Sunday, August 22, 2010

Our Top Top 5 Vegan Friendly Restaurants

Marieke Hardy recently shared her top 5 vegan restaurants in Melbourne which got Toby and I talking about our faves. I thought it might also be helpful for vegan visiting Melbourne.

My favourites in no particular order:
  1. Ezard- for expensive fine dining degustation experience. You can read about our pre tasting menu experience here. Although I wonder what they serve me now in post coeliac days.
  2. Shakahari- I've had my ups and downs with the place, but it's the only fine dining vegetarian restaurant here and they have some outstanding dishes like the avocado rolls.
  3. Disco beans- yes it's new but I'm obsessed as you can probably tell, we went again last night and I had their gluten free and vegan okonomiyaki- genius!
  4. Trippy Taco- simple, affordable but amazing Mexican dishes. really can't go past their tacos, by the way did you know that you could have both tofu and bean tacos instead of having to pick just one filling?
  5. Coco Loco- So technically it's a chocolate place but it is delicious and so vegan and gluten free friendly. It's pricey but I don't mind paying more for organic, fair trade chocolately goodness with their specialty Kashew Mylk. Their crepes, mousse, gelato and hot chocolates are perfect! Also, it's just across the road from Disco Beans.
Toby's fave places and his comments:
  1. White Lotus - R.I.P. Peter Li. The tamarind mock fish is the best mock meat dish EVER. Vicki said there was a new sign stating that they will reopen on august 26th!
  2. Coco Loco - Super Awesome hot choc, chocolate mousse, gelato and crepes
  3. Las Vegan - Give me a calzone and a cup of chai and I'll be a happy man.
  4. Yong Green Food - Vegan Korean pancakes, grilled/stir fried mock meat, Korean BBQ burger with THREE different sauces, Thai/Indian curries and THREE different raw vegan cheesecakes. What more can you want?"
  5. Mamasita - One word: Fresh. Another word: Controversial
What are your top 5?

4 comments:

  1. I LOVED Trippy Taco, I really disliked Las Vegan and wish I was able to try Shakahari, Coco Loco & Discobeans :(

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  2. I'm not a vegan (just a garden variety vego), but excluding my favourite eggy and cheesy places:

    Trippy, Las Vegan, Shakahari and Ezard are all up there, and I would agree with Marieke's suggestion of Otsumami (though I've always preferred both the food and atmosphere of Peko Peko more).

    I would also add: Thanh Nga Nine on Victoria St or Bo De Trai in Foot-es-cray for Vietnamese (not to mention the Nhu Lan bakery in either suburb for the most amazing tofu banh mi - just omit the mayo, which is usually contaminated with meat pate anyway).

    Moroccan Soup Bar - although their best dish (IMO) the chickpea thingo, is not vegan, they are otherwise super accommodating and it is just a wonderful dining experience.

    Shoya - if you've got a bit of cash to burn, the vegetarian/vegan degustation will blow your mind (and your stomach - it is an epic amount of food).

    Lentil As Anything (the Convent one) - sure, the food varies a bit depending on who's cooking, but it's such a great place with a great ethos and everyone loves a buffet (plus, if it's shit, you don't HAVE to pay, I guess). Everyone I ever brought there loved it - even hardcore meat-eaters. Eating out is much more fun when you take money out of the equation. You can try stuff you'd never otherwise try and go back for seconds without feeling like a pig. Plus: unlimited vegan cakes.

    LotF - I think Las Vegan's chips are better, but where else can you get hand-cut chips with crazy sauces at 2am? Vegans need late-night junk food too.

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  3. My omni friend and I paid a visit to Disco Beans on the weekend on the strength of your recommendation, and oh my goodness, THANK YOU! We had the okonomiyaki and the beetroot curry, and shared some cakes, including the strawberry fields forever cake, and we raved about it all! Thanks again for getting word of the Bean out there.

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  4. Mandee, I'm so glad that you shared my love of the place. Shame about Las Vegan, they do have ace peanut butter and choc g/f cookies.

    Rith, great list. I found it hard too to keep to 5 places :-)

    Hayley: your welcome, I love that place and as long as others go it shouldn't close down!

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