I love an all-vegan pizzeria because they really put some effort into their toppings. It’s nice to get some creative options, rather than a few staples that you see in omni restaurants. The pizzas in Purezza sounded very exciting, and it was hard to narrow down our options. There are also some fun sides, including mac and cheese, but unfortunately we were too full to indulge.
Dr HH ordered the parmigiana party pizza, swayed by its description as award winning. Sure enough, it was delicious. The tomato sauce was excellent, and the aubergines were perfectly cooked and well seasoned. There was lots of tasty, melty cheese as well.
I went for the lasagna piccante pizza. I wasn’t even hungry but I devoured the whole thing because it was too good to waste! The base was nice. The sauce was a really rich ragu, very flavoursome and savoury. It had a chilli kick to it, and the heat really grew as the meal progressed (without being too much). The cheese was nice and cooling, and the basil was refreshing too. It was quite an oily dish, but it was really tasty.
I will definitely be returning here in the future (or to a branch in another city), ready to try another exciting and creative option – and hopefully some mac and cheese too!
One of the great joys of returning to the UK is getting proper vegan fish and chips. Well, the fish is rarely that believable either in the UK or elsewhere, but at least you’re guaranteed proper chippie chips. That’s exactly what we got at Veggie Fryer. Everytime we’re visiting family near Walsall, we look at the logistics of getting to Veggie Fryer to try their wares, and end up not going because it’s a bit too difficult for us to get to. This time we realized that we’re finally within their delivery range, so we were able to make it happen. We ordered delivery online, and the food arrived hot and securely wrapped.
Dr HH and I each ordered fish and chips.The fish had nice batter and stayed pretty crisp, even in transit. The fishy texture was good, and accurate to some types of fish, but the seasoning was not very fishy unfortunately. (This is a fairly consistent complaint I have about vegan fish – it usually only gets one right out of taste and texture.)
I had mine with regular chips. They were, as I hoped, proper chip shop chips. They stayed pretty hot and were really tasty.
Dr HH got battered chips, which are a black country staple that he grew up with. They had a crispy orange batter on them, which he absolutely loved. I tried a few of his, and they were indeed very pleasant.
I also ordered a battered sausage, because that was my order of choice as a non-vegan child. It was small, as indicated by the price. The sausage was tasty, but unfortunately it didn’t travel well – the batter went soggy and didn’t retain it’s crisp (the fish really did though).
We’ll definitely order from Veggie Fryer again. A proper vegan friendly chippy is still a novelty for me!
After seeing lots of impressive pastries on social media, I had been dying to visit this London spot to try their cream cakes – due to a busy tourist itinerary, we also ended up going for the savoury lunch menu.
Dr HH had the chicken Kyiv and thought it was tasty. The chicken had a good texture and there was a crispy coating. Lots of garlic butter oozed out when he cut it open, which was a fun sight, and it provided good flavour. The mash was smooth and the pea puree was pleasant. It was a good tasty dish.
I had mushroom and potato dumplings. This dish was perfectly pleasant, but not amazing. The filling was nice but a little bland for me. The sauce also didn’t add much flavour. The sour cream had the most going on. Still, the textures and presentation were nice.
I hadn’t had a vegan eclair before (I think), so we both ordered the Snickers eclair and it was good fun. The chocolate choux was maybe a little too thick and spongy, but I’m really not a choux connoisseur, so I may be wrong. The chocolate cream was great. The caramel and nuts were coated in thick chocolate. It was really tasty and not too sweet. The whole thing is dusted with gold, somewhat unnecessarily, but the textures were great and it was robustly constructed and easy to eat.
Unfortunately, we didn’t love the hot drinks we ordered. The hot chocolate is available with white, milk, or dark chocolate. Milk was too sweet for me (and I have a very sweet tooth), and was quite unpleasant. Dr HH didn’t love the taste of his latte either. However, we did love the soft drinks we had earlier in the meal.
