hoped, the mezedes emphasis meant there were plenty of vegetarian dishes.
We started with a salad with toasted bread, goats cheese, lettuce, tomato, sunflower seeds and a basil pesto, and a dish of cold preserved beetroot with a garlic dip.
We also tried fried mastelo cheese with a chilli tomato sauce. This was my first taste of fried cheese, but in hindsight it was easily the best. The cheese was similar to haloumi but came served in the shape of a pancake. The chilli tomato sauce made the dish because it offset what was otherwise a very fatty dish - it’s the only time enjoyed a fried cheese dish to the end.
We rounded off with the house speciality of sliced potatoes baked with smoked cheese, tomato, scallions and green capsicum. Yum!
Each of the dishes was of a high quality, and we appreciated the wider than normal range of choices including local specialities from different parts of Greece. I loved the use of the smoked cheese in the potato dish, which was saved from being too stodgy by the fresh tomato and capsicum. I don’t think the ouzo helped my palate, or my capacity to walk down the stairs later that evening, because the aniseed taste was so stark against the food… but I’ve since been acquiring a taste for it. Filistron was my favourite restaurant in Athens, and a great way for vegetarians to sample food from all over Greece. Vegetarian in Greece: More posts on Greek veggie food
V Rating: VVV Day two of our trip and we were already stranded overnight, sans luggage. British Airways apologised, handed us an overnight pack, and shipped us off to the Hilton Hotel, which is connected to the airport. Normally I would have felt stupid for turning up at a Hilton restaurant in my tracksuit pants and a loose t-shirt (which bear a striking resemblance to my pjamas), but I was tired, hungry and eager to extract maximum value from a free meal. Fortunately, the airport Hotel at the Hilton has a good understanding of its clientele. The restaurant is more sizzler than bistro, with tiled floors and a buffet spread.
There were lots of vegetarian choices amongst the salad bar and hot food bain marie, and even a vegetarian section on the a la carte menu. The hot food selection was especially good for vegos, because there were lots of individual vegetable choices like baked potatoes, potato bake, steamed carrots, and a surprisingly tasty ratatouille. Rather than make a pretense of sophistication, the buffet was comfort food - just what you need after an eight hour trip and jetlag. The breakfast buffet the next day was also veggie-friendly, with mushrooms, hash browns, vegetarian sausages, cereals and fruit. I was disappointed that they didn’t offer soy milk, but aside from that thought the Hilton did a better than expected job of catering to vegetarians. Not a place you should go out of your way to visit… but not a terrible place to be stranded, either.
V Rating:VVV When I first moved to Sydney there were two Chinese restaurants that our friends consistently recommended: BBQ King and Golden Century. Part of their cult status came from their late night hours (the mercy of not having to eat McDonald’s after a night out!), but the food was also rated highly. BBQ King became a regular haunt of mine, but until last weekend I’d never been to Golden Century. Even though we were eating on a Sunday night, I’d taken the precaution of booking a table for our group of six. This meant we could glide elegantly up the escalators to the first floor restaurant and away from ground floor room with tanks of seafood hovering in the water, moments before death. The large upstairs room was packed. Big round tables of people were eating noisily. Battalions of staff patrolled the floor. Catching their eye was a challenge, but our table saw it as part of the experience and didn’t mind. Despite being a seafood restaurant, Golden Century still has 12 vegetarian mains (excluding dishes that come with oyster sauce or meat). We started with a vegetarian san choi bow, which wasn’t on the menu but the restaurant was happy to prepare it. The waiter who served this dish was impressive - he doled out six helpings of the filling in three seconds flat, and perfectly estimated the amount for each person.
For mains, we tried the salt and pepper tofu, which had more than a touch of chili.
I was fascinated by the king mushrooms with braised vegetables. These huge mushrooms were like flanks of meat served over the vegetables, and had a soft yet chewy texture. They didn’t have a strong flavour and absorbed the salty sauce well.
The heavenly braised 4 vegetables was the last dish to arrive, but worth the wait.
At the end of the meal we were served two complementary plates of sweet biscuits, nicely rounding off our eating experience. So did Golden Century live up to its hype? It’s a different experience to BBQ King - the surrounds are more plush for starters. I thought it had an interesting selection of vegetarian dishes that went beyond ‘mixed vegetables in x sauce’, ad infinitum, but it is a seafood and BBQ restaurant at heart (for example, our waiter questioned whether we meant to order two vegetable mains, assuming he’d misheard). You will find plenty of cheaper Chinese restaurants in this area, and probably won’t notice a great difference if you stick to vegetarian food rather than the signature seafood and BBQ dishes. That said, Golden Century was a fun experience and I would go back again. |
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