Whether it’s meat-free Mondays or an everyday lifestyle, a lot of people are attempting to cut animal products out of their diets nowadays. Looking towards eating plant-based in an effort to use our resources sustainably, and limit our contributions to the meat industry, eating vegetarian or vegan meals is the way to make an impact.
The food and service industry has adjusted to these eating habits, and our world today is consistently doing more to cater for plant-based diets.
Here are 10 Cape Town eateries that make plant-based lifestyles easy:
1. Prashad Café
Prashad Café comes from the famous Maharajah Vegetarian brand and is a collaboration between a mother, son and daughter. At Prashad you can enjoy a wide range of fresh dishes of South African Indian flavours. With high-quality ingredients and home-ground spices, the food at Prashad is made with love, promising delightful vegetarian and vegan cuisine.
- Address: Kloof Street, Gardens
- Opening days and hours: Monday to Sunday 12 to 9pm

Visit their website here.
Prashad Café also has branches in Rondebosch, Constantia Village Mall and Mojo Market.
2. Grumpy & Runt
Grumpy & Runt, the deli and vegan bakery in Dunkley Square, specialises in mouth-watering hand-crafted doughnuts. Each week, they select eight different flavours, often entirely new ones every Tuesday, which are then made freshly in-store each morning. The deli also makes New York-style food along with their baked goods, including sourdough sandwiches and a range of pastries. They try to make everything themselves. Some of their homemade products include vegan butter, vegan cheese, vegan deli meats, pastry, dough and mayonnaise.
- Address: Dunkley Square, 22 Dunkley Street, Gardens
- Opening days and hours: Tuesday to Friday 8.30am to 4pm, Saturday 9am to 4pm, Sunday 9am to 2pm

Visit their website here.
Also read: Portugal was the first country to make it illegal not to offer veggie options on menus
3. Vegan Streetfood
Vegan Streetfood was created by vegans for vegans, with the aim to protect animals from all forms of exploitation and cruelty. The eatery seeks to provide tasty, healthy and nutritious plant-based, fast-food alternatives for the vegan community including burgers, hot dogs, pies and more. Vegan Streetfood can be easily ordered online for home delivery too.
- Address: 79 Lower Main Rd, Observatory
- Opening days and hours: Sunday 11am to 3pm, Monday and Wednesday 12 to 6pm, Tuesday and Friday to Saturday 11am to 5pm

Visit their website here.
4. The Conscious Kitchen
The Conscious Kitchen is a restaurant that focuses on being conscious with not just eating, but producing and consuming. This means that they are conscious of recycling, limiting wastage, and staying away from plastic and other non-biodegradable packaging. All of The Conscious Kitchen’s products are locally sourced from places where people support sustainability, with the bulk of their veggies grown by small-scale organic farmers. The eatery encourages people to make healthier and more conscious choices with their food every day. You can find all types of delicious food on their menu, from burgers to bagels to bowls.
- Address: 34 Kloof St, Gardens
- Opening days and hours: Everyday 8am to 6pm

Visit their website here.
The Conscious Kitchen also has a branch in Observatory.
5. Wildsprout
Wildsprout is a family-run business that provides high-quality, nutritious wholefood through both their café and grocery store. At Wildsprout you can get everything you would want in a day, from smoothies to salads to sandwiches. They also have healthy sweet treats. Their menu includes gluten-free, dairy-free, sugar-free, vegan and banting options. The produce, pantry staples and deli items are sourced mainly from local small businesses. The items sold in the deli and store are handmade in their kitchen, with no artificial additives or preservatives.
- Address: 278 Main Rd, Kenilworth
- Opening days and hours: Monday to Friday 8am to 5pm, Saturday to Sunday 9am to 3.30pm

Visit their website here.
Wildsprout has recently opened a branch in Constantia.
6. Plant
Plant was initially located in the Bo-Kaap and was one of Cape town’s first vegan cafes. The owners, although different over the years, have both held strong beliefs in living a compassionate lifestyle without harming animals. The food at Plant is prepared daily with fresh vegetables, being ready in only 15 minutes. You can also order online from Plant with free delivery within a 15km radius.
- Address: 87 Victoria Rd, Camps Bay
- Opening days and hours: Sunday to Monday 7.30am to 5pm, Tuesday to Saturday 7.30am to 9.30pm

Visit their website here.
Also read: Vegan brands no longer allowed to refer to products as “meat”
7. Lexi’s Healthy Eatery
Lexi’s Healthy Eatery is a mostly vegan, whole-food restaurant that strives to be as sustainable and conscious as possible whilst living nutritiously. Lexi’s makes a concerted effort to limit their plastic use, and source their products locally and ethically. They believe that many people making at least a small effort is more important than just a few people trying to be perfect with their efforts. So, they also have free-range meat and fish in acknowledgement that not everyone’s journey is the same. Lexi’s Healthy Eatery gives you the space in which to make small healthier, more eco-friendly choices every day according to what works for you.
- Address: 85A Regent Rd, Sea Point
- Opening days and hours: Monday to Saturday 8.30am to 9pm, Sunday 8.30am to 3.30pm

Visit their website here.
8. Sunshine Food Co
The Sunshine Food Sprouting Co African Vegan Café is a little vegan cafe that is committed to creating delicious and creative plant-based food that has ‘good for you’ intentions. Their food is 100% organic and is made with the purpose of being energising and uplifting. The Sunshine Food Co’s owner is known to be enthusiastic and passionate about their food, which is mostly made from Micro-greens and Sprouts.
- Address: 2 M61, Three Anchor Bay
- Opening days and hours: Every day 9am to 8pm

Visit them here.
9. Tortuga Loca
Although not strictly plant-based, Tortuga Loca has a great range of veggie and vegan options on their Mexican menu. Getting creative with their dishes, they use jackfruit as a substitute for pork and make veggie ‘ribs’ out of corn. They also don’t sell any red meat. Everything on their menu is free-range, and the restaurant aims to embrace the surfer culture of the area.
- Address: 141 Main Rd, Muizenberg
- Opening days and hours: Tuesday to Sunday 12 to 11pm

Visit them here.
10. Honest Chocolate Cafe
Honest Chocolate is a small Cape Town-based chocolate company. They use old-school methods of making chocolate to keep the ingredient quality high and the products organically produced. Honest Chocolate’s slabs are made with organically produced Tanzanian cacao beans which are roasted, ground, and tempered in their production kitchen in Woodstock. The cafe has both hot drinks and a selection of chocolate truffles, tarts and cakes with most treats being vegan. Honest Chocolate specialises in (besides chocolate): dairy-free milkshakes, their trademark ‘coconut dream’ drink, and their banana bread bunny chow.
- Address: 64A Wale St, City Centre
- Opening days and hours: Monday to Thursday 10am to 6pm, Friday 10am to 9pm, Saturday 9am to 9pm, Sunday 9am to 5pm

Visit their website here.
Honourable mention – ProVeg:
Although not a restaurant, ProVeg is an important organisation to note if you are interested in eating plant-based. ProVeg is a food awareness organisation on a mission to reduce the global consumption of animals by 50% by 2040.
As South African braai culture is one we can’t live without, ProVeg makes efforts toward having vegan braai options for plant-based eaters. Their most recent event centred around Heritage Day, with them hosting a vegan braai in Camps Bay. This event was done in collaboration with Woolworths, Fry’s, Nourish’d, Pesto Princess and many more well-known food brands.
The braai options included a variety of plant-based imitations of meat, along with salads and delicious vegan sweet treats. In getting over 300 people to celebrate their braai-day with no meat, ProVeg makes a notably positive impact on our environment and resources.
Also read:
5 vegan restaurants serving mouth-watering breakfasts in Cape Town
Picture: Unsplash