This is hands-down my favourite place for lunch in Sydney. I seriously get excited about working in…read moreour Sydney office purely because it's directly across from the MLC Centre so I can stuff myself silly with Iku food throughout the work day.
Iku Wholefood is a chain of 12 stores scattered throughout Sydney offering healthy but delicious vegan food. It's popular across the board, not just with the vegan crowd, which is a testament to how delicious it is.
Iku has a wide variety of food options crammed into a tiny food-court space. Their display counter includes a dizzying array of sweet treats like cookies, pastries, and muffins, as well as savoury snacks like nori rolls, polenta and couscous slices, rice balls, millet balls, etc.
And that's just their display counter. Their full menu itself includes pies, salad plates with a variety of mix-and-match options, lasagne, casseroles, curries, and soups.
By far my favorite thing on the menu is the macroburger. It's described as "a tofu fritter served on a steamed wholemeal bun spread with tahini sauce, topped with leafy green salad and Iku salad dressing." I don't normally like tofu but this is crazy delicious and unrecognisable as anything tofu-y. I seriously fantasise about biting into a delicious Iku macroburger while I'm on the flight over to Sydney because I'm filled with giddy expectation and I know it'll be the first thing I eat when I land.
You can also get the mildly healthier macrobiotic wrap, which contains the same ingredients as the macroburger, just in wrap form and with slightly more greens.
Note that both of these are a bit messy to eat, so probably not best to take into a lunch meeting with important executives. That and you'll rudely inhale it because it's so delicious.
I also enjoy the Iku pies (filled with beans, chickpeas, lentils, veggies, etc.), sweet treats (I've had their muffins and a couple of cookies -- delicious), and nori rolls (the sauce is amazing). Everything tastes so fresh and innovative.
The only thing that didn't wow me was the lasagne. I felt it was a bit bland.
I haven't tried any of the casseroles, curries, or soups yet. They also do breakfast, which I haven't tried either.
This Iku is located in the MLC Centre, which is the funny round UFO-shaped building on the south side of Martin Place -- you can't miss it. Just walk into the food court and Iku is near the entrance on your right.
Because this is a food court in the middle of the CBD, seating is scarce between 12pm and 2pm. If you want to find a seat, go early for lunch (around 11am -- the benefit there is you can ogle all the gorgeous young tradies eating their lunches -- oh sorry off-topic), or go after 2pm. Or just get take-out and bring it back to your desk.
There are 11 other locations around the CBD and nearly all of them get amazing reviews, so definitely check this chain out :) I wish they had them in Melbourne!!