Veg
Eco
Traveller
For a yummy and cheap lunch, it’s worth checking out the numerous veg eateries and cafés around the city centre. There are several lacto-vegetarian Indian eateries, an
ovo-vegetarian Chinese and even a vegan café serving healthy meals.
My personal favourites are both in the city centre:
Type of food: vegan café serving international healthy meals.
Location: inside Parade Arcade on Victoria Parade (opposite Ratu Sukuna Park / McDonald's).
Type of food: lacto-vegetarian Indian.
Location: 97 Marks St, near Waimanu Rd.
They also have another restaurant in Sports City Mall, in Laucala Bay Rd.
If you feel adventurous, Juicy Life, at the first floor of the Flea Market, has some tasty and very cheap ovo-veg Chinese and local food.
For an updated list of available options, Happy Cow is the best!
Veg in Suva
Good news: being vegetarian in Suva is very easy and food is generally tasty and affordable. So, you'll easily get to try the wonderful tropical vegetables and fruit Fiji has to offer.
Unfortunately these places are only open for lunch and at the moment there’s no vegetarian restaurant open for dinner. But don’t worry! Thanks to the presence of a large Indo-Fijian community in the city, many Indian restaurants have a large number of vegetarian options on offer. In general Indian-vegetarian means lacto-vegetarian (without eggs).
Vegans should explain very precisely what they eat and what they don’t eat. My personal experience is that the word vegan is not understood by everybody but it’s possible to have very precise answers by asking “which of the following vegetarian options can be prepared without dairy?”. If the waiter seems hesitant, you can nicely suggest that they ask the chef and come back. Normally that’s enough, but if you still find it hard to get a satisfactory answer, you can always ask to talk to the chef directly.
In general, decent vegan options are available in most restaurants. Fijians are friendly people and will always try to accommodate your requests whenever possible. It has never really happened to me to go to a restaurant and not find an adequate meal. Among the international cuisines available in Fiji’s capital, you’ll find: Chinese, Korean, Mexican, Asian fusion, Japanese and Italian. Strangely enough, it’s not so common to find restaurants with Fijian cuisine.
