Iku Wholefood, Sydney

There's one thing that Sydney does better than Melbourne when it comes to vegan eating - Iku Wholefood.

There's nothing particularly fancy or mind-blowing about Iku, it's just tasty, nutritious, vegan food. And there are heaps of them scattered throughout Sydney CBD & suburbs. It would be great to see the franchise extend to Melbourne. Unfortunately, their business model is based around preparing all the food centrally in Sydney & delivering to the stores each day. Obviously, the food can't be sent to Melbourne, so there goes that idea - unless there's a rich business person out there who wants to set up an Iku kitchen in Melbourne for me?

Last week I visited the Pitt St Mall Iku & got the mixed pack (I can't remember their name for it).

They also have a salad pack, but I love the variety in this one. It had heaps of deliciousness to try. There was a nori roll, rice-paper roll with curried tofu (excellent addition), marinated tofu, rice ball, polenta bake, some other kind of bake, cabbage salad, lots of green leaves & 2 sauces. My favourite sauce was the mustardy one - I could easily eat this on its own. The other was a chilli sauce - tasty but pretty standard.

As a treat I also got a Marabba - described as a 'pistachio & rose water flavoured almond meal & semolina biscuit'. It just tasted like an orange flavoured shortbread to me, but it was still nice.

A few reviews I have read say that Iku's quality has gone down recently. This may be true, I don't go there often enough to judge. I still love their food though - I'll forgive a lot to have the choice & convenience that Iku offers.

Iku Wholefood
Various locations throughout Sydney, check website for opening hours
www.ikuwholefood.com.au