The cafe was very busy when we were there around 1pm, and the upstairs seating area felt quite cramped. People were enjoying the chintzy decor, but when the cafe was busy it contributed towards the cramped feeling for me. For us it was a nice spot for a fancy pastry and a short stay. It was an extremely Instagrammable spot – whether that’s a good or a bad thing for you!
Fully vegan Thai restaurants do not exist in Prague, so I’m always looking out for one on my holidays. I was really excited to visit this spot in London. Dr HH and I had two starters (shared) and two mains (separate).
We shared the satay skewers (satay hed & tao hoo). There were two mushroom and two tofu skewers. The mushroom ones were really juicy and meaty and had that extra flavour hit. The tofu ones were lovely and spongy. The satay was peanutty and flavoursome, with some heat but not too spicy. These were great!
I love homemade larb, but had never had it in a restaurant , so I was giddy to see it here (larb gai pop). First of all, it was a bit hard to share! The chicken pieces maintained a nice crunchy coating despite the dressing, and the meat was not too soft or mushy. The onions and shimeji were lovely and the dressing was sharp and delicious with a nice heat.
For my main, I got pad ma khia muang – stir-fried aubergine with minced pork and basil. It had lovely soft, melty aubergine. The Thai basil was fragrant, and the minced pork added good flavour and texture. The flavours were quite simple, but savoury and delicious.
Dr HH got the crispy pork (sam moo tip kua prik). There were nice bits of pork which lived up to the crispy name of the dish. The accompanying pork mince gave some flavour and a bit of a different texture. The pork belly wasn’t great for him, with a bit of a tough texture and not a lot of flavour. Overall, it was nicely seasoned and spiced but a bit dry for his tastes – it could’ve done with some sauce (I love drier dishes, so it would have been fine for me).
Overall, we really enjoyed it! The dishes were tasty, service was excellent, and the menu was so tempting. Unfortunately we returned to Prague with the taste for great Thai dishes and nowhere to turn!
I haven’t had a lot of vegan Scandinavian food, so this was a fun spot to try while we were in London. It’s quite a casual café with some exciting looking pastries (sweet and savoury) alongside the menu.
Dr HH had the vegan ham croissant which featured brie, tomato, mustard, and ham. Quite a lot going on! He thought it was fine and enjoyed the warm temperature. Everything tasted good but not necessarily mind-blowing.
He also got the skagen tofish smorrebrod (tofu on sourdough toast with seaweed caviar). It was not really like fake fish in texture (it was very clearly tofu), but the flavours were nice. Honestly, I think it’s fine to go for fishy taste over texture. I’m always disappointed by a vegan fish that doesn’t have the right taste. A bit of dill and seaweed can work wonders!
I tried the seitan sausage toastie (German seitan sausage, harissa chilli, pickled red onions). The sausage was substantial and tasty. The cheese sauce was delicious and abundant, without being too sloppy and messy to eat. The onions were a fun addition, and could have been a bit sharper for me. The bread was great.
All in all, it was a really solid cafe and a fun spot for lunch. The flavours weren’t totally mind-blowing, but it was really enjoyable and I’d happily go back for a nice lunch. There were a few more dishes I liked the sound of too. It’s quite a small spot, so it’s worth booking if you’ve got your heart set on it.
The only problem with a holiday which is all about eating is that you end up rarely hungry enough to try loads of dishes. Dr HH and I loved the look of the brunch menu at Mallow, and we’re torn between the sweet and savoury options. Ideally we would have arrived hungry enough for both, but with a fully packed itinerary of restaurant reservations, we had to make some tough choices. We really enjoyed this for a fancy breakfast. In the end, we both chose sweet options.
I got the rhubarb French toast, which was an Easter special. It was a lovely thick, soft slice of bread, topped with Chantilly cream, poached rhubarb, and crumble. It was served with elderflower creme anglais. The Chantilly was so light and delicious. The rhubarb was tart, but not overpowering. The flavour of the creme anglais was really zingy and refreshing. The crumble was tasty and added some great texture. It was a really great breakfast.
