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    Govinda's

    4.4 (8 reviews)
    InexpensiveVegan, Vegetarian
    Closed 11:00 am - 10:00 pm

    Govinda's Photos

    GOVINDA'S ATMOSPHERE

    What's the vibe?
    Quiet
    Good for kids
    Good for groups

    Recommended Reviews - Govinda's

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    9 years ago

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    Orchid Vegetarian Cafe - Spinach & Ricotta Lasagna

    Orchid Vegetarian Cafe

    2.0(2 reviews)
    0.4 km

    I went here the very first week they opened, so there were maybe a few teething problems, but I…read moreenjoyed my meal and I'm pretty sure good things will come of this place. Orchid's tucked into a little shopping arcade in between the beach and Surfer's Paradise. Not the most charming atmosphere, being in a sterile shopping arcade, but the cafe itself is cute and has nice decor. Everything here is vegetarian with a few vegan options. I would have preferred to see a few more vegan options, to be honest. I got the vegan shepherd's pie and it came with mashed sweet potato instead of regular potato -- a nice surprise. Everything tasted nice, although I felt the portion size was a little small for the price. It also took them forever to serve me -- again, I'm sure it was just teething issues as they'd literally just opened and hadn't even have their glassware and stuff delivered yet. I also got a vegan cookie from the display case containing baked goods -- average but OK. What really stands out here is the service. I'm not sure if the lady serving me was also the owner/manager but I suspect she probably was and that this place is a one-woman shop. She was incredibly sweet and friendly and very apologetic for the wait. Her awesome attitude alone would make me want to go back. It's honestly great to see another vegetarian place in Surfers Paradise besides Govinda's so definitely get out there and show her some support if you're in the Gold Coast area and want some healthy plant-based food :)

    Had a chance to be at Gold Coast in dec 2017 along with my wife. We were quite eager to try out a…read morenew place for dining and were searching for a 'All Vegetarian' restaurant. Were were delighted to know that what we were searching for was just 50 meters away from where we were staying and we thought it to be a blessing that we will be able to eat all 5 days at an 'All Vegetarian' restaurant. But it was a weird moment for us when we saw 'Poached Egg' on their menu.Upon inquiry, the lady owner gave a lame response 'it is just served as part of our breakfast menu' , we are 'All Vegetarian' for the rest of the day. We could not get across this response but still we tried to ignore it for a while as we were super hungry. we had a quick glance at the menu she had put for us on the table and then chose to eat pizza.I requested the lady owner if she could bake us a Pizza but she need to make sure the cooking ware she will use doesn't have any traces of egg or items that contain egg. She didn't understand what i meant and kept on clarifying what exactly we needed. We decided to let her make pizza for us , her own way. While she prepared to bake pizza for us, we realized, she didn't had the raw material to make Pizza for us and she did quite a few rounds to the shop just next door (a Sudanese shop that sells every possible meat based delicacy) to gather the mozzarella cheese, chilli sauce. We asked for Chilli flakes, she said she doesn't keep those. And we wondered what sort of restaurant that was.The pizza made for had a pizza base with a weird taste and smelled like a rotten veggie. We somehow managed to eat what was presented as Pizza but we ended up with an upset stomach. I strongly suggest not to visit this place unless they change their definition of a 'Vegetarian Restaurant'

    Photos
    Orchid Vegetarian Cafe - Fresh Apple Pie

    Fresh Apple Pie

    Orchid Vegetarian Cafe - Pumpkin Penne Salad

    Pumpkin Penne Salad

    Orchid Vegetarian Cafe - The Paleo Gluten Free Garlic Loaf

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    The Paleo Gluten Free Garlic Loaf

    The Cardamom Pod

    The Cardamom Pod

    4.3(9 reviews)
    3.1 km
    $$

    This is a second location for the Cardamom Pod, a vegetarian (apparently vegan) brunch place (the…read morefirst is south of here at Broadbeach). The location itself I'm not a huge fan of. It's not close to the beach or on the tram line, so it wasn't the easiest thing to get to. Moreover, because it took a while to reach, I arrived just after their breakfast had ended and their lunch started. Looking at the breakfast menu, this was a tad disappointing. That being said, the crunchy tofu rolls I ended up were ethnically indiscernible but tasty, combining a Vietnamese presentation with a very Indian-ish dipping sauce and some marinated mango. They were amply spicy and sweet, and with avocado accompanying the tofu, reasonably filling. Their menu on the whole is quite lavish (and expensive). And yet, despite being a pricey pure plant-based restaurant at a non-ideal location, it was kind of busy. Gold Coast, man, I'm telling you. Most parts of the world, there aren't too many fancy vegetarian restaurants and the ones that exist sometimes struggle, but I just can't stop running into them here, and they're doing fine. I imagine I'll be back for some of their chickpea flour breakfast dishes sometime.

    Decided to give this place a second chance after trying it during the COVID pandemic when they were…read moreonly doing take away, their food was not to their usual standard. Sorely disappointed with the service this time and didn't even get a chance to eat. From the time of ordering to leaving waited over an hour. Full story is we didn't have an appointment but me and my friend wanted to see if they had seats anyway. There were two tables opening up but the hostess told us to wait and gave us some attitude about it. We shrugged it off and waited about 10min for the table that was just empty the entire ten minutes. When we sat down we looked over the menu and then ordered about 5 min later with the same hostess lady. She unkindly told us that the gnocchi was sold out which is fine but she still had an attitude about it. Then after ordering we waited about an hour and saw people who had come order ate and left. We had been chatting and had ordered a big meal so thought maybe our food took longer to prepare but after an hour we were hungry and impatient and asked the hostess about an update and she said "what food" and we reminded her that she took our order and she just said "omg I forgot" she had not put the order in. In the hour she had not checked on our table even tho by this time half the restaurant tables were empty they weren't that busy. Terrible service. The food however does look and smell amazing from the tables next to us.

