Sunday lunches are often busy times and this popular vegan cafe in Newmarket on a warm autumn afternoon was no exception. We were lucky to find three seats at one of the long polished wooden tables.

We were briefly tempted by the hot food in the brunch bar but settled on the hot dish of the day, a roast pumpkin, chickpea and tempeh dhal ($12.50). It was delicious. The spiced ginger and coconut cream sauce also contained kumara, onion, garlic, kale and carrot, and was served with red quinoa infused with lemon and orange zest. The quinoa provided a light, fresh balance that offset the creamy main nicely.

We shared a slice of the Vegan Raw Cheesecake ($9). The crust is made with cashew, almond, coconut and date paste, and the filling with coconut oil, cashew, vanilla, lemon juice and the flavour of the day, which happened to be berry. It was sufficiently rich for a third share each to be entirely satisfying.

The coffee was a disappointment, bitter and not warm, but the cheerful, willing staff seemed hard pressed to keep up with the orders. We left feeling quite satisfied with our choice overall.

As an encore I was able to choose two salads from their colourful salad bar ($3.95/100 grams) – kale with apple, walnut, sprouted mung beans, ginger and mustard, and a cauliflower salad with tahini, carrots, sprouted mung beans, and almonds in a satay sauce – to take away.

www.wisecicada.co.nz

The Blue Bird Vegetarian Cafe in Dominion Road is hard to go past for a relaxing Saturday lunch after a hectic week. It has a tranquil atmosphere on both floors that lends it self to lingering conversations, and there’s a conversation pit with luxurious couches upstairs that invite you to do just that.

I was there with two of my nephews, both fit young men who enjoy healthy appetites. Usually I order from the cabinet and indeed there was a tempting hazelnut loaf along with some salads. However, this time we all opted to order from the blackboard menu, two of us for tofu burgers and one with a lentil burger ($13.50). Each of them came topped with a smooth, but not cloying, most acceptable peanut sauce, and a good side helping of Asian coleslaw; the latter provided a satisfyingly crisp balance. We all found our burgers to be good tasty fare that set us up nicely for our respective afternoon activities.

The staff at the Blue Bird are all of the Sri Chimnoy philosophy and their practice of harmony and balance is reflected in the cafe: the service is quietly attentive and helpful. While a few of the dishes use some eggs, it is mostly vegan-friendly, and gluten free options are always available.

www.thebluebird.co.nz

Baked stuffed potatoes are hard to do badly, but they’re equally hard to do well.

Sure, a baked potato is, well, a baked potato, which is a pretty good beginning right there. Though any filling is usually swimming in butter and cheese or sour cream. But when I wandered in to Ethos for lunch today I saw the cabinet had a stuffed potato that’s different and quite delicious, savoury and not rich ($8). Served with a side of fresh greens, which tasted as though they came straight from the Ethos garden outside the cafe doors. You can even sit in the courtyard at one of the long rustic communal tables, as I like to do, between the raised garden beds and watch the veges (and flowers and shrubs and herbs) grow…

… and linger over the vegan mango and lime cake ($6). Vegan – no egg – definitely delicious mango, not too heavy, a generous serve that’s enough for two, with optional yoghurt on request (I did).

After all those carbs I felt quite virtuous at selecting two crunchy salads for a $7 takeaway dinner box. The carrot and beetroot with pumpkin seeds mix is one I know, but the Asian slaw will be a new one to sample. Ethos salads go light on the dressing, which is a relief; there’s always that additional flavour added to the veges, but the salads leave you feeling clean and summery.

To eat with the salads I bought a freshly baked loaf of gluten-free buckwheat and coconut bread. To my surprise it slices evenly and unlike most whole grains is quite a light bread, only very slightly crumbly but not dry tasting; the taste of buckwheat is pleasantly present and not dominant, and a slice or two with avocado is definitely more-ish. Add some hummus and/or tempeh chips and that’s a tasty meal complete.

Ethos cafe is at East West Organics, Portage Rd, New Lynn www.eastwestorganics.co.nz

Indian vegetarian food is in a class of its own. With millions of committed vegetarians who reflect centuries of spiritual heritage, the basis of their  cooking is lacto-vegetarian and vegan. Only soft dairy is used, mainly ghee (a clean-burning high quality version of butter), boiled milk, yoghurt and paneer, a home made cottage cheese.

