Melbourne runs the largest urban tram network in the world, and most of its best vegan eating sits a short ride along it in Fitzroy, Collingwood, Carlton and Brunswick. Smith & Daughters, Shu and Red Sparrow are all a few blocks apart, so you can walk from a degustation to a rooftop drink.
This list runs from a fire-station fine-dining restaurant and a fully plant-based pub to vegan Sichuan, a Fitzroy institution from 1988 and a falafel counter on Sydney Road. I would book Smith & Daughters first and fill the gaps with pizza, pasta and pub lunches. For more cities, browse all the Your Vegan Passport destinations.
Vegan Melbourne at a Glance
- Big night out: Smith & Daughters
- Pizza and a rooftop drink: Red Sparrow Pizza
- Pub lunch with non-vegan friends: Green Man’s Arms
- Pasta in the CBD: Funghi e Tartufo
- Big groups and every cuisine: Vegie Bar
- Sichuan degustation and weekend yum cha: Shu
- Vegetables and natural wine: Ballard’s
- Coffee and brunch: Monk Bodhi Dharma
- Cheap lunch: Very Good Falafel
Best Vegan Restaurants in Melbourne
1. Smith & Daughters: Fire Station Fine Dining Vegan
Recent diners leave talking about dessert: the tiramisu, and a chocolate tart with artichoke ice cream that one reviewer called absolutely delicious. Before that, order the “chicken” with greens, the arancini and the fermented potato bread, fried and charred and loaded with house-made vegan cheese. Much of the menu is smoked or cooked over flame.
Shannon Martinez opened the original on Brunswick Street in Fitzroy and moved it into a converted fire station in Collingwood in late 2021. The restaurant is dark, moody and relaxed, with well-spaced tables and good cocktails. From Tuesday to Thursday you can order à la carte or book the $150 chef’s table at the open kitchen.
💡 Tip: Groups of five or more get the $95 set menu on Fridays and Saturdays, so book midweek if there are two of you and you want to choose your own dishes. Dinner runs Tuesday to Saturday from 5:30PM.
📍 107 Cambridge St, Collingwood VIC 3066 | Collingwood | ☎️ (03) 9123 1712 | 🌐 smithanddaughters.com | 📸 @smithanddaughters
2. Red Sparrow Pizza: Vegan Pizza and a Rooftop Bar Vegan
Order the G.O.A.T., the pizza recent reviewers keep recommending, and add waffle fries for the table. People rave about the vegan cheese, which one diner called unreal, and a base that still gets called perfect after a takeaway trip home. Finish with the salted caramel pretzel cheesecake, which turns up in reviews almost as often as the pizza.
Red Sparrow opened on Smith Street in Collingwood as Melbourne’s first all-vegan pizzeria and now sits on Rose Street in Fitzroy, inside the Rose St Artist’s Market building. The menu runs from traditional pizzas to stranger combinations, plus burgers, arancini and garlic bread. Upstairs, the rooftop bar pours cocktails, beer and wine under the Fitzroy sky.
💡 Tip: Book for Friday and Saturday nights. It is closed Mondays and Tuesdays, opens at 5PM midweek, and starts at 10AM on weekends if you want a pizza lunch on the roof.
📍 60 Rose St, Fitzroy VIC 3065 | Fitzroy | ☎️ (03) 9318 8501 | 🌐 redsparrowpizza.com | 📸 @redsparrowpizza
3. Green Man’s Arms: A Plant-Based Pub on Lygon Street Vegan
Start with the house focaccia, which recent diners call a must and keep reordering to mop up their plates. The chilli hummus focaccia arrives under a generous pool of chilli crisp, and the king oyster “calamari” has blown more than one meat-eating friend’s mind. The house-made gnocchi, in carrot purée and almond cream, gets described as soft pillows.
Save room for the sticky date pudding with caramel sauce, the dessert regulars push on everyone. Green Man’s Arms is a proper pub with craft beer, cocktails and a fully plant-based menu, and it is where vegans bring their non-vegan family. The black bean burger holds together and tastes great, which is harder than it sounds.
💡 Tip: If you arrive mid-afternoon, the dining area may be closed, but you can still order from a smaller menu at the bar. The six-course Feed Me menu is $65 a head when you cannot decide.
📍 418 Lygon St, Carlton VIC 3053 | Carlton | ☎️ (03) 9347 7419 | 🌐 greenmansarms.com.au | 📸 @greenmansarms
4. Funghi e Tartufo: Truffle Pasta on Hardware Lane Vegan
The name means mushrooms and truffle, and the truffle mushroom pappardelle is the dish people come back for. Recent diners also love the green campanelle with pumpkin cream and the plant-based seafood, and one called the set menu the most incredible vegan set menu they had eaten. Order a strawberry sour, which comes tasty and light on alcohol.
