Lentil As Anything

Healthy, vego /​vegan place in Newtown that serves delicious hearty meals. You’re asked to pay what you think the meal is worth and I encourage you to dig deep! Menu changes everyday and we had the Moroccan lentil stew and the Sri Lankan curry plate. Totally delicious!
Staff are all volunteers and you can tell that they are passionate. Quick to seat you, quick to served and all with enthusiasm and a smile.
Add them on Instagram to get updates on the daily menus. Will be back! Such delicious food! And all for a good cause!

Loved it! Food was home made style with fresh ingredients. Service was quick and friendly too. By eating and donating, you feel you are contributing in developing the community in a small way. There should be more of these restaurants. The communal dining tables where tight but great way to include solo diners.

We ventured here during one of their weekend lunch sessions in the hopes for a varied delicious vegan menu. When we turned up it was only half full but only serving one meal on their menu: curry platter. Well I was disappointed. My partner was not, as he actually likes curry. Whereas I was hoping for something more. I skipped lunch this session although I’m unsure of whether I’ll go back now. I understand this café operates as a charity/​pay what you think fashion, which is why it was interesting to watch what others actually paid when they were all being served the exact same meal. They did have an expected list of how much they would prefer you paid but curious nonetheless to watch the cheapies throw coins in the donations box one after another. This is Sydney, which means the café would expect you pay Sydney prices. That is minimum $ 15-​$ 18 per meal, minimum. Let’s not be too shocked about this but I witnessed people donating mere silver coins and some, nothing at all. I don’t know how well this charity-​café method truly works out for the owners, nor do I think the diners give a damn either. Either way, despite not eating a plate and just watching my partner eat and drink two chais we paid/​donated a proper price of $ 25. It’s like a done up soup kitchen here for vegans and it’ll depend on the time you turn up of what type of menu variance you’ll get. I hope they’ll have actual choice on their menu the next time I think about going here again. If ever.

Best restaurant ever. They dont charge you a certain price. They donate their revenue, the waitress are all volunteers. They make the food from scratch and most importantly they taste great

Oh dear, been waiting for over 30 minutes and still nobody has taken my order. #hungry #bored. I’m in the corner, curry plate and eggplant schnitzel ASAP thanks. #thanksnothanks

What a great little endeavor. A cheap, hearty and tasty vegetarian meal all by donation. I’ve been told $ 7-​$ 8 is the right donation by the way but of course the idea is to leave what you can.
The staff are volunteers and cheerful and the food is served quickly. You get chai, a main of your choosing (usually from about 3 – 4 options) and desert.
The tables are communal and usually there are an assortment of students and travelers. A cool place indeed.
This is not a fancy place by the way and the meals are simple so if that’s not what you are looking for, this is not the place for you.

Queues of eager diners were seated swiftly. We were squeezed into a cosy spot at the outdoor communal bench and before we knew it, we were served cups of spiced chai by the great staff. The food was generous, hearty, honest and tasty. I had a giant bowl of lentil curry stew flecked with grains of soft rice and a hint of coriander. My dining companion had puffy fried chickpea fritters and a light salad followed by tapioca pudding for dessert. Afterwards we went up to the donation box and left $ 15 – 20. Lentil As Anything is a fantastic social movement and a delicious place to grab a bite. It’s ideas like this that will make the world a better place.

Great service, friendly staff, the ambience is warm and welcoming. :) I love it here. There’s always something different on the menu. the chai they offer, one of the best non-​profit organisations. Pay as you can and they let you volunteer too. I volunteered a few months a back and it was a fantastic experience. I recommend the ‘Smooth Criminal mocktail.’ Mocktails are only served at the evening, upstairs at the bar.

This place was packed for lunch, and at first I was confused about the format and whether there was table service. There is! Wait at the doorway and someone will come over and show you to a free seat. Lucky ones will sit by the window or wall, less lucky ones get crammed into a communal table. Order a chai at the bar or one of the platters on offer, and it comes out after 10 – 20 minutes, depending on how busy they are.
Food was great! Portions decent and fresh ingredients. Service was winningly friendly and the clientele is a mix of dazed travelers, 80s punks, fresh-​faced yogis, and people like me. The servers clear your plates and offer dessert, just like a full service restaurant. But of course this place is pay what you feel. Collection box is by the door, and I read an interview with the owner that says payments of $ 12 are enough to cover costs and overhead. Did see some diners walking out without dropping any payment… That’s just not the way to do it mates!

Great philosophy & vibe — yummy chai and delicious vegetarian brunch. I had the scrambled tofu and couldn’t be happier. Also offer yoga salsa plus live music and a mocktail bar on fri and sat nights! A great addition to king st — I’ll be back!

Stopped in here with a friend from overseas, he was amazed and very pleased to find such a place existing and thriving in Sydney. Great place — I hope everyone donates generously to ensure it can putting on its awesome food and vibe!

Really good atmosphere supported by their community philosophy and donation/​volunteer setup. The volunteers are super friendly, and the service is really quick too! It’s a great place to appreciate the Newtown culture, with delicious vegan eats and lots of cool kids and colourful characters at the table. They serve you really good warm spicy chai when you sit down and the diners always look like they’re having an awesome time.
Extra bonus points for «all gender bathroom,» for inclusion, love, and acceptance!

