Barmuda

March 6, 2016

Before we embarked on a day All About Women, we shared breakfast with Another Outspoken Female and her Significant Eater. AOF recommended Barmuda for its veg options. Barmuda is tucked away on Australia St near Newtown's landmark intersection. It looks less slick than its neighbours Black Star Pastry and Oscillate Wildly, but we found a comfortable spot with sturdy wooden furniture and lots of sunlight upstairs.

Though they're not explicitly marked, we did indeed find plenty of veg options to choose from (gluten-free dishes are helpfully labelled). Granola, sour cherry loaf, vanilla rice, French toast and ricotta hotcakes were a promising start, extending to a breakie wrap, eggs, mushrooms, beans, and a big plate called The Local. The all-day lunch menu of toasties, falafel and hefty salads looks more vegan-friendly.

Michael took on the gluten-free potato stack ($16.50). The potato cake was particularly memorable, two squares of finely layered potato rounds, fried to a golden crisp. These were interspersed with tomato relish, rocket, grilled eggplant, scrambled eggs and a roasted tomato. Michael was very, very happy with this departure from his usual poached eggs and toast.

I deviated from my breakfast habits too, bypassing the sweet stuff for some gluten-free corn and chive fritters ($15.50) from the lunch menu. The fritters were as golden-fried as Michael's potato cakes, and bursting with corn kernels. Generous spreads of tomato relish and salsa verde effectively cut through the fried flavour, there was more roasted tomato, and I also added an avocado half for $3.

Barmuda doesn't have much of a web presence, and I gather that it's been around at least 15 years. The atmosphere certainly evokes a late '90s-early 2000s cafe to me, in the nicest nostalgic way. The food's not stuck in any kind of rut, thankfully, with a wide selection of tasty and satisfying veg meals.

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Barmuda's had a mixed reception on blogs over the years. It's won fans on Diary of a Ladybird, two tasty sins, Locomunching, sugarlace and electreats. Less impressed are I Am Obsessed With Food, lateral eating and Jugernauts.com.

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Barmuda
283 Australia St, Newtown NSW
(02) 9516 3341
food, drinks

Accessibility: The entry has a small lip (see top photo). Downstairs tables are densely packed, stairs are steep, and upstairs tables are more spaciously arranged. Ordered at our table and paid in a narrow passage way. We didn't visit the toilets.

Golden Lotus Restaurant

March 4, 2016

All About Women drew us to Sydney for a weekend. We made time to hang out with ex-Melbourne food blogger Another Outspoken Female and her Significant Eater, and share some inner west meals. After scoping the queue at Gigi, we fell back on @jesshodder's recommendation of Golden Lotus. This vegan Vietnamese restaurant opened less than a year ago, serving myriad mock-meat and mock-free dishes that will suit the solo diner and banquetting table alike. In fact, we briefly debated ordering one of the two available set meals ($26 or $28pp) before agreeing to patch together our own.

We made the most of their non-alcoholic drinks list with young coconut juices ($4.80 ea) and lemon ice teas ($4.80 ea). It just wasn't the right time of day for a Saigon ice coffee ($4.80 ea), unfortunately.

To start, we shared satay skewers (2 for $6.80) and the intriguing crispy vegetable buns (4 for ~$10). The dipping sauces stood out for their complex flavours and the buns were almost like doughnuts in their sweetness, though they were stuffed with minced mushroom and onion.

The "chef favourite" dishes were indeed highlights, a stir-fry of vegan duck with chilli basil leaves and assorted vegetables ($15.80, top left) and a spicy beef rendang ($15.80, bottom left). My lemongrass fish ($15.80, top right) came with another punchy little sauce, and far too much onion for my taste. AOF's vermicelli noodles salad with tofu and spring rolls ($12.80, bottom right) lacked the crunch she was after.

Golden Lotus was busy and buzzing on a Friday night, though we didn't feel unfairly rushed by the staff. We enjoyed their mock meat share plates, and their multi-dimensional spicy sauces set them apart from many other restaurants. They're a nice counterpoint to their quieter neighbour Vina.

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Golden Lotus has had positive coverage on Eats No Meats and Samantha Lin/the perks of being a food blogger, and a mixed review on Fungry.

