Diggers Vegie Kitchen, Anglesea

Apart from being a short windows-down drive to any number of beaches (some with smashing surf, some where the sea gently nudges up to buckets and spades), Anglesea's township also has plenty of off-sand action. The seaside hamlet has a supermarket, bakeries, bank, a corker of an op shop, chemist, and cafes servicing about 2500 residents and some of the 35,000 fun-seekers who come through at Easter.

Diggers Vegie Kitchen, just over the river and behind the servo, is all vegan (or "plant-based" – to use the less-judgy term of today). The clue is in the name, but also on the dining-room wall, painted with rainbow-coloured trees and cartoony farm animals. Diggers may be vegan, but you can still buy post-beach buck-up lunches here, like a good pie and a burger.

The shortcrust pie pastry is dense and keeps its crunch right through to the base; it contains whichever filling they're offering that day. If the creamy textured cauliflower is on, then it's your lucky day; a blob of chutney adds a sweet-tart dimension.

Another pie-filling on rotation is smoky-barbecue jackfruit. When cooked down, the flesh of the big, prickly-skin tropical fruit becomes stringy in texture and looks like pulled pork. Cooked with a smoky barbecue sauce, it looks like pulled meat (especially if you squint a little), tastes tangy like the fruit, with a slightly smoky note.

Pies are $16.50 to eat in, served with salad, or $8 if you eat them elsewhere out of a takeaway box.

Of the three burgers on the lunch menu, just one is patty-based; that's the beetroot-and-lentil (with chia and linseed) patty, pressing up against fresh avocado slices, tomato relish, gherkin and lettuce in a pumpkin-bread roll that's both frothy-textured yet weighty enough to hold together all those juicy elements. There's also a smoky fried tofu burger, and portabello mushroom burger with sauerkraut. They're typical of the menu's preference for fresh, real ingredients – not a lot of mock.

The sandwiches and wraps are full of vegetables, nuts and grains, and there are bowls of raw salad so perky and colourful, it may drive the less jaunty among us into going to find a doughnut.

Dinner at Diggers is full of surprises. It's a set three courses on a theme, which changes weekly. The theme could be Indian, Carribean, Mexican or, if the owner gets a call from a local organic farmer with a bounty of rhubarb, potatoes and peas, English.

That might translate to lentil-thick, chunky garden veg soup, followed by "Wellington pie", a wodge of flaky-pastry roll filled with mushroom and greens, served with roast potatoes, minted peas, and hearty roast mushies in a pool of red-wine gravy. Dessert is rhubarb crumble, with a swipe of caramel, some cookie soil and a scoop of vanilla "nice-cream".

The set-menu is smart, meaning dishes are truly seasonal, there is less waste and that Anglesea residents are always interested long after we holidaymakers hit the Anglesea Road and head home.

Do … You want breakfast? Try Maid's Pantry (1a Minifie Avenue) or McGain's nursery cafe (1 Simmons Court).

Don't … Have the use of your teeth? The smoothies are meals in a cup.

Vibe ... Health first, ask questions later.