The First Choice Indian Restaurant Pure Vegan and Vegetarian

"My partner recently discovered this amazing place and, to our delight, we found out that the chef who owns it used to work at Higher Taste India down at Lambton Quay before it closed down. We were big fans of that place and felt saddened by its closure. We've been on the lookout for another delicious and reasonably priced Vegan Indian restaurant. Finally, we decided to give this place a try, and for lunch, I ordered the Vegetarian Manchurian with Basmati rice. The portion was more than generous, and the flavors were exquisitely balanced and exceptional. The experience was so delightful that we are already planning to make this restaurant a regular dining spot for us."

"Great cheap eats spot on Manners street! We got a warm lunch buffet style for $13! All vegan/vegetarian options. Authentic and absolutely scrumptious. Go check them out, they’re newbies on the block!!"

"A relatively new establishment (only 1 month old!) serving Indian cusine, The First Choice offers self-serve buffet (ranging from $10 to $17 depending on the plate size you choose) as well as a wider menu. The self-serve was completely vegan; their wider menu offers a large range of vegan and vegetarian meals. I stacked my small plate with puri (fried bread), various lentil and legume curries and spinach and potatoes. The food was exactly what I was after - homely, hearty, and delicious. I ordered a palak soya for takeaway, which they kindly packed into my takeaway glass jar. Priced at $16, it's significantly more affordable than other restaurants offering soya curries around the city. The First Choice is run by a young family, who are very friendly and accommodating - I'm excited to be back and support this lovely business!"

"My partner and I had a sensational meal here the other night! We ordered Samosa Chaat, Chhole Bhature, Soya Kali Mirch, and Gobhi Paratha. Everything was glorious! The soya chaap pieces were wildly delicious! I’ve not had soya chap like this before. A great texture, took on heaps of flavour and not ‘bouncy.’ Their Bhature (the bread served with Chhole) is EXCEPTIONAL! You must try it. A vegan option of this bread is available, too, but we didn’t have it. The whole meal was very cheap for Chaat in the central city! We ordered off their VEGAN and VEGETARIAN menu. Be papered to change your order if something isn’t in season/not available. If you get stuck just ask for a recommendation, the chef has excellent suggestions! Dishes arrived when they were ready — I love service this style. It ensures the meals are hot and you take your time! We finished the meal off with a cup each of their homemade Masala Chai. Heavy on the cardamom and light on sugar, which I adored! If NZ had a chai culture like we have a coffee culture I’d be so happy. They also have a 100% VEGAN buffet you can enjoy for $9.99 a plate (a bigger plate costs slightly more). The buffet had basmati rice, chapati, a few dals, a few vegetable dishes, and a red cabbage salad to pick from. Can’t recall exactly how many dishes but at least six options and most likely more! The dishes from the menu I recommend you trying are: any of their Soya Chaap dishes, Chhole Bhature, Samosa Chaat, and Masala Chai!"

"Went here the other night for the vegan buffet. It’s $10 for a mini child’s plate, $13 for a small plate and then more for larger ect. The guys supervising were very kind, and welcoming checking in to see if all was well and explaining the system to us. It would have been nice to have some little signs showing what each individual dish in the buffet was, so we could order again in the future. I found the food really salty, but otherwise very nice. The mini roti and a dark green dish were the highlights. I was particularly impressed that as well as being vegan they don’t use any garlic, onion of mushrooms in any of thier dishes!! So amazing to be able to eat somewhere knowing that I won’t get a sore stomach afterwards. Definitely recommend for an affordable and healthy meal out ☺️"