Vegetarian bakery selling vegan bread, pies, pasties, sausage rolls, bánh mì, slices, doughnuts etc., as well as hot coffee and cold drinks. Open Mon-Fri 6:00am-6:00pm, Sat 6:00am-5:00pm, Sun 6:00am-4:00pm.
Vegetarian bakery selling vegan bread, pies, pasties, sausage rolls, bánh mì, slices, doughnuts etc., as well as hot coffee and cold drinks. Open Mon-Fri 6:00am-6:00pm, Sat 6:00am-5:00pm, Sun 6:00am-4:00pm.
25 Reviews
First Review by vegiemelb
Contributions +5221
better than many - Edit
Good food at a very good price. A lot of businesses could learn from their recipes. Personally would like to see more flavour in the pies, pasties and sausage rolls and would still be buying them if they were palm oil free
Updated from previous review on 2018-04-19
Pros: Tasty, Cheap, Noms
Cons: not completely vegan, palm oil in the pastry
Contributions +206
Cheap AND delicious - Edit
Usually you have to choose between cheap and delicious but not here! There are sooo many vegan options at ridiculously cheap prices. I had my first apple turnover in over 3 years since turning vegan here and it was so cheap. Would recommend the walnut slice, chocolate croissant and curry pie. But everything I’ve tried has been delicious. Can’t fault it!
Contributions +31
bahn mi - Edit
who else makes and sells a bahn mi full of vegan goodness for only $5.00? Their marinated tofu is an absolute must! Their selection of pies, pastries and other sweets are just wonderful and extremely low priced for the vegan on a budget and are a must visit for "new" vegans missing their no longer cruel choices
Pros: variety, freshness, price
Cons: not gluten free, not gluten free, not gluten free
Contributions +302
The Pies Eat The Pies!!! - Edit
Did someone say vegan pies?!?!? They taste good at La Panella but we buy them frozen and cook them to perfection at home and then they are out of this world. La Panella seems to under cook the pastries when selling warm. The sweet breads and Vietnamese rolls are great too.
Contributions +417
The BEST - cheap yet delicious bakery goodness! - Edit
This is one of my favourite places in the world. I really wish I lived closer but it's worth the drive!
Everything is incredibly cheap and, trust me, you're going to leave with at least one huge bag of sweet bakery goods.
My favourites are the party pies (they taste exactly like childhood) and the jam donuts which are spot on!
In fact everything is spot on. It's not an expensive, gourmet vegan hipster bakery - this is just like going to the cheap bakery near your house that sells the jam tarts and cream buns and meat pies and apple cakes and sandwiches... but it's (almost) ALL VEGAN!
Just read the labels because there are a few things that aren't vegan (though they are vegetarian).
Pros: Cheap, Delicious, Tastes like the real deal!
Cons: No cons. Just pure goodness.
Contributions +1021
Cheap Vegan Eats - Edit
This place is the best for cheap vegan desserts like doughnuts, slices, and tarts. I loved the lemon tart and the hot jam doughnut and I could have eaten about 10 of the little baked doughnuts. The sausage roll I tried was good too and I can't wait to come back for more next time I'm in Melbourne.
Contributions +66
Preston's only Vego/Vegan bakery - Edit
A sweet tooth's heaven!
Can't go past the vegan banh mi (salad roll).
Pros: right in the heart of Preston!
Cons: cash only., service can be a bit ambivalent.
Contributions +62
Baked Delicious Goods - Edit
So many Vegan options it's near impossible to try them all. even when I think I've spent too much money it works out to be very affordable!!
Contributions +24
Best bakery out there for vegans! - Edit
The pies in this place are the best and the pastries and donuts are killer!
Got myself a mushroom pie and an iced donut the other day for less than $7 all up.
You can't beat this place for value that's for sure.
Pros: Lots of tasty vegan items to choose from and great
Cons: Not the healthiest fare on town!
Contributions +113
There Are No Words - Edit
Re-live all you childhood bakery memories! Can't believe how cheap the prices are, nor how on point the fare. We tried all the pies which I recommend as well as a healthy sampling of the sweets. Everything was incredible with clear vegan labels. We stuffed ourselves senseless for $30
Contributions +43
affordable and delicious - Edit
i got a caramel slice, chocolate jam donut, custard tart and chocolate croissant for just $8.80, it was so affordable and delicious!!
