Need Help for a Vegetarian Travelling to Sydney and Melbourne

I am not a vegetarian, my friend is a vegetarian and will be visiting Sydney and Melbourne for a few days each. So I need all the suggestion I could get for a good vegetarian meal.

  • does not have to be fancy/expensive
  • for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack, dessert
  • the restaurant does not have to be 100% vegetarian, just the food itself
  • would be nice to have a mix of authentic vegetarian food from SE Asia, middle-east, Europe etc.
  • 4 adults in total, only 1 vegetarian. We are happy to all have vegetarian food, so sharing food is also possible.

Could you share some good vegetarian food you've had? Thank you!

Comments

  • +1

    Hurricane grill

  • +1

    Harvest

  • +1

    In Sydney - anywhere on King St Newtown. In Melbourne, just about anywhere, but particularly Smith St or Brunswick St in Fitzroy.

  • Don't let him/her eat your meat.

  • Happycow.net

  • +1
    1. About Life Surry Hills
      Healthy Eating food store which also serve meals. At Surry Hills, there is a self-service food section at a reasonable price.

    2. Mother Chu's Vegetarian Kitchen, 367 Pitt St, Sydney NSW 2000
      Asian vegetarian cuisine

  • Subway Yum Yum…

  • +1

    Hungry jacks has Veggie Whopper Burger.

  • -3

    im a visitor to a foreign state/country, but THEY have to cater to my every whim! boohoo waaaaa

  • How did you find him?

  • +1

    I'm a vegetarian and it actually is more annoying when people go out of their way to be overly accommodating, despite it being extremely thoughtful. I don't want to be an inconvenience to anyone because of my out of the norm dietary choices / beliefs.

    Everywhere you go, there are vegetarian options available. It's really never been an issue, especially in Melbourne. I wouldn't stress too much about it.

    The only problem I usually find is that the vegetarian meals you can order are usually higher calorie / piss poor nutrition wise and don' generally fit my diet.

    edit: With all that said I realized I didn't give any recommendations.

    Any Indian restaraunt if that's your thing. So many vegetarian options.

    Middle eastern food is great for vegetarian options too. Mama Manoush in Fitzroy if I'm thinking about the right place was quite nice.

    Somali food (I think), was damn good and out of the norm. I can't recall the name of the place but it was on Racecourse Road in Flemington. edit: this one https://www.zomato.com/melbourne/the-abyssinian-flemington/m…

  • +1

    Melbourne - Vegie Bowl
    Asian style vego, tastes amazing

  • +1

    Monk Bodhi Dharma for brekkie!

  • +1

    Chatkazz is a vegetarian Indian restaurant in Harris Park and Bella Vista (suburbs in Sydney). Personally I prefer Bella Vista as it is newer and the service there is efficient. But both are the same franchise. Really good veggie Indian food!

  • Why is this even a thread? Nearly any self respecting café in Melb or Sydney will do a good vegetarian dish. This isn't the 1990s…

  • +1

    go to Harris Park in Sydney… loss of Indian restaurants where you can have veg and non veg food…
    chatkas is one of the best restaurant in Sydney Harris Park

  • Fun Fact: You can type "vegetarian restaurants" on google maps and itll pull up results. Cool ey?

  • Wow, thank you all for your replies, I did read every single ones, but would take me hours to reply lol.
    We will definitely visit some of these ozb-approved restaurants.
    And thank you in particular for the suggestion for the African/Somalia ones, will surely consider if we happen to be in the area.

  • Carlingford Vegetarian Restaurant.

    Most of it is mock meat, which is a bit weird, but but the food is excellent. So if you're out in this area at all, it's well worth a visit!

  • Not sure if mentioned already.

    Harris Park has about 30 Indian restaurants with each of them having Veg options.
    Maya Vegetarian in Cleveland St

  • All you can eat Vegetarian using a Groupon in the city:

    https://www.groupon.com.au/deals/crossways-food-for-life-1

  • I’m vegetarian since 01 Jan 18 (Stupid New Years Resolution), if I’m missing meat I go to Loving Hut in Bankstown. http://www.lovinghut.com/au/

  • I would recommend Subway, it is the only restaurant I eat at, the only product I order is veggie delight with no cheese.

  • Ribs and Bibs. They will turn from their childish ways.

