“Being vegan in Melbourne is too easy!” writes one Instagrammer, commenting on yet another food porn pic taken in a Fitzroy cafe. Indeed, Melbourne’s vegetarian and vegan scene has gone nuts, and it thrives in two epicentres. When it comes to faux eggs and “I can’t believe it’s not meat” burgers, two of Melbourne’s suburbs, northside Fitzroy and southside St Kilda, are almost neck and neck.

Both suburbs have iconic streets cutting their way through them: Brunswick and Gertrude Streets in Fitzroy, while St Kilda has Acland Street and, confusingly, Fitzroy Street. Despite a bunch of new or improved venues on Fitzroy Street (including St Hotel, and Fitzrovia, which you’d assume belongs northside), it can still be challenging to the out-of towner. Why? People often put the responsibility onto this.

St Kilda’s Acland Street is still bumper-to-bumper backpackers. However, according to Sister of Soul owner Daniel Clerici, there’s change afoot. “There’s a strong part of St Kilda that’s still geared to backpackers and travellers, but it’s evolving. St Kilda is now going through an evolution of sorts, the mindset of people is changing,” he says.

Clerici opened his vegetarian and vegan restaurant in 2013 with the involvement of long-closed St Kilda vegetarian institution Soulmama’s original owner Paul Mathis. Since then, more vegan offerings have opened up around him, including the insanely Instagrammable Matcha Mylkbar with its vegan “eggs”.

“I don’t see it as competing,” Clerici says. “I see it as complementary. It just brings more like-minded people into the area. It highlights that there is more to St Kilda than that typical demographic that defined St Kilda for decades.”

If you’re looking to become one part of that new demographic, you’re going to get a lot more choice by the beach: St Kilda’s got double the population of Fitzroy, and over 100 more apartments listed for sale. At the moment, Fitzroy barely hits double figures. The average St Kilda flat buyer will have much more change in their pocket, too, compared to buying in Fitzroy, with the current median around $525,000, just a dash more than the same time five years ago.

There’s good and bad news for flat-buyers in Fitzroy: the median unit price has fluctuated widely over the past five years but is currently $650,000, only $20,000 more than the same time five years ago. Unlike the proliferation of vegan restaurants, there’s just not much out there when it comes to apartments.

Local Hocking Stuart agent Charles Atkins says Fitzroy’s tightly held because of its stronger rental return, the lifestyle opportunities and the infrastructure.

“The turnover in Fitzroy over 12 months would be significantly lower than St Kilda,” he says. “Each month there’s only a handful of apartments on offer. That being said, we are seeing a huge amount of developments popping up, it’s giving buyers a bit more choice.”

Vegetarian and vegan hotspots — and yes, the winner is Fitzroy.

Northside

Fitzroy:

The Vegie Bar (380 Brunswick Street)

Transformer (99 Rose Street)

Yong Green Food (421 Brunswick Street)

Radhey Kitchen and Chai Bar (336 Brunswick Street)

Smith & Daughters (175 Brunswick Street) and Smith and Deli (111 Moor Street)

Fina’s 2 Vegan restaurant (339 Brunswick Street)

Madame K’s Vegetarian (367 Brunswick Street)

Southside

St Kilda

Sister of Soul (73 Acland Street)

Matcha Mylkbar (72 Acland Street)

Falafel Xtra (139 Acland Street)

Lentil as Anything (41 Blessington Street)

Vegilicious (118 Carlisle Street)

Hedging their bets both ways

Pressed Juices (231 Gertrude Street, Fitzroy and 82 Acland Street, St Kilda)

Trippy Taco (234 Gertrude Street, Fitzroy and 6 Acland Street, St Kilda)

Mr Natural Vegetarian Pizza (469 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy and 223 Barkly Street, St Kilda)

Five things you didn’t know about Fitzroy and St Kilda