Fabrik

Fabrik is a vegan restaurant in East Austin that lets a vegetable be a vegetable. Instead of relying on Franken-pseudo meats or secretly disguised vegetables to trick you into eating its food, this is a place that celebrates what it is instead of hiding behind what it isn’t. Because of this, Fabrik isn’t just one of the best vegan restaurants in town—it’s one of the best fine-dining restaurants as well.  

photo credit: Richard Casteel

photo credit: Richard Casteel

photo credit: Richard Casteel

There are two options for dinner here—a five-course or a seven-course tasting menu, with an optional pairing of low-intervention wines. The whole operation functions out of a small dining room with eight or so tables at the base of an apartment building on East MLK. But despite being in a tiny space roughly the size of Harry Potter’s childhood bedroom, it never feels stuffy or chaotic inside—you’ll hardly even notice the servers quietly ducking in and out of the kitchen. 

photo credit: Richard Casteel

Nearly everything on the menu is grown locally, so naturally, seasonality plays a big role. That also means it changes pretty often, but in general, you can expect to find a blend of Japanese, Nordic, and Italian flavors. Ingredients like miso butter, caramelized yeast, and tamari caramel are used to impart rich and savory elements into dishes, and you’ll see them seamlessly incorporated into various tartlets, charcoal-grilled skewers, and housemade pastas. But most importantly, every dish here feels like the end result of lots of intense thought, planning, and practice. No rough drafts.  

photo credit: Richard Casteel

photo credit: Richard Casteel

photo credit: Richard Casteel

photo credit: Richard Casteel

Whether you’re a lifelong vegan or just dabbling in the world of plant-based dining, you’ll likely leave Fabrik with a newfound appreciation for mushrooms, carrots, and whatever else made its way onto the menu that month. In a city known for barbecue, chili, and fajitas, Fabrik manages to be a meal that we can’t stop thinking about. 

Food Rundown

photo credit: Richard Casteel

Five-Course Tasting Menu

The menu changes every few months, so we won’t bother going into too much detail about dishes that you probably won’t experience. But we’ve had everything from roast carrot tartares topped with yuzu kosho romesco, to handmade agnolotti dressed in togarashi pepper, vegan parmesan, and blanched garlic foam. The ever-changing menu just means you have more reasons to keep coming back. And at $70, we’d consider this a great value for the quality of the meal.

photo credit: Richard Casteel

Seven-Course Tasting Menu

The seven-course tasting menu is exactly the same as the five-course version, but usually with some type of tartlet at the beginning and a second dessert at the end. But those two extra courses have also been our favorites on a couple of different visits. If you’re already making reservations and getting all dressed up for a nice dinner out, we’d recommend spending the extra $15 for the full experience.