The Glass Onion Society - LONG JETTY

Glass planks have some great vegan options. very cool. some of an unpleasant spot but overall it is pretty good. the pancakes were delicious I couldn't even finish them

Great coffee and a wide selection of vegan breakfast choices.

The Glass Onion Society was always going to be on a good first footing for me because I love The Beatles, and the moment I stepped into the café I felt relaxed and happy in the space. Despite Glass Onion being opposite a pharmacy, a real-estate agent upon a fairly barren stretch of road, the place shoots for a hipster aesthetic that frames itself within the local environment neatly. That’s an excellent choice, since it makes the place feel like a trendy little secret. The location works with the theming. Bravo. I loved just being in the building; and if I hadn’t had other things to do that day would have stayed longer. How about the dining? First off, the coffee was presented well, but it wasn't quite A-tier. There’s a slight sharper edge to the brew here and that could be for any number of factors. It was absolutely still a good cup of coffee and it’s worth having. I saw plenty of options for vegans on a great menu. Seeing that they have a pulled pork burger and a vegan pulled “pork” burger made with jackfruit, I ordered the latter and the flavour was quite lovely; just a hint smokey and packed with umami goodness. Oh, I could quibble. The coleslaw could have been cut finer; the vegan cheese looked just strange served in a single big square. I don’t doubt it tasted like the real deal and it definitely looked exactly like the real deal. Maybe too much. See, I have a rule about ‘vegan options’ places, called the ‘minimising meaty mistakes’ rule. It argues that you should never present a dish that looks exactly like one of the non-vegan options, because waiters are human and mistakes will occur. If you don’t take steps to ensure they don’t, you will wind up serving meat to a vegan. This is something you do not want to get wrong. Not even once. Why aren’t there some simple mechanisms to make this kind of mistake impossible? It’s not hard to imagine some. Serve vegan meals on green plates. Put a little flag in the vegan burgers. Tack a post-it note onto the plate of a vegan option that the waiter can take off right after serving. Any of these would stop any mistake before it occurred. I don’t mean to belabour the point. The coffee was good, the burger was good and I had a fantastic vegan cheesecake afterwards. The atmosphere is excellent. But being ‘vegan options’, and selling yourself on that fact, means you have to take that responsibility with all seriousness. It means preparing for mistakes and taking steps to avoid them. I didn't see that here.

I do love this place because over the time they have continued to add more and more vegan options the menu changes a bit so it’s good to muck around with what you order

They offer plenty of vegan choices and the dining experience is enjoyable. The portion sizes are very generous and there are both indoor and outdoor seating options.