Vegetarian, Gluten Free, Organic cafe, where are they?

Hi Paisleygypsy

Instead of trying to find the perfect nibble for your grandstanding ‘look at moi’ tastes, why don’t you employ the age old science of VGF Reiki to make your food palatable. With the advanced symbioses avaialble to the graduates, you will be able to draw out all the gluten and any taint from those disgusting meat products that we are forced to share our pure world with. Once drawn out to the side of the plate, the undesirable elements of your food can simply be wiped off with an organic cloth and washed down the sink with purest meadow-harvested rainwater from out affiliates, the Gluten-Free Water Company.

The next course in how to return your standard cafe food to vegan gluten free delight starts at our workshops at Majors Creek on the night of the next full moon. Registration is avaialble at only $2150 to the pure earth-mother convert, if you have sat in a moving car, switched on a light connected to the great greenhouse gas producing coal fired electricity grid or flushed your gluten free waste products down the community-funded sewerage system in the last year, then you don’t qualify.

Lazy I said :

Unfortunately I believe all three of these restaurants use gluten as the base for their fake meats so may not be terribly useful for the OP.

Kingsland does have some gluten free dishes. As a meat-eater I reckon a lot of their stuff is actually pretty, too. You’d hardly call it a cafe, though. And on the few occasions I have been the food has been good, but the drink offerings are pretty low rent.

if you ever go to Melbourne, there’s a ton of options. can’t vouch for much of Canberra, though

Urban Food I second or third, and would like to mention Cream! I Yes Cream, caters for Vegetarians and offers Gluten free items , not exclusively however they have created a menu with options.

…you must be starving. 🙂

If you want vegetarian, organic and gluten free then I’m not sure ‘the food should be better than what I can make myself’ is a reasonable expectation. You’re a thin slice from a narrow niche, a sub-sub-sub-segment of the market and so unlikely to warrant space on the menu. Most restaurants are flat our justifying a vegetarian or a gluten free option, or they’re organic but only one of the others, so all three is really pushing things commercially. Bimbogeek’s approach of making the most of what is available will go some of the way, but I still reckon you’ll fall down on the organic front even if you find a cooperative chef who’ll mix things up veg-wise.

Au Lac / Kingsland

All their ‘faux meat’ stuff is made from pure gluten, which kind of defeats the ‘gluten free’ objective, and I really doubt they’re organic.

Growling Ferret said :

Kingsleys would be better than whatever you make yourself.

It’s funny because it’s true. I’ve spent more than one meal at Kingsleys sipping a fantastic red wine and nibbling their various delicious veggie sides.

luther_bendross said :

Please don’t take this as an attack on vegetarians or coeliacs, just militant fuckheads.

I was going to get cranky but all is forgiven! I’m vegetarian and coeliac and share your opinions on militant fuckheads, indeed I extend these opinions to fuckheads in general.

Lazy I said :

My greatest frustration was with the vegetarian groups (that I will not name because from what I hear they can be a little lawyer happy) seemed to be filled with these militant people that believed that if I wasn’t spiritually devoted with cult like passion for the cause I wasn’t a real vegetarian.. whatever that means… (all I wanted was some recipes).

I have a similar experience with the vegetarian clubs, plus they are kind of creepy, they think that just because I eat the same food as them I’m magically totally spiritually connected with them and want to be their best friend.

Good rant luther_bendross, I actually agree.

I was a vegetarian for just over 10 years and eventually decided it wasn’t worth the effort as every time I would mention it to someone they thought I was a tree hugging hippy that would be offended if they ate meat in front of me.

My greatest frustration was with the vegetarian groups (that I will not name because from what I hear they can be a little lawyer happy) seemed to be filled with these militant people that believed that if I wasn’t spiritually devoted with cult like passion for the cause I wasn’t a real vegetarian.. whatever that means… (all I wanted was some recipes).

I am now a closet vegetarian, and eat meat in social situations to avoid the tedium (so not really a vegetarian at all).

As for the Vegetarian place you mention, there are two that I ate at on multiple occasions in Dickson.

Au Lac – (Wooley St.), just up from Dickson Noodle House
Kingsland – Tucked in the corner courtyard next to the Turkish place

Au Lac was (and still is) excellent in my experience, and I still stop there for a meal if it’s not filled with hippies taking a break from chaining themselves to bulldozers.

