CLOSED: Iku Wholefood Kitchen - Chifley Square

closed for renovations?

We were happy to find healthy vegan options (and brown rice!), but the food looked a lot better than it tasted. The curry we tried was very bland. I guess it was filling enough, but considering what we paid for it I was hoping for a better experience.

Excellent healthy food, friendly staff...I highly recommend this place.

I'm a big fan of Iku, and met a friend here for lunch with anticipation. For my $10 'tempeh and pumpkin curry' I had the pleasure of a bored, insolent counter attendant slop half a spoonful of sauce onto some rice, leaving the sauce dripping off the plate, and omitting all of the vegetables and tempeh that the dish was purported to contain. Apart from the terrible service, I was left hungry and had to go elsewhere for a second lunch. If you want to eat at Iku, don't bother with this place - go to their Darlinghurst store instead.

I was super excited to try a 100% vegan chain, so turned up around 9am on a Monday morning. Unfortunately, although it was open, most of the food wasn't ready, so my options were limited to porridge, museli and a couple of ready-made puddings. The porridge made a great breakfast, served with fruit compote and rice cream. We also got 2 of their puddings to go - a sago & a black rice one. Later on in the trip, I came to get dinner for my flight back to NZ that evening. I ordered a mixed salad (brown rice, vege and couscous) with a tofu fritter, all slathered in tahini and chilli. For dessert, I added a mini cocoa friand. I was chuffed to be able to whip out a wholesome, delicious, reasonably-priced meal that evening when all the other passengers were stuck eating rubbery plane food!

We stopped in at Iku on a recent trip to Sydney and stocked up on goodies to take on a trip to Manly. We got the Chocolate Azuki Tart with soy cream, 2 lunch boxes (sushi, salad, pickles, and some sort of brown rice ball), a tofu pocket and a tofu fritter. Everything was very yummy, and it kept very well to feed us throughout the day. Staff at this store were very friendly and helpful (we visited at around 10am). I can only hope and pray that this chain moves to other states and cities too.

Iku is about the only chain vegan place I know of in Australia (Melbourne has Lord of the Fries, but it's only vegetarian with vegan options). And for that reason alone I think it's worth supporting. Just imagine if every Australian town had an Iku? We'd never go hungry.

Given that it's a chain, Iku's menu is a little predictable. It has some very dependable options though -- there's a miso and caramelised onion tart that I just love, and the bancha cakes are also good. I've been to the one in Glebe and in Rozelle, and both have a very different 'vibe', so I imagine that people's experience of Iku depends where they go (my sense of it, for instance, was certainly not "pretentious" -- the staff are very friendly).

My family are not so keen on Iku, because they find a bit bland and "70's vegetarian". I think they just haven't tried the right dishes. Their house salad dressing is delicious, and can be purchased by the bottle. But I find their dessert tart (now is it cheesecake or a lemon tart? I can't remember) a little tofu-y. The Chai tea is very nice, but they don't do coffee (at least not at the Glebe store).

This Iku location was across the street from our hotel, so we went a couple of mornings for breakfast. The first time was a Monday morning and they didn't have any baked goods available yet, so we had the porridge and granola bowls. They were both delicious and filled us up well for our day of sightseeing. The takeaway containers for these are smaller, so I would recommend eating there if you can. We did have muffins the next morning - blueberry and fig muffins. Very tasty. They are located in the food court on the upper floor.

a suit hang out and overly priced...