Archive for the ‘VVV’ Category
V Rating: VVV The day we visited the American Museum of Natural History was windy, cold, and snowing. Perfect weather for contemplating the observable universe. Not so awesome for going outside to hunt for food. Needs must, we took a punt on the Museum’s food court. I was sceptical about the quality of their food (largely because when we’d asked at the ticket counter for somewhere to have lunch we were assured the food court “did donuts). However, I was surprised to find a range of healthy, vegetarian options. Running down the centre of the food court was a large salad bar. There were lots of pre-made, interesting and tasty vegetarian salads and hot dishes, but you could also make up your own with fresh ingredients and dressings. On top of this, there was brown and wholemeal bread, juices, and fresh fruit. When I thought about it, the amount and prominence of healthy food was unsurprising because the Museum must get subwayloads of school children each year and would be under pressure to provide nutritious lunch options. There were still some token deep fried foods, greasy pizzas, and cream topped sundaes tucked away in the corners. Proving you can lead an American to a salad bar, but you can’t make them eat well, all the diners I saw made a bee-line for the artery-clogging food. Fools.
Despite our less than auspicious motives for visiting the Museum, we had a great time exploring the new planetarium and history of human evolution wings, and checking out the older dioramas and American Indian sections. If you do go, make sure you go on a free guided tour. We were taken around by a fantastic guide called Berne, who not only brought the exhibitions to life, she also peppered the tour with fascinating insights about the history of the Museum, and the intellectual debates it had navigated. For example, in 2000 the Museum controversially opened it’s new Rose Centre for Earth and Space with only eight planets. To the chagrin of the Friends of Pluto movement, the Museum had decided that Pluto just didn’t fit the bill. Since then, of course, Pluto has been
V Rating: VVV Verve enjoys a prime corner position in Canberra’s Manuka precinct. It is one of those trendy and sophisticated eateries where the prices are given to only one decimal place (eg. a long black is “3.5″, a Tiro is “4.0″). The atmosphere is very open and airy, and especially pleasant on a warm spring day when the accordion-style windows are open. Vegetarian options for entree include a winter Tuscan vegetable soup ($9.90 - I mean “9.9″), dips and bread (9.9), a warm vegetable salad or poached pear salad (14.9). The menu indicates that you can also request a vegetarian option of the antipasto plate for two (19.9), or the caesar salad (13.9). At lunch, there is also a vegetarian foccacia option (11.9). My choice was the warm vegetable salad. A selection of roast vegetables (sweet potato, baby eggplant and beetroot) was served on a bed of baby spinach leaves with a light but flavoursome dressing. It was delightful, and could easily be served as a main. My friend chose the Tuscan soup (in spite of the warm weather), which he described as “hearty”. For mains, the options are gnocchi in a creamy sauce involving muchrooms, semi-dried tomatoes, basil, ricotta and chilli (16.9), a stir-fry of hokkien noodles, cashew nuts and Asian greens (15.9). At dinner there is also an option of vegetable parcels (vegies wrapped in Kataiki pastry served on a sweet potato dhal) (21.9). On one of my visits, there was also a penne prima vera available as a special (16.9). I chose the gnocchi, as did one of my dining companions. It turned out to be home-made, which is just as well, given the price of the dish, and the size of the serving. My serve was quite small, especially compared to my companion’s. (I resisted the urge to suggest that, in the interests of fairness, he should donate to me four or so of his gnocchi dumplings…) The sauce was satisfying, if a bit lacking in depth - I couldn’t detect any chilli. Verve gets a VVV. It has a good selection of vegetarian entrees. The selection for mains is more limited (especially at lunch), but the entree salads are main-meal-sized. It also has a number of vegetarian side options (chat potatoes with rosemary, steamed vegetables, side salads) for between $6 and $11. Prices can be on the expensive side for what you get, in my view, but then you’re also paying for the location, and for a chance to watch the beautiful people strut past the window. - AC
V Rating: VVV North Bondi Italian Food had been tempting me for weeks. First Reb piqued my curiosity when she tipped me off that it was a good place for vegetarian food. Then I wandered past a couple of times on evening strolls and was struck by the restaurant’s romantic view of Bondi Beach, all waves lapping gently on the shoreline reflecting lights along the coast. So, when some close girlfriends and I wanted to celebrate one of our number’s impending wedding, North Bondi beckoned.
