The Bamboo Buddha, Holgate

There are 2 places on the Central Coast where vegans can get a decent meal. The first is Gnostic Mana in Woy Woy, blogged about here. The second is The Bamboo Buddha in Matcham/Holgate. As luck would have it, I'm currently working in Woy Woy & living in Matcham, so in terms of vegan noms, I'm not doing too badly :-)

The cafe is nestled in an oasis of gardens, gallery/gift shop, tiny native nursery & really is a pocket of serenity. I'll let the photos do the talking.

This is the first entrance from the road.

You then cross a small courtyard to the second entrance.

Some of the outdoor seating.

There's no table numbers - just colour-coded buddha statues. It's a cute idea, but does make it difficult for the wait-staff to find the tables in the large open space.

The important bit - the food. The one let-down? No actual vegan items on the menu. It's something I've never experienced in a vegetarian cafe. The waitress (who happened to be the owner) couldn't tell me if anything could be made vegan & had to ask the chef. The chef was very friendly & came out to speak to me - recommending 2 items that could be made vegan by removing certain ingredients - a burger & a curry.

I was happy with the chef's suggestions, but still annoyed overall. You see, I'm one of those people who doesn't like to cause a fuss. I enjoy being able to order straight off a menu without having to go through the whole rigmarole of talking to a chef or making substitutions. Normally, a vegetarian cafe is the one place where that can happen. Unfortunately, there's also no vegan dessert options.

Anyway, moving on, I went with the chickpea & lentil burger, made vegan by taking away the sour cream. This was delicious - heaps of fresh salad, a lovely relish & scrumptious toasted macadamias. My dad - a staunch meat-eater - had one too & even he enjoyed it!

Here are some more photos of the beautiful surrounds - greenery.

This man-made creek meanders through the cafe & gardens.

One of the decorations.

Despite my complaint about the menu, I still think this is a place worth visiting the Central Coast for. The only thing to keep in mind - it's mostly outdoors so ideally you should visit on a sunny day. There is some undercover seating - but it's not enclosed & can get chilly.

The Bamboo Buddha
221 Wattle Tree Rd, Holgate
Wed-Sun, 9am-5pm (now possibly open 7 days, according to a new sign outside the cafe)
www.bamboobuddha.com.au