VEGAN / VEGETARIAN / AWESOME!
Nestled between the 4 Square and Butlers Pub in Oakura is Taranaki’s popular plant-based café/restaurant. Lemonwood has become the most desirable eating place for the locals. Outside, the decks offer both sunny places to enjoy the day as well as some protection on windy days, and on the weekends especially, you’ll find them packed with people enjoying a vegan wine or locally brewed beer with their brunches.
To offset the fact that this café is on the main highway and has no real views of the beaches that this coastal town is known for, the clever mural that lines the deck walls gives punters that beachy feel. Graffiti at it’s best!
The simple exterior belies what awaits you inside. Barbara Olsen-Henderson has once again hit the spot with her trademark colourful, rustic, bohemian vibe. “Indian Pink” is what she’s calling the rich magenta which coats the walls. Along with the intimate booth areas lined with aged timbers rescued from reject vegetable crates from a local market garden, you’ll also find other interesting upcycled features.Check out the steamed pudding basins to which Alan has given new life as lamps and lighting, and the old bakery tins – used both to cook bread in, and as a decorative feature here and there.
Extravagant floral wall murals feature and along with the rich, glowing, polished timber floors, you’ll feel yourself wrapped in the warmth that is Lemonwood the minute you enter here.
Barbara’s desire to follow her passion and create a plant-based eatery for locals, in stunning surroundings, has been brought to fruition. The food cabinet displays an array of delicious-looking cakes and slices as well as a selection of colourful salads and savoury dishes.