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1/928 Logan Rd, Holland Park Qld

A group of friends, four omnivorous and one vegetarian, met for dinner at this attractive and popular restaurant, which is given a feeling of openness by its glass walls. The menu, which seems to put a western spin on some dishes, and the other members of the group, were veggie-friendly. Among the starters is a richly flavoured vegetarian seaweed tofu soup. The main meals include a colorful array of vegetables in peanut sauce, equally attractive to the eye and taste, and deep fried tofu. This comes in a variety of sauces, and we asked for the ginger and shallot. The dish is tasty, but the big triangular pieces of bean curd do sit on the plate like solid chunks of protein, and need to be shared around a table; in a situation like this, it’s great to have veggie-friendly mates! May others enjoy happy evenings with good food and friends at the Thai Country.

3/21 Nash St, Rosalie Qld

While the Middle East hasn’t developed a specifically vegetarian cuisine the way India and China have, the possibilities it offers vegetarian diners are enormous.  We began our meal at the Rouj with flat bread and appetisers (pickled turnip, olives and chillies), before moving on to a trio of dips, hommos, baba ghanouj and labneh, a dish of yoghurt into which olive oil and garlic have been mixed; it is said to be delicious. For mains we tackled the vegetarian platter of ftayer (a pastry stuffed with greens), silverbeet roll, fried pumpkin kebbi, a mjadra of lentils and rice with a fried onion topping, and tabouli, and, a separate main dish, the beautiful freshly cooked falafel kebab. On the way out we noticed how fresh and appealing the fatoush looked, and a cabinet full of sweets! This is a sophisticated, remarkably wholesome cuisine of strong but not overpowering flavours, well prepared and served at the Rouj.

A few days after this restaurant opened in January the premisses were flooded. This was a great disappointment to its proprietors, who are most worthy of support.

3/9 Lewina St, Sunnybank Qld

Despite what you might conclude from its name, this restaurant offers a vegetarian-friendly lunch, on a self-serve basis. You start by helping yourself to rice or barley (the latter a reminder that Koreans live in a cold part of the world), then pile on mushrooms, cucumber and various western vegetables, chives and what look like the stems of silver beet. There are three condiments, cold potato, a sourish kim chee, and sea weed, and the meal is washed down by a soup of tofu and vegetables, based on miso. It’s good, hearty, keep-out-the-cold food. The inhabitants of this part of Brisbane are known for their delicious cooking, but while the cooks here probably wouldn’t whip up an apple pie before your eyes, they provide a tasty and reasonably priced meal that is a reminder that vegetarian meals can be developed within unlikely contexts, even the ambience of a Korean BBQ establishment.

641 Stanley St, Woolloongabba Qld

You could easily pass this unassuming inner-suburban restaurant by, but that would be a mistake, for the two dishes we enjoyed there were excellent. Bagara baingan is a Hyderabad specialty, and the beautifully spiced aubergines come with potatoes, providing a nice contrast in flavour and texture. This is a dry curry, that teams up well with the moist dal taduka, based on yellow split peas. Again, the mixture of spices is exquisite, and the dish is enlivened by tomatoes and some dried chillis. The cook who produced these dishes is clearly an expert! We also had thin, crispy fried aubergine as a starter, but my advice to people dining here would be to go straight to the more complicated and subtly flavoured main dishes, where the skill of the kitchen can be better appreciated.

Food Court, Myer Centre, 300 Queen St, Brisbane

Where can vegetarians and vegans who happen to be in town at lunchtime get decent food? Step forward Vege Rama, an entirely vegetarian outlet in a busy food court! They do enormous samosas and pakoras accompanied by a slightly sweet tamarind sauce; while not cheap, in terms of what you get they represent excellent value. The main dishes include vegetable korma, in which the carrots, green beans and aubergines come in a rich and delicate sauce, and a slightly sour, but wonderful, sambha dal;  there is a choice of saffron or brown rice. Veggie diners, all too often pleased to find anything at all available in a downtown food court, will not only find plenty of choice here, but food of a quality that surpasses that available at the non-veggie outlets. In fact, the large number of people waiting to place their orders suggests that the clientele of Vege Rama includes many potential as well as existing vegetarians!