North Bondi offers a traditional Italian food and wine experience in a modern, romantic setting. The menu is divided into sections, such as cheese, vegetables, salads, pastas, seafood and meat.
There are two pasta mains for vegetarians to choose from, plus a number of vegetable and salad dishes. I had the orecchiette, cherry tomatoes, ricotta and basil. It was a little creamier and richer than I had expected, but the tomatoes offset the ricotta with their strong, pert taste. The authentic Italian touches and mature, European decor combined to make for a relaxed, special evening. And so a couple of happy hours, and two bottles of Italian white later, we left North Bondi.
V Rating: VVV Mojos is just around the corner from where I live. Despite this, I’ve avoided going there out of a combined fear of Spanish food and of catching beautiful people germs. However, a couple of weeks ago my ex-housemate and his girlfriend suggested we go there for dinner on our way to a party. Talk about a revelation!
I’m starting to think that my fear of Spanish food is unfounded. There were 13 vegetarian tapas dishes on Mojos menu, plus three salads. Every dish that I tried was magnificent. We ordered five dishes and a salad between the four people. This prompted a withering lecture from the waitress (’I'm not sure if you guys have eaten here before, but people normally order 2-3 dishes each). Fortunately we didn’t take her advice, as the dishes we had were plenty satisfying.
My favourite dish was fresh, grilled artichoke drizzled in lemon and olive oil which had strong flavours and great texture. However, the cous cous balls, garlic potatoes, Spanish salad, fried eggplant and cheese were also high quality, fresh-flavoured dishes.
The one thing about Mojos is that is that it was chocka-block full and plenty noisy on Saturday. So make a booking or go hungry!
V Rating: VVV The business card for Java Cafe carries the slogan ‘excellent Indonesian cuisine.’ Could not have said it better myself. Java is my favourite Indonesian restaurant in Sydney. The food is authentic, the waiting staff are lovely, the atmosphere is thriving and the atmosphere screams relaxed cafeteria. It’s also easy to find on busy Avoca street - just look for the bright yellow sign and the shop window with a giant palm tree. The good news for vegetarians is that there are 13 vegetable dishes. Our table ordered gado gado, semur terong (fried battered eggplant in a sweet soya sauce) and sayur lodeh. The vegetables in the gado gado were fresh contrasted well with the thick, sweet peanut sauce. One of my favourite things about Java is that they serve great tempeh. Although we didn’t order it this time around, I’d recommend the fried tofu and tempeh dish. Java is not a glamourous eating experience. If that’s your thing, try Jimbaran further down the road. However, it can’t be beaten for great value, authentic Indonesian food. The only catch is that a lot of people in Sydney are in on the secret, so make sure you book a table to avoid a half an hour wait.
V Rating: VVV Last Thursday I went to a degustation dinner at French restaurant, Balzac. I was nervous about the vegetarian fare. Most French restaurants struggle to produce a single vegetarian dish. How would Balzac go thinking up five of them? French, fine dining restaurant Balzac is an anomaly on Belmore road, more notable for its squashed, communal and mainly Asian eateries. The sense of disjuncture is symbolised by Balzac’s cheerfully awkward position on a thin peninsular of land jutting out between two bustling roads, where it perches like the Tardis having landed some place it oughtn’t. Entering the restaurant is like stepping through a door into a different dimension. Exposed sandstone walls, soft lighting and white tablecloths transport you to a romantic, semi-rural restaurant in the Loire Valley in France. Urban Randwick, not so much. But back to the food. I had no idea what dishes to expect because there were no vegetarian options written on the menu. Once the waiting staff heard that I was vegetarian they were very attentive and made sure that dishes met my dietary preferences. For example, I was told that the first dish was quail’s eggs and asked if that was OK. I said yes, a little apprehensively. Technically I eat eggs. Just not a lot, or by themselves, and not generally from quails. I was secretly relieved when the waiter reappeared with onions fried in spices and mixed with finely shredded brussel sprouts. For the next dish I was expecting gnocchi. What actually came out were four fried truffled quail eggs with celeriac and asparagus. I didn’t immediately realise this, however, and had a Julia Roberts moment when I first tried to pick up an egg and had it roll into my lap, then tried to poke it quickly and had the yolk splash up into my face. Hence the old saying, I guess.
