Despite the name being two ingredients we don’t eat, we decided to give Egg & Milk a try as it had decent vegan options, reasonable reviews on Happy Cow, and was in the right part of town for our plans. It’s an American-style diner that just serves brunch food, predominantly pancakes and bagels. The menu over the counter does not match the online menu, so (having done our research online, of course) we were a bit confused about what to order and I just showed the staff what I wanted from the website. You order at the bar, and wait for your order to be ready to collect.
We ordered the feel-good vegan pancakes from the website, but I think these are just regular vegan pancakes on the physical menu. We had the option to add chocolate or blueberries, so we got this dollop of melting chocolate chips on top. There’s pancake syrup and Hershey’s chocolate syrup on the tables. There were three pancakes each, and quite a generous size. They were pretty standard, perfectly pleasant, but a bit dry. I would have loved a dollop of vegan whipped cream, for example. I wouldn’t be rushing back again, but if you want some pancakes then go for it.
We did take in a couple of sights in the city, not just out on the surrounding islands! I enjoyed the Botanical Gardens, even though they were up a massive hill. The grounds were well tended, and there were some really lovely flowers and gardens. It’s free to enter too – even better!
If I’m in a city with few fully-vegan restaurants, there are a couple of cuisines I always look out for that will probably hook me up with good vegan options. Ethiopian is usually a good bet, and so is Palestinian. So we were happy to find Silvis, a Palestinian restaurant. The food was good, though the labelling was a bit hit and miss. There’s a ‘vegetarian/vegan’ section, but it doesn’t specifically label which ones are vegan, so we made some educated guesses and got a fun array of dishes.
(Another issue with the menu: there are three tasting menus which list all the dishes available (many of them containing meat). The menu states that the menus can also be served vegan on request, but it doesn’t say what dishes you’ll get. Two of the menus are the same price, so for me it’s impossible to choose one when you don’t know what dishes they will contain! All they need to do is make the effort to write down what the vegan menu would be. Meat eaters aren’t asked to order in ignorance, so vegans shouldn’t be either. We ordered our own selection of dishes anyway, but it is a bit of a frustrating menu.)
Of course, we got some hummus. It was lovely and smooth, and really well seasoned, with some delicious olive oil on top.
We order zaatar bread every chance we get (which is not very many chances, to be honest), and had never seen it served like this before. One serving was two small, fat breads (folded in half in the basket). They were plump and pillowy with plenty of zaatar. This was my favourite dish, it was really delicious.
We also had some falafel, which came as a portion of four with a dip (which we weren’t 100% sure was vegan). They were really crispy on the outside, with a lovely herby filling.
We also order makdous every chance we get. The restaurant was a little dark and there was a lot of salad in the serving dish which made it difficult to see what was actually in the bowl and how many pieces there were. To me, the pickling sharpness overpowered the filling, which felt a bit unsubstantial, so I was a little disappointed. Dr HH enjoyed them more than I did.
To fill us up after hiking, we also got some fried potatoes. These were simply small potato chunks, which were hot and crisp, but there was nothing exciting on the seasoning front, unfortunately.
And finally, we got some koftas. There were three meatballs in a rich tomato sauce. The koftas were really dense and flavoursome, and the sauce was so rich, it all worked together beautifully.
It was quite a fancy place, a proper restaurant – we were there in our hiking clothes straight from the island, but most people were a bit more dressed up than us. Despite my issues with the menu and labelling the vegan options, I would happily go back and it was my favourite meal that we had in Gothenburg.
Our hike on this day took us to three southern islands: Vrångö, Donsö, and Styrsö. It was easy to get to the ferry terminal via tram, and we navigated successfully between the three islands too. It was another beautiful (and mild) summer day, with blue skies and calm seas. The scenery was especially beautiful on Styrsö as we sometimes walked right by the water. I highly recommend stretching your legs and drinking in the scenery on the islands, and getting back to the mainland for good food!
