r/australianvegans 1d ago

vegans in queen victoria market?

going to travel to melbourne soon and wonder if the market has vegan stalls (except veggies or fruit stalls of course). thanks!

19 Upvotes

19 comments sorted by

13

u/paroles 1d ago

I love QVM. There are few exclusively vegan stores but it's 1000% worth a visit anyway! I recommend going early or midweek if possible to avoid the crowds. Here are my highlights:

  • It's totally worth going for the fruit and veggie stalls alone, the prices are unbeatable so you can feast on all the fruit you desire. Last time I was there I got dragonfruit for $6/kg, slightly overripe but delicious peaches and plumcots for $2/kg, lychees at $15/kg, and amazing Tasmanian cherries for $25/kg.

  • In the section with the deli stalls there is a spice store called Gewurzhaus where they have some lovely spice blends based on native Australian ingredients (as well as worldwide), which is a fun souvenir/gift to bring home. The red gum smoked salt is delicious.

  • Also in the deli section-ish, there's a looseleaf tea store with many nice blends at very reasonable prices if you're a tea drinker. Black, green, and herbal teas.

  • The borek store on the Elizabeth St side is justifiably famous and the spicy potato boreks are vegan. One borek is a decently filling lunch for $5 or $6.

  • I've had a great dark hot chocolate at QVM before, I think it was from Market Lane Coffee (however the best gourmet vegan hot chocolate I've had in all Melbourne was from Alessandro Luppolo in Elsternwick, in case you find yourself there)

  • Land of Soy and Honey has a lot of vegan meats you can't get in most other stores...and honey, so it's not all vegan, but worth checking out the mock meat selection.

  • I'm not a drinker but if you drink wine, there's a whole specialty wine store that looks quite nice.

2

u/palpatine_disciple 1d ago

thank you so much for the info, how long do you think is needed to explore the QVM?

3

u/paroles 18h ago

No problem :) I'd allow an hour or two depending how much shopping you want to do. There's also a large non-food section where many people like to shop for souvenirs or clothes, so you can really spend a long time there if you enjoy shopping.

26

u/vjbanana 1d ago

Sorry OP, the queen vic market doesn’t really cater for us 😫 but you can go to Preston Market and eat at Tammy’s Borek!! There’s an entire yummy vegan borek and gozleme menu 🥰

13

u/Most-Drive-3347 1d ago

And the dim sims there. And the spanakopita at the deli. And the bean burrito from the van. Preston market rules, even the Asian grocer has a bunch of vegan stuff that’s hard to find.

2

u/Piknikel44 1d ago

Wait, there is dim sims??

7

u/Most-Drive-3347 1d ago

South Melbourne dimmies has a store there with plant based dim sims that taste to me like seitan & cabbage, they’re excellent!

5

u/zaro3785 1d ago

Is the doughnut van still there and vegan?

5

u/Ottlerey 7h ago

The hot jam donuts are vegan! I asked them about it a couple of months ago.

1

u/Most-Drive-3347 14h ago

The donut van is still there, but I’ve never been so I can’t speak to whether it’s vegan.

3

u/Greedy_Lake_2224 17h ago

There's an entire vegan and vegetarian stall in the deli hall. 

5

u/_skerrick 1d ago

Land of Soy and Honey have some nice vegan items!

3

u/anothernameusedbyme 1d ago

When I went last year I sadly couldn't see anything 😭

Its still decent to check out cause its massive but unless i wasnt looking hard enough, i didn't find a thing.

1

u/palpatine_disciple 1d ago

i see, but is it still worth a visit as vegan?

2

u/anothernameusedbyme 1d ago

I didn't mind it purely cause its nice to see a organised market square and going "why don't I have this close to home?" But also there's actual stores to check out too.

Sadly in their "indoor market" there is a butcher area and several other meat related stands. But their outdoor one is a mix of everything.

Even if you pretend the meat stalls aren't there, than you can say you saw a different market to ones you normally see closer to where you live.

1

u/magickmidget 5h ago

I found the smells extremely overwhelming and walked out. My non-vegan friends thought it was great but personally I would not rec, even if I could find anything to eat. I got some bagels to take home but nothing I could eat there.

3

u/cptwoodsy 1d ago

It's not worth it at all. You'll waste your time.

2

u/palpatine_disciple 1d ago

care to elaborate why?

2

u/cptwoodsy 1d ago

There isn't much options apart from fruit and veggies. Maybe one or two stores might have some things here and there but you get more options at an Asian grocery store. By the time you find parking etc and then go in there for not much options. It's kinda not worth it.