194 Wickham St, Fortitude Valley, Qld

‘Make your own fun rolls’, the menu urges, with respect to a dish of bean curd, salad and rice paper. It’s a great idea if you’re not afraid of making a fool of yourself. Along with the salad ingredients of lettuce, mint, sprouts, shredded carrot and cucumber come bean curd with a sauce for dipping and uncooked rice wrappers with a dish of hot water into which you place the wrappers. When you judge they’re sufficiently soft, which can be a bit tricky, you pull them out and wrap them around the stuffing, making sure the bits and pieces don’t fall out, another tricky operation. The food is excellent, but  timid eaters may prefer to go for main courses that present no problems. The stir fried vegetarian Singapore noodles with bean curd and egg has an agreeably mild curry flavour, and we also enjoyed the combination of vegetables with fried bean curd. The restaurant was full of happy people, who didn’t seem at all worried about maintaining ther dignity.

51 Sherwood Rd, Toowong Qld

The clientele as well as the food and ambience at the Laksa Hut are reassuringly Southeast Asian. We enjoyed the Salt and Pepper Tofu, crispy with diced onion and capsicum on a bed of lettuce, and Chinese Vegetable with Garlic Sauce in which flecks of fried garlic are to be seen amid the dark green; let Chinese or Malay cooks loose on greens and the result is always satisfying. Other dishes on the menu that look vegetarian need  not be; it may be a good idea to ask. The food is complemented by an enormous range of interesting drinks. Some are commercial products that come ready packaged, such as the sago coconut milk, in which little orange pieces of sago lurk towards the bottom; some are freshly prepared juices with witty names, like the Kung Flu Fighter, in which apple is given a buzz by lemon and ginger. While very satisfying, the food here is simple and quickly served, making the Laksa Hut just the spot for a quick meal when on the way to somewhere else.

6/225 Hawken Drive, St Lucia Qld

Students certainly eat better than they used to, and a meal at this modest establishment in a university area has little in common with the meals to which I was accustomed when among their number. It does vegetarian spring rolls that come with a sweet sauce for dipping; perhaps they could do with a little less batter, but they provide a great start to a meal. Then there are Choo Chee Curry, in which vegetables swim in a coconut sauce that has a bit of a kick, and Pad Thai Vegetarian Noodles with sprouts, veggies, tofu and pieces of fried egg (vegans beware!) There’s probably finer Thai food about, but hey a meal here sure beats buying stuff at the supermarket, wheeling it home in one of those trolleys, discovering at the last minute that you’re out of a key ingredient, and then having a big fight about whose turn it is to do the washing up.

29 High St, Toowong Qld

There are all kinds of vegetarian possibilities at this smart, beautifully appointed restraurant. For starters you can try the vegetable samosas, loosely packed with plenty of peas , or the pakoras, although those that came to us were a little soggy; perhaps the oil they had been fried in was not hot enough.  The main meals include dishes of potatoes (again, we would have liked something a bit more crispy) and richly satisfying aubergines. These are the two most spicy among the vegetarian dishes, but the one we enjoyed most was the smooth vegetable korma. It’s a pleasing cuisine, not quite as hot as Indian food. If, on the other hand, you’re on a hot date, the secluded and dimly lit ambience might make it an appropriate setting, but for other people there may be alternatives where the food is at least as good and a little cheaper.

1/8 Days Rd, Grange Qld

Sometimes it seems that the wonderful smiles of the staff are reason enough to go to Thai restaurants. But there are other attractions at the Thai Chada, such as the excellent Vegetarian Tom Yum soup, red and spicy, that includes thin strips of tofu and tomatoes among the mix of veggies. The Vegetarian Spring Rolls come with plenty of sprouts and a sweet chilli dip.  There are many veggie dishes among the main meals; I recommend the currys, which come in red, yellow, panang (sweetish with peanuts) and green varieties. The last is the hottest, but not disconcertingly so, and the chillis are in tension with the strong taste of fresh basil, against a gentle background of coconut milk and more strips of tofu (the peas are a bit of a surprise.) It was good to see many people enjoying themselves the night we visited the restaurant.