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Golden Lotus Restaurant
343 King St, Newtown NSW
(02) 8937 2838
menu 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
http://www.goldenlotus-vegan.com/

Accessibility: There's a small lip on the door and densely packed tables inside, with a clear corridor through the middle. We ordered at the table and paid at a high counter. We didn't visit the toilets.

Bloodwood

February 3, 2013

Bloodwood is another hip venue brought to Michael's attention via The Unbearable Lightness of Being Hungry. Though I think he would've liked a full night of tapas, cocktails, dim lighting and pounding music, we made do with a sly dessert (and an ever slier wine for Michael) on a Sunday night.

The Bloodwood dessert selection ($25) was a suitable sampler. For now, it's composed of:

• a sweet and sour hot mess of pavlova with berries and passionfruit chiboust,
• a trifle of sturdy pound cake with champagne anglaise, port wine jelly, yoghurt mascarpone and not quite enough cherries, and
• a rich wedge of crunchy-smooth chocolate, caramel and peanut torte with a fluffy banana mousse and more peanuts.

They were all eminently pleasing if not surprising.

Bloodwood was clearly in hot demand, with many people willingly waiting for a table in the restaurant section, or folding themselves around tiny bar furniture that could just barely contain their shared plates. On the strength of Bloodwood's desserts I'd take my place the queue, at least once.

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Bloodwood's vegetarian options have been explored more thoroughly on The Unbearable Lightness of Being Hungry and Veg with Edge. 

The rest of the menu has been enjoyed on Does My Bomb Look Big In This?, heneedsfood, Restaurant Reviews, The Empty Fridge, Mockingbyrd, Beauty and the Feast..., From Our Home, Eat Chat Laugh, minibites, Nooschi, Secret Foodies, Are You Hungary?, Jasmyne-Tea, Conquering King Street, Newtown, A Foodie's night out :), Connoisseur in Training, Beyond Bourke Street, Eat Drink Daily, Tum Yums, ChopinandMysaucepan, Nutmeg's Cafe, The Adventures of Miss Piggy, Absolutely Ayana, Simon Food Favourites, raD fooD, Saya's Soulful, Radhikar's Internal Dialogue, Food, booze and shoes, Gastronomous Anonymous, Food and other delectable things, the 'hood food guide, Just One More Spoon, Excuse Me Waiter! and Richard Elliot.

The Hand that Rocks the Ladle likes the venue but not the food, and there are other mixed experiences on to taste is divine, Yewenyi and Opining, Whining & Dining.

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Bloodwood
416 King St, Newtown NSW
(02) 9557 7699
desserts $9-26
http://www.bloodwoodnewtown.com/

Accesibility: Entry requires two half-steps up and an about-turn (see photo above) and the interior is generally crowded, although the main passageway is clear. We perched at a high bar, where we received full table service and didn't see the main restaurant area. We didn't visit the toilets either, but apparently they're unisex.

Vina

February 3, 2013

Vina Vegetarian Restaurant seems lesser known in Newtown than Green Gourmet but I was more interested in tasting its Vietnamese cooking, craving some fresh vegetables and herbs. We arrived early and had no trouble securing a table; the demand for eat-in and takeaway food only grew over the next hour or two.

Vina's menu runs to several pages - though it's not clearly marked, I gather that most dishes are vegan, and the introductory page says they'll try their best to accommodate any declared dietary requirements. Our waiter was friendly and knowledgeable, seeming very much up to that task. There's a range of fried and fresh foods, mock meats and whole vegetables: salads, soups, noodles, rice paper wraps, stir fries, hot pots and rice.

Safe within the walls of a vegetarian restaurant, we tried an entree whose name we didn't recognise - Xui Cao ($6) - and were treated to some crunchy-fried dumplings filled with finely minced vegatables, tofu and noodles.

We find it impossible to resist sweet, pillowy steamed mock BBQ pork buns wherever we find them ($4.50).

Michael focused mainly on a bowl of vermicelli with spring rolls, some delightfully flavoured and shredded mock chicken, lettuce, mint, cucumber and dipping sauce ($12).

I was at least as impressed again by the DIY rice paper rolls ($16) - they featured a mix of tofu, mock beef and crispy-skinned mock pork rubbed with lemongrass and spices, served with the requisite vermicelli, lettuce, mint, vegetables and dipping sauce. We couldn't bear to leave a shred of this behind.