Sometimes you can’t beat a good fast food fix, especially after a long day on the go. Gothenburg has a great burger spot called Bastard Burgers with a respectable vegan menu and several venues across the city. We visited twice during our recent trip to Gothenburg, and found it to be a quick and convenient place to eat, with good vegan burgers. Everything we had was good, but not mind blowing, which is generally the best I expect in a fast food place.
On our first visit, I tried the No Chicken New York Burger, which was a fairly simple chicken patty with a bit of salad and sauce. I like a simple chicken burger but this one was a bit boring even for me – the patty didn’t have a lot of flavour. It was filling but unexciting, probably my own fault for such a safe choice.
Dr HH, as always, made a bolder choice with the Green Notorious Chilli Cheese Burger. This had a nice beefy fake meat patty with pickles and red onions, a jalapeno dressing, fresh jalapeno, and cheese and chilli poppers. There was a nice bit of heat in the burger, with bites of the jalapenos cranking that up a notch. The chilli cheese poppers added a nice crunch and oozed out a good cheesy sauce on to the whole thing. It was a good tasty burger.
On our return visit, I tried the Green Texas BBQ Burger. Again, the beefy patty was nice and meaty, and I found it tastier than the chicken patty. The BBQ sauce was a little spicy, but it was a really nice burger.
And Dr HH tried the Green London Truffle Burger, which consisted of a beef patty with cheese, salad, and truffle mayo. The mayo definitely had some truffle taste but the regular mayo flavour was still dominant, so it wasn’t exactly what he had hoped for as a big truffle fan. He said he wouldn’t order this one again.
We always chose chips as our side dish. They were crinkle cut, really salty, hot, and crispy. Good chips!
We also treated ourselves to milkshakes on both visits. I think there is nothing more decadent than a milkshake, but I don’t get many options to have them. I always forget how filling they are and struggle to combine one with a full fast food meal, so I was worried I would embarrass myself here and not be able to manage it. But I demolished my milkshake on both occasions! Dr HH had the chocolate shake on our first visit, and I had the Oreo shake (which we both had on our return visit). The Oreo shake was basically the chocolate shake with lots of trimmings. The shake had a good creamy and rich texture with a chocolatey taste. The chocolate syrup, whipped cream, and Oreo really elevated it. Overall, it was probably a bit too sweet, but we enjoyed the chocolate flavour and the cream and the sense of occasion. It was really fun!
In terms of logistics, you can order either at the self-service machines or at the counter. Then you follow your food order progress on the screen, and wait for your drinks order to be called from the bar. It was, as expected, quick service.
Our first visit was after another full day of hiking on the islands. Once more, we got the bus and ferry to Hönö, but this time we walked over the bridge to a technically different island, Öckerö. It was similar to the hike the previous day, with trails indicated by blue markers. It was a wild start to the walk, with a fiercely whipping wind almost blowing us off the rocks, but fortunately it got more sheltered after that and we had a beautiful day with the sea by our side. The scenery was amazing!
We were eager to add Simba to our Gothenburg itinerary. It’s an Ethiopian and Eritrean restaurant which serves meat, but has a few clearly labelled vegan items on the menu. It’s a really big restaurant with plenty of tables. The decoration is fun, with lots of Ethiopian art, though the lighting was kept quite low on our visit.
As always in an Ethiopian restaurant, we ordered the vegan sharing plate for two. It came with some injera and a selection of dishes. The dishes directly on the injera were at room temperature: lentils, beetroot, spinach, and salad. I’m no salad enthusiast, but yhe salad dressing was really nice. Both the beetroot and spinach had a bit of a kick to them. The lentils were well seasoned.
Then there was a selection of four hot dishes in small bowls. The potato and carrot one was the least exciting – the big chunks of veg were nice, but the seasoning wasn’t amazing. The smooth orange sauce (shiro) was delicious, really savoury and not too spicy. The lighter lentil dish was very tasty. The darker onion dish was quite spicy, and that was one of Dr HH’s highlights.
