Gardener's Lodge vegan cafe, Camperdown, Sydney

You can't even tell it's vegan. Seriously. There's been a lot of hype about the lasagna at vegan cafe Gardeners Lodge. Believe the hype. It's every bit as cheesy and meaty as any Nonna would make. But vegan.



You'll find Gardeners Lodge in the quaint sandstone building that sits on the edge of Victoria Park. You know. The huge park opposite Broadway Shopping Centre. On a sunny day, it's a glorious spot to soak up some Vitamin D and admire the tranquility of Lake Northam.



Otherwise you can take a seat inside the building, a mix of small tables and communal seating with a close-up view of the dessert shelf lined with treats.


Zucchini fritters $16

The menu offers a mix of cafe staples with Italian favourites. You'll find zucchini fritters on the all-day breakfast menu, alongside avocado bruschetta, cheese and (plant-based) ham toasties, and an acai smoothie bowl.

The fritters are generous with zucchini but perhaps not as crisp as expected. There's plenty of health-reviving zing on the plate though, with dairy-free feta, peppery rock leaves, fresh lemon and a good splodge of avocado to smear on sourdough toast.


Lasagne $18

The lunch menu kicks off at 11.30am. Ordering the lasagne is pretty much mandatory. You're score a magnificent slab of oozing lasagne that could almost pass as a meat version. It's satisfyingly savoury (hello umami), amped up with mushrooms, lashings of bechamel sauce and enough dairy-free cheese to make you want to kept digging that fork in for more.

It'll be no surprise to learn that there's some serious pedigree behind the lasagne. The recipe is by Marco Matino, the chef behind Gigi's in Newtown, the pizzeria that switched to an all-vegan menu in 2015 and hasn't looked back. Marco is the brother of Jessica Matino Ndibe, the co-owner of Gardener's Lodge.


Caesar salad $14
with plant-based schnitzel $5

On the salad menu, the most substantial offering would be the Caesar with added plant-based schnitzel, over the mixed salad and the pumpkin salad. We're not quite sure what's in the smoky rashers nor the schnitzel but they're eerily uncanny in similarity of appearance and texture to bacon and chicken. There's a great crunch and toothsomeness to the schnitzel, although we probably could have done with half as many croutons.


Mushroom panini $17

There are sandwiches too. Panini are made using Brickfields ciabatta. The mushroom one is worth trying, if not just for the dairy-free blue cheese playing off against pan-seared oyster mushrooms and the slight bitterness of crisp radicchio leaves.

Not convinced? Try the melanzane grilled eggplant, plant-based schnitzel or tomato and olive bruschetta.








Gardener's Lodge 
Victoria Park
Corner of Parramatta Ros and City Road, Camperdown
Tel: +61 (0)425 334 023

Opening hours
Monday to Friday 8.30am-3pm
Saturday and Sunday 9am-3pm


Related Grab Your Fork posts
Vegan - An Lac Restaurant, Cabramatta (Vietnamese)
Vegetarian and Vegan - Badde Manors, Glebe (Mod Aust)
Vegetarian and Vegan - Chatkazz, Harris Park (Indian)
Vegetarian and Vegan - Manmaru, Dulwich Hill (Japanese)
Vegetarian and Vegan - Two Chaps, Marrickville (Mod Aust)

Two Chaps, Marrickville

The all-day menu at Two Chaps is chock-full of temptations. Homemade hash browns. Sourdough crumpets. Croissant French toast with blood orange curd. It'll probably take you several minutes to twig that everything is vegetarian. No wonder there are so many poached eggs with everything.

Two Chaps doesn't promote itself as a vegetarian cafe. It feels more like a natural leaning, where fresh produce and terrific carbs negate any cursory inclusion of meat.


Housemade jasmine iced tea $6
Iced latte $4.50

On weekends there's always a queue, scattered across the footpath of a converted warehouse in the backstreets of Marrickville. It's worth browsing the menu while you wait, otherwise amble up to the display counter for a visual tour of their housemade breads, cakes and pastries.

Once you make it onto a table inside, it's mostly stools at heavy timber tables. There's no insulation so expect a cacophony of conversation bouncing up and around the exposed and soaring ceilings.

Drinks-wise, all your dietary intolerances are accommodated with soy, almond and macadamia milks available for your coffee or tea. We skip the beetroot hot chocolate and turmeric latte and order the housemade jasmine iced tea instead. There isn't a strong taste of jasmine but the stainless steel straw is an impressively environmentally-friendly touch.


Hash brown and green goddess sauce $20
with grilled asparagus and poached egg 

The hash brown can be summed up in one word. Glorious. A crisp and golden brown exterior surrounds a squat but generous amount of potato. For twenty bucks you score two hash browns with two poached eggs, spears of tender grilled asparagus and a puddle of green goddess sauce (a herby mayonnaise dressing).

If you need more hash brown goodness, you can add them as a side for seven dollars.


Sourdough crumpets with sauteed green beans and rainbow chard $20
with fermented hot sauce, Pecora Dairy fresh curd and a poached egg 

Sourdough crumpets are far removed from their inferior supermarket cousins. The version here is a little stodgier than I'd like, but there's still a satisfying sense of sustenance to each mouthful. Here it's the ideal vehicle for mopping up runny egg yolk, alternated with dollops of gently lactic fresh sheeps curd and the crunch of green beans.


