Pure Wholefoods, Manly

Whilst on holidays in Sydney, we made our way to the Pure Wholefoods cafe for breakfast one morning. Fortuitously, two trays of freshly-baked vegan muffins appeared at this time. These were also free of gluten and added sugar - the sweetness provided perhaps by the generous amounts of fruits baked in them. Soft and delicious, we were inspired to go back the next day for more. However they appear to sell quickly so you will need to be early. We also tried the healthy vegan quinoa porridge, fresh juices and wheatgrass shots. Soy coffees were excellent. Apparently this cafe used to be vegetarian but no longer is. We didn't notice anyone ordering animal flesh though. Why would they? Even omnivores would be tempted by these delicious vegan offerings.

Quinoa porridge

Vegan, gluten-free, sugar-free muffin

Be the (vegan) elephant in the room

New vegan t-shirt ordered from the love infinitely shop (loveinfinitely.org). Screen-printed by hand!

Our Christmas lunch

Christmas is a time for peace, and everyone can create peace through their food choices. It's so easy to create tasty vegan dishes that everyone can enjoy on Christmas day.

Raw zucchini noodles with pesto (based on macadamia nut)

 Roast vegetable and quinoa salad

Baked mushrooms stufffed with vegan cream cheese, walnut and herbs

Garden salad

Potato salad with home-made vegan mayonnaise and dill

 Raw lemon and macadamia "cheese"cake

Sweet Bones Bakery Cafe, Braddon

Sweet Bones cafe opened recently inside the new Lonsdale St Traders centre. This building used to be a tyre centre and it retains some of the industrial feel. The cafe can be found towards the back, next to the bicycle store. Recycled seating at the front and rear provides a nice ambience.

The cafe sells a number of breakfast and lunch items, as well as sweet treats and coffee. The vegan sweets are pretty amazing and would be a revelation for anyone who thinks that a diet without animal products would be lacking in sensory delight. Do not miss the raw vegan cheesecakes.

We enquired about the lunch items and they are all vegan too. The tempeh focaccia (pictured below) was super tasty and you can tell that there has been some careful thought about the flavours in it. This is also evident in the other dishes we have tried. This places Sweet Bones a long way above the average Canberra cafe. It appears that the menu board changes from day to day, so you can find something new on each visit.

When ordering coffee though, you should ask for the soy milk, otherwise you might end up with something you didn't expect. Mercifully, they don't charge extra for soy. And that means there's no excuse for anyone to keep drinking the other stuff.

For current activity at the cafe, see their facebook page
www.facebook.com/SweetBonesCompany

UPDATE: Sweet Bones has moved up the street. Our updated review can be found here.

Shop front

Focaccia with smoked tempeh

Gluten-free vegan cupcake

Open bagel - 'Rusty Special'