Excellent food. The brunch was so delicious and filling. My first time here but not my last. I really appreciated the tastes (Tex mex and northern Indian). It was also a bustling place. It’s donation only and worth contributing to.

Great place and environment~ not-​for-​profit organisation is a great idea aswell, as you pay by donation.
Food is great, vegan which is very convenient, and they serve you a drink beforehand and offer dessert aswell :)
Atmosphere is really amazing, quite busy but the people working are super down to earth

Fantastic idea of a non profit community vegetarian/​vegan food. They offer chai tea before your meal which is a nice gesture. The food is yummy. Great restaurant! Would recommend to anyone!

Reading an article on
about 8 quirky cafes around the world and low and behold Lentil is Anything appears on the list although it was the Melbourne version. The article mentioned they had a new branch in Sydney too.
The place is community run and operates on a you pay what you think it’s worth basis. This is refreshing from the usual cafes and restaurants we are used to visiting.
The place is run by volunteers but entering the place we got seated straight away and are served almost instantly. The waitress served us Chai tea to start and took out order. We decided to order white bean and lemon kale soup, tofu wrap, pancake and a bowl of Biriyanyi rice.
The service was quick and order came out fast. The soup was delicious and generous portion to share.
The pancake was very fluffy and tahini sauce was very interesting. Quite sweet. Pancakes were good considering they had no eggs .
The tofu wrap was pretty average and was in need of a little bit more tofu to make it a little more flavoursome.
The rice was really good. Indian spices and complimented all the order dishes as a side.
The vibe of the place was really good and the other punters were mostly hipsters. Everyone seemed friendly and the table next to us even questioned what was in our soup.
On the way out you leave a donation in the box of what you feel it deserved. Was happy with the meal so left approximately what would pay for in an equivalent café.
The concept is very cool and will visit the place again as the dinner menu is different.

UPDATE!: they *do* dress the salads, i guess they just didn’t happen to that day. I’ve since been back… a lot actually! And the food is ALWAYS divine. They do lunch from midday-​3pm and offer a choice of the crack-​chai or a juice. I’ve also discovered that 30% of their produce comes from Ozharvest which is why you can always rely on a nice varied menu!

I’ve been to Lentil as Anything in Melbourne manymany times so I decides to check this one out as well since I’m in Sydney.
This place is definitely a bit different but the food still is amazing, the idea of pay-​what-​you-​think-​it-​is-​worth is still great.
Here you are served as in a restaurant vs a buffet style I got used to in Mel. There are two floors with lots of seating area and they are open for lunch and dinner every day and brunch on weekends.
The volunteer-​staff is as always superdly friendly and the food is delicious.
They also have live music every night as I was told, this one I’m yet to check but I’m sure it will be fantastic:)

Incredible. This place has it right. The whole premise of placing complete trust in the patron when it comes to payment lies at the core of success for Lentil As Anything. Food and service based not on profit, but the simple measure of contributing good things to the world. When you break down the trust barrier through fixed, expected payment, you do two things. 1. You willingly hand that trust to the diner, who no longer needs to worry about «will I get value for my money». 2. You create an almost instant and intangible bond between people and the collective idea of «good karma». Based on that alone, I would come to eat here again as much as I possibly could.
But let’s talk food. Usually only a few items will be on the menu. It’s a simple system. Mostly 3 mains and a single desert.
I ordered the Potato & Red Pepper Stir Fry. When it arrived, it was art on a plate (I posted a pic of it here). Big, generous servings that in no way left me feeling hungry. And the taste? Delicious. Don’t think that this is just a restaurant of hacks trying their hand in the restaurant business and trying to be all radical about it. No… there’s some serious skill in the kitchen.
I was so full I skipped desert.
My friend ordered the Sri Lankan Curry Plate. It looked amazing, but we were so into our own meals we forgot to take samples of each other’s food.
For a place that’s only been open a few weeks, with no advertising, it’s packed. They open at 6pm. We arrived at 6:30 and just got seated. A queue formed behind us and people were happily waiting in line to experience this amazing food.
Lentil As Anything won’t just be one of the best restaurants in Newtown. It will also be a community that is built on everything good there is in this world.
Thank you!!!

It’s hard to give this place low stars because they operate by a donation system wherein you pay what you can afford or what you think the meal is worth. They generally have about 4 things to choose from every evening. You also get a glass of the best chai I’ve ever had.
I had some delicious vegan cauliflower curry with a generous side of dahl and rice. For people who don’t know how much they’re going to get the servings are very generous. We also tried the desert of the night which was very sweet, but delicious.
The owner came to our table and had a chat and encouraged us to spread the word if we liked the place. So here I am spreading the word. He encouraged all his customers to get involved somehow whether it was by volunteering or bringing friends for a meal. I think soon they’re moving down the other end of King Street to a permanent location.
The only reason they lose a star is because some of their furniture is quite hard to eat at, low tables etc. I’m being very picky here! It’s hard to complain when you can pay with whatever is in your pocket for a pretty delish meal!