Mannu's Kitchen, Maitland

If you do an internet search for vegan food in Maitland NSW, not a whole lot comes up. There is the Momo Wholefood Cafe, but it wasn't open when we needed it to be (i.e. dinner time).

Mannu's Kitchen is an Indian restaurant in central Maitland that was open late for dinner on Saturday night when we were in town. After making the usual polite vegan enquiries, we were able to order three vegetable curries with rice and pappadums, as well as vegetable pakora entree. The pakora were among the largest we've seen – one serve is almost a meal on its own. All in all, it was a very filling and satisfying meal. Like some other Indian restaurants we've tried, their dhal dishes all contained animal products. We hope that in time restaurants will provide the option for coconut cream instead of dairy.

Vegetable curries

Pakora with tamarind sauce

Oaks Brasserie, Yarralumla

This week I attended a work lunch at the Oaks for a large party of people. A few days before, I enquired about vegan options, and received a fast response stating that there were a few items on the menu that could be veganised. In the end, I chose to have them make me a vegan surprise. I received this beautifully presented polenta dish topped with grilled vegetables, avocado and tomato. The grilled eggplant and capsicum were lovely in their own right, and the dish had just the right amount of herbs and salt. All of our meals had been pre-ordered, which saved a huge amount of time. The garden setting is a very relaxing atmosphere to have lunch. If you're looking for something a little bit fancier than usual, you might like to try the Oaks and give them some advance notice.