We are newbie vegetarians, so after a few days of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and Birchermeusli, we decided to venture out to see what vegetarian (and gluten free) fare we could find in Christchurch. We read about The Herb Centre in the Cityscape summer/2015 magazine, so we decided to walk over there from the CBD to give it a try. On the outside, the place looks small and says "dispensary" on it. My boyfriend and I are from Colorado in the U.S. and we immediately thought because it said "dispensary" that it was a pot shop. How American of us! We started to walk away to find something else, but I said, "let's at least go in and give it a look", so we did. Are we ever happy that we did. Don't judge a book by it's cover. This place is charming, welcoming, clean and the food is the best we've had in New Zealand, and probably anywhere - and it's vegetarian!! A place like this makes me want to become a better cook, a better person and a more optimistic vegetarian. I had the Rösti with salad and my boyfriend had the lentil cakes with salad. It sounds a bit plain on the menu, but wait'll you get the plate delivered to your table!!! The "salad" turned out to be a mixture of delicious side salads and some greens with a delicious vinaigrette dressing. There was a potato salad, and a beet salad - all so delicious. The Rösti was served with a chutney that made the whole plate sing. I can't say enough about this place, except that we will go back before we leave - several times. I will never forget the local and delicious meal (and meals to come) that we had at the Herb Centre in Christchurch, New Zealand. Compliments to the chef!