Pros: price, friendly staff, great service
Cons: none
Contributions +1070
Tasty treats and cheap - Edit
The vegan options are labelled and so cheap! We decided to make the journey worth the short trip and stock up on some treats (donuts and a slice) as well as buying a mushroom pie. The service was polite and they were busy. The treats tasted very fresh. They had lots of vegan options, sweet and savoury ones too. Can't wait to try more things!
Pros: cheap, clearly labelled vegan options
Contributions +788
Vietnamese Vegery Heaven - Edit
If you miss such terrible treats as jam donuts, chocolate-iced jam donuts, pies and sausage rolls - this is *THE* place to go in Melbourne. Compared to other veg*n specialty shops, it is also relatively inexpensive. La Panella have recently opened a Bánh Mì section (mock-meats included), so this is literally Vietnamese vegan heaven in a bun.
Pros: Amazing selection of vegan junk food, great location, inexpensive
Cons: not particularly healthy
Contributions +5605
Bakery heaven - Edit
Tasty vegan baked goods at old school prices. Be sure to stock up on frozen pies and pasties to take home and a sweet treat (or three) for indulgence sake.
No surprise that La Panella is a favourite among vegans - they deliver on every level.
Pros: Great prices, Vegan baked goods, Friendly staff
Contributions +19
lovely food! - Edit
Small bakery which has the unlikeliest of vegan pies and pastries! I was so excited to find this place so close to home and it offered something I'm always craving for, Pies and tarts!!! What a gem! And cheap too.
Contributions +364
Great bakery for veggies and vegans! - Edit
La Panella is a great little bakery with many options for sweet and savory food. Everything is vegetarian and almost all of the items are vegan. The jam doughnuts are excellent and so are the almond chocolate slices. Savory options include pies and meat-free sausage rolls. Take plastic tupperware and buy in bulk!
Pros: Great selection, freshly made, almost everything is vegan
Cons: Not much around in the local area
Contributions +74
Oasis in the middle of nowhere - Edit
This place seems like it's out in the middle of nowhere (I'm not from Melbourne, so forgive me if I'm wrong), but I always manage to make it out here when I'm in town.
A good range of sweet baked goods, as well as hot pies, pasties, sausage rolls, etc.
Pros: Amazingly cheap, tasty, unhealthy goodness, did I say how cheap it is?
Cons: I wish all the sweets were vegan :(
Contributions +429
takes you back to the tuck-shop! - Edit
90% of the time I'm one of those punishing, self-righteous vegans who eats a wholefoods-based diet but sometimes I just need the comfort of a fake meat pie from La Panella. It takes me back to the school playground where, actually, we didn't have a canteen but a "lunch order" system where you put your money in a milk crate in the morning and the milk crate got returned at lunch time from the local roadhouse* loaded with paper bags filled with dreams.
My standard lunch order was a meat pie and a jam donut and La Panella can fix me up with a convincing vegan substitute. Plus I usually grab a few cold to stash in the freezer coz it's a long way from Brunswick to Preston but now that I live with my BF and it's on his way home from work, I might be in trouble.
La Panella has been around since I was living in Reservoir and started eating a vegan diet more than 10 years ago, I reckon. Comforting to see then still doing good business. They seem to be nice peeps, worth supporting.
*petrol station that sells takeaway food and a few essentials - ya with me?
Pros: small family business, reliable product
Cons: ain't health food but ain't pretending
Contributions +126
Love it. - Edit
Yeah, it's a pie and pastry shop. It's not healthy, it's not high cuisine. But it's _really_ cheap and it has many vegan and vegetarian options. And it's really tasty.
The plain pie, mushroom pie, curry pie, pasty and sausage roll are all vegan, and are $2-3 which is competitive with 'real' pie shops. Around half the donuts, 'hedgehogs', slices, pies and tarts are vegan. Everything is clearly signed as 'vegan' - everything else is vegetarian. Also has cheap vegan bread - regular sliced white, wholemeal etc loaves and round and special loaves.
I recommend a mushroom pie and a jam donut, maybe with a vegan custard tart chaser. That should set you back less than $5.
