Sydney’s first vegan pub just opened. It’s no marketing ploy; it truly is a pub. It serves Carlton Draught, cheap wines, beers, pizzas and hot dogs. If it wasn’t for the posters on the staircase (with slogans such as “Human(e) Food” and “Plant-based Pub Food”) and all the press, you would never guess it’s vegan.
“We’re not here to preach. We’re here to make it fun for people so that they don’t even know, they’re just eating it,” says Bhavani Baumann, the venue’s co-owner (along with Sacha Joannou). Take the cheeseburger – it looks like a classic Australian version (rather than the American-style varieties that are popular), and it tastes almost identical to a typical burger (the meat patties are from Canadian fake-meat company Gardein). The same can be said for the fish tacos with battered tofu, cabbage and salsa.
Other items, such as the Panko-crusted tofu chips with wasabi mayo, and the mac’n’cheese with cauliflower and cashew, don’t taste like their non-vegan counterparts but rather like entirely new dishes. And they have the same drink-friendly pub vibe. “Most people aren’t coming in here thinking, ‘I’m going to eat a salad’. Most people are coming to eat a burger and have a beer,” says Baumann, later addding the venue will soon also serve a range of salads, soups and raw foods, the latter being Joannou’s specialty.
Also significant – for the vegan community at least – is the drinks menu. “A lot of wines use egg shells or fish as the fining agent. What we have here, like the Raw Vine Estate (a South Australian vineyard), is certified vegan. There’s a range of ‘accidentally’ vegan ones as well,” says Baumann. She says that many Australian beers are vegan.
Incredibly, this is all happening on top of the Red Lion, a pub that’s as old school as the Green Lion is unprecedented. To differentiate the two venues, Baumannn and Joannou have replaced the lime-grey paint with a dark, mossy green. They’ve also collaborated with Urchin Books to turn half the upstairs space into a library-cross-bookshop.
Baumannn says in the future they hope to bring in a faux-meat raffle (to coincide with the real-meat raffle downstairs) and introduce live bands and DJs over the weekend.
The Green Lion
726 Darling Street, Rozelle
Hours:
Wed & Thu 6pm–9.30pm
Fri 6pm–11pm
Sat 12pm–11pm
Sun 12pm–9pm
