Whether you’re vegan, vegetarian, flexitarian or plant-curious, Christchurch’s specialised plant-based eateries cover all the bases. The days of having a solitary vegetarian option on the menu at a restaurant are long past, and in the Christchurch hospitality scene, the seeds of plant-based eating are sprouting with more enthusiasm than your summer veggie patch. These menus showcase the incredible versatility of plant-based eating.

Plant-based specialists

The future of vegan

Whoever said you had to give up meat and dairy to go vegan was, well, technically correct. But lucky for us, Grater Goods is living in the future. Created by musician and long-time vegan Flip Grater and her husband Youssef Iskrane, this vegan delicatessen’s purpose in life is to provide ex-meat eaters with the taste and texture of popular animal products. Housed in an old Sydenham glass factory, the deli doubles as a bar and live music venue, bringing vibes of second-hand cool that will have you feeling right at home. Settle in for a glass of wine while you wait for your reuben sandwich, fried ‘chicken’ burger, or a platter of vegan antipasti if you really can’t choose. And bring your hipster string grocery bag, because you will definitely want to load up on items from the deli – Plant Pastrami, Chch Chorizo, Ashed Smokey Cheddar and Herb & Garlic Cream Cheese are all top picks. Excuse us, we’ll just be drooling over in the corner.

The future is here! Whipping up a home-cooked, plant-based meal to impress your family and dazzle your friends has never been easier thanks to vegan meal subscription service Green Dinner Table. With an emphasis on eco-friendly packaging, local produce and nutritious eats, Chef Tom Riley designs tasty recipes and the team jam-pack the meal boxes with local pre-portioned meal ingredients that create less waste. Check out Green Dinner Table's delicious phở recipe here.

Pints and plants

The Fermentist micro-brewery in Sydenham has beer at its roots and sustainability at its heart, specialising in craft beer and cider that are as good for the planet as they are for your palate. The Fermentist’s Kiwi Pale Ale is New Zealand’s first carboNZero certified beer. A carefully crafted (and portioned to avoid food waste) vegetarian menu is well matched to the bodacious brews on offer, using produce from the brewery’s own garden and supporting other local producers. Pull up a pew (literally – the bench seats are upcycled pews from the old St Matthews Church) next to the living wall and sample some shared plates.

Central city gems

Tucked in a sun-drenched, bohemian corner of The Welder, Barefoot Eatery is a vegan, organic and gluten free café with a fridge full of raw, cold-pressed juices from sister brand Greenroots Juicery to put a bit of sunshine in your veins. Just down the road you’ll find Raw Sugar Café, with cute, colourful and comfortable armchairs and amazingly innovative, entirely vegetarian menu. Almost everything can also be made vegan, even the eggs benedict! Plant and meat eaters alike will find something to love here, with standouts such as the ‘meat’ balls made from black lentils and vegetable protein in The Humble Trio sitting alongside vegan ham and sausages.

For a real treat, Bolina Sweets is a traditional Indian restaurant specialising in sweets and a wide range of vegetarian dishes. Everything on the menu is made in-house with local produce, from the treats you’d find at street-side shops to the elaborate desserts often eaten at festivals, birthdays and weddings. Another outlet bringing fab international vegetarian cuisine to Aotearoa is The Lotus-Heart, with its striking blue, white and gold building on St Asaph Street. Inside you’ll discover a vegetarian haven serving up a variety of eats from burgers and bowls of goodness to Indian dosa, curries and raw vegan cabinet treats.

In the 'burbs

Villa23 in Riccarton is the newest entrant on the city's purely vegetarian scene. The small renovated villa has cheerful décor and just two rooms seating ten people each for cosy dining with fresh, seasonal vegetarian and vegan food made in-house from scratch. Relax in the sunshiny courtyard or pull up a comfortable chair inside and try to choose between the Buddha Bowl and the Mushroom Risotto – the former is an explosion of flavours, colours and textures, and the latter is a fulfilling dish for the soul that just makes you melt with delight.

There’s a tranquil gem hidden in the Christchurch Buddhist Temple in Riccarton Road, where Water Drop Café boasts a vegetarian menu of fusion and traditional Chinese cuisine in a peaceful dining environment. Enjoy a cup of tea with Laksa, Braised Noodle Soup or Pan Fried Dumplings.

The Sydenham end of Colombo Street gives us Bikanervala, a warm and welcoming eatery where lucky Christchurchians can get a taste of 100% vegetarian Indian street food, including sweets, Indo-Chinese cuisine and thali platters. Try to choose from the range of dosa – South Indian crêpes with a variety of fillings, including spicy potato and tomato chatni.

