Many moons ago I was curious to eat in Govinda's Vegetarian Restaurant on Aungier street. I had heard about their good value and tempting menus but to my disappointment I found that every dish on the menu that day had some form of cow's milk. I never returned, understandably... until yesterday, that is. I was meeting a friend for lunch and our requirements were dairy free and good value for money. Surprisingly Govinda's came up trumps! We were ready to look elsewhere should the menu not contain anything dairy free but things have changed over the years.. Not only was there a vegan option on the menu, in fact there were three or four and you can get a bit of everything of all on the one plate!
For those of you who don't know, Govinda's is a Hare Krishna restaurant which is set up in a canteen style with changing dishes each day. The Hare Krishna's are vegetarian but not vegan. Milk is not a problem but eggs are due to the possibility of fertilization. If I were a vegan I would find this soooo frustrating - being so close yet so far away but luckily those days are history. It would seem that Govinda's now serve vegan options on a regular basis much to the delight of both the vegan and the dairy free population... however, the 'sweets of the day' on this occasion were not quite as understanding but i'll keep a keen eye on them.
In addition to our dairy free requirements, our second requirement for this lunch date was value for money and indeed we were satisfied. There are two plate sizes for main courses - 'Regular' at €6.95 and 'Large' at €10.45. I opted for 'Regular' and at first glance I thought I was going to be hungry soon after my meal because the 'Regular' plate is a small side-plate size but boy-oh-boy do they ever pile the food on. So much so in fact that I fear the Large could almost be too much (despite my notoriously large appetite!). The food was good, filling, cheap and of course dairy free. My only regret is that I didn't try out something from their 'Snacks and Nibblers' menu but I suppose I can look forward to that on my next visit.
For more information on Govinda's and their three different locations in Dublin, their locally produced ingredients from their farm in Fermanagh as well as details about their spiritual centre and information on vegetarianism please see their website
Govinda's
44 Aungier Street
Dublin 2
Tel: (01) 475 0309
Web: www.govindas.ie
Opening Hours: Mon-Sat 12:00-21:00
Govinda's
18 Merrion Row
Dublin 2
Tel: (01)661 5095
Web: www.govindas.ie
Opening Hours: Mon-Sat 12:00-21:00
Govinda's
83 Middle Abbey Street
Dublin 1
Tel: (01) 872 7463
Web: www.govindas.ie
Opening Hours: Mon-Sat 12:00-21:00; Sun 12:00-19:00
For a full list of food allergy friendly dining options please see the 'Restaurant Directory' page located under the main title
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