I know it has been a while since it was Christmas but… I just HAVE to share this incredible buffet I went to at Hectors Restaurant in NZ for a vegan Christmas dinner!
Well, in Australia some of us enjoy ” Christmas in July”…. This story is also a wonderful throwback to when we were able to freely travel overseas and enjoy going out.
Both my husband and I are not from Australia and our families are overseas in Ireland and Japan. Because of this, we tend to go away during the Christmas holiday. We sometimes go to Japan or Ireland but since it is also sooo cold in these countries in December we tend not to go there often during this time…
We were going to stay in Australia but decided to go to NZ for the cleaner air (because of the horrific 2019 bushfires, the air quality in Sydney was horrendous).
It was a last minute decision (we booked it about a week ago to be precise!) and we were a bit worried if we would find a good Christmas meal but miraculously I found a restaurant that offered a vegan Christmas dinner!
Even better, my hubby who doesn’t want to go vegan on Christmas Day, could still have ham and turkey! What was even more miraculous was that it was only a 13 minute walk from our accommodation!
Hectors Restaurant is at the Heritage Hotel Auckland.
And it is famous for it’s excellent vegan options!
The buffet menu! It was $149 per person.
I started my meal with a konbucya mocktail, and Thai Style sweetcorn soup
Raw carrot and beetroot slow, maple walnuts and baby leaves, wholemeal bread and marinated tofu.
Cashew and sun-dried tomato cheese– My most favourite is cashew cheese!
Oh, and there was LOTS of marinated tofu!!
For mains we enjoyed:
Vegan Wellington, soba salad, vegan lasagna and crisp roast potatoes and roasted kumara.
Vegan Wellington with truffles, porcini, spinach and flaky pastry
varieties of salad!
Crunchy, freshly baked breads.
Crispy tofu stir-fry soba noodles.
Soba salad made me so happy because I easily miss Asian foods and it was so yummy!
There were many non vegan desserts too! So my hubby was so happy to try many types of vegan and non vegan sweets! I personally loved the crumble slice the most!
Spiced toffee rhubarb apple crumble slice + Cardamon spiced rice pudding + Aquafaba meringues.
Festive summer fruits with chia seeds, elderflowers and apple syrup.
Super SUPER happy!
Every year, I struggle to find a good place for Christmas lunch or dinner (basically I don’t cook for Christmas) but this time, it was so easy! This restaurant was my first Google search.
So… if you are vegan and your family member is not vegan, and you live in NZ or want to travel there, this is the place to be! Hope this type of service is available in many countries!!!!!
I wish everything will be back normal soon too, so that we could fly to overseas again! Revisit Hectors Restaurant when I go to NZ and, explore many more amazing vegan places in other countries!
Heritage Hotel Auckland
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