While Vina is not particularly atmospheric, it had a appealing golden light on this grey evening and the staff were welcoming. The food - particularly our main dishes - was terrific! The noodle soups, noodle bowls and fried rice plates are especially good value at just $12 each. If only I lived a little closer, I'd love to slink in for regular low-fuss feeds.

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Every blogger who's posted about Vina would recommend you visit, see exploding wonder storm castle, vegansydney.com, Sydney Food Guide, Diary of a Ladybird, Conquering King Street, Newtown, Compassionate Vegetarians and I Ate Sydney.

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Vina
395 King St, Newtown NSW
(02) 9557 0456
veg entrees $4-6, mains $6-18

Accessibility: Vina has a ramp on entry and moderate-to-tightly spaced tables. We ordered at the table and paid at a high counter. We didn't visit the toilets, but Toilography did.

Luxe Bakery

February 3, 2013

I spent a bit of time pre-Sydney trip trawling through The Unbearable Lightness of Being Hungry for veggie cafe tips in and around Newtown. Her post talking up the excellence of the hash browns at Luxe Bakery pushed it straight to the top of my list, and we headed in to check it out on Sunday morning.

Luxe is popular - not quite so popular that you have to queue for a table, but popular enough that there's almost never a free space. It's a pretty big room too, with a couple of large shared tables and a scattering of smaller options. Bizarrely, they had basically one person trying to manage the whole arrangement - seating people, taking orders, rearranging chairs, clearing tables etc. Luckily she was possibly the friendliest, most energetic and most ridiculously efficient waitress we've ever come across, so things just about stayed on track despite almost constantly threatening to tip into chaos.

The breakfast menu is brief - eggs with a range of sides, a couple of kinds of muesli and toast plus a special of the day (meaty, at least on the day we were there). There's a short lunch menu as well, along with a massive cabinet full of sandwiches and sweets. Given the lack of pancakes/hotcakes/French toast-style options on the menu (and the reputation of the hash browns), Cindy went savoury, ordering scrambled eggs with a hash brown and some avocado ($10.50 + $4 + $4).

I ordered a variation on my standard brekkie fare: poached eggs, beans and a hash brown ($10.50 + $4.50 + $4). 

Both of these were solid meals - well cooked eggs, nice sourdough toast (although only the one slice) and decent sides. The avocado was perfectly ripe and the beans were surprisingly richly flavoured - almost like a bolognese sauce. The hash browns came with such a lot of hype that we were both a smidgen disappointed - they were basically the same as the ones we make at home but a bit underseasoned. Sure, the texture was great (super crispy on the outside, lovely and soft inside) but they needed a good pinch of salt to really hit the mark.

We spent half our meal eyeing off the distant sweets cabinet, somewhat guiltily ordering an almond tart ($4.50) even though the demand for tables was growing.

This was top notch - sweet, light and studded with rhubarb pieces. It left me wanting to try more of the goodies in their front cabinet.

We were pretty happy with our brekkie at Luxe - the food was good, the service friendly and efficient (even if things would have been smoother if they employed two good waitstaff rather than just one excellent one) and the coffee solid. Prices are a bit high - we ended up busting through $50 for two meals, drinks and a shared sweet, which seems a bit much for the first meal of the day. It's not a relaxing place on the weekend either - you'd be a bold customer to lounge around reading the papers in the face of the steady stream of new customers. Still, it seems like a reliable source of decent brekkie food and good coffee - well worth the occasional visit.

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There's lots of love for Luxe out there, particularly for the baked goodies - check out The Adventures of Miss Piggy, Raging Cravings, Sydney on Sunday, A table for two, heneedsfood, Culinary Creep, Grab Your Fork, twee-eats, The Empty Fridge, Sir and M'lady Dine Out, Beyond Bourke Street, wok you talking out?, green tea fields, Sydney Shop Girl, spoonfuls of goodness, spoon, fork and chopsticks, Food, booze and shoes, Mellie hearts Sydney, Beansprout's Cafe, Manmen's Journey, This Your Life... Are You Who You Want To Be?, One Spoonful at a Time and Sydney Coffee Nerd. Only Jugernauts: FOOD ODYSSEY has really been disappointed.

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Luxe Bakery
195 Missenden Road, Newtown
(02) 8084 1775
veg breakfasts $5-20+

Accessibility: There a few steps up to get to Luxe, and things are pretty crowded inside (particularly around the doorway near the cash register/takeaway coffee queue). There's full table service, and the staff are incredibly helpful. We didn't visit the toilets.