Funghi e Tartufo is a Sicilian-leaning Italian restaurant in a converted 19th-century warehouse on Hardware Lane, a cobbled CBD laneway lined with outdoor tables. Expect white tablecloths, natural Italian wines, antipasti, lasagne and saffron gnocchi. I would book this for a long lunch between museums, with a second glass of wine and nowhere to be.
💡 Tip: It is closed on Mondays. Lunch runs from 12PM to 3PM and dinner from 5PM, and the outdoor tables are snug, so ask for a seat inside if you are a group.
📍 60 Hardware Lane, Melbourne VIC 3000 | CBD | ☎️ (03) 9670 9939 | 🌐 funghietartufo.com.au | 📸 @funghi_e_tartufo
5. Vegie Bar: Fitzroy’s Original Since 1988 Vegetarian
Go for the laksa, which a recent diner called a bowl of comfort, full of vegetables with a hint of spice. The mock duck bao, with crispy skin and proper hoisin sauce, is the other order people write home about. Gyoza, the burger and the Zen bowls round out the table, and the chocolate cake has its own fan club.
Vegie Bar has sat on the corner of Brunswick and Rose Streets since 1988, with a menu of more than 50 dishes that wanders from Italy to Japan to Malaysia. It is buzzy, colourful and laid back, with cocktails, daily specials and vegan ice cream from the sister shop next door. Dairy appears on some dishes, so tell staff you are vegan.
💡 Tip: It opens daily from 11:30AM, or 11AM on weekends, through to 9PM or 9:30PM, which makes it the easiest late lunch on this list. Bring friends and share.
📍 380 Brunswick St, Fitzroy VIC 3065 | Fitzroy | ☎️ (03) 9417 6935 | 🌐 vegiebar.com.au | 📸 @vegiebar
6. Shu: Vegan Sichuan Degustation and Weekend Yum Cha Vegan
Book the 10-course degustation, which a recent diner called outstanding and excellent value at $95. The menu shifts with the seasons and has run to yu xiang eggplant, slow-braised in a sweet, sour and garlicky Sichuan sauce, kohlrabi-wrapped dumplings and mapo tofu gua bao, a soft steamed bun stuffed with spicy tofu. Finish with avocado cheesecake.
Shu takes its name from the old name for Sichuan, and the kitchen leans on Sichuan peppercorn and chilli oil with no processed meat substitutes. On weekends it switches to unlimited yum cha, a dim sum lunch of dumplings and share plates, for $65 across a two-hour sitting. It sits on Johnston Street, a short walk from the bars of Smith Street.
💡 Tip: Heat runs gentle for Sichuan food, so ask for extra chilli if you like it hot. Dinner is Wednesday to Saturday from 6PM, yum cha is 12PM to 3PM on Saturdays and Sundays, and a 10% surcharge applies on weekends.
📍 147 Johnston St, Collingwood VIC 3066 | Collingwood | ☎️ (03) 9090 7878 | 🌐 shurestaurant.com | 📸 @shu.restaurant
7. Ballard’s: Vegetable-Led Wine Bar in Thornbury Vegan
Order the focaccia with burnt eggplant dip, which reviewers keep praising for its caramelised, layered flavour, and the deep-fried battered eggplant. A diner this year took the Just Feed Me menu at $68 and loved the mac and cheese croquettes with sunflower seed toum, a whipped garlic sauce, and a lion’s mane mushroom steak with peppercorn sauce.
Ballard’s is a neighbourhood vegan pub and wine bar on High Street with booths, a beer garden and more than 30 vegan wines, many organic or wild-fermented. The kitchen builds dishes around vegetables and nut and seed creams, with no mock meat in sight. Live music and outdoor film nights pop up, so check their Instagram before you go.
💡 Tip: It is dinner only, Monday to Saturday from 5:30PM, and closed on Sundays. Take the 86 tram up High Street from the city and get off in Thornbury.
📍 915 High St, Thornbury VIC 3071 | Thornbury | ☎️ 0406 095 604 | 📸 @ballards915highst
8. Monk Bodhi Dharma: House-Roasted Coffee Down a Balaclava Lane Vegetarian
Order the umami mushrooms, the dish regulars mention first, and the Jimbo plate if it is on. The buckwheat banana pancakes and zucchini fritters get plenty of love too, and recent diners rave about the intense flavour coming out of a tiny kitchen. The coffee is roasted in house and gets called perfect, so plan on a second cup.
Monk Bodhi Dharma sits at the end of a bluestone laneway behind Carlisle Street, a rustic café built around a communal table. It is vegetarian with plenty of vegan dishes, but eggs, dairy and ice cream appear on parts of the menu, so ask for the vegan version. Healing teas and chai are there for non-coffee drinkers.