  • I used to be a huge meat eater… I would love mega amounts of bacon with a brekkie roll… meat was my main source of protein…

    Then all of a sudden I turned to vegetarian based meals, don’t ask me why I am turned off by meat it’s almost like my tastebuds can do without it… it’s now been about 3 months and I cannot go back to meat…

    My kids hate it, my parents hate it…

    I decided to make them a nice tikka masala meal - brown onions coconut oil, tikka masala, diced potatoes, zucchini, egg plant and let it simmer it coconut cream for 45 mins… served it with some basmati rice… kids told me - best meal ever dad…

    And also being off meat I have lost about 5kg too… not to mention all the health benefits…

    Yeah so from huge meat eater - you name it pork belly, chicken, lamb… the lot to being veg I feel a hell of a lot better

    Ohh - and every place I been out to has at least a vegetarian meal on it too.. so these days not too hard to find a restaurant without a veg based meal

    • What age are you? Did anything bring on this change?

      Ethically I could be a vegetarian, but I feel like I haven't eaten a meal without eating meat (maybe not every meal, but basically every day).

      • 43 - just my body I feel, I just felt really bloated after eating meat and wouldn't feel too good, dehydration, headaches, pains in my stomach, irregular movements… you get the idea…

        It wasn't because of any animal rights - I guess everyone has a different reason to wanting to be veg.

        For me it was more of a health reasons…

        But then I read an article that said this "A Mayo Clinic study found that the average time food spends in the large intestine varies by gender: 33 hours for men and 47 hours for women. Your digestion rate is also based on what you've eaten. Meat and fish can take as long as two days to fully digest."

        So imagine… up to 2 days of meat being digested in a body tempature of 37C…

        • In an acid and anaerobic environment? Probably not too bad. Actually we rely on intestinal flora to break food down. But I take your point.

          Yeah health reasons also makes sense to me, but at 33 the road is long and the pork belly is crispy.

          Thanks for the reply :)

    • "simmer it coconut cream for 45 mins" That is really unhealthy, saturated fat rises cholesterol. It is great you have gone vegetarian, but there is a level beyond it. https://www.drmcdougall.com/ aim towards that.

      • Yeah in some ways… rather have coconut cream than animal fats such as pork belly or lamb

  • Thanks for being a good mate to your vego friend! I'm a vegetarian but my partner eats meat, so here are some Sydney-based ideas where meat is available, but where the meat-free option is still pretty awesome (also cheap because Ozbargain, and because that's how I roll :D)

    • Banh Mi - a lot of suburbs will have a pretty naff looking hot bread shop, with a name that appears to be Vietnamese or possibly French. If you see a glass case with meat and salad in it, you can pretty much always get a salad roll, and often cheese or egg as well (the meat is usually pork or sometimes chicken). Something about the fresh coriander and the salty sauce brings everything together and it's just really delicious. Super cheap for lunch on the go. There's a list of good ones here - my partner raves about the Chicken rolls at the one in Mascot. There aren't many of these near the centre of the city or the tourist spots - I suspect the margin is too small to make it feasible in a high rent area.
    • Dumplings - there are an epic diversity of dumplings in Chinatown, but for vego friendliness I recommend the Northern Chinese food from Chinese Noodle House in the Prince Centre. It's cheap and cheerful and quick (you really can't linger!) I definitely rate the dumplings, the handmade noodles and the shallot pancakes.
    • Lebanese food is generally great for vegos and meatatarians alike, and I'm bummed that my favourite (Al Mustafa's at Glebe) has closed down. There are lots of others, though, especially if you venture into the south west.

    Sydney also has great yum cha, but the big famous places are pretty hit and miss for vegetarians. Consider vegetarian yum cha from Green Gourmet in Newtown or Bodhi's at Cook and Phillip Park (right near St Mary's cathedral, I think this is a particularly Sydney experience). If any of your party are at all cautious about yum cha, the vego version has the bonus reassurance that you won't be eating tripe, chickens feet or any of the things that tend to put people off.

  • Red Sparrow in Collingwood (Melbourne) does the most amazing vegan pizza

  • Meatmaiden in the CBD, Meat n Wine co, or Hunter n Barrel should have you sorted!

  • A couple of Vegan shop around Sydney recommended by a friend, strict with no garlic and onion.

    • Hari's Vegetarian in Ultimo - Indian
    • Mother Chu's Vegetarian in CBD - Chinese
    • Green Gourmet, Newtown - Chinese
    • Garden Lotus, Newtown - Vietnamese
    • Vina's Vegan, Newtown - Vietnamese
    • Bliss and Chips, Newtown - mock fish and chips
    • Blossoming Lotus, Newtown (also on CBD Dixon st foot court, but the one in newtown is superior) - Thai
    • Carlingford Vegetarian Cuisine, Dim Sum style - Carlingford, a little bit far from the city, but it's serving vegan dim sum which is noteworthy
  • Nearly 1 year vegan here in Sydney :) have never settled for a salad lmao there are so many mouth watering plant-based dishes to be had!

