CLOSED: Zippy's

We arrived at Zippy's for brunch. Unfortunately, most of their vegan food was not cooked yet and they had a very limited menu (aka one option). Shared a warm vegan blueberry muffin and a homemade bagel with jam with my boyfriend and waited for the rest of the food to come out. Also ordered a hot chocolate - was surprised that they offered me marshmallows (assuming they weren't Dandies) as this is supposed to be an all-vegetarian cafe! Got some roast veges to go for my ferry trip that evening - as these were sold in "main" sizes, I felt they could have benefited from a dressing of some sort.

Our favourite place when visiting Nelson- and has become the favourite of all of our friends too. There was a scrumptious range of divine things to eat, including a good selection of vegan offerings, at ridiculously low prices, nothing over $8! We shared a fluffy raspberry and coconut muffin (vegan), a delcious rice salad with cashews and toasted seeds, a large filo spring roll which was packed with rice noodles, crispy tofu, cashews, red cabbage, soy and veges (YUM!), a heavenly "brunch bagel" which I believe had been grilled with cream cheese, pesto, parsley, tomoatoes, capsicum and extra cheese on top, apparently these are famous and it's not hard to see why! We finished with a couple of pieces of zucchini dark chocolate slice which was so good we ordered a couple more to take home. I enjoyed an iced chai smoothie which was gorgeous and my partner raved about the espresso which Zippys has an excellent reputation for. The atmosphere was great, really friendly staff, relaxed vibe and cool music. Well done to the owner (who is also the chef), you have created a fantastic place to eat.

Between the 2 of us we had a soy latte, glass of organic apple, orange and mango juice (juice was $4), small vegan pot pie and a vegan ginger slice. Soy latte was great with more foam than usual. Juice was fresh. The real star was the little wheat crust pot pie ($6.50) which had chick peas, sweet potatoes, spinach etc. The ginger slice had fresh ginger in it, but was a little dry, as though it had been sitting out too long in the case.

They're vegetarian (options included a zuchini slice, afghan cookie, & some sort of bread, cheese & tomato thing) and they cater to gluten free as well. Everything vegan is marked with a v on the card so you don't have to wonder. When we were there were 3 vegan items in the case (the one we didn't get was a cookie).

They also have toasted bagels and you choose the toppings from a list on the board, so those could be vegan as well. There was a place on the board for specials, but it was blank when we were there near closing time.

They do takeout. It's small with 7 little tables - none of which could seat more than three people comfortably. The staff was friendly. There's on street parking on Hardy St with pay machines on the curb. We had not been down to Nelson before, but Zippy's was easy to find. Just a minute off SH6. We'd definitely stop there again.