💡 Tip: It serves breakfast and lunch daily, from 7AM on weekdays and 8AM on weekends until 5PM. Balaclava station on the Sandringham line is a short walk away.
📍 Rear, 202 Carlisle St, Balaclava VIC 3183 | Balaclava | ☎️ (03) 9534 7250 | 📸 @monkbodhidharma
9. Very Good Falafel: Fresh Falafel Pita on Sydney Road
Order the falafel pita, stuffed with creamy hummus, pickles, fresh salad and tahini, and add the harissa, which one recent diner called sensational. People describe the falafel as fried fresh and perfectly cooked, with chickpeas ground daily. The sabih plate, built on fried eggplant and potato, is the other favourite, and the daily salads are always vegan.
Very Good Falafel is a small, cheerful counter on Sydney Road, Brunswick’s long strip of Middle Eastern bakeries, grocers and cafés. The menu also carries lamb and chicken, so keep to the falafel, sabih and salads. Portions are generous and prices low, which makes it the best cheap lunch on this list. Ask staff to keep your sabih vegan.
💡 Tip: There is no phone, so just turn up. It opens 11AM to 8:30PM on weekdays and 11AM to 5PM on Saturdays, and is closed on Sundays.
📍 629 Sydney Rd, Brunswick VIC 3056 | Brunswick | 🌐 verygoodfalafel.com | 📸 @verygoodfalafel
Melbourne’s Laneways
Melbourne’s CBD is laid out on the Hoddle Grid, a neat rectangle of wide streets from 1837, and the life of the city happens in the narrow lanes cut between them. Hosier Lane, opposite Federation Square, is covered in street art that gets painted over and redone constantly, so it looks different every visit.
Degraves Street and Centre Place are lined with tiny cafés and outdoor tables, and Hardware Lane, home to Funghi e Tartufo, is cobbled and strung with lights after dark. Walk them between meals with a coffee in hand. Most lanes connect, so you can cross half the CBD without stepping onto a main street.
Vegan Melbourne: What to Know Before You Go
- Mondays are thin: Smith & Daughters, Shu, Red Sparrow and Funghi e Tartufo are all closed, and Shu and Red Sparrow stay shut on Tuesdays too.
- Trams are free inside the CBD Free Tram Zone. Outside it you need a myki card, sold at train stations and 7-Eleven stores, and you touch on when you board.
- Expect a surcharge of around 10% on weekends and public holidays at many restaurants, including Shu.
- Vegemite is vegan, so Vegemite toast at any café is fair game.
- Oat and soy milk are standard in Melbourne cafés, often for a small extra charge.
- Queen Victoria Market in the CBD opens Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and is the place to stock up on fruit, bread and picnic food.
When to Visit Melbourne
March to May is the sweet spot. Autumn days are mild and settled, and March brings the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival. Summer, from December to February, has hot days that can pass 40°C followed by sudden cool changes, which is where the local line about four seasons in one day comes from.
Winter, from June to August, is cool and grey with highs around 14°C. It suits a bowl of laksa at Vegie Bar, a Sichuan dinner at Shu and a long afternoon in the pub at Green Man’s Arms. Pack layers whenever you come.
Vegan Melbourne FAQ
Is Melbourne good for vegans?
Yes. Melbourne has fully vegan fine dining at Smith & Daughters, a fully plant-based pub at Green Man’s Arms, vegan pizza at Red Sparrow Pizza and vegan Sichuan at Shu, and plant milk is standard in cafés.
What is the best vegan restaurant in Melbourne?
For a big night out, book Smith & Daughters in Collingwood. For a set menu with more spice, the 10-course degustation at Shu is excellent value.
Where can I get vegan pizza in Melbourne?
Head to Red Sparrow Pizza on Rose Street in Fitzroy. Order the G.O.A.T. and the waffle fries, and take your drinks up to the rooftop bar.
Is there a vegan pub in Melbourne?
Yes. Green Man’s Arms on Lygon Street in Carlton has a fully plant-based menu, and Ballard’s in Thornbury is an all-vegan pub and wine bar with a beer garden.
Where can I eat cheap vegan food in Melbourne?
Get a falafel pita at Very Good Falafel in Brunswick, where the falafel and salads are vegan and the menu also carries meat. Vegie Bar in Fitzroy is good value for groups.
Which vegan restaurants in Melbourne are open on Mondays?
Vegie Bar, Green Man’s Arms, Ballard’s, Monk Bodhi Dharma and Very Good Falafel all open on Mondays.
Where can I get a vegan brunch in Melbourne?
Go to Monk Bodhi Dharma in Balaclava for house-roasted coffee and umami mushrooms, or Red Sparrow Pizza, which opens at 10AM on weekends.