For some serious community feel-good, CrunchyTown Bar & Café in the creative studios and workspace of XCHC is absolutely unmissable. A community-run project, this café's mission is to bring healthy and affordable vegan food to its guests. Hosting plenty of lively and community-minded events with an all-vegan bar menu and some acai bowl artistry in the café on weekends, this is a hidden gem definitely worth sniffing out. You’ll find a storm of tasty, healthy vegan dishes and cabinet goodies guaranteed to satisfy any appetite at Portershed on Lincoln Road. The café’s artistically packed grazing platters can be taken away or assembled on site for special events, and their range of care packages are full to bursting with long-life, shippable vegan goodies.

Waterside haunts

For entirely vegan and entirely delicious Asian fusion, head to The Origin in St Albans, which prides itself on its wide selection of speciality tea (or special-tea, if you will) and single-origin coffee. Settle in to the minimalist Scandinavian-inspired décor and treat yourself to a hearty lunch packed with flavour such as Papa’s Spice Noodle Soup.

Just a short walk from New Brighton beach you’ll find Karma Free Café, which serves great coffee and a selection of plant-based, gluten free and dairy free meals and cabinet food. Not only that, but you can enjoy the food here while keeping your cosmic ledger balanced – in accordance with the Hare Krishna faith, food and drink is placed on an altar behind the scenes at Karma Free Café, to give thanks and allow customers to eat and drink without any worldly obligation to Karma – the idea that any action has a reaction.

A top haunt on Lyttelton’s main drag, The Shroom Room is a funky vegetarian café and a great spot for people-watching, not to mention the food. Perhaps not surprisingly, these folks do a great line in mushrooms, from the creamy garlic mushrooms served with pesto on toast, to the packed Vegan Harvest with mushrooms and seasonal veggies, complete with cashew hollandaise. Mainly a manufacturer of gourmet plant-based food, Berkano Foods’ factory café in Ferrymead boasts some vegan versions of classic Kiwi fare, including burgers, ‘fish’ and chips and a long list of ice cream flavours. Perfect for stopping by to fuel up after a day at the beach.

Veg-adjacent

These places offer menus for the flexitarian, with plenty of plant-based options to send vegans and vegetarians into a crisis of indecision.

Addington’s Town Tonic is a sophisticated haunt with a menu that changes with the seasons. The restaurant’s ‘Honest’ vegan menu features such colourful and mouth-watering plant-based delights as the Double-Dredged Miso Tofu and the Pulled Jackfruit Tostada, all made from fresh, locally sourced produce just like the rest of Town Tonic’s fare.

Serving up the same quality of vegetarian cuisine as predecessor Dux de Lux, Dux Dine is a vegetarian and pescatarian restaurant situated in the beautiful old Station Master’s House at the Riccarton Railway. The menu boasts drool-worthy seafood and vegetarian pizzas as well as a variety of tempting dishes from the ocean and from the ground – in some cases literally, as some of Dux Dine’s seasonal produce is picked from the organic garden right outside. You’ll find another garden worth writing home about at Untouched World Kitchen, a café stemming from sustainable fashion paragon Untouched World. Whether you’re vegetarian, vegan or a meat eater, you will be treated to honest, simple food that is big on flavour and made entirely in-house, from the sauces to the breads.

Located on an always-buzzing corner of St Asaph and Manchester Streets, five of Moment Café’s ten sensational main plates are vegan. Try the Green Toast for a fresh and jaw-droppingly beautiful way to get all your greens in one fell swoop – it’s worth it for the avocado art alone. With its unimposing exterior and casual-style dining, it could be easy to walk straight past Samurai Bowl in Colombo Street, but we recommend you do a double take. This Japanese restaurant has an extensive menu of vegan ramen and Japanese dishes, including ‘chicken’ katsu curry and Grater Goods smoky meat alternatives to top off your authentic ramen experience.

With four locations and a fully-loaded new vegan menu, Coriander’s Ethnic Indian Restaurant will serve you up a vegetarian or vegan feast to feed all your senses. The chefs use tasty soy pieces as a meat substitute in the vegan dishes, which might actually taste better than the original. A healthy haven with three convenient locations, Gre3n is the ultimate destination for a large and tempting array of smoothies, juices, smoothie bowls and acai bowls, as well as top-notch organic coffee and a cabinet filled with predominantly vegan snacks that tick all the healthy, delicious, satisfying boxes.

You can get to the roots of flavour with one of the original purveyors of healthy eating and wholesome, organic ingredients, The Herb Centre. Housing a café with a great range of vegetarian, vegan and gluten free noms, pull up in a chair in the lovely herb garden and give your tummy a treat with a smoothie, house-made tonic or the indulgent Dandechino on the side of a house-made fresh, raw salad or the superfood-packed Hunza pie.