V Rating: Super V
Where: MLC Centre, Food Court, Martin Place, Sydney (but other locations)
When: Vary by store. @ MLC: Mon - Fri.: 8am - 4pm. Thurs: 8.30am - 4.30pm
Tel: 1300 723 962
Price: $3 - $11

Iku is a successful chain of healthy vegetarian takeaway restaurants. It’s like the Sydney vegetarian equivalent of McDonald’s. Only better.

I recently hopped in the buzzing queue in the food court in the MLC Centre at Martin Place. Laid out in front of me in all of its macrobiotic, organic, gluten-free options glory, were salads, rice balls, wraps, soup, hot casseroles, pasta dishes, and dessert. I felt healthy and virtuous just looking at the food.

Despite the myriad temptations, I couldn’t go past the takeaway mixed salad for $8.50. There were ginger noodles, steamed vegetables, white beans with mixed seeds, beetroot and cabbage in a vinegar dressing, and sesame brown rice, topped off with the house specialty creamy tahini dressing. The salad looked and tasted spectacular, and although it was a filling meal it didn’t leave me with a sleepy carbohydrate low come 3pm.

The Iku menu changes weekly, though you’re always guaranteed of finding favourites like black rice pudding. Most stores open from lunch until dinner, but the central city outlets servicing the white collar crowd shut by 4pm. The size of the resturants (and opportuniy for eating in) varies. The Darlinghurst store is very big, Glebe has a peaceful courtyard, while the MLC Centre is just a counter operation within a busy food court.

Iku also has a catering business, and distributes a range of food (including the aforementioned creamy tahini dressing) throughout health food shops.

Iku doesn’t flaunt its vegetarian credentials, selling itself on the health benefits of its food, rather than its meatless menu. It’s a godsend for vegos and vegans who want a quick, tasty and stress-free lunch, and proves once and for all that vegetarian food can be sexy.

Share This