Apt

Update, 31/12/2014: Rather sadly, both Apt and the Newtown branch of Berkelouw books have closed.

February 2, 2013

We started our first full day in Sydney with brekkie at Apt, the weekend vegan cafe hidden inside Berkelouw Books. We had high hopes - the Apt kitchen is run by Leigh Drew, vegan cookbook author extraordinaire, and responsible for this great brekkie at Naked Espresso on a previous Sydney trip.

Aside from a little flag fluttering by the door at the bookshop, there's not a lot advertising Apt's presence. Still, once you wander through a few shelves of books, you find yourself at a fairly spacious cafe, with one long communal table and a bench running along the side - you could probably seat 20-25 at a stretch. The menu covers all the vegan breakfast staples: sausages, beans, scrambled tofu, tofu omelettes, French toast, pancakes, even a B.L.A.T - plenty of it can be done gluten-free as well. I wavered over the $20 morning after deal (sausages, rosti, tomato, mushrooms, beans, spinach, pumpkin, toast + coffee), but settled on a more modest option of scrambled tofu, with rosti, mushrooms, beans and sausages ($14.90).

It's still a spectacularly large meal, with masses of tofu, three slices of toast, and all the rest. I can't imagine the size of the $20 brekkie. It's good too, the scrambled tofu in particular with its spicy and salty seasoning really proving how delicious tofu can be as a breakfast centrepiece. The sauce for the beans was pretty sweet and combined nicely with the saltier tofu, though it might be a bit much on it's own; the rosti, sausages and mushrooms all hit the spot. It's hard to imagine there are many better $15 vegan breakfasts kicking around.

Cindy, as is her wont, ordered from the sweet section of the menu, with the French toast (covered in berry compote and fresh berries, served with maple and agave syrup, $10.50).

This tasted as good as it looks, with the crispy-soft toast drowning in all manner of berry and syrup flavours. She was intrigued by a certain savouriness to the toast and wondered whether she'd hit on one of those nooch-based batters but actually Leigh attributed it to besan, which Cindy likes and uses herself.

Apt does an excellent range of vegan food at pretty impressive prices. The coffee is good, the service efficient and the vibe laidback and pleasant. It's nice to have breakfast in a bookshop too - Cindy and I lazed around afterwards flicking through the shelves while working up enough energy to face the rest of the day. Apt is a weekend-only deal at this stage, although there are rumours that the space is being taken over by a vegan dumpling place Monday to Friday - keep an eye out!

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Apt has been enthusiastically received by Cupcake Kitteh, Mama Shaz, div forever and what do you eat then!?.

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Apt
6 O'Connell St, Newtown (in Berkelouw Books)
breakfast $6.90-$20
facebook page

Accessibility: There's a flat entryway and, once you navigate through the bookshop, a fairly spacious layout. Ordering and payment happens at the counter (see second pic above). The toilets are accessible and unisex.

Basil Pizza

Update 18/06/2023: Basil Pizza is now closed.

February 1, 2013

During our Sydney eat-a-thon a couple of years ago, we brunched at (the now relocated and rebranded) Naked Espresso. We didn't get to try out its nocturnal identity, Basil Pizza, though the Moody Noodles loved their meal there a few nights later. We made sure to catch up on it this time.

Basil's menu is not entirely vegetarian or entirely pizza - they've got a range of tapas on the wall, then meat pizzas, some pastas, sides and salads in print - but the vegetarian and vegan pizzas are front and centre. Most are thoughtfully composed from fresh vegetables and cheeses, and a few feature mock meats. Cheezly and gluten-free bases are available at extra cost.

We found the bases to be quite thin, and crispy round the edges; 'the regular' size makes a nice meal for one at our appetite level. Michael's Vegan Mexicana ($14.50) layered the tomato base with vegan pepperoni, Cheezly, roasted red capsicum, Spanish onion, jalapenos and chilli flakes.

I found myself indefensibly nostalgic for Hawaiian pizza ($14.20) - this one had plenty of vegan ham and Cheezly and less canned pineapple. A garnishing sprinkle of parsley barely elevated the nutritional value or gourmet rating of my meal.