Dr HH had the pistachio and cherry French toast. The cherries provided a nice sharpness, and the pistachios on top brought a good crunchy texture – though a bit more would have been nice. The pistachio custard was delicious. The whole thing was quite well balanced and not too sweet. As an observer, I thought this dish was very visually enticing with the lovely red and green colours.
Also, the chai latte was not too sweet, it was nice and spicy. It was a rare hit on the chai latte front for me!
It was nice and quiet on a Wednesday morning (but a reservation always makes sense to me), and service was very friendly and efficient.
Hopefully we’ll come back hungry and try more of the options one day!
After a few visits to vegan fine dining establishment Gauthier Soho, we were excited to try the (slightly) more affordable Studio Gauthier on our recent trip to London. Alongside their regular menu, they also currently have set menus from specific countries/cuisines available for two weeks at a time. We were there for their Italian menu, which consisted of five courses and a canapé.
The canapé was a small slice of deep fried courgette with cashew cream and mint crumble. It was flavoursome, light, and refreshing, and felt perfect for Spring.
Next came the wild garlic focaccia, which was our highlight of the evening. You always know you’re going to get some good bread from Gauthier! It was a really crispy, herby bread, oily and delicious. It was served with a fava bean purée (a bit like hummus) and wild garlic pesto and pickled red onions. The pesto was so flavoursome, I loved it. The onions were a perfect touch. We would have happily taken another round of this course – plus a tray of focaccia for the road.
Then we had a stuffed artichoke. The artichoke was deep fried for a nice crispy texture. It was stuffed with parsley and capers – the capers in particular provided great flavour. It came with a white bean purée and tomato purée. The tomato one was especially good, quite rich and tasty.
The tortellini came next. It was really thin pasta filled with chervil, lovage, and almond ricotta and served with peas and micro herbs. At the table, the server added a broth made of kombu, mushroom, lemongrass, and Kaffir lime. The broth had an incredibly deep savoury flavour, I could have drunk it up!
The main course was gnocchi. It was a semolina gnocchi, which just kind of dissolved on the plate, it was so soft (the server asked for feedback on the dish and when we mentioned this he said it was intentional, so maybe it’s just our personal preferences for firmer gnocchi). It came with a wild garlic sauce, which was really vivid and enticing and packed a great flavour. There was also aparagus, confit lemon rind, hazelnuts, rocket, and some kind of cheese. There was a bit too much rocket for my personal taste, but otherwise there was a nicely balanced flavour. I certainly found the flavours superior to the texture of this dish.
The dessert was a crostata. The shortcrust pastry case was just right, and the strawberry and blueberry filling was delicious. It was served with vanilla ice cream (the menu says lemon sorbet, but I could have sworn it was vanilla ice cream!), custard, and fruit purée. The rich, creamy custard beautifully complemented the fruity pie. It looked like a huge portion, but it was well judged.
It was not a rushed affair – we were there for over 2 hours for the whole meal. It was pretty quiet on a Tuesday evening, but I’d recommend booking anyway. It was £65 per person for the set menu. For us, it was worth the money for some creative and well-executed dishes. It was notably not on the same (extremely high) level as Gauthier Soho itself, and I’d prefer to splurge there again next time, but it’s still a fun visit and I’d certainly be tempted in for the right cuisine (we just missed out on Taiwan, more’s the pity).
I always see Tofu Vegan listed as a top vegan spot in London and have been trying to fit it into my itinerary on our last few trips. This Easter, we finally had our first visit at any of the numerous Tofu Vegan branches. I’ll definitely be back! The menu was really extensive and tempting. Dr HH and I shared two starters and two mains.
The wontons in a spicy sauce were delicious! They were nice little dumplings. The filling felt quite substantial and meaty, and the sauce packed a good punch. I was worried it would be too spicy for me, but it was just a pleasant kick, not overwhelming.
The salt and pepper mushrooms were really well-seasoned. The mushrooms had a nice bouncy texture and the batter was crispy. I love dishes like this, and it was a well executed version.
