Vegan Eating in Wellington

Wellington, NZ

Having lived in Auckland for ~4 months now, I’m pretty in tune with the vegan scene here. In a word, it’s awesome. There are so many vegetarian & vegan cafes, with heaps of restaurants offering fantastic vegan options. I was excited for my visit to Wellington to see how a smaller city compared to Auckland. Vegan eating in Wellington was shockingly easy & I was definitely NOT disappointed!

Havana

The first restaurant we visited was Havana. This tapas-style restaurant has such a cool vibe. The inside is so uniquely decorated – there was always something new everywhere you looked!

Our party of 6 split several tapas, with quite a few of them being vegan! For appetizers, we ordered spiced almonds & warmed olives. Our entrees & mains were a mix of plates: Thyme roasted mushrooms with a sherry vinegar glaze; crushed agria potatoes with roasted capsicum (red pepper), cumin & red onion dressing; and roasted auberbine (eggplant) with pomegranate and crispy pimento pangritata. Everything was so delicious and had such an amazing combination of flavours & textures. For this non-vegan restaurant, I was highly impressed with the number of vegan options and how easy it was to veganize many of the menu choices.

Cost: The prices of the tapas ranged from $7NZD (for the almonds) to $20NZD (for some of the meat dishes – pork belly, fish, beef skewers etc).

Location: 32a-34 Wigan St, Wellington. It’s just around the corner from the main pedestrian-friendly Cuba Street.

Midnight Espresso

Next up on the Eating Vegan in Wellington roster was Midnight Espresso. Mac’s mom and I headed here one morning for some post-breakfast snacking. Our eyes were a bit bigger than our stomachs however – we ordered the large vegan nachos & we couldn’t even finish half! The nachos were amazing though – corn chips with baked beans, hummus, cashew sour cream, spicy jalapenos, avocado, and a carrot slaw. Midnight Espresso also had some amazing treats to offer as well – we carefully selected some vegan scones, tarts & muffins to take home for snacks throughout the day & breakfast the next morning.

Similar to Havana, Midnight Espresso isn’t solely vegan, but it has a large number of vegan offerings.

Cost: Our large vegan nachos were $18NZD (and they were ENORMOUS!). The treats & baked goods ranged in price from $4-8NZD per item (again, many of the items were quite large, so you definitely get your moneys worth).

Location: 178 Cuba Street

Aunty Mena’s

Prior to coming to Wellington, Aunty Mena’s was the one restaurant I had heard the most about and knew that I wanted to check out! Mac’s mom & I headed here solo, while Mac & his dad went for all you can eat pizza. Aunty Mena’s offers a huge variety of Malaysian food and everything is vegetarian.

The menu is full of curries, soups, rice & noodle dishes and more. It was hard to decide, but we eventually went with a Tom Yum Dumpling Soup, and the Singapore (Vermicelli) Noodles.

Both dishes were fantastic and really flavourful. The portions were very generous too! I’d highly recommend this restaurant for anyone wanting some delicious Asian food.

Cost: The soup was $12.50, and the noodle dish was $14. Most dishes on the menu were in this price range.

Location: 167 Cuba Street

Sweet Release Cakes & Treats

The last vegan place we visited was called Sweet Release Cakes and Treats. The story behind this place is really cool. The owner, Kristine Bartley, was suffering from a chronic disease and turned to baking as a form of release. Her new hobby soon gained momentum amongst friends, families & coworkers and she decided to open Sweet Release Cakes & Treats.

The menu features an abundance of vegan offerings (both sweet & savoury) as well as non-vegan goodies (cookies, tarts, cakes & more). We opted to get the Salted Caramel Donut Muffin and it was out of this world!!! The barista even warmed it up for us which made the caramel all gooey & mouth-wateringly delicious. (We were happy we bought two – the second one we enjoyed on our long 11 hour bus ride back to Auckland!!)

Cost: The individual treats range in price from $3-8NZD with some of the larger items (nachos, sandwiches & salads) coming in at $13NZD.

Location: Shop 2, 142 Willis St (in the Willis St Village Group).

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I can’t wait to go back to Wellington to see what other vegan eateries I can find!

Have you been to Wellington? What did you eat there? If not, which of these places do you most want to try?