Pros: Cheap as you can get., Traditional 'Aussie' food, vegan!, Really tasty if you like that stuff
Contributions +92
Great pies and sausage rolls - Edit
I'm lucky enough to be working within walking distance of this place. Have had many, many of their "sausage" rolls and "meat" pies. The pies in particular, while not exactly gourmet, are really something and you could pass them off as actual meat pies I'd say. There's also a lot of vegan doughnuts and pastries, although I haven't ever tried them. I sometimes wonder how long some of stuff has been sitting there, but they appear to turn over a lot of pies/sausage rolls. Good to buy the pies and sausage rolls cold and then pop them in the oven when you have friends over for the footy.
Pros: Amazing meat pies
Cons: It's in Preston
Contributions +26
cinamin donuts no longer vegan - Edit
Beware some donuts are no longer vegan. Food is ok for hunk food.
Pros: vegan pies, cheap
Cons: some things are no longer vegan, sometimes not fresh
Contributions +1762
"meat pies" for the footy! - Edit
I have been buying the pies and sausage rolls from this bakery for years. I drive across town to stock up on them cold, pop them in foil in the freezer and then into the oven when I feel like it.
You know how mad Melbournians are about sport? Well, nothing goes with sport like a pie apparently. So this little vegan pops one of these pies in the oven and it's all good and no-one is wondering what kinda wierdo food you are eating, because it looks like meat! So you can enjoy it quietly if you wish.
Joking aside, they also do good donuts. You know how exciting it is for a vegan to get a good donut? Yeah,last time they even had donuts with vegan cream and jam...hmmm.
Another good hint: Jam tarts - if you are wanting to stock up are vegan, of course. I pop these in an airtight container in the freezer. Take them out 1/2 a day before you want to eat them. Perfect.
They do have some vegetarian foods as well as vegan, but they are all clearly labelled.
Pros: "meat" pies, Freeze - able, friendly service
Contributions +204
Great Bakery for Vegans! - Edit
What a fantastic place! Vegan meat pies, sausage rolls and pasties. All are tasty and pretty convincing substitutes for the real thing.
Their baked treats are also awesome. Cinnamon donuts, iced donuts, Boston rolls, cream buns and custard slices are all vegan. The only one I wasn't a huge fan off was the cream bun, which used a hard and fairly tasteless cream substitute. Everything else tasted great though. Note that some of the baked goods contain dairy (lamingtons for example), but all the vegan options are clearly labelled.
It's also very cheap. Last time I went, I bought two meat pies, a sausage roll, 3 mini donuts and a loaf of bread for around $9. It's not fancy, and is basically just your standard neighbourhood bakery.
I've eaten there a few times and never had an issue with the uncooked pastry mentioned in the previous review, so maybe they've picked up their game.
On a side note, it's worth a wander down High St to check out all the Asian supermarkets. Head south from La Panella - there are 3 or 4 within about 100m. There are some really good imported veggie / vegan products to be found.
Pros: Veg Meat Pies!, Very Cheap
Cons: Not Gourmet (a positive in my book), Not next door to my house.
Contributions +87
Need to make sure hot food is hot - Edit
Sometimes the hot pastries are not heated all the way through. If you buy a hot pastry which is not heated all the way through, is cold in the middle, please complain. You don't need to be angry or want a refund or anything. You can have a smile and say that you thought they would like to know their hot food was cold on the inside. This is the only way they will change their practices and make sure the pastries are heated all the way through (I think they microwave them first and then the oven maintains the heat so if they are not microwaved properly then there can be problems).
Apart from that, the pastries, comprised of two types of pies, a pastie, and a sausage roll, are an excellent and very cheap snack/small meal if you are in the area (and they are usually hot all the way through (but not always)).
Pies are currently $2, pasties $1.80, and sausage rolls $1.50. You can't beat that anywhere in Melbourne.
I also see people buying them in bulk to take away and heat at home.
The main business of the bakery is the wide range of vegetarian / vegan bakery options available
AWESOME - Edit
They make yummy vegan cinnamon donuts and pies and pasties with assorted vegan fillings. The breads and rolls are mainly all vega, the service has always been super-friendly and helpful when stuck on what to buy, I highly recommend this bakery when craving cinnamon donuts!!
Pros: Yummy donuts, Tasty Pies, Friendly Service
Cons: Got a parking fine for, parking outside bakery, Don't do it too!
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