    Gigi Pizzeria in Newtown~(MOST AMAZING PIZZA EVER)
    Golden Lotus in Newtown~
    Gathered Kitchen in Broadway~ (SECOND BEST VEGAN BACON EVER)
    Speedos Cafe in Bondi
    Mark and Vinnys in Surry Hills~
    Soul Burger (Randwick, Glebe, Parramatta)~(Replace "beef" patty with fried "chicken" patty because it's their best, also get them to cook your bacon more crispy, not soft/floppy BEST VEGAN BACON EVER)
    One Tea Lounge in CBD
    The Copper MIll in Alexandria
    Lentil As Anything in Newtown
    Bondi Wholefoods in Bondi~
    Nutie Donuts in Rozelle~
    The Green Lion (Vegan Pub!) in Rozelle
    The Hold in Manly (Every item on the menu has a vegan alternative)~ (BEST BURGER EVER)
    Gelato Blue in Newtown~ (BEST GELATO EVER- no one would ever taste the difference!)

    If you're out Cabramatta way, there's An Nhien~, Bo De Tam, Veggie House (Canley Vale)~, An Lac and Green Palace Thai~!

    ~ = HIGHLY RECOMMENDED, it'll impress non-vegan people haha

    That's all I can think of off the top of my head. Sydney Vegan Guide on instagram is really helpful because you get to see photos too haha
    Some of these places are not 100% vegan so you have lots of other choices too. These are places I go to quite often :)

  • For a vegan/vego pub meal in Melbourne, I recommend The Reverence Hotel in Footscray (which has more mexican dishes on the menu) and The Cornish Arms in Brunswick.

    Both great places that cater to vegans, vegetarians and carnivores!

  • In terms of dining out, there is a big distinction between vegetarian and vegan. Generally the difference between vegetarian and vegan meals is that vegan meals would have no dairy and no eggs as well. In most cases (except in budget-level chinese places) the waiter/waitress will go to the kitchen to ask the chef and let you know. I know about Melbourne, so my recommendations will be for Melbourne.

    The recommendation for Thai places is a good one. In Thai places generally if you can't find a vegetarian option on the menu, you can ask them to make it vegetarian. For budget eats I can recommend Thai Deli in South Melbourne, we have a vegan in our group and the owner is used to his order for vegetarian dishes 'with no eggs'.

    Falafel from Middle Eastern places and I would recommend Maha for mid-to-high budget (maybe take your friend to the Kew outlet to see the 'burbs). Greek places also offer plenty of vegetarian fares.

    Grab some el cheapo spicy potato borek (vegan) or spinach and feta (vegetarian) from the borek stall in Victoria Market or South Melbourne market, they're both usually served warm and great to carry around in the cold weather.

    Secret Kitchen have a larger-than-most vegetarian option for yum cha (around 10 dishes, I'd say), however you have to order these from the menu as the dishes they trolley around are generally non-vegetarian, the only issue with them is the customer service is quite… you have to be quite persistent with them (it helps to have someone speaking mandarin who is also quite persistent as the waiter/waitress would insist that they don't have any other vegetarian dishes despite them being on the menu—this is because they only thought about the dish options available on the trolleys).

    Shandong Ma Ma have at least 2-3 vegetarian options in their dumplings/buns repertoire. Plenty of Indian (North and South) restaurants in the CBD serving primarily vegetarian. South Indian would have more vegan options as their curries don't contain yoghurt. As well as renowned institutions such as Gopals and Crossways (previously mentioned by others).

    Japanese in hipster spots like South Melbourne or Fitzroy would have vegetarian/vegan options, KUU Cafe comes to mind. Korean is the next challenge, but Warra Warra and Oriental Spoon have a big enough menu that some of them can be made vegetarian (Japchae is generally easiest to make vegetarian/vegan, so is bibimbap). In Korean places, as the waiter/waitress which sidedishes are vegetarian (kimchi generally contains fermented shrimp).

    Basically, it's not difficult to find vegetarian. If you can't find one in one store, Melbourne CBD houses so many eating places that the next one bound to serve vegetarian options.

    For vegan, there's a Big Vegan Market happening this tomorrow (Saturday), you can also join the facebook group Melbourne Vegan Eats to get some recommendations or check out this list. Mantra Lounge, which is a budget-to-medium option, is missing from that list. These would be places that serves PRIMARILY vegan dishes so there's no need to ask them to make things vegetarian/vegan.

    Hope your friends will enjoy the trip!

  • Literally every restaurant has a vegetarian option these days, even steak houses.

    Just look up reviews and the menu from google reviews, tripadvisor, zomato, urbanspoon etc.

    Have fun!

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