Login / RegisterVegan eats in the suburbs: Chomp Vegan Eatery takes a bite out of Port Moody
SinceVanessa Mills opened Port Moody’s Chomp Vegan Eatery (7-201 Morrissey Road) in November 2011, she’s experienced “a lot of hard work and a lot of long nights”.
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But the 29-year-old Port Coquitlam resident told the Georgia Straight that her passion for running the Tri-Cities’ only fully vegan and gluten-free restaurant means she doesn’t mind if she gets little sleep.
Mills thinks there’s room for more vegan eateries in Vancouver’s suburbs.
“With any business, it starts off slow and you’ve got to work hard,” she said in her café. “Honestly, if you’re passionate about it, then why not do it? You just need to have the information at hand, and you need to be able to work at it and be prepared to give it your all. But realistically it’s like any other business. You don’t know until you try.”
On January 12, Chomp celebrated its grand opening in Suter Brook Village. Mills is looking forward to holding open-mike nights at the café and introducing breakfast items in the future.
According to her, the restaurant’s most popular dishes are the Mac ’n Cheesy ($9.22), Grilled Cheese Madness ($9.22), and poutine ($9), all made with Vancouver’s celebrated Daiya dairy-free cheese.
Vanessa Mills gives a tour of Chomp Vegan Eatery in Port Moody.
Mills said that people come into Chomp with all sorts of questions about vegan food.
“It’s kind of nice that people want to become aware,” Mills said. “I try my best to interact with anyone who comes in and ask if they are vegan or if they eat gluten-free, and then kind of give them a little bit of information on what they aren’t aware of, just to get them to not only understand our menu and what we’re doing but just in general to understand it.”
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