Dish Pizza Gelato

I visited this local restaurant in Double Bay fairly early on Saturday evening.  It wasn’t very busy around 6pm but it began to fill with families in the indoor and plentiful outdoor seating.

I confirmed with the restaurant beforehand that all the pastas and pizza bases are vegan so that leaves a very big scope of dishes to choose from.

For the entrée I ordered the dish roast eggplant dip with crisp bread.  It was very delicious – whilst it took the edge off being hungry, it didn’t leave me that full that I didn’t feel like a main afterwards as sometimes happens to me!

For the main, I had the spaghettini with roma tomato, garlic, basil and Napoli sauce.  There was nothing remarkable about this dish, but I always enjoy a good basic pasta on any given day.
The staff were very attentive and willing to be helpful so overall, it was a very pleasant atmosphere.

The vegan (or veganisable) dishes available are:

Starters and Sharing

• Dish hummus with crisp bread
• Dish roast eggplant dip with crisp bread
• Bowl of marinated olives with grissini (ask for the white anchovies to be removed)
• Traditional tomato bruschetta

Salads

• Pear and Walnut (without the parmesan)
• Roast Pumpkin and Charred Zucchini (without the goasts cheese)
• Roast beetroot and Roast red Onion (without the feta and yoghurt dressing)

Pasta

• Spaghettini with roma tomato, garlic, basil and napoli sauce
• Penne with roast eggplant ragu and pine nuts (without the feta)

Sides

• Spiced Eggplant Ragu
• Shoestring fries (without aioli)
• Green beans with extra olive oil and lemon

The restaurant is located in 5a/19-27 Cross St  Double Bay NSW 2028 which is just next to the lovely Oscar’s bookshop.

Casa Asturiana

Casa Asturiana is a Spanish restaurant my family and I have enjoyed going to for many years.  It has good, down-to-earth Spanish food that is flavourful and unpretentious.  It is food that would be served in any bar in the city or 'pueblo' in Spain.

I always, always order the Spanish Salad for the incredibly delicious sauce.  There have been many conversations had specualting over the ingredients with consensus being that it contains capsicum, olive oil and garlic.

The menu has a good range of tapas and on this evening as I was in a rush to make it to a movie on time, I only had one, which was the Patatas Bravas (Spicy Potatos).  The tapas servings are generous so was quite filling.

There is plenty of room at the restaurant so no need to book ahead.  There are many times a group of us have dropped in and there's always been room even for a group.  

For a Spanish restaurant, the menu is very vegan friendly with the following items available:

Tapas

• Marinated Olives
• Grilled Mushrooms with garlic and parsley
• Spicy Potatoes
• Roasted red peppers
• Spanish salad (I highly recommend this)
• Garden salad

Mains

• Vegetarian paella (although I would suggest confirming the stock used on the day)

Dessert

• Strawberries with vanilla-flavoured liqueur
• Casadiellas - Ground walnuts, cinnamon, lemon zest and aniseed liqueur wrapped in filo pastry and dusted with icing sugar. 

The restaurant in located in Liverpool Street in the Spanish Quarter.