Vegan Brunch at Allegra Dining

A couple of weeks before going away for Christmas I had the great pleasure of being invited to check out Allegra Dining, which is a new restaurant on the ground floor of a chic residential & commercial complex on Danks St, in the heart of Waterloo.

Allegra Dining

It was a nice and sunny Sunday morning so we decided to sit outside at the back for some fresh air. I think they were the best seats in the house! It was quiet, away from everybody else, plus you had the best view of the shallow pool, the palm trees and the surrounding apartments. It almost felt like you were holidaying in a tropical resort somewhere.

Allegra Dining

Allegra doesn’t promote itself as being vegan friendly, though they should. I ordered a few dishes straight from their menu which they were happy to ‘veganise’. And they were good. Really good!

Whipped avocado, broadbeans, peas, soft-boiled egg & bottarga on toast (veganised by removing the egg and the fish).

This toast was exploding with flavours and textures – the crunchy bread, the creamy whipped avocado (which is ingenious in itself), the fresh, sweet, bright-green peas (shelled by hands, mind you), the mildly earthy broadbeans, and those bright purple microgreens, all sang their beautiful tune in perfect culinary harmony. It was decidedly the most delicious toast I had in 2017.

 Allegra Dining

Spaghetti, burrata, tomato, basil, pangrattato (veganised by removing the cheese, and they also added some nice herb leaves).

This dish was such a delight to eat. The spinach pasta is perfectly al dente, the flavour is distinctly simple with just enough heat to excite the tongue. It’s not too oily and not too dry. Bellísima.

Allegra Dining

Allegra Dining - Roasted Kipfler Potatoes

Kifler crispy kipflers, rosemary, burnt butter aioli (veganised with vegan aioli)

Having had hundreds of roast potato dishes (outside and inside of my own kitchen), I consider myself as somewhat of a connoisseur of roast potatoes. It is quite a fine art making crispy and wonderfully fluffy potato and it looks like the good folks at Allegra have mastered it. It’s definitely on my ‘must order’ list for Allegra Dining.

Passionfruit sorbet with fresh mango, coconut cream and mango pearls

Now this is something that they made especially for me on the spot, because the mango pancake is not vegan. I really think they should put this alternative on the permanent menu. The creamy coconut, the soft fresh mango flesh, the silky smooth passionfruit sorbet, and the bursts of mango juice as the pearls dance around and pop in your mouth… now that’s a party I’d invite myself to! It was a delicious dessert to cap off the year before we went overseas.

Allegra Dining

Allegra’s décor

My husband Nat was especially complimentary of Allegra’s décor. He thought that the restaurant’s interior was a very artistic mixture of different materials (from the wood-board planks snaking through the polished concrete floor, to the wood-panelled walls, the wine bottles decorating the walls, and the tasteful spotlights creating a moody atmosphere) that all came together to create a very pretty warehouse-conversion-style establishment that made you feel at home from the moment you arrived.

The interior designer definitely earned their keep with this venue because even though there are a dozen different materials and styles all jostling together inside the restaurant they all ‘click’ together and the venue never feels tacky or dated. I personally thought the place, and not just the food, looked great.

Allegra Dining

Allegra Dining
Address: 8/18 Danks St, Waterloo NSW 2017

Hours:

All day brunch: Sunday 9am to 3pm

Dinner: Tuesday- Saturday 5pm to 10:30pm (kitchen opens at 6pm)

Contact: (02) 9698 1699,  hello@allegradining.com.au