A slice of Sydney

September 14-15, 2014

I found myself in Dubbo for work last weekend. This meant flying through Sydney, and gave me an excuse to spend sixteen sneaky hours there on my way home before getting back to my job. I arrived in time for a 9pm dinner on Sunday and had shrewdly stationed myself within walking distance of Yulli's. Though their website says they're open 'til late a waiter immediately informed me that they'd be closing at 10pm.  No biggie.

The menu at this vegetarian bar always looks good, and had me wishing for a veg*n crew to share with. As it was, I kept the beer battered haloumi skewers ($14.50) all to myself. Although typically salty, the cheese was unusually fluffy and a little sweet, like something from a fair. I liked the sourness of the accompanying pomegranate and apple salsa, but the pomegranate's dull colour hinted that it was well out of season.

I had my eye on the chocolate cheesecake for dessert, but no-one bothered to clear my plate away in the 20 minutes that I lingered. Having a vegetarian bar gave Sydney an edge for a while, but now with Smith & Daughters in Melbourne there's no more FOMO for me.

(You can read about our first visit to Yulli's here.)

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Update 18/06/2023: Bodhi is now closed.

On Monday I fit my art gallery visit around a sunny yum cha lunch at Bodhi in the Park. Yum cha is probably another meal better shared, but I did enjoy being beholden to no-one's tastes but my own. I made a mess of some tofu pockets stuffed with shredded vegetables, and later noticed someone sensibly tipping the curry satay sauce into the pockets, instead of clumsily dipping the pockets into the saucer.

My biggest achievement was polishing off three rolls stuffed with mock prawns and mashed potato, fried with a crackly toasted sesame top. There was no way I could take on the BBQ buns or Peking mock duck dumplings that circulated soon after. I finished up with some less than fresh pancakes filled with mango and Tofutti cream cheese, not an experience I need to repeat. With a pot of green tea, the bill came to $28 - a bit exorbitant, I thought, but a bloody gorgeous way to spend slack-off Monday.

(You can also read about one, two, three of our previous trips to Bodhi in the Park.)