Wellington's plant scene is compact but distinct, leaning bakery and savoury pie. Donut and pie each hit 5 menus and empanada another 4, with Belén Plant Bakery and Creamy & Crunchy running the pastry side. Duck Island Ice Cream tops the dessert bench, September Vegan Food covers Thai and burgers, and The Blue Ball is the British outlier. The 10-deep Indian roster carries most of the savoury depth.
Ranked by overall rating, signature dish strength, and how much reviewers praise the food. If you only have a weekend, start here.
Try the ham and cheese croissant if you miss classic vegan savory pastries
Try the pastel de nata and vegan pies like gochujang and mince & cheese
Must go · #5 Try the 'raspberry crème brûlée' filled doughnut, a popular choice
Must go · #6 Enjoy the samosas and vegan sausage rolls, highly praised by many reviewers
Must go · #7 
Must go · #8 Try the Scorpio and Libra burgers for flavorful high-protein options
Must go · #9 
Must go · #11 
Must go · #12 
Must go · #13 
Must go · #14 
Must go · #15 Dishes ranked by how well this city's plant-based venues make them, compared to the other 157 cities we track.
5 places worth stopping for donut
Try the ham and cheese croissant if you miss classic vegan savory pastries
Enjoy the wide variety of homemade vegan donuts
Try the vegan doughnuts—they're highly popular and often sell out
Try the biscoff donut and almond croissant
5 places worth stopping for pie
Try the pastel de nata and vegan pies like gochujang and mince & cheese
Try the ham and cheese croissant if you miss classic vegan savory pastries
Try the 'raspberry crème brûlée' filled doughnut, a popular choice
Enjoy the samosas and vegan sausage rolls, highly praised by many reviewers
4 places worth stopping for empanada
spinach · Vegan Food Guide All 177 Wellington venues on the map. Filter by what's open, save what you'd return for, get walking directions in two taps.
Completely plant-based kitchens. No swaps, no asking, no surprises.
Try the ham and cheese croissant if you miss classic vegan savory pastries
Try the chicken satay skewers and bao buns
Try the pastel de nata and vegan pies like gochujang and mince & cheese
Enjoy the samosas and vegan sausage rolls, highly praised by many reviewers
Mainstream restaurants where the vegan side of the menu is treated seriously.
Try the salted brownie and peanut butter cookie dough vegan flavours
Try the crispy Vietnamese pancake (Bánh Xèo) loaded with tofu and mushrooms
Try the vegan combo platter for variety and value
Try the vegan doughnuts—they're highly popular and often sell out
Open before 10, good coffee, the kind of place you walk back to on day two.
Try the pastel de nata and vegan pies like gochujang and mince & cheese
Try the ham and cheese croissant if you miss classic vegan savory pastries
Try the 'raspberry crème brûlée' filled doughnut, a popular choice
Try the biscoff donut and almond croissant
Weekday fuel and weekend stretches.
Try the crispy Vietnamese pancake (Bánh Xèo) loaded with tofu and mushrooms
Enjoy the samosas and vegan sausage rolls, highly praised by many reviewers
Try the chicken satay skewers and bao buns
Try the pastel de nata and vegan pies like gochujang and mince & cheese
Ice cream, pastry, and the honest dessert case.
Try the salted brownie and peanut butter cookie dough vegan flavours
Try the ham and cheese croissant if you miss classic vegan savory pastries
Enjoy the wide variety of homemade vegan donuts
Try the biscoff donut and almond croissant
Busy rooms with tables big enough for eight.
Menus kids recognize, staff who don't flinch at strollers.
Try the salted brownie and peanut butter cookie dough vegan flavours
Enjoy the samosas and vegan sausage rolls, highly praised by many reviewers
Try the chickpea "chuna" tuna sandwich
Try the Tarka Daal and Amritsari Chole for classic vegan Indian flavors
Cities where the donut signature also earns a spot in the top essentials — pack a weekend around one.
Yes — Wellington has 177 vegan-ready venues. The top-ranked are Duck Island Ice Cream, Belén Plant Bakery, Creamy & Crunchy. Spinach ranks them daily on overall rating, signature dish strength, and reviewer praise for the food.
Wellington scores 58.3/100 on the Spinach vegan city index. The city has 30 vegan-friendly venues and 43 high-quality restaurants out of 177 analyzed.
Wellington has 15 fully vegan restaurants and 5 vegetarian restaurants. 30 venues score B or higher on the Vegan Friendliness grade.
Wellington's top signature dishes for vegans are donut, pie, empanada, and the city also does burger well. Signature dishes are ranked by how the city's venues score against the other 157 cities we track.
The vegan scene in Wellington leans Indian. Indian is particularly strong, with 10 venues serving quality plant-based options.
Duck Island Ice Cream is ranked #1 in Wellington by the Spinach Essentials algorithm, which weights rating, signature dish performance, and reviewer praise. See all 15 Essentials for the full ranking.
Spinach ranks vegan venues using the same algorithm the mobile app runs: a composite of Google Maps rating, the Spinach Rating (Wilson-confidence scored), dish-quality Wilson scores from extracted review signals, and city-specific signature dish strength. Essentials add a tier weighting; category lists add their own mood/occasion weights. No pay-to-play.
The ranking refreshes daily from Supabase. The last refresh is stamped at the top of this page. Venue data comes from Google Maps, HappyCow, and Spinach's own review-analysis pipeline.