    Photos
    The Cardamom Pod - Falafel

    Falafel

    The Cardamom Pod
    The Cardamom Pod - Crunchy tofu rolls

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    Crunchy tofu rolls

    Elixiba - Chips

    Elixiba

    4.5(8 reviews)
    73.3 km

    The menu for actual food is pretty small-- there are quite a few options, but not many raw or super…read morehealthy food options. They're more along the lines of a more decadent vegan meal, but... every single thing I had was perfectly done. Delicious, well-flavored, and interesting. I started with one of their coconuts-- with milk thistle tincture and chlorophyll. It was good, perfectly cold. Enjoyed the olives for a starter-- generous portion but at $9 still scary. $21 for a very small Caesar salad was also scary. Yummy, but scary for how tiny the portion was. Enjoyed a turmeric latte-- delicious. And also a cacao maca latte-- even more delicious than the turmeric latter. Both were some crazy price as well. $65 for a dinner for one. Not much food. Luckily, I wasn't that hungry. Note: they DO NOT have free wifi or wifi of any kind-- which is disturbing given the touristy nature of Byron Bay, but alas. For whatever reason, nope. The waiter and manager were exceptionally nice-- really lovely people. I will go again, not look at the prices, and enjoy the food. :)

    My partner and I had the best experience at elixiba!!…read more It was the first restaurant we went to in Byron bay and it did not disappoint! We're from central coast and there is hardly any vegan options so it was a great feeling knowing everything on the menu was vegan. The nachos and burger we had was absolutely delicious and the mock tails were soooo yummy. The staff was also incredibly nice and welcoming! Highly recommend!!!

    Photos
    Elixiba - Macro bowl with tempeh and turmeric cashew sauce

    Macro bowl with tempeh and turmeric cashew sauce

    Elixiba
    Elixiba - Caesar salad with avocado

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    Caesar salad with avocado

    September 18

    September 18

    5.0(1 review)
    93.7 km
    $$

    The new train line has opened, and this place which was once a massive pain to get to by transit is…read morenow walkable from a train station, so it seems like a good time to update the review. Logistics aside, I've been consistently intrigued. Malaysian cuisine is not a thing where I'm from. The basic elements are what you'd expect from any vegetarian Asian cuisine: noodles, rice, saltiness, soy products, etc. However, there is something slightly different; perhaps most notably when I ended up with some fried "chicken" product and watermelon juice and thought in my head that I might be eating comfort food from the American South. Among the many options I've sampled all have been palatable, and I'm still waiting to get around to the more recognizable names like nasi goreng and laksa. I've ordered differently every time, and if I were to repeat an order it would probably be for the roti chenai, a curry with fried bread that was much more delicious than the ones I've tried elsewhere. You can't go wrong with the noodle dishes either. It isn't the cheapest, but things are cooked fresh to order, and they're worth ordering. They also offer super cheap loose leaf teas. The worst that can be said of them is that once I came and they had closed during the slow hours on a weekday afternoon (inconsistently with their posted schedule), which in my experience is unthinkable for an American business, but not uncommon by looser Australian standards. Otherwise, the service and food have been on point, and I'm quite happy to have found them. I suspect vegetarian Malaysian will be a new thing for most diners as it has been for me, but I would suggest trying it.

    Photos
    September 18 - A bag of "vegetarian prawn chips" to go.

    A bag of "vegetarian prawn chips" to go.

    September 18 - Seaweed chips to go

    Seaweed chips to go

    September 18 - Singapore style vermicelli

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    Singapore style vermicelli

    Shiraz Persian Restaurant + Bar - Lamb cutlets

    Shiraz Persian Restaurant + Bar

    4.5(29 reviews)
    1.1 km
    $$

    The staff was so kind and helpful. They provided was a heater because we wanted to sit outside. Our…read morefood came out fast and was very yummy. The food portions were greatly sized and the presentation was amazing! Best food I've had during my time in Australia!! Also great gluten free options too :)

    This is a truly authentic Persian Restaurant and the amazing customer service from the owner is one…read moreof the main reasons why my partner and I keep coming back here. They have such a huge menu with all different variations of salads, kebobs, soups, stews, drinks and many other items. My favorite is the Joojeh Kebob which is a boneless chicken skewer. This dish is offered among several different options however we try to avoid rice as much as possible so our favorite plate is the Noon-O-Kabob. The dish usually comes with a side salad but we can't eat the dressing due to dietary restrictions so the kind owner has always been willing to accommodate. The Shirazi salad is also a favorite and is full of delicious flavors. The food quality is fantastic and I know this first-hand as I grew up having a Persian best friend and her mom's cooking is something I always miss. I'm so glad they have reopened as we were able to dine at their restaurant for lunch today. My partner has very limited days off but the time he does have off he always requests we get Shiraz for lunch or dinner. Definitely recommend this place to others! Plus if you're visiting as a tourist their prime location in Surfers is super convenient. We commute from Robina but it is definitely worth the drive!

    Photos
    Shiraz Persian Restaurant + Bar - Chicken kabob

    Chicken kabob

    Shiraz Persian Restaurant + Bar - #Gheymeh Stew

    #Gheymeh Stew

    Shiraz Persian Restaurant + Bar - #Zereshkpolo

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    #Zereshkpolo

    Govinda's - vegan - Updated May 2026

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