Dinner at the Loving Hut

Yesterday, we had a crazy, hectic day. It included shopping for new school shoes, looking for some summer clothes for children, a visit to the orthodontist and delivery of Z to a birthday party at Lazerforce (an indoor lazer shooting game place). We snatched snacks and drinks on the run, but didn't really have a proper lunch.

So, we decided to have an extra early dinner (just before 6.00pm) at Loving Hut, a wonderful vegan restaurant at Shop 2, 1420 Logan Road, Mt Gravatt. Loving Hut has excellent food in a simply decorated casual restaurant. The staff are friendly. As it is affiliated with Supreme Master Ching Hai, there are televisions playing her news channel around the restaurant. However, they are not overwhelmingly obtrusive.

The food is always top notch. Here are some of the dishes that we tried:


This is the dumplings (one missing already, thanks to Mr Brisvegan), a little bolognaise on my plate and the 10 Wonders dish, which is rice with salads, gluten and a delicious sweetish mild chilli sauce.

This is the Loving Wrap, a yuma (bean curd) skin roll with tofu, mushrooms etc inside, served with rice and stir fried vegetables. This was savoury and light, with a texture almost like omelette. It was Mr Brisvegan's favourite.


This is my iced coffee. If you go to Loving Hut, you need to try the iced coffee, chai, mocha or coffee. They are just like the ones I had to give up when I become vegan. The "cream" is coconut based and surprisingly delicious with the soy milk. There is also So Good ice-cream lurking under the cream. Z said his iced chocolate was better than "real milk", which is high praise, since he does not like soy milk as a rule.

Not pictured are a deep fried mushroom cutlet and inari sushi. I forgot to photograph them, as I was very hungry and we ate them quickly. The mushroom was a big portabello mushroom crumbed and deep fried, served with a salad that included some tangy pickled vegetables. I am on a mushroom kick at the moment, so the crispy coating and succulent mushroom was my favourite part of the meal. The inari had tofu, and vegetables mixed through the rice. I liked them, but M said that she prefers plain inari with simple sushi rice.

We took slices of strawberry and chocolate vegan cheesecake home. They were also delightful. The strawberry is lightly fruity with a jellied strawberry coating, which is tangy and sweet, but not sickly sweet. The chocolate, which J requested, was much better than most chocolate cheesecakes. I usually find the tanginess of the cheese conflicts with the chocolate bitterness. The Loving Hut version is creamier than usual, with a rich ganache glaze that works very will with the cake. M kept trying to help everyone eat their piece of it.

Loving Hut is probably the best vegan restaurant to use to introduce Brisbane omnis to vegan dining. It is very good value. It has both exotic dishes and familiar items like bolognaise and sweet and sour. The deserts are luscious and The bolognaise is wonderful and is probably the best vegan spaghetti bolognaise that I have ever had. It is child-friendly, with child palatable food like the spaghetti, nuggets and fries and a small play area for toddlers in a back space. However, don't expect fine dining.