My favourite dish was the sauté of potato gnocchi with roast jerusalem artichokes, portobello mushrooms and reggiano. The gnocchi was soft, and the large, carefully placed slices of mushroom added a hearty flavour. At this point in the dinner we were treated to a passionate speech about the recent RU486 debate in the Federal Parliament. It was inspiring to hear how women from different parties had joined together to convince the Government to allow a rare conscience vote on the issue, and then persuaded the Parliament to pass amending legislation placing the decision to approve RU486 in the hands of the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), rather than the Minister for Health. It was sobering, however, to hear that the situation arose because a number of fortunate coincidences, and that the fate of related issues, like the push to ensure transparent advertising in pregnancy counselling, was bleaker. After this food for though we returned to food for stomachs. The waiters served small glasses of ice cream, but thoughtfully offered to bring me a different dish because they assumed that I didn’t eat gelatine. Instead, I got dark cherries in sweet syrup with lemon sorbet. Lovely. For dessert, I had the chocolate fondant with thick chocolate sauce. This was a beautiful, rich pudding perfect for a cold winter’s night. I’m not sure that a vegetarian happening by Balzac would have such an easy time, because like most French restaurants the regular Balzac menu is squarely focussed on meat. However, my degustation experience at Balzac was great. The service was impressive and friendly, the company was stimulating, and the food was carefully prepared and conceived.
V Rating: VVV This post is all about celebration. On Monday August 8, we went to Longrain for the lovely K’s birthday. Coincidentally, Longrain had celebrated its sixth birthday two nights before. To top it off, this review marks the 100th post for Veggie Friendly. Here’s cheers. Longrain epitomises cool, minimalist design. The open plan, converted warehouse holds a cocktail bar at one end and a restaurant at the other. The polished wooden banquette conjures up Hollywood glam, while large flatscreen televisions with rotating images add a vaguely cyberpunk vibe.
We turned up at 8pm after I’d confidently predicted Longrain would be quiet and we wouldn’t have to wait for a table. Apparently inner-suburbanites didn’t get the memo about rising interest rates and petrol prices. Longrain was jumping and we had to cool our heels at the cocktail bar. Half an hour later a waiter fetched us for dinner. In keeping with the Asian focus, the restaurant has long, noisy communal tables evoking banquet style meals. We steadied ourselves on our high stools and deliberated over the vegetarian section of the menu.
One of the main reasons why we chose Longrain was their salt and pepper tofu. This is one of my favourite dishes and Longrain makes the best version I’ve ever tasted. The soft tofu is served in large cubes and absorbs the flavours of the light, slightly sticky salt and pepper batter. The amazing thing about this dish is that the batter is so light that it doesn’t taste oily or fried, but it still gives the tofu some structure - I’m convinced that this is only possible because chef Martin Boetz has struck a Faustian pact. We also tried the vegetarian eggnet with pomelo, bean sprouts, peanuts, coriander and sweet vinegar. This is a beautifully presented cold asian salad with a refreshing sweet dressing. Andrew could have eaten this whole dish by himself.
The remaining vegetarian dishes are stir fried Asian greens (good accompaniement) and a red curry with crisp fried tofu, baby corn, snow peas and Thai basil, which we didn’t try. Longrain is one of the few upmarket retaurants in Sydney that makes a real effort to cater for vegetarians. It gets a VVV rating on the basis that a party of 3 vegetarians could come here and enjoy a beautiful meal. |
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