The underlying charm of Indian vegetarian cooking resides in the selection and cooking methods used for the spices. In the hands of a cook who understands the subtle emphasis that gives such rich variety to their dishes, it can be unmatched for complexity of flavours.

Mumbai Chaat  is among the best. A fresh, companionable family-run cafe in Sandringham village, the menu offers a range of chaat – snacks – as well as quick meals. Their samosa with tamarind chutney is a hearty spiced version of this well-known chaat; we find that one makes a sufficient entree for two diners.

Chef Pratibha Ambani offers a changing array of curries (i.e. savoury vegetables) to choose from for the Regular Thali, which includes one curry, daal, rice and five roti. Matt and I found one Thali and a couple of additional small bowls of curry to be a satisfying meal between us.

In addition to the 5 wafer-thin roti and a bowl of rice, our platter contained 1 bowl of vege korma (veges in a creamy sauce), 1 of stuffed eggplant, 1 chole (chickpeas in gravy), 1 gujerati dhal (a thin sweet-sour sauce), 1 methi mutter malai (peas in fenugreek), and 1 bowl of a sweetly tangy yoghurt & chopped apple raita, all delicious and quite differently spiced to perfection.

Thali prices start at around $13.50, depending on extras.

And we each had a glass of their excellent mango lassi. Perfect.

My childhood memory of mushrooms on toast involves almost black, iron-rich wild mushrooms picked fresh from farmers’ paddocks, cooked in a little butter. The mushrooms were hearty enough on their own to be a satisfying meal; toast was a delicious addition that mopped up the juices.

Cafe versions of mushrooms on toast are so often disappointing. You’re served pale mushrooms with little flavour, drowned in cream, on white buttered toast that goes soggy as soon as the sauce soaks into the dough.

Ethos organic vegetarian cafe at East West Organics Superstore in New Lynn delivers the closest I’ve come to the real thing. Dark brown mushrooms cooked with care and no cream (vegan), matched with Ethos bakery’s own tangy sourdough rolls that soak up the juices but retain their firm texture and flavour and add just the right degree of substance. Plus a side of butter. All for $18. Very satisfactory.

www.eastwestorganics.co.nz

Karekare Beach on Saturday’s sunny, blustery afternoon was splendid; the ocean a deep kingfisher blue, frantic white foam surging near the shore, a few hardy body boarders and just a narrow band of safety between the life guards. Matt and I walked at the edge of the incoming afternoon tide, with some caution. Last summer on such a day we were wading ankle deep when a harmless looking wavelet turned into a hip-high surge; if I hadn’t been able to clutch his taller, stronger young self the remorseless suction would have knocked me off balance and sucked me under; it was terrifying.

Just above the tide line a shaggy black and white dog – a bitch, actually – was digging a metre long shallow channel in the sand while her family was debating who would carry the picnic belongings back to the car. She stood back and watched while a shallow wave quietly surrounded and filled the channel. She turned herself in a circle a couple of times and set about digging another narrow channel as the debate above her continued. Presently another wave washed into her new channel as she stood watching, panting happily – she seemed to be grinning – then set about digging a third a little higher up the beach. Then her family set off and she danced across the burning sand behind them.

Later, Matt and I took Kitty to an early dinner at the vegan, organic Wise Cicada cafe. We all had the hot dish of the day ($12.50), a delicious potato and leek gratin with cashew cheese (for non-vegetarians: this is a non-dairy cashew cream). It was served with a side of crunchy, slightly bitter lettuce, and we each had a serving of mushroom and rice noodle salad in a light balsamic dressing ($3.90), all of which complemented the gratin. The meal suited the three of us very well indeed, from the healthy young grandson to the delicate digestion of the 90-year old. Kitty gave a couple of quiet contented murmurs during the meal – I’m sure I heard her purring – and finished with an organic coffee ($4.50) that she said was excellent.

I am Dara McNaught and I have been intrigued to see the rapid growth in the number of vegetarian cafes around during recent years, and the number of options available now for eating out for the different kinds of vegetarians.

So I have made it my mission through my Guide to Vegetarian Cafes and my Facebook page to let people know of the many delicious choices available for healthy eating. I have just set this site up and will be making entries and adding pages about healthy tips and cafes I have visited.

My Guide is currently available through selected health food stores and through my facebook page.

I look forward to sharing my joy in good healthy tasty vegetarian food over the coming months so please visit again soon.