The Leafy Stop

The Leafy Stop is a vegan café in Kilbirnie, Wellington, run by Georgie and Peter. Georgie has worked in hospitality all her life, and Peter, originally from the Leiden region of the Netherlands, trained in nursing and has worked in a bakery and in theme-park catering. They opened in May 2025. Everything on the menu is vegan. The lunchroom serves sandwiches, subs, soups and stews made from whole, plant-based ingredients, in a room of plants, calm decor and warmed cups and bowls, designed to feel like an extension of a front room. Its motto is “Pause. Nourish. Connect.”

The coffee is Peoples Coffee, roasted in Newtown, Wellington, and comes with oat, coconut or soy milk. The rest of the drinks list has a spiced chai made with Assam black tea, a spiced cocoa, a cup of melted chocolate with maple syrup and house-whipped Chantilly cream, Japanese matcha served in a matchawan, and pots of tea brought with a warmed mug and a brewing timer.

Soups, stews and sandwich fillings also go home in jars, all gluten-free and vegan: a mushroom and lentil stroganoff, lemony leeks with butter beans, a chickpea “chuna” mayo and a silken tofu “vegg” mayo. Groups of six to twenty can book ahead; smaller tables are kept for walk-ins.

Photograph: The Leafy Stop