The 10 Best Vegetarian Restaurants in Surry Hills, Sydney
Sometimes it can be hard for vegetarians and vegans to find somewhere to eat out — but not in Surry Hills, Sydney’s premier dining district. Check out our list of the 10 best plant-powered eateries in the Harbour City’s restaurant capital.
1. Yulli’s
Restaurant, Vegetarian
A pink sign on Crown St welcomes visitors to Surry Hills’ quintessential vegetarian dining experience, with a menu made up of a mixture of Asian, Latin American and North African dishes that’s every bit as eccentric as the second-hand furniture that fills the space. The tapas-style plates are meant to be shared and enjoyed with something off the extensive drinks list — Yulli’s sources a huge variety of local beers, ciders and wines.
2. Shift Eatery
Restaurant, Vegan
Welcome to Sydney’s first vegan deli, which aims to change minds about plant-powered food one plate at a time. Shift Eatery serves a huge range of meat-free products — sandwiches, health bowls, vegan meats, cheeses, ice cream, chocolates, the list goes on — complemented by an impressive specialty drinks menu, including coffee from Marvell Street and tea from Tea Craft.
3. Nour
Restaurant, Middle Eastern, Vegetarian
This sophisticated restaurant places a contemporary spin on traditional Lebanese cuisine, plating classic flavours in a fresh, inventive way. Nour is on the pricier side, but it’s worth every cent to taste the array of vegetarian dishes in the ‘From the Garden’ section of the menu, such as wood-fired honey figs, confit cauliflower and charcoal eggplant.
5. Nourishing Quarter
Restaurant, Vietnamese, Vegetarian
This Cleveland St institution proves that you don’t need meat to cook up finger-licking Vietnamese fare. Nourishing Quarter serves healthy vegetarian and vegan dishes that put a meat-free spin on the Viet classics — generous pho and noodle salads, for instance — as well as plenty of tapas plates with a distinct South American influence, such as quinoa rice papers rolls. And the restaurant’s kitschy decor only adds to its charm.
6. Mad Spuds Cafe
Restaurant, Fast Food
This Crown St eatery is seriously proud of its potatoes, which are sourced from Robertson in the Southern Highlands — an area renowned for the quality of its spuds thanks to the rich red volcanic soil and natural spring waters. Mad Spuds Cafe serves fluffy potatoes roasted to perfection, including heaps of vegetarian and vegan options loaded with beans, lentils and avocados galore.
7. Fatima’s
Restaurant, Middle Eastern
Cleveland St is lined with mouth-watering Middle Eastern eateries waiting to whip up a delicious falafel kebab, including Fatima’s, a Surry Hills favourite. This atmospheric Lebanese restaurant serves a whopping menu of 16 vegetarian mains as well as a generous meat-free mixed plate stacked with hummus, tabouli, baba ganoush, falafel and vine leaves.
8. Om Vegan Kitchen
Restaurant, Vegan
Located on the corner of Goulburn St and Brisbane St, this buffet and salad bar serves lashings of delicious fare free of gluten, refined sugar, GMOs, additives and chemicals for breakfast and lunch. Named after the sacred Hindu and Buddhist mantra, Om Vegan Kitchen is renowned for its smoothies and sugar-free (i.e., guilt-free) desserts.
9. Bad Hombres
Restaurant, Mexican, Vegan
10. Gelato Messina
Ice Cream Parlour, Ice Cream
Sydney’s most famous ice cream shop is a Surry Hills icon, and vegetarians and vegans don’t have to miss out on the fun. Gelato Messina — which prides itself on rejecting colourings, flavourings, preservatives and pastes in favour of natural ingredients — offers 40 flavours (all vegetarian, unless bacon pops up as one of the specials), including 10 dairy-free sorbets.
Since you are here, we would like to share our vision for the future of travel - and the direction Culture Trip is moving in.
Culture Trip launched in 2011 with a simple yet passionate mission: to inspire people to go beyond their boundaries and experience what makes a place, its people and its culture special and meaningful — and this is still in our DNA today. We are proud that, for more than a decade, millions like you have trusted our award-winning recommendations by people who deeply understand what makes certain places and communities so special.
Increasingly we believe the world needs more meaningful, real-life connections between curious travellers keen to explore the world in a more responsible way. That is why we have intensively curated a collection of premium small-group trips as an invitation to meet and connect with new, like-minded people for once-in-a-lifetime experiences in three categories: Culture Trips, Rail Trips and Private Trips. Our Trips are suitable for both solo travelers, couples and friends who want to explore the world together.
Culture Trips are deeply immersive 5 to 16 days itineraries, that combine authentic local experiences, exciting activities and 4-5* accommodation to look forward to at the end of each day. Our Rail Trips are our most planet-friendly itineraries that invite you to take the scenic route, relax whilst getting under the skin of a destination. Our Private Trips are fully tailored itineraries, curated by our Travel Experts specifically for you, your friends or your family.
We know that many of you worry about the environmental impact of travel and are looking for ways of expanding horizons in ways that do minimal harm - and may even bring benefits. We are committed to go as far as possible in curating our trips with care for the planet. That is why all of our trips are flightless in destination, fully carbon offset - and we have ambitious plans to be net zero in the very near future.