Falafel cheeseburger $20
Frescho cheese, cumin and fenugreek brioche bun, pickled beetroot, chilli and seasonal leaves served with potato skins and salad

The falafel cheeseburger is the only disappointment, less of the Lebanese-style crunchfest I'm expecting and more of a mushy vegetable patty. False advertising, I say. The seared haloumi and crunchy pickled beetroot do provide some consolation.


Potato skins and salad with the falafel cheeseburger

And then there are the potato skins. Lordy. I'd happily eat a whole plate of these. The paper thin potato shavings are deafening in decibel-level crunch. They're a touch oily but who cares. These babies are worth every calorie.


Chocolate crumpets with Earl Grey and rhubarb curd $20
with sour cream, poached rhubarb and candied walnuts 

It's a shame that the cakes and pastries in the dessert cabinet aren't listed on the menu. We trot back up for a memory refresher but end up going with the chocolate crumpets on the menu anyway. These are fluffier than the savoury version we'd just eaten, dressed with a sliding avalanche of Earl Grey and rhubab curd and batons of poached rhubarb.

The candied walnuts are the highlight though, little nuggets of sugary crunch.

On Thursday and Friday nights, Two Chaps opens for dinner with handmade fresh pastas - vegetarian of course. The bonus? You can book for one of two sittings. They've also recently added a vegetarian pizzeria to their stable. Pizza Madre is only a few blocks away at 205 Victoria Road, Marrickville. The shortlist of five or six pizzas changes every week.






Two Chaps
122 Chapel Street, Marrickville, Sydney
Tel: +61 (02) 9572 8858 

Opening hours
Tuesday to Wednesday 7am-3pm
Thursday to Friday 7am-3pm and 6pm-10pm
Saturday to Sunday 8am-3pm
Closed Mondays

Bookings only accepted for dinner (6pm or 8.15pm)


Related Grab Your Fork posts
Marrickville - Barzaari
Marrickville - Casa do Benfica
Marrickville - Eat Fuh
Marrickville - Gelato Franco
Marrickville - The Yeeros Shop

Vegetarian - An Lac, Cabramatta
Vegetarian - Badde Manors, Glebe
Vegetarian - Chatkazz, Harris Park

Manmaru, Dulwich Hill

Few places will see you torn between Japanese braised pork, taco rice and an award-winning vegan pie, but that’s the scenario you're facing at the recently launched Manmaru in Dulwich Hill. Locals noticed the former Graff Caff was turning Japanese (I really think so) at the start of the year, with a name change and menu shift. Husband and wife owners Erich and Takako Fasolin are still on-board, but Manmaru – which translates to perfect circle in Japanese – means Takako’s baking pop-ups now have a permanent home.


Roasted pumpkin and chickpea vegan pie $8

At the counter you’ll find a baking cabinet filled with yuzu (Japanese citrus) cookies, white chocolate matcha brownies and gluten-free matcha friands. If the vegan ginger caramel apple crumble pie is in there, get your mitts on it. This beauty took out bronze at the 2017 Sydney Royal Fine Food Show. Score one for the plant-eaters. Their vegan pie – roasted pumpkin and chickpea in a crumbly pastry made using Nuttelex, took home a silver medal in the same competition.

Meat eaters can celebrate too. Manmaru’s grass-fed beef pie is made with Black Bunny dark ale by local brewers Willie the Boatman in St Peters. Even better is the fact that the café’s alcohol license means you can wash it down with a Kirin or Young Henry’s brew.


Crispy mochi dumplings $5

The rest of the menu yields a quirky collection of Japanese-leaning dishes. Scrambled eggs are mixed with koji (the same type of culture used to make soy sauce and sake). Crispy mochi dumplings are stuffed with tofu, cabbage and quinoa.


Kakunidon $16
Braised pork with organic brown and white rice, Asian greens and soy marinated egg

Our money is on the heartier offerings like the kakunidon – sticky and tender simmered pork belly in a bowl of brown and white rice with soy sauce eggs and salad.


Vegan taco rice $10
Marinated soy bean with shredded lettuce, tomato and cheese on organic brown and white rice

Taco rice swaps out corn chips for organic brown and white rice, draped with tomatoes, cheese, lettuce and a sauced up textured vegetable protein that looks just like beef mince.

Be warned: seating is limited and service can be slow and distracted, but that just means more time to decide whether you’ll have the matcha cookie crumble or homemade chocolate ice magic on your vegan vanilla bean or salted caramel ice cream.


Matcha latte $4.30


Bacon egg roll $9
with soy marinated onion, cheese and tomato chutney


Tofu noodle salad with poached chicken $15






Manmaru
495 Marrickville Road, Dulwich Hill, Sydney
Tel: +61 (0)414 566 624

Opening hours
Monday, Wednesday to Friday 8am-5pm
Saturday and Sunday 8am-4pm


This article first appeared in Time Out Sydney. Read this article online or read more of my Time Out Sydney reviews.