Foodies with an eco-conscious palate have an evolving
choice of cafés and food outlets throughout New Zealand where vegan goodness is
the by-word to delicious flavours and wholesome sustenance. There are many
popular cafés and restaurants in the main visitor centres that offer some vegan
options for those with a preference for natural, and those offerings can be
very … very good.
New Zealand’s cult vegan destination is surely ‘the
unbakery’ - Little Bird Organics in Auckland. At three cafés around central
Auckland, where everything is made from scratch, the salad bowls are legendary,
and so is the ‘cheesecake’. Little Bird’s ‘unbakeries’ are found in Ponsonby,
Kingsland and Britomart.
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| Little Bird Organics ‘unbakery’ now has three sites around central Auckland and makes everything from scratch PC Susanna Burton |
Revive is an Auckland institution that has been
keeping vegetarians and vegans happy in Auckland since 2005. The menu changes
weekly with an extensive range of salads along with daily meal, hotpots and dhal specials. The café has
also released a series of successful cookbooks so customers can recreate their
favourite dishes at home.
Misters Real Food has a strict food philosophy using
only wholefoods, free from gluten, dairy and refined sugar. While not
exclusively vegan, their vegan options are hard to match and their infamous
lunch bowls are extremely popular with the locals. Using only the best
organic, local and seasonal produce, the results are in the taste and nutrition.
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| Located in Auckland, Misters Real Food's Acai Bowl is made with organic acai berries, kiwifruit, raw granola and coconut snow PC Misters Real Food |
Hectors Restaurant in the heart of Auckland’s Heritage
Hotel pays particular attention to the needs of vegetarians and vegans. Newly
launched menus in the restaurant and lobby bar are entirely plant-based. A
whole section of the kitchen is animal-product free, right through to the
coffee machine using only soy and rice milks. Executive chef Jinu Abraham, who
specialises in plant-based cooking, trained in India.
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| The spinach and pumpkin beignets with mint & silverbeet salad, lemon cous cous & cashew coriander dressing at Hector's the hotel restaurant at Heritage Auckland PC Heritage Hotels |
Even in Auckland - New Zealand’s largest city – you’re
never far from a farmer’s market. On Saturday mornings local producers and
farmers set up in Britomart Square, in downtown Auckland, where city slickers
can buy fresh organic produce for the week. Oratia Farmer’s Market, a short
20-minute drive west from Auckland, is set on a vineyard. Each Saturday morning
locals and visitors stock up on fresh bread, fruit and veg. In a beautiful
rural setting, Clevedon Farmer’s Market (a 40-minute drive south of Auckland)
is one of the region’s premier markets. Be tempted by the seasonal offerings of
fruit and vegetables picked as recently as the night before if not early on
market morning.
Maranui, right on the beach above the surf club in
picturesque Lyall Bay and just 10 minutes from Wellington city, is a Wellington
institution. So much so that when the building was severely damaged by fire,
the hospitality industry got together to help them raise the funds to open up
again. The vegan fare is delicious and they proudly proclaim themselves as the
‘best coffee in the bay’.
Wellington’s infamous Cuba St is a colourful strip in the heart of the
city. Midnight Espresso, found at number 178, is laid back and relaxing, they
also offer a range of predominately vegetarian and vegan counter and menu food.
Vegan donuts here are extremely popular and often sell out.
Wellington: Deluxe Café
Deluxe is another Wellington hotspot where you will
find locals sipping long blacks and munching back wholesome food in uber-cool
surroundings. Keep an eye out for their famous vegan sandwiches. They’re just
along the street from the Embassy Theatre (think Lord of the Rings and The
Hobbit premières), at the end of Courtenay Place. Address: 10 Kent Terrace, Wellington
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| Deluxe Cafe in Wellington is famous for their vegan sandwiches and vegan friendly salads PC Nicola Edmonds |
Greytown, in the Wairarapa region and just an hour’s
drive north of Wellington, is home to Food Forest Organics. This small-town
grocery store stocks a variety of specialised organic products and produce.
James and Suzy Cameron’s nearby ‘Cameron Family Farms’ is the primary producer
supplying the own-brand in store honey, olive oil and hemp seed oil
that is processed in-house in small batches.
The Lotus Heart, in Christchurch, is dedicated to
conscious living and healthy eating. Lotus Heart is a pure vegetarian
restaurant that also offers options for vegan, gluten-free and raw food diets.
There is a health store on site and vegans looking for a coffee should try it
with the homemade cashew milk.
Queenstown’s Aro Hā Wellness Retreat provides a
rainbow of stylish vegetarian and vegan cuisine. Paleo-friendly, gluten-free,
dairy-free, and enzymatically active, the award winning retreat aims to treat
the body a diet rich in trace minerals, vitamins, and phytonutrients. Before or
after a healthy vegan meal, yoga, meditation and other relaxing activities are
on offer.
Bespoke Kitchen holds the title of the 2016 New
Zealand Café of the Year and it just so happens that healthy eating is the
mantra at this award winning establishment. Most of the food is either raw,
vegan or gluten free with menu highlights such as the miso and rosemary
buckwheat raw pizza with tangy tomato sauce, rocket, olive and vegetable salad
with cashew cheese.
Visa procedure: One may forward their
application to the TT office in Mumbai or Delhi, which will then be directed to
Immigration New Zealand. A visitor visa for New Zealand is processed within 15
working days.
Airline connections: Connecting flights to New Zealand are available on Singapore Airlines, Thai Airways, Cathay Pacific and Malaysia Airlines with stop-overs in their respective hubs. New Zealand’s international gateways are Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Queenstown.
Domestic services: You can fly between all New Zealand
cities and most major towns using domestic air services. Air New Zealand and
Jetstar are the main providers. Their services are complemented by regional
airlines, charter companies and scenic flight operators.
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