Gold Coast chef drops meat from the menu to open vegetarian and vegan restaurant Doko Demo V

A LOCAL chef who worked with meat for 18 years has dropped it from the menu and opened an organic, vegetarian and vegan restaurant on the Gold Coast. Here’s why.

TWO years ago, chef Jared Peck would never have believed he would be vegetarian — let alone the co-owner of a vegetarian and vegan restaurant.

But the 33-year-old has jumped on board the booming trend, dropping meat from the menu for the first time in his 18 year career.

On Friday, Mr Peck officially opened his global fusion cafe and bar Doko Demo V — Japanese for ‘Anywhere’, while the V stands for vegetarian — at Miami on the Gold Coast.

Jared Peck, owner and Head Chef at his new Miami vegetarian and vegan restaurant Doko Demo V. Picture Mike Batterham

The local said when he met his Taiwanese partner, Chiyun Wu, she didn’t eat meat and he quickly adopted her ways.

“Because she was vegetarian, I didn’t want to eat meat next to her, so I was actually quite happy to eat everything she eats and I found it quite tasty,” he said.

“It wasn’t boring, it wasn’t just a carrot, or broccoli or lettuce.”

Mr Peck said the transition from cooking meat to just vegetables and mock meats was relatively easy and he began to experiment, coming up with vegetarian recipes like Peking duck pizza, vegan waffles and Indian ‘chicken’ curry poke bowls.

Soft shelled tacos anyone? Picture Mike Batterham

He said he drew inspiration from all over the globe, especially places he had travelled to for his enticing range of food.

This can be seen in his eclectic menu, which features ‘chicken’ noodle soup, an American foot-long hotdog, no beef lasagne, Spanish eggs, ‘chicken’, apple and spinach salad and acai bowls.

Mr Peck said his main aim was to create healthy alternatives, adding most of the menu was organic as well.

“My Italian food is very good, my pastas and pizzas, so people are going to eat a Hawaiian, pepperoni or even Peking duck pizza,” he said.

Get ready for some global eats. Picture Mike Batterham

“Also just these sizzling plates, these are our signature dishes because it is something different where you can come and get a chicken teriyaki or sizzling pepper steak.”

Mr Peck said he had worked in a variety of restaurants, including Palazzo Versace, where he trained as a chef and other five-star eateries.

Mr Peck said since their soft launch at the beginning of this month, the cafe had been doing well. Some customers hadn’t even noticed their ‘meat’ was not real.

Doko Demo V launched its dinner menu last Friday night.

The cafe and bar is open from 7am to 2pm for an all day breakfast, then 5pm to 9pm for dinner. The venue is also licensed.