Peace Harmony

As I mentioned in my recent post about Sydney, I headed into the city on Thursday night for dinner with Andy's brother. I sort of tricked him a little - I told him, via text message, that we'd meet at a yummy Thai place, but I didn't mention it was a vegan Thai place.  When we met up in nearby Wynyard Park, I gave a token "Do you mind that it's a vegan place?" -- knowing that he was very hungry, and it was too late for any change of plans.

When we walked into Peace Harmony (at 44 Erskine Street, between Wynard Park and Darling Harbour), Michael remembered that he had eaten there before and really like it.  So I probably didn't need to sneak around, but I didn't want to take any chances!  It was pretty stuffy inside, so we grabbed a table on the tiny back balcony, where we caught the slightest breeze, and proceeded to order masses of food.  Michael only took one photo, which shows some of the food but not that well, but I do remember what we ordered, and it was all delicious so I wanted to give a proper plug to Peace Harmony here.

We started with a mixed entree, which came with:

• A satay stick - seitan, I think, on a skewer with delicious peanutty sauce.
• A spring roll - filled with veggies and something proteiny, crunchy and delicious.
• A curry puff - just spicy enough.
• Tod mun - a kind of veggie fritter
• A money bag - this was the only thing that looked too hard to split in half, so I let Michael go for it.

Then our main meals arrived and there was barely room on the little table for everything.

Michael ordered the first item on the Chef's Suggestion list, Hor Mok, which is described as "veggie fish mixed with mushroom and vegetables cooked in thick red curry and coconut milk".  This bowl of curry was so fragrant & coconutty, filled with veggies and all kinds of mock meats of a variety of textures.  The curry didn't taste too spicy at first, but built up in the back of your throat so that after a few bites it was noticeable.  But I could still distinguish fresh flavours like kaffir lime amidst the spice.

The other two dishes you can just make out in this photo. 

I ordered Gai Larn Stir Fried, thinking some greens as a side dish would be good.  When this came out, it was much more than just greens - it also had tofu and TVP, making it very filling.  And my main was the Cashew Nut Stir Fry - "Veggie meat, tofu with Harmony sauce, vegetables and cashew nut".  This, again, had several different kinds of mock meat, some chickeny, some tofu-y.  It was all really delicious, and after clearing all of these plates we didn't have time for dessert.

I highly recommend Peace Harmony to anyone who finds themselves in Sydney.  Newtown is obviously a great vegan destination, but if you're in the city then Peace Harmony is definitely worth a visit.  Everything is vegan, and there is even vegan propaganda in the restaurant (which I find endearing!), the range of choices is huge, and the food is fresh and flavourful.  We gave it four thumbs up!