I almost never order dishes that will be sizzling and steaming as they are brought to the table – who wants that much attention? Happily, Dr HH convinced me to make an exception for the sizzling king mushroom in black pepper sauce. It had a really peppery sauce, building to a nice heat. The mushrooms were accompanied by tender onions and thinly sliced mushroom. Everything retained its bite.
Finally, we shared the gong bao tofu, which came in a sticky sauce. It was slightly sweet and fruity but also had a bit of chilli heat, plus lots of ginger and peanuts. The tofu had a nice soft, spongy texture.
Everything we tried was delicious! As much as I enjoyed these dishes, I’ll probably go for something completely different next time because there were so many interesting looking options. And I’m quite confident we’ll be back, because it seemed like everytime we opened Happy Cow, there was a branch of Tofu Vegan mere minutes away! They’re everywhere!
I used to find it pretty easy to find vegan cake in Manchester city centre, but at our Easter visit I was really struggling to find a spot for a hot drink and vegan cake after 4pm on a Saturday. Happy Cow pointed us towards the cafe in Waterstones in the Arndale, and it really exceeded our expectations – it was fantastic!
We ordered at the counter and found ourselves a table. They had a range of clearly labelled vegan baked goods at the counter (we didn’t look at the savoury sandwich options). Dr HH and I ordered two cakes to share: a sticky toffee biscoff slice, and a chocolate fudge cake.
The sticky toffee biscoff slice had a perfect gingery, biscoff, and toffee taste. It could have been stickier, but it was still a nice moist bake (much better than it looks in that regard). The topping was sweet and balanced it nicely. It was really delicious.
The chocolate fudge cake was a triple layer cake. The icing was really decadent. The edge was crusted in cacao nibs which gave a great bit of texture. The sponge was a tiny bit dry, presumably just because it was the last slice – it was a nice chocolatey rich sponge. When I picture a chocolate cake in my mind, this is what I see. This is a proper cake!
It was quite a busy spot with lots of book shoppers sitting and reading at the tables, so I suppose each table is occupied for quite a while. For me, it’s worth waiting a little while for a table if necessary if you’re in the mood for a cake. I’ll definitely be back for another visit – and not just because there aren’t so many alternatives these days!
Back when we lived in Manchester, we were regular visitors to this spot, or as it was known back then Lotus Vegetarian Kitchen (read more here and here). I lost track of it over the years, but was delighted to see that it is still going strong after all these years! The menu is quite extensive and exciting, with some dishes having multiple options for your protein/mock meat. We had trouble narrowing it down, but we did it!
For starters, we tried the salt and pepper calamari (the king oyster mushroom version – it was also available with shimeji). It consisted of thinly sliced battered mushrooms, which were very crispy and well seasoned. It wasn’t necessarily a convincing calamari, but it was a tasty fried mushroom.
We also shared the sesame toast, which had an excellent crispy texture but didn’t really taste of seafood. There was a real novelty factor (I don’t think I’ve seen a dish like this veganised anywhere else), but it didn’t totally deliver – it was more like a generic fried bread. I love a fried bread, so it was enjoyable.
For my main, I had crispy noodles with beef and black bean sauce. The beef was really tender and tasty with a lovely texture. The vegetables retained their bite. The sauce was a classic black bean, really tasty. I’m a huge fan of crispy noodles, so the overall texture of the dish was perfect for me.
Dr HH had the sweet and spicy Szechuan dish with crispy shredded beef. He really enjoyed it. The crispy beef was so crispy it felt like all batter at first. As the meal got a bit colder and soggier, the meat in the middle of the batter became more noticable. The sauce was spicy and sweet, with a lip-tingling amount of Szechuan pepper, as hoped.
Portion sizes were generous, and service was fast and friendly. We were there on a Sunday evening without a reservation. The only real drawback is that the restaurant is in Withington, which is not easy to get to from every part of the city. It was definitely worth the effort for us though!
Herbivores' Heaven 