Last week my partner and I visited Ballarat, one of Melbourne's biggest inland cities just an hour and half out of Melbourne. With both of us being vegan, we were on the hunt for good vegan options during our stay and we were very impressed.
Ballarat offers a wide range of cuisines such as Thai, Vietnamese, Spanish to name a few. We found most restaurants very accommodating with plenty of vegan options to choose from. They also have a completely vegan plant-based cafe - Namaste Nourishment, which was a definite favourite.
Here's a little review of all the places we ate at on our visit to Ballarat including pictures of what we ordered. If you're in town I highly recommend you check these spots out!
Namaste Nourishment - Breakfast and Dessert Bar
Namaste is Ballarat's first all vegan cafe that's been around for just one year but is already making a huge impact with their incredibly creative menu. We were lucky enough to be invited to try out some of the favourites on their menu including the Raw Banana Pancakes (their specialty!) and the Chakra Breakfast Board. The menu has a variety of sweet and savoury items as well as some deliciously thick smoothies, hot/cold drinks and raw desserts. It's a big call but I think this place is my new favourite cafe, we loved it there so much we were back again on our last day before we left. The food not only looks delicious, everything is so flavoursome too. Check out my Instagram for more photos from Namaste Nourishment.
Brown Grain - Thai Restaurant
On our first night in Ballarat we were really feeling like Thai food so we made our way to Brown Grain Thai with no expectations but really hoping for a vegan Pad Thai. When we made our booking we mentioned that we were both vegan and when we took our seats we were really impressed to see two menus labeled 'Vegan.' Not only did they have vegan options, they had a full vegan menu with a variety of dishes from entrees to desserts. We ordered Vegetarian Spring Rolls and Crispy Tofu for entrees and Pad Thai, Vegetable Panang Curry and Coconut Rice for mains. The food was delicious - we've had our fair share of Thai food between us and can vouch for their Pad Thai and Curries. If you like it spicy though, we would recommend that you ask for 'Thai Spicy,' we found the medium to be too mild for us but that's because we are used to eating quite spicy!
Meigas - Spanish Tapas
Meigas, a Spanish restaurant, is one of the highest rated restaurants in Ballarat so of course we had to try it out. The menu itself does not have many vegan options but we called in advanced and were assured that they could modify almost all their vegetarian options to be made vegan. The food is served tapas style and every dish is unique and creative, it's amazing the things you can do with just vegetables! My favourites were the Berenjena Con Miel (Fried Eggplant drizzled with Molasses) and Patatas Bravas (Potatos with Spicy Tomato Sauce). Make sure you book early and request vegan, they were completely packed when we arrived and there were people waiting to be seated so planning ahead is recommended. Overall we thoroughly enjoyed the tapas experience complete with a buzzing atmosphere and Spanish style deco.
Saigon Allee
This place was recommended to us by a local vegan in Ballarat and since Vietnamese is one of my favourite cuisines we were really excited to have dinner here. We were not disappointed by the quality of the food here, it took me back to my trip to Vietnam earlier last year! I highly recommend the Hanoi Bun Cha made vegan - I don't think I've had Bun Cha this good even in Melbourne! There are a few vegan options but the ones they do have are delicious so it's definitely worth a visit at least once.
Il Piccolo Gelato
This list would not be complete without Il Piccolo Gelato which we visited multiple times during our stay to cool down in the 35+ degree days! They have a variety of Vegan Sorbet flavours including a creamy dark chocolate flavour (my favourite!) and raspberry. Their flavours seem to change daily or depending on availability so make sure you try a few different flavours!
When we decided to visit Ballarat we planned on making most of our own meals at our Apartment but instead we discovered a variety of incredible vegan eats and didn't end up making a single meal ourselves! If you're looking for some quick take-away options Namaste Nourishment do most of their menu take away, there is also a Zambrero (Mexican Fast Food) that does vegan burritos and bowls with vegan sour cream and cheese and of course Hungry Jack's has their Vegan Whopper.
I hope you enjoyed this blog post. If you would like to see all my vegan foodie adventures in Melbourne and more make sure you check out my instagram: Samarajosephine where I post regularly.
Enjoy your stay in Ballarat!
Samara x