The best vegan restaurants in Sydney

Gigi Pizzeria slings some of the city's best woodfired, plant-based pizzas. This place actually used to make 'regular' pizzas with animal products, but after their shift to plant-based ingredients in 2015, they're proving that pizza without dairy is still bloody excellent.

A visit to this long-standing vegan eatery on Crown Street isn't complete without an order of kale and saltbush gyoza with citrus drizzle. Pair your feast with vegan wines and quirky cans from their brewery in Alexandria.

Anyone who thinks vegan can’t be fun needs to both update their opinions from 1998 and also get to Bad Hombres, stat. It's a Mexican Chinese mash-up nailing snacks, tunes and booze, the key elements to a good time.

You'll forget that meat was ever the star of traditional fine-dining plates as you make your way through a six-course tasting menu at Yellow. The menu changes seasonally, featuring the best local produce, and is available with matching vegan wines. 

This homey Chinese restaurant serves up all the classics, from barbecue pork buns and Peking duck pancakes to sizzling Mongolian beef and honey prawns. However, they also give your favourite Chinese flavours a twist with truffle fried rice; squid with native spiced salt; and seaweed fish in sweet and sour sauce.

Long-time vegans will undoubtedly recognise Emma Langley and Adam Papastathopoulos, the powerhouse duo behind Mina Maria, previously known as I Should Be Souvlaki. The revamped menu offers a more elevated Euro-inspired dining experience, including spinach and ‘feta’ spanakopita, creamy mushroom stroganoff, tangy Russian potato salad, and the signature ‘beef’ Wellington, paired with mushroom duxelles, peppercorn sauce and crispy potatoes. 

It's not exclusively vegan, but the plant-based options – a 'lasagna vegana' with mushroom ragu and truffle bechamel; or a charcoal bucatini with a vegan egg yolk (magic!) – are pretty darn convincing. Plus, there's a whole list of Spritzes, so you're winning on all fronts.

“Wait, are you sure this is actually vegan?” The giant cinnamon scrolls, fluffy finger buns and freshly baked pizza scrolls at Miss Sina are so damn good that it’s hard to believe they’re all vegan. You can visit the flagship café in Marrickville for brunch and croissants, or pop by the cosy Surry Hills bakery for plant-based treats and toasties.

Vegans have a love-hate relationship with salads, but Buddha Bowl definitely falls under the 'love' category. Each bowl is a colour bomb of vegetables, protein and flavour, particularly the Bedouin bowl with warm falafel waffles and creamy herbed tahini dressing.

This tiny, pared back Japanese snack house on King Street is loved for its gluten-free sourdough doughnuts, vegan sushi, hearty katsu curries, and colourful tempura and onigiri lunch plates. At Comeco Foods, there is no gluten, no egg and no dairy, so they're sure to have something for all of your dietary requirement-possessing friends.

Indian food has always been naturally vegetarian friendly, but this fritterie and chai bar offers vegan versions of your favourite street foods including dosa potato jaffles; crunchy tofu pakoras; and warm daal curries. End on a sweet note with a rose cardamom kheer (rice pudding); or freshly brewed ginger and cardamom chai.

Bootleg’s menu makes no mention of being vegan, which is equal parts cheeky and charming, but rest assured, the salami; ricotta; and tiramisu are all plant-based. As for the pasta sauces, it’s genuinely easy to forget that you aren’t actually eating the real deal with vodka rigatoni; cacio e pepe; and pasta al limone.

Classic Italian street food gets a plant-based makeover at this sunny trattoria in Newtown by chef Lorenzo Petrachi (former manager of beloved Gigi’s Pizzeria). A must-order is Don Fred’s ‘polpetz focaccia’, a remix of the Italian meatball sub, but with roasted olive-meat balls, housemade Napoletana sauce, dairy-free parmesan and basil on fresh focaccia.

This unauthentic Mexican restaurant has the grit and the grunge of a backstreet food vendor with tacos, tequila and perhaps the cheapest vegan set menu in Sydney. Vandal turns it on every Tuesday with $15 Margys and $4 tacos including their highly addicting Korean eggplant; popcorn "prawn"; pollo asada (grilled chicken); and charred "lamb".