Though there are tapas and gig posters on the walls and candles on the tables, Basil retains the atmosphere of a suburban pizza shop. The pizzas fit that vibe too, with a knowing nod to Sydney's inner-city veg*ns in their topping selection.

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Basil Pizza seems to be loved primarily by vegan bloggers, see cupcake kitteh, The Tropical Vegan, In The Mood For Noodles and Sydney Vegan. Omnivores at For the love of Pizza and Conquering King Street, Newtown have had more mixed (but generally positive) experiences.

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Basil Pizza
126 King St, Newtown
(02) 9519 4880
veg pizzas $10.20-24.70
http://www.basilpizza.com.au/

Accessibility: There is a very small step up on entry (see photo above) and a fairly crowded but flat interior. Pizza can be ordered takeaway from the counter, or at the table to eat it. Michael paid for our meal at the medium-height counter. We didn't visit the toilets.

March 28, 2009: Le Kilimanjaro

Update, 31/12/2014: Le Kilimanjaro has closed down.

Saturday night saw us exploring King Street in Newtown. We couldn't convince our gaggle of omni friends that Green Gourmet or Basil Pizza were worth visiting, but once someone muttered something about African food we quickly reached consensus. Our Sydney-based hosts pointed us in the direction of Le Kilimanjaro with a few reservations, but their slight ambivalence wasn't enough to dissuade the rest of us and we settled quickly in.

The restaurant is comfy and atmospheric, with various African-themed wall decorations and the staff wandering around in traditional African ensembles. I'd been expecting something similar to our Ethiopian dining experiences, but Le Kilimanjaro serves up food from East Africa including Ghana, Senegal and Kenya. The menu is posted up on a big board with helpful descriptions of the many dishes available (including a dish with a name that literally translates as 'homosexual tuna'). We weren't overwhelmed by vego options, but there were a decent number of side dishes available and at least a couple of mains.

Cindy stuck entirely to the side dish menu, opting for Accara (black-eyed beans soaked overnight and then ground with mild African spices, fried in round balls and served with aromatic sauce, $6) and Batansey (fried eggplant in a mildly spiced sauce with onions, $6) dished up with a serve of African flat bread ($2).

The flatbread is a bit different to the Ethiopian injeera - based on cous-cous grain blended with onion and spices. It's a bit denser than injeera and didn't quite measure up for Cindy.

The bean-based balls were also a tad on the diappointing side - the sauce was a lightly-spiced tomatoey sensation, but the balls themselves were a bit heavy and dry. They took a bit more chewing than we expected.

The best of Cindy's bunch was the eggplant dish - a saucy stew filled with chunks of deliciously fried eggplant and heavy on the onions. I only snuck a little taste, but it hit the spot quite nicely.

I decided to brave both a main dish and a side - Ndambe (mid-African spices, lentils, tomato, kidney beans and vegetables, $9.80) and Mboum (cruncy African spinach with a romantically spiced sauce, $6), with a small serve of cous-cous ($1.50). Unfortunately things came out in a fairly shambolic way, with the spinach arriving ten minutes before anything to accompany it and the cous-cous only turning up after I was well into my stewy main.

Despite the slightly ramshackle service, my food was outstanding - the Ndambe was based on a richly spiced tomato sauce and was overflowing with beans, lentils, chunks of vegies and a sprinkling of fresh herbs. Once I had some cous-cous to soak up the sauce, I was a happy man.

I was even happier once I chomped into my spinach side - it's a very simple idea, take some crisp greens and coat them in a mildly spicy sauce. Simple and very effective - the spinach was everyone's favourite dish, and the fresh greens complemented the heavy stews that made up most of the evening's meals.

Le Kilimanjaro is a BYO place, with just a couple of options on the drinks menu. Cindy's 'ginger drink' (freshly squeezed ginger with vanilla sugar) was incredibly gingery and strong, but as refreshing as the menu promised.

My mysterious 'African flower drink' unfortunately never arrived, so it remains an unknown quantity. Maybe they were out of flowers.

Despite some fairly 'relaxed' service, the food (and the prices) meant that nobody walked away too disappointed with Le Kilimanjaro, but if we're ever seeking African food in Newtown again, we'll probably walk the other way along King Street to African Feeling.

Address: 280 King Street, Sydney
Ph: 02 9557 4565
BYO only
Price: Vegie mains: $9.80, sides: $1.50-$6