It was Laura the English lass' last day at the office and being both pescetarian (vegies plus seas food) and new to Darwin we went on a lunch time excursion to Eat at Martin's.

To me, this place has always been a mythical land of vegetarian and gluten free delights, hidden somewhere in the awesome suburb of Coconut Grove and well frequented by those in the know. I've been living in the same suburb for 2 years but have never had any idea where it was nor wanted to find it, most likely because the carnivorous beast in me gets the chills just thinking about a meal without meat in it, breakfast and dessert excluded. But I'll try (almost) anything at least once and I figured it would be a nice little adventure. So the three of us hopped in Laura's rental car and instructed her how to drive like a Darwin-ite all the way from the CBD to Coconut Grove on a stinking hot day to hunt down this vegie fest.

Not surprisingly it wasn't hard to find. Just turn into the street where the long-busted clock tower is on Dick Ward Drive and go forth 30 metres. It was Friday and there was already a decent crowd present, despite being in a tin shed type building in the middle of nowhere. Quite evidently a popular lunch time destination then. There were some crazy chicks sitting outside, but opulent office life has made me soft and delicate, I'll take air conditioned dining any day of the week, particularly with the crazy hot build up conditions. Inside they've crammed the place with lots of sexy hard wood tables, chairs and cushions whilst on the wall you'll see scribbled all the menu items and specials. Very cool.

I went the gluten free Bali curry with brown rice ($14~ish) and the other two ordered the potato pie (potato, lentils, pumpkn, $14~ish with salad). My curry had hardly a trace of oil or fats whilst still having a good amount of flavour. The pumpkin was very nice and the broccoli was.... broccoli. The chick peas added crunch but cardboard probably has more flavour. The brown rice was too try and benefited greatly from the curry sauce.

My protégé and the Brit were both impressed by the giant non-meat pie and I was kinda wishing I had ordered that after seeing it. Very very sexy looking. And did I mention it was big? There's plenty other options on the menu for both breakfast and menu including plenty of sweet stuffed and fresh juice. They also have organic 'fair trade' coffee which I hear on the grape vine is quite good. Mental note to try that out next visit. Check out the Eat at Martin's website for the full list.

Overall a good meal and I can see why the vegetarians love the place as it certainly caters to their needs and then some. For me though, the curry was crying out for some big juicy chunks of chicken goodness...