August 8-11, 2025
Michael signed up for Sydney's City2Surf this year, and we used it as an excuse to have a long weekend in the city. It rained heavily and incessantly so, run aside, we focused on indoor activities like the White Rabbit Gallery and Golden Age Cinema. We didn't let it get in the way of good eating, either!
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We arrived in Sydney just in time for lunch, and found casual Thai restaurant YOD to be the closest all-veg option to our accommodation. YOD has a dozen $15 lunch specials, but we were ready to splash out on a couple of the numerous full-price mains. I was over the moon with the colours and flavours of my Kao Klug Ka-Pi ($19.90, pictured above). Even the mound of jasmine rice was dotted with fermented soybeans and rich with flavour, let alone the veg mince, sweet and chewy barbecue strips, crispy-fried enoki, bright chopped salad veges and chilli. Happy to be in hotter weather, I teamed the plate with a coconut smoothie ($10, also above). Michael's Ga-Prao ($19.90, pictured below) looked more modest, but was a deceptively tasty medley of eggplant, mushrooms, tofu, mock meat and veges in a Thai basil sauce that was heavier on the black pepper than the chilli.
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We had a lovely evening catching up with Herbal Gill and her Significant Eater. Gill booked us into a new vegan ramen restaurant named Towzen, and we're so lucky that she did! As a queue built along the block, we were able to skip right in to our reserved seats. Six varied ramen bowls head the menu, all enriched with plant-based milks. The aroma surrounding us nudged Gill to select the truffle ramen ($35), while Michael took on the Si Chuan Tan Tan Men ($32, pictured above) where soy meat, mushrooms and other vegetables were swirled in an oat milk broth flavoured with sesame paste, peanut paste and chilli oil.
As a group, we shared okra ($12) and lion's mane mushroom karaage ($20), and drank house-made sodas flavoured alternately with yuzu and strawberry ($10 each, pictured below). Everything was prepared with care and precision and served at reasonable speed. (Luckily we also grabbed a drink at the neighbouring Papa Gede's Bar before eating, so we'd had plenty of time to chat.)
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I've been following Don Fred on instagram for a while, and we booked it in for another dinner. At night Don Fred is loud, crowded and dimly lit, with a very friendly host. Though it's Italian, there are zero pizzas and two pastas on the menu - rather, there's a series of veg-based shared dishes with a few appearances of mock meat, and half a dozen focaccia sandwiches with thoughtfully composed fillings. We had a pleasant time with the polpetz on polenta chips ($28) and the garlic green beans ($16), but the biggest plate and biggest success was the casarecce carbonara ($26). It was tasty way for Michael to carb-load ahead of his race, though my inability to hear him and carry a conversation was a dampener.
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On Sunday morning, I took a bus well away from the City2Surf crowds. The Marrickville Markets were a complete washout - regrettably I didn't have the appetite for the vegan pastries on offer, and satisfied myself with a vegan chai under the verandah and a large punnet of strawberries for later. Our friend Jess had urged us to visit Miss Sina, and it was overwhelming in its own way too - very busy, with a dense indoor queue that didn't give clear sight of the numerous vegan sweet treats in the display case. (The staff were lovely, though!) I ordered a Lox & Loaded bagel ($17, pictured below) to take away and it was still in good shape when I pulled it out of my backpack, sitting in the Botanic Gardens an hour and a half later. The everything bagel had lost the crispness of toasting, but was still an excellent base for a herb schmear, carrot lox, caper verde, cucumber and dill (I asked them to omit the usual pickled onion).
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Radiant from a running success, Michael chose The Chippo Hotel for dinner. The all-vegan pub menu had us spoiled for choice: blooming onions, corn ribs, loaded fries, including an Irish spice bag! Salads, pasta, bangers and mash, a KFC plate, even lasagne! Somehow, we just wanted to keep it simple and chose from the six burgers. My smashed cheezeburger and Michael's zinga ($26 each, pictured above) were both solid and satisfying, and the fries were just fine. My foam-topped Frenchtini mocktail ($12, pictured below) was more memorable. I hope we get a chance to revisit The Chippo one day and order more adventurously.
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Our Sydney mornings were bookended by visits to A.P. House, a rooftop bakery with varied stunning baked goods. I absolutely loved the milk bun stuffed with an egg cake, cheese, onion and salted egg yolk ($18, pictured above) and hash brown ($8, pictured above), and Michael was just as pleased with the messy, oily Turkish eggs and garlic bread ($23, pictured above). The zucchini flower & ricotta focaccia ($14, pictured below) and Vegemite cheesy scroll ($9.50, not pictured) were winners, but the hot pocket ($22, not pictured) wasn't as successful. We sampled well across the sweets, too, relishing the brownie-like dark chocolate cookie ($8), Basque cheesecake ($10), candied orange brioche Danish ($11) and impeccable lemon meringue tart ($9, pictured below).
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Sydney wasn't its most sparkly self for us this year, but the city's restaurants served us so well. We're always happy to go back to see and taste what's new.