Green Gourmet is an institution in St Leonards and has been a hub for Sydney’s OG plant-based eaters since 1998. First-timers must try their barbecue “pork” buns, followed by a selection of steamed dumplings, noodles, soups and stir-fries. 

This community-oriented café puts a vegan spin on traditional Palestinian dishes. Standouts include Khamsa’s plant-based white cheese knafeh (pastry); mushroom shawarma wrap; hummus with vegan mince; and pumpkin kibbeh balls. 

The décor is as loud as the flavours at this veg-friendly, neo-Indian eatery on Crown Street. You’ll see VG dotted throughout Masala Theory’s lengthy menu with all the highlights in their vegan set menu like the explosive curry bombs; kasundi dal; vegan garlic naan; and a surprise dairy-free dessert.

This Balmain Italian institution not only shares a name with the beloved (and completely independent) Gigi’s in Newtown, but also slings some of the best vegan pizza and pasta in Sydney. The pesto gnocchi is as rich and creamy as the real thing, but it’s the tiramisu layered with with plant-based Marsala cream that we can’t stop thinking about.

Vegetables are delicious in their own right, and at Little Turtle, an all-veg Thai restaurant on Stanmore Road, they are banking on the fact that it’s not chicken that makes a tangle of hokkien noodles delicious.

Mondays are meatless at this South Eveleigh craft brewery with two-for-one vegan and veggie mains. 50 per cent of their menu is plant-based from pulled shiitake “pork” burgers to cheesy “chicken” parmigiana and their notorious buffalo fried cauliflower wings. 

Marrickville has been home to this sustainable, vegetarian bakery-café for almost ten years now, and when you still have to line up for a table most mornings, you know they’re doing something right. Two Chaps bakes all of its pastries and bread in-house, with lots of vegan doughnuts, cookies, hot sandwiches and seasonal bowls to fill you up.

At this burger bar, the big twist is that everything on the menu has a twin that’s starring veggies in place of meat. Love the crunch of a fried chicken burger but not the agricultural practices? Here they’ve cooked big chunks of seasoned cauliflower and encased it in a thin, bronze shell that shatters with each mouthful. 

Surry Hills has long had Yulli’s to cover your veggo nights out, but there’s now a daytime destination in the Shift Eatery, a vegan café and delicatessen peddling super sandwiches, tiny sweet treats and solid coffee. 

The bright and colourful restaurant, which infuses Australian ingredients with Middle-Eastern spices, offers multi-course menus to suit your whole party's palate. Vegans can enjoy an artfully plated six-course dinner degustation or a relaxed weekend Arabic brunch feast with bright green falafel, punchy pickles, fresh dips and warm pita bread to mop it all up (trust us, you’ll want to).

Only the locals know about this lower North Shore Thai restaurant’s vegan menu. Every bite nails that elusive balance of salty, sweet, sour and spicy ranging from Sydney’s staple pad Thai to the caramelised miso cauliflower and nasi goreng, which replaces prawn crackers for a sesame version.

In tandem with its seafood-strong menu, Otto has a dedicated vegan menu that is headlined by a vibrant beetroot ravioli filled with a hommus-like cashew cheese. Save room for dessert – a vegan meringue with fresh pineapple and passionfruit sorbet.

This innovative Mexican fusion cuisine pushes the boundaries with glossy watermelon tuna tartare; smoky barbecue "chicken" tacos; and Japanese fusion "prawn" sushi. However, it also plays host to the world's first plant-based Peruvian Pisco bar with mighty 1L Lageritas and unique Pisco-based cocktails (which expertly keep the foam but lose the egg).

Even the most ethical eater craves junk food from time to time, but rather than pushing it until you cave, indulge your fast food cravings at Soul Burger, the all-vegan burger bar taking Sydney by storm. 

This Glebe restaurant has been around for a while, but they more recently went fully vegan. Plant-based eaters can get their share of North Indian dishes including rich curries; stuffed samosas; and ghee-free naan bread, all made with vegan-friendly ingredients.

Back on Glenayr Ave, there’s a pocket-sized establishment selling golden, flaky pies with not an iota of meat in them. They even do mash and gravy for extra comfort points.

South King Street is earning itself a reputation as Sydney vegan’s home turf, and one of its prized players is Vietnamese eatery, Golden Lotus. Warm up with a massive laksa or share a round of crisp 'pork' satay skewers.