Chew Story

I recently spent 3 nights on Waiheke Island. Monday through Thursday, Josh & I drove our rental car all around the island in search of food and wine suitable for our dietary requirements; We are both Vegan & I have Coeliac disease.

I did a bit of research before going over. I lurked the few vegan groups I joined on Facebook and also Google searched the menus for every single winery/restaurant over there. I came to the conclusion we were going to be eating a lot of olives (totally fine with this). In regards to wine, I was aware of maybe 3 wineries which definitely didn’t use milk/eggs/fish as a fining agent in all or some of their wines. With a small list of places we might be able to drink/eat at, we boarded the ferry to Waiheke.

The following is proof that I was wrong in thinking we would only be eating olives. 

DAY ONE

https://www.facebook.com/timbuktudeli/

Chickpea Salad from Timbuktu Nomadic Deli (TB2). This was my favourite shop on Waiheke. I think we visited this place every day. Wait for it, theres more from this lovely place.

http://cablebay.nz

Cable Bay Vineyards tailored their selected wine tasting to include only reds as we couldn’t have their whites. They also cut the price of the tastings down for us because of this. We had olives & sat by their fireplace.

https://www.facebook.com/LittleFrogCafe

Little Frog cafe on the main strip of shops in Oneroa has quite a few options. This is their vegan Mexican crepe (this is on their menu). It was a really delicious snack.

http://www.redcrab.co.nz

Red Crab Thai, also on the main strip of shops. I’m not ashamed to say we ate here for dinner every night. Not because there were no other options but because their food is actually amazing. Pictured is their vegetarian Pad Thai made vegan & gluten free. The lady who served us every night was super friendly and remembered our requirements. I didn’t take any other photos from here as the lighting was very dim but this is what we ate: Yellow Curry, Tom Kha Soup, Pad Kra Pao, Bua Savouey. All of which could be made vegan and gluten free.

DAY TWO

http://www.manowarvineyards.co.nz

Man O’ War Vineyards had wine we could taste (for free, just about everywhere else charges for tastings). I usually hate asking if places can tailor their menu for us but I was a glass of wine down so I thought - why not. I asked about their vegetarian platter being made vegan and they were totally cool with it! They even supplied me with some GF crackers and bread. This vineyard is right next to the beach with amazing service, wine & food. I would live at this winery if they let me.

A quick stop for coffees and afternoon tea from TB2, this is a Quinoa stuffed Eggplant and it was delicious. I also got this for my breakfast the day we left. I didn’t photograph them but during our stay Josh ate Vegan lasagne, spaghetti & “meat”balls from TB2. They have a couple of vegan sweets available and a few vegan grocery items. They’re also the only cafe we came across that offered more than just dairy or soy milk.

DAY THREE

http://www.casitamiro.co.nz

Casita Miro. This place is beautiful. We had a tasting flight of wines (without the bites of food they usually place on top of the glasses) and three items from their menu. The best green olives I’ve ever had, their home made falafel with cashew nut puree (above) and these: rose, orange and lemon Turkish delight.

I didn’t assume somewhere called The Oyster Bay Inn to have anything vegan and gluten free but once again I need to stop assuming things and find the courage to ask. 

Backstory: I can never have hot chips. Most of the time they’re fried with glutenous things such a wedges or fish so I can never even have what most vegans call their go-to pub food. BUT this place is true to their GF labelling and fry their Shoestring Fries SEPERATELY. So they are 100% Gluten free. If we weren’t about to have dinner I would have ordered 4 servings. They have a large selection of wines too and helpful server didn’t mind us asking to see the back of some bottles until we found some we could have.

DAY FOUR

https://kennedypointvineyard.com

This vineyard was actually closed for the day (whoops) but they saw us walking up to their door and invited us in anyway! So lovely! After drinking a glass of their Syrah the night before I really wanted to try more so I was so glad they were so welcoming. We tried 3 of their wines and went home with a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc and Avocado Oil. They also have these two gorgeous Highland Cows that roam their property.

Dhal & Rice from Little Frog Cafe. This was my last meal on the island and it was a good one. 

Waiheke surprised me in regards to what we could eat. Although breakfast options for us were non-existant on the island (we just bought cereal, soy milk & bread from countdown) the amount of places which we were able to visit and enjoy were amazing. I hope this blog helps others who are thinking about holidaying on Waiheke but are unsure if it is worth it due to dietary requirements. Trust me, it’s worth it.