Cult classic
We love a good vegetarian cult. While Supreme Master Ching Hai is no Father Yod, the international Loving Hut chain of 200+ vegan restaurants probably rakes in more daily than Yod’s Source restaurant did at the height of it’s popularity. Like Yod the Supreme Master is also a music star, albeit of the karaoke pop type. Loving Hut has two locations on the outskirts of Sydney and an impromptu road-trip to the edge of the suburbs found us dining at the Cabramatta location recently. The picture below doesn’t do the food justice as most of dumplings and rice-paper rolls had all ready been consumed by the time the camera was pulled out. The cuisine is 100% vegan south Vietnamese; pho, rice-paper rolls, dumplings, Vietnamese pancakes and mock-meat. Food is fresh, heavy on the mint and lemon grass (that’s good thing!), service is polite and friendly and prices are super cheap. We’ll be back—and not just for the Vietnamese pancake (pictured) but for the outrageous propaganda and the lip-synched karaoke pop music videos staring the Supreme Master. Double happiness!
Photo of the month
VeganSydney in vegan Portland. Salted caramel cupcakes from Dovetail Bakery, Portland, OR. Sydney want good vegan options? Leave the country!
Dumpling love
Is it even possible not to like dumplings? Miss Chu’s Vietnamese rice paper roll and dumpling empire is slowly taking over the city and thankfully bringing a whole slew of vegan options along for the ride. The fresh rice paper rolls, steamed tofu dumplings and the newly added vegan eggplant and snake bean pancakes are a win for the herbivorous dumpling lovers of Sydney.
Swedish Japanese
Tucked away in the very back of Newtown’s Berkelouw Books is a small noodle restaurant, aptly called the Ramen Bar. Robbie the head chef originates from Stockholm (no muppet jokes please) and serves up a unique twist on the Japanese staple and more importantly understands vegans. All the vegetarian options (check specials board) have 100% vegan broth and can be also made gluten-free to boot. The ramen servings are enormous, the dumplings are to die for and service is informal and friendly.
Is Cleveland St the new Vegan Quarter?
definition: NOURISHING = DELICIOUS. With no signage out front alerting the unknown to the fact that The Nourishing Quarter is in fact vegetarian, let alone 100% vegan friendly – this place is luring and satisfying the taste-buds of all sorts of eaters, as one of the owners explained – they have carnivores coming in there all the time, eating and raving about the food, with out even realising there’s nothing with a mother on the menu. They believe passionately in the meaning of “nourishing” food, and are obsessed with promoting the incredibly nutrient rich and delicious South American grains such as Quinoa and Amaranth. Mixing these with traditional Vietnamese style food is pure genius. Not to mention the cozy and quaint fit-out of the interior, you cant help but feel nourished when you sit amongst mismatching china, floral printed tablecloths and ornaments galore, you could be at Nanna’s house for dinner.
The winning dishes were the “3 sisters combination rice paper rolls”, the “Pretty Dumplings “and drum roll for the “Quinoa Noodle salad”: quinoa and amaranth with mung bean glass noodles, with flavours of mint, coriander,toasted sesame seeds, lime and chilli, topped with ridiculously tasty crispy tofu strips. Would go back every day purely for that salad. Not only tasty but you feel GOOD after eating it. Oh and the vegan cheesecake is hard to say no to end the medley of treats, even for someone who’s not a ‘conventional’ vegan!
You don’t win friends with salad
To paraphrase The Simpson’s ‘you don’t win friends with salad’…or roast vegetable stacks or risotto for that matter. Requests for vegan options at fine dining restaurant in this city have traditionally been met with blank stares, awkward laughs and rolled eyes. Several hatted restaurants though have picked their game of late and are serving our kind. Tetsuya’s as previously mentioned do vegan on request, Otto Ristorante have a vegan menu, Bentley have a vegetarian degustation menu and even the Park Hyatt restaurant, Habour Kitchen and Bar has vegan options listed on the menu.
We’re looking at compiling a list of vegan-friendly, fine dining restaurants in Sydney, so welcome any suggestions.
Otto’s vegan dessert
Want lies with that?
With the plethora of burger chains overtaking this city; Burgerlicious, Burger Fuel, Grill’d to name a few, the vegan options still remain slim. This is despite the rush to attract gluten-free, vegetarian and health conscious customers. The Grill’d menu and the Burgerlicious menu both mention vegan-options. Yet the Grill’d menu fails to mention that the fries are pre-coated in tallow and are not vegetarian (we have this from a very reliable source). Burglicious chips are 100% vegan and have been since November 2006, as are the Burger Fuel chips (both potato and kumara). Grill’d can be contacted at feedback@grilld.com.au should you wish to encourage them to use tallow-free fries.
Mexican’t Sydney
The latest addition to the TexMex craze overtaking Sydney is Zambrero Fresh Mex Grill. While we were initially impressed with it as alternative to the over hyped Mad Mex we later discovered that the beans are not vegan (cooked in butter) and the huge organic sign on the far wall applies to the chicken only, everything else is conventional. As it currently stands, if you want a great burrito in this city you have to travel to Melbourne for Trippy Taco, although the Bondi Beach Burrito Co (pictured below) would have an honourable mention if they could work out how to make guacamole.
Whispers from the sea
Our favourite pie shop, the deliciously tasting but hideously named, Funky Pies has expanded their breakfast menu. In addition to the best pies in the country it appears they now serve vegan pancakes and also sell a range of vegan essentials, such as cheezley and other products from the Redwood Foods range.
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