Cafe Essen, Civic

Lately we've been to Essen a few times for the monthly vegan coffee and cake meetup. We find that there's usually a few vegan items on the menu, as well as vegan cupcakes. On this particular evening, the specials board had a vegan burger, so a few of us gave it a try. It had a potato pattie – basically a hash brown – along with tasty eggplant puree, avocado and sauces. Highly recommended! Cheers to the friendly staff for letting us split the bill.

Vegan burger

Specials board

Bombay to Byron, Byron Bay

Bombay to Byron serves "authentic Indian food". More importantly for us, they had some vegan menu items clearly labelled, and their kitchen was open late just as other restaurants were closing.

The vegetable pakora was astonishingly good, with a complex spicy flavour. The two vegetable curries that we ordered were hearty and spiced to perfection. The good food and service with a smile added up to a very satisfying vegan dining experience.

Pakora with tamarind sauce

Aloo Mutter

Dal Tadka

Heart & Halo, Byron Bay

We found the food at the Heart & Halo cafe to be consistently good. It is not all vegan, but there is a wide selection of vegan things available. The cafe has less ambience than some other Byron establishments but it makes up for that with friendly service, tasty food and cheaper prices. The vegan bliss balls are really special! We also made use of their frozen dinner packs, which are great value.

Salad

Vegan, gluten-free pizza