Yulli's — Restaurant in Sydney

Went to Yulli's after getting good reviews from friends. When we arrived, we were seated upstairs - it had been a 36 degree day that day but it seems there was little to no air conditioning/fans. There were 2 windows open in front of me and one window behind me but it seems the other below wouldn't open so it was a little stuffy in there. We were seated in the middle where there was no window to open. My companion and I wished to order the Banquet menu but I asked if it were possible to change the cauliflower meal for something else as I told the waitress I could not eat cauliflower. She asked me if it was an allergy and I told her it wasn't but due to a health condition eating cauliflower would make me sick. She advised she could change it for a second serve of the king brown mushrooms. After some toing and froing with my companion, we refused this as it didn't seem like much of a "tasting menu" giving us 2 of the same thing (and I'm glad I did say no to more mushrooms - but I'll get to that!) and I wanted her to be able to have some variety. I hadn't thought much of it until I heard the same waitress (who I think was named Charlotte) was EXTREMELY accommodating to the table next to us - offering an extra serve of zucchini flowers to them so it was an even number to share and providing plenty of options and changes for gluten free. It seemed my need to change a meal to suit my dietary requirements did not seem a suitable enough reason for her. The first course came quite quickly and the food was pretty nice - Korean Fried broccolini was heavily battered though but seeing as it is described as "fried" I assumed it might be. The second course took a little while to come out but was again nice - probably the best course but again the Fried Zucchini salad was heavily battered; san choy bow was very tasty and probably the best of the 3 courses. When the third course came out I knew I would only be able to eat 2 of the 3 and so I tried out the kind brown mushroom - which was again heavily battered and possibly deep fried. It was chewy and soggy but not seasoned so not very nice (which is why I am happy we didn't say yes to 2 serves of it) and the salad was soaked on dressing, so much so that it was drowning. I would recommend anyone trying this to ask for the dressing separately. My companion said the cauliflower was average and the dressing was a little odd. As we left quite a bit of this course it took a while for the waitress, a different one, to ask if we still wanted the dessert. I responded with "still want the dessert?" and then said yes we did. She said that some people don't want it after they have the other courses - she could see though that we had left over half the third course. Desserts were average - sticky date was really thick and tough, cheesecake was ok but said "chocolate and almond crust" but had a distinct coconut taste and chocolate and rum petit four was the pick of this bunch. I felt at one stage that two of the staff were having a conversation about our table as I had to use a hand held fan to keep cool as well as my earlier conversation regarding changing out the cauliflower meal, as I looked over to the bar a few times and it looked at though they were gossiping about us - talking and both looking straight in our direction. All in all I did not have a great experience here. The staff were unhelpful and inattentive, the environment was stuffy, our table was sticky to the point that we tore our napkins picking them up and the food was mostly battered and deep fried. I give 2 stars only for the parts of the food that were tasty and wasn't battered and the...

I want to highlight the shiitake mushroom balls and the fried Korean broccolini. Those were phenomenal. The well managed texture of the diced mushrooms and the nice bite of the broccolini paired with some marvellous simple and boldly flavoured sauces (nice touches of sour and creaminess), led to my amazement. There were some dishes which left me wanting. The mixed leaf salad was lacklustre and while perhaps good as an appetiser it failed to excite. Similarly the parpadelle had a foreign texture; while I do like experimentation with food, the final product in this case was a flimsy sheet of flour with some sauces that showed hints of excitement but couldn’t make the dish unbland. Dessert was something of its own. I think this is one of the best desserts I’ve had in recent times. It seems some Thai dessert techniques were used in creating the sticky date pudding, making it my second favourite sticky date pudding. The cheesecake had a nice blueberry compote and the cheesecake itself was perhaps better than most non-vegan cheesecakes I normally eat. The chocolate was smooth with a nice bite.

All in all, I love the food and the fusion of techniques. Hot pot, pasta, pizza, sang choy bow. So much variety and so many flavours, and excellent foray into the vegan world for a reasonable price.

Staff were friendly and food came relatively fast. The bathrooms however had some strange and slightly off putting lighting and architecture. It felt cramped and a bit run down. I do like that the outdoors area was converted into an indoors area with a simple roof. The umbrellas hanging midair was also a nice touch.

Highly recommend coming to try...

A restaurant kitchen that closes over half an hour before the advertised closing time of the restaurant, with no warning or explanation, is a sure sign not to go back to the restaurant again, no matter how good. It's a very disappointing shame Yulli's did this tonight 18 May. What could be classed as Sydney's best vegan restaurant, has certainly disappointed on this front. Even though we were given the dessert menu, and the waitresses disappeared after that, over half an hour before closing we were then slapped with the bill and told to pay. When asked about dessert, she dismissively replied "The kitchen's shut." When I pointed to the menus we'd been given to order dessert she blithely said "Oh, I thought you would have waved me down if you wanted dessert." It was over half an hour till closing time. There was only hostility and clearly it was time to leave. The beer bar, for which they are famous, also closed 45 minutes before closing time. I have done my time as a waitress and bar tender and know the industry well. Clearly the owner of Yulli's was not present. When I asked at checkout weren't they open til 10pm, the waitress said yes but the kitchen decides when they close. Additionally our main course was brought out first, but we didn't make a fuss and just enjoyed the meal. Needless to say, such off hand abrupt dismissiveness has ensured we won't go back, even though the food is amazing. I also noticed that same waitress cleaning the table beside us, scraping food bits off it and leaving the whole tabletop in a greasy film. The toilets were a disgusting mess as well. Yulli's owners need to address the staff attitude and...