✧ Kindness Cafe ✧
I found this cafe on Groupon and I'm so glad that I did! It's this Groupon and it comes with Mixed Sides Platter + Roti w/ Curry Sauce + Two Mains + Two Iced Teas + Two Desserts for $39 for 2 pax (valued at $80.5). It's located at quite a secluded residential(?) area but it's together with a few other restaurants and the place seemed pretty modern. I think people get lost trying to find this place since it's not near the main road but thanks to Google Maps we didn't :>
Kindness Cafe serves Thai food and the owners, servers and chefs are Thai I think. Their food photography is really the style I like - bright and colourful with wood background haha! So pretty!
If I'm not wrong, all dishes are dairy-free but some have egg (and it's listed if it has).
First we got the Roti w/ Curry Sauce which I liked because it's like roti prata but less soggy and vegan roti prata isn't so easy to find (since most have ghee).
Oh and the Groupon includes Two Iced Teas but the owner(?) let us change it to hot tea since the weather was cold. I got an iced lemon tea while mum got hot lemongrass tea I think!
For the Mixed Sides Platter we could choose 4 items and we got the spring roll, curry puff, organic tofu cake and corn fritter!
For the mains we got the Coconut Lime Tofu and Pad Thai. We loved the Coconut Lime Tofu!! It tasted rich and fragrant, and it was almost like a curry. The Pad Thai was on the dry side but with the coconut tofu sauce added to it it was amazing!
The Groupon deal didn't include rice but we could swap one dessert for a bowl of rice and we did.
But then they gave us a double portion of dessert omg they're so nice! It's the Taro Black Sticky Rice dessert which seemed quite ordinary but the added taro bits made it special!
Overall, I really like that they don't use mock meat, their ingredients are really fresh and many are organic. Other than the lovely food, throughout the meal we had exceptionally warm and genuine service omg I can't remember the last time I got such amazing customer service! Like the owner (I think?) (a lady) was like so friendly and kept on checking on us and even explained how to cook some of their dishes wow! Mum & I actually felt bad that we were paying so little lol - Kindness Cafe is definitely worth a visit even without a Groupon!
6/248 Plamer Street
Darlinghurst NSW 2010
Ties-Sun 11.30am-9pm
✧ Yulli's ✧
On another night, we had dinner at Yulli's with Mum's Japanese friend who works in Sydney. As with her other Japanese friends we met in Tokyo, this was her first time eating at a vegetarian/vegan restaurant! It's located on Crown Street, which according to Mum's friend is a famous street for good restaurants. The food here is more expensive than the other places we've been this on trip! It's recommended to make a reservation since this place is quite popular and gets pretty packed. We sat at the back which was quieter but pretty dark - we had to use a phone light for the following photos haha
All the food here is vegetarian/vegan but they have a separate vegan menu with dishes that can be veganised and dishes that are 100% vegan! They also have vegan desserts and alcohol.
The one on the left is the Edamame & Coconut Moneybags ($14.5). It looks quite tiny but it's packed with fillings! Mum liked this the most. The one on the right is Steamed Leek & Ginger Dumplings w Plum Sauce ($13.5) which (to me) was good but wasn't exceptional as far as vegan dumplings go (I don't really remember what it tastes like lol).
We also shared the Salt & Pepper Tofu w Green Papaya, Asian Herbs & Toasted Peanut Salad ($17.5) because Mum's friend likes tofu a lot and according to the waiter this was the dish with the most tofu lol! The tofu was great - crispy outside and silky soft inside - but I thought that the salad part was pretty ordinary! On the right is the Black Pepper Rice Noodles w Bean Curd, Chinese Broccolini, Lotus Root, Bean Sprouts & Shallots ($18.5) which I liked because it's like char kway teow haha!
Unpictured is a unique brussels sprout dish: Crispy Brussels Sprouts w Crunchy Chickpeas & Lemon Vinaigrette ($11.5) was like nothing we've ever tasted before! It was all black and probably really heavy (in the TCM sense) haha but really enjoyable! We ended the meal with a dessert: Coconut Sago Pudding w Dried Apricot, Passionfruit, Mixed Berry Coulis & Puffed Rice ($13.5).
Mum's friend was really impressed with the food and even went to the kitchen to compliment the chef!! She often goes to another restaurant down the street but said that she'll eat at Yulli's more often yay ^^
417 Crown Street
Surry Hills NSW 2010
Mon-Wed 5pm-late
Thur-Sun 11.30am-late