Kingsland I found a little hit a miss, often served dishes that were luke warm but had a good range and variety.

Another great location down at Tuggeranong Homeworld just closed up (Vegetarian House). For food, it’s quality was easily on par with Au Lac with an excellent price.

Unfortunately I believe all three of these restaurants use gluten as the base for their fake meats so may not be terribly useful for the OP.

I do so love a large, rare steak with beer battered chips.
Mmmmmm

My Rainbow Dreams in Dickson is perfect – all vegetarian, half vegan and plenty of gluten free! And fantastic and delicious!
Satis in Watson is cosy and relaxed but it’s mostly bread and wheat. I usually have the gluten free (Deeks) toast with an assortment of veggies.
As Nature Intended. Tell them what you can eat and they’ll come up with something nice.
Take away from Mountain Creek in Griffith and go to a park.
Cream is also quite good, they serve Deeks and have a range of veggies on the menu as “sides” that you can use to build a yummy brunch.
Beess and Co in Yarralumla are usually extremely flexible, again they serve Deeks and salads and can put together something quite substantial when you tell them what you actually eat.
I’m a fussy eater too, although I try not to be a fussy customer. If you want them to make a special effort then flirt with your waiter and tip generously. 😉

Sorry, I missed the bit about needing to be organic also …. that makes it really difficult! I’m interested to know what you find.

‘gluten free vegetarian’

Kingsleys would be better than whatever you make yourself.

Hi

Try the Rainbow Cafe in Dickson (near the Dickson Post Office) there is also Deek’s Cafe, totally gluten free cafe is nearby. Tilley’s has a couple of vegetarian & gluten free options, their vegi breaky is yum. On the South Side, A Bite to Eat at Chifley Shops might be worth checking out. They have good food and a relaxed atmosphere (recycled furniture etc). I can’t guarantee whats on the menu but I’m guessing they’d have something both vegi & gluten free. Only problem it can get really busy on the weekends.

try a search at http://www.yourrestaurants.com.au (which comes up with 4 restaurants that are organic, but a bunch more that are gluten free). Depending on your level of organic conviction (there are studies. . . ), lots of Asian food is gluten free and vegetarian, esp indian, thai and vietnamese.

to be honest, if you chose to be vegetarian and completely organic all of the time, that puts you in a significant minority. Add gluten free and you comprise such a small segment of the population that very few people are going to bother trying to set up a restaurant to cater for you.

I can’t vouch for the quality of food, but I know there’s a vegetarian place in Dickson. I remember it as the place some wanker came storming out of and proceeded to smash the lights on a meat delivery truck with his bike lock whilst yelling “meat is murder”. Some people are idiots; and the guy doing his job delivering pigs to butchers is not an idiot. The moron sitting in his upmarket vegetarian wankfest, riding his bike (probably not solely due to environmental concerns, me thinks ‘unemployable f-wit who can’t afford squat’) to the latest scene gig whilst covered in make-up is the moron I’m thinking of.

“Meat is murder! Now I’m going to ride home without a helmet on my environmentally friendly bike.”
“What’s your bike made of, tofu?”
“No, all natural aluminium.”
“So… bauxite?”
“No, aluminium”
“Aluminium made from bauxite through a toxic smelting process the utilises electricity produced from fossil fuels which are made from dead (murdered) dinosaurs?”
“I love Parkway Drive.”

Please don’t take this as an attack on vegetarians or coeliacs, just militant fuckheads.

there is a place in watson shops – sari’s? – that is all these. deek’s in dickson shops is also these things…

This should go well…

“I guess you could say I am rather fussy when it comes to eating out at restaurants.”

O RLY!

If the place in the city is Urban Food at New Acton then I would persevere as I’ve had usually good results from there. Although, I’m not a vegetarian so that may be a reason.

Satis at Watson Shops? I think that’s what it’s called, tucked around the corner from the IGA.

You should be able to get something suitable from A bite to eat at Chifley shops as well. Although not too sure on how focused they are on sourcing organic food.

Apart from that I’m really looking forward to what the peanut gallery has to say on the topic, haha.