The Paperbark dining room is a good-looking space, and now you can appreciate it in a different light with the launch of the new weekend lunch service.

The Waterloo eatery is undoubtedly one of Sydney’s best vegan restaurants, and owners Grace Watson, Joe Pagliaro, Hellene Algie and Joey Astorga have decided it’s time to extend the hours with the arrival of warmer weather. They reckon it’s a time families might want to visit, and they also hope it’s a good opportunity for nearby residents to pop in for a leisurely meal.

They haven’t veered from the Paperbark formula for lunch: choose from an eight-course menu that takes you on a journey from smaller to larger dishes, or opt for the four-course highlight package.

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“The eight-course menu is designed to highlight the best of what we do at Paperbark, which is plant-based, Australian-inspired food,” says waiter Taylor Coyn as he talks us through the menu on a recent Saturday visit. “We use all local, seasonal ingredients and our drinks are made with minimal intervention.”

If you just want to pop in for something small, though, you could also order some bar snacks that are priced from $4 (for almonds) to $15 (potato churros). We suggest you live large and put it all on the fried dough. “It’s like a big, chunky massive chip,” says Coyn. “It’s super fluffy on the inside, crunchy on the outside, served with some bush-tomato dusting. It’s got a salt and vinegar hit – it’s delicious.” (He’s right.)

The main menus includes dishes such as ajo blanco (a refreshing, creamy chilled almond soup) and bullhorn peppers with harissa covered in puffed rice. And, of course, there’s the restaurant’s signature dish: the show-stopping mushroom. Organic mushrooms are skewered onto twigs, charred over paperbark and come to the table with a waft of smoke, served alongside a rich macadamia cream.

The kitchen is now headed up by New Zealand-born Taylor Cullen, who was previously executive chef at Split Apple Retreat across the pond. He also co-authored the cookbook Raw Reformation.

Paperbark is now serving lunch on Saturday and Sunday from 1pm to 3.30pm.