It was tasty and I would recommend it in Gothenburg, but to be honest I’ve had better seasoning and more exciting versions of this dish in other places.
We ate here after a day of hiking on Hönö, one of the northern islands off Gothenburg. It was a fairly simple journey there, with a bus and then a ferry, both covered by our local travel passes. The hiking route was well indicated with blue markers, making it easy to stay on course. We were walking by the sea for most of the day, which made for some beautiful scenery. For the most part it was easy terrain, but there were some stretches clambering over rocks, which required a lot of concentration. It was a beautiful day and we loved drinking in the views.
Our summer holiday this year took us to Gothenburg. It was partly the weather that lured us in: Prague is HOT in the summer, and the idea of travelling further south in Europe felt like a bit much. We thought a Scandinavian summer would be similar to the British summers we grew up with, and that proved to be the case. One day was 26 degrees, everything else was comfortably around 20. That’s a perfect summer for me! More Scandinavian summers may be in order.
The other main attraction was the Way Out West festival, which is a three day event right in the city centre (no camping!). Dr HH attended the festival for just one day a few years ago on a solo trip, and we had been looking for an opportunity to attend together. So we planned to spend half a week hiking on the islands nearby, and the rest at the festival. Relaxing stuff, as always for our trips! We weren’t super excited about the vegan options in the city (you can revisit Dr HH’s solo trip here and here), but thought the scenery and music would outweigh the limited food options.
On arrival, we headed straight to an all-vegan restaurant to get the holiday underway. Blackbird is a casual place that feels a bit like a pub but it does have table service. Service was really great. It seemed quite popular, so it might be a good idea to book.
Between two of us, we shared the chilli cheese for a starter. We were expecting slightly larger bites, but they were tiny! We got four balls in a serving. Temperature-wise, they were hot but not scalding – sometimes I fear these kinds of bites will contain molten cheese. The chilli heat was really welcome. The cheese was nicely melted and had a pleasant savoury taste.
For his main, Dr HH ordered linguini vegangole, which is sea-inspired pasta with oyster mushrooms and white beans. The pasta was good, nice thick noodles with a bit of bite. There was a good seafood flavour to the whole dish and he liked the texture from the oyster mushrooms. There were a lot of beans, which added some heartiness to the dish, but he thought they were a little too soft. He would want to replace them with something with a bit of crunch to elevate the dish. The garlic bread was nice, but one little round felt a bit miserly. The salad on the side was fine.
I ordered the potato salad with schnitzel. There’s a choice between tofu and seitan, and I chose seitan. It was a nice cut of seitan, but I’ve had much bigger schnitzels in the past so I was a little disappointed. The dish seemed to fit its billing of potato salad first – the salad helping was quite large. It was a tasty potato salad, with plenty of potato and nice flavours. There was a little salad on the side with a really sharp dressing, which was quite nice but very sharp.
For dessert we both ordered the Vegall. This is apparently a recreation of a local chocolate bar, and it was amazing. I was initially a bit disappointed to see its size as it was a little small, but it was perfectly judged – it was so rich, I didn’t need any more. It had a chocolatey puffed rice base, and was topped with a rich chocolate ganache. We were given spoons, but couldn’t drive the spoons through the base so we just used our fingers. It was really delicious.
After the mains were fairly average, this dessert really elevated the experience. We thought about returning later in the trip so we could get the dessert again, but it didn’t pan out. Recommended nevertheless!
We had a busy and exciting day of sport at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, with judo in the morning and cycling in the afternoon. We got to see some medal events and it was all very high stakes. I wish we’d been able to enjoy more of the Games, but it was just a one day trip for us.
We returned to Glasgow city centre from the velodrome and headed to Mono for our dinner, because Dr HH had been lured in by a very exciting item on the menu. I had totally forgotten that we’d been to Mono before back in the day (I had to revisit my old blog post here). The menu has changed over the years, but it’s still quite casual, hearty plates.
Mother HH got the aubergine parