Nelson & Golden Bay, Family Restaurants

This is a really great website for finding vegan and vegan-friendly restaurants in your location.  It's worldwide but has extensive and accurate results.

The website also features good vegetarian restaurants and other animal-friendly products.  Let's eat less animals and support Happy Cow!

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A funky kitsch cafe, fully vegan. Offers lunch, dinner and desserts. Many dishes are gluten-free. Sometimes live music.

The puddings are to die for. Cute little outdoors area to sit in when warm. Winner of 2018 Wild Tomato Best Cafe Award.

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Vegetarian dining in Kimi Ora Resort.  Primarily for guests but reservations for visiting diners are welcomed.  Stunning bush setting and lovely menu.
Vegan options aplenty.

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Cafe located inside Arcadia Organics. Serves Krishna food with vegan options.  Amazing value and great for the family.  Home of our famous lunch specials + an abundance of organic whole foods ~ all vegetables are organic (grown on cafe's farm) and some menu options are all organic.
Arcade setting. Previously named Arcadia Cafe. Open Mon-Fri 9:00am-5:30pm, Sat-Sun 10:00am-4:00pm.

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Welcome to Burger Culture, Nelson’s only dedicated burger joint – fresh, handcrafted, independent. Our fundamental goal is to create a destination that delights the senses. Be nostalgic, cast your mind back to when you were a kid; you only ever did what you wanted to do. Stuff that’s fun, exciting, maybe a bit rebellious. This is a playground for your inner child, let that kid out – it’s still there, screaming out for a burger.

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Open in summer only - but definitely worth making a beeline to! Scrumptious plant based food shack with outside seating serving great coffee, mouth-watering salads, specialized smoothies and stunning vegan cake. Wholesome eating that tastes amazing and is bursting with goodness.

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"Wow" you really need to try this one! Lone Star's legendary meals, outstanding service, and famous atmosphere are now part of accepted folklore in 16 New Zealand cities. Our new menu has made it’s delectable debut with new stars such as the Ravishing Rib-eye and Hooked On A Feeling, nestling comfortably amongst old favourites, Lassoo of Hog and Dixie Chicken, to name just a few that are available for your gastronomic delight. Children are exceptionally well looked after with their own Kiwi Kids’ menu, with choices such as Barney’s Ribs, Chief Mini Drums, Chicken or Lamb Wrap, Little Big Steak, Nipper’s Fish ‘n’ Chips and heaps more!

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An Italian theme prevails with pizzas, pastas and smoked antipasto, all of gargantuan proportions to challenge even the heartiest appetite. Children are welcome here – we have a special tots menu, and there's even a safe, enclosed play area with toys to keep them entertained. Lambretta's operates a healthy, 'minimal fried food' policy and provides double filtered water, literally on tap. Tots’ Tummy Ticklers menu includes plain steamed pasta, nachos, pasta with cheese, grilled fish and baby pizzas.

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A country café, serving breakfast, lunch and ‘inbetweens’. Once you walk over the trip trop bridge past the tame eels you enter another world. The funtastic café garden is full of art and surprises. You can play chess on the giant wooden chess board or tell the kids to "get lost" in the maze. Let them enjoy the playground while you take some time to smell the roses. Take a wander and enjoy the various sculptures that you discover and be surprised by what you find. Meanwhile the tame eels live in the creek below the bridge waiting to be fed. Eel food is available from the café, $5 for the real eel deal.

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Penguinos is a Nelson institution and has a reputation for great ice cream and gelato.  They continually create and refine wonderful new flavours, providing superb gelatos for regular customers as well as the many tourists who flock to Nelson in the summer months.  Creative and exuberant, you will have fun trying extraordinary flavours not normally associated with ice creams. 

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Great food with Mediterranean influences – come and enjoy our seaside café and bar right on the wharf at Mapua. Open for breakfast lunch and dinner and with a great kids menu and options available.

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Located right on the beach in Tahuna Reserve, recognised for excellence, quality food and beverages - served all day long from early morning until 5pm. 7 days a week, all year round. Very kind friendly with adjacent play area.

 

 

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The Old School Cafe is located half way between Collingwood and Farewell spit. The Cafe is in the original building that was once the house of learning for the children of Pakawau. Open for lunch and dinner there is plenty on the large black board menu to suit all. Indoor and outdoor dining with a full bar, pool table and dart board.

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The Apple Shed is located over the water on Mapua Wharf, with unrivalled views across the Waimea Inlet. 

A simple and seasonally driven menu, (including a menu for little ones) complimented by a carefully selected range of wine, beer and cider.

Open daily from 10.30am.  The Apple Shed is the perfect place to enjoy your morning coffee, a long lunch with family and friends or an intimate dinner.

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The Mussel Inn is a family friendly quirky cafe / bar / music venue with of course as the name points to - the best Mussels in town.  located in the heart of Golden Bay, North West Nelson region of the South Island of New Zealand. A two hour drive from Nelson, over the Takaka hill, through the township of Takaka and on another 17 kms towards Collingwood you will find yourself in Onekaka. We have a great outside area, under shady trees complete with large swing. Open from 11am till late, seven days a week except for for Christmas day. No bookings, no byo - take us as you find us.

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By day, we are a café serving the best local eggs in the district and in true kiwi style, a world class coffee experience. By night, we are a caped crusading restaurant dishing out our famous pizza, freshly inspired in-season pastas, salads, burritos, hot soups, platters & desserts!  99% of our fresh produce is grown locally and either organically or sprayfree. All of our eggs are free range and all of our breakfast eggs are from local free range and organically fed chickens. We have been actively forging relationships with local growers and supporting the movement of local food production. We know where and how this food is grown.

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Whether stopping by for lunch, brunch or afternoon tea, enjoy the ambiance of this cosy café, relax on the deck or outdoors under a sun umbrella or in the shade of a tree enjoying the garden. Great fresh food and coffee!

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The Smugglers Pub and Cafe is famous for its hearty meals, foaming craft ales and great wines all served up in a unique old world atmosphere with a 'Pirate atmosphere' the kids will love. Located within easy walking distance from Nelson’s Tahunanui Beach. Food is available all day and into the evening with extensive snack, lunch and dinner menus including gluten free and children’s menus for young smugglers. Open seven days a week including most holidays and absolutely no surcharges ever.

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Totos is a unique café - pizzeria & gallery located next to the Abel Tasman National park 10km from Totaranui campground. The café is surrounded by bush, with an amazing view on Wainui Bay (stop on before or after your walk to Wainui Falls). Because we care for this beautiful environment, the cafe has been built using natural materials. Using on-site earth and a combination of local and recycled timbers. We also generate all our electricity with micro-hydro and solar panel, and our water comes from a source on the property.Come and enjoy what our little café-pizzeria can offer amongst some of New Zealand's finest natural surroundings!

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Come and enjoy a light meal at our fully licensed cafe set in our attractive garden.

The fully licensed cafe is welcoming, a place to unwind and discuss the excitement of the day. During summer you can sit on the wide sunny deck; in winter the log fire is kept stoked and blazing.

Before you leave, stroll down to hand feed the tame emus and pet sheep. Or you could sit on the riverbank beneath the shade of a willow tree, and watch the eels and trout feeding in the crystal clear water.

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Our Park Café restaurant is situated at the entrance to Abel Tasman National Park so you can visit us before or after your walk in the park. We overlook the start of the Abel Tasman track and the restaurant has a casual ambiance, in keeping with its natural surroundings. The Café offers breakfast, lunch and dinner menu plus scrumptious snacks. Leave room for their delicious chocolate brownie slice – one of the best we’ve tasted! Dinner menu includes fresh fish, seafood pasta, lamb shanks, steak, chicken and vegetarian dishes. Small portions for children can be ordered.

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