Red Lion turns vegan
Fancy a vegan meal in a pub, instead of a chicken parma or steak? Check out the Red Lion pub in Rozelle in Sydney’s inner west.
It’s not a complete vegan makeover. It will be serving up fake meat dishes like vegan “Big Mac burgers” and fake pepperoni pizzas. But there will be no animal products.
Fittingly, the Red Lion has even given the bistro a new brand name. The Green Lion is fitting enough to give it that distinctive identity.
The place will open Sunday week on September 18.
With the opening more than a week away, the Green Lion menu is still being organised but we can expect there will be at least three burgers: a vegan Big Mac with a soy bean patty, a fish burger made with “fake fish fillets” and a black bean burger.
Also, expect a vegan shepherd’s pie. Then there’s “pepperoni” pizza and a pie with mash and vegan “mock meat”.
And then there are vegan wines. Normal wines are made with fish and eggs to break down the grape. Not these wines.
Green Lion co-founder Bhavani Baumann, who is a vegetarian, says the food will be just like what you would find at any pub. Only it will be vegan.
“We’ll be doing normal pub fare like burgers, chips and pizzas, but vegan. Basically anything that would normally be on a pub menu, we’ll have in a vegan style,” Baumann told news.com.au.
“We’re not the super vegans and we’re not here to preach,” she said. “A lot of people just want to have a meat-free meal once or twice a week, so we’re focused on those people as well.
“We’re just doing what we love to do, to show how yummy and tasty it can be to cut down on your meat consumption.”
Why would any pub be doing this?
Because according to Euromonitor International, Australia is the world’s fastest growing vegan market in the world, behind only China and the United Arab Emirates and the vegan market is tipped to grow almost 10 per cent by 2020.
by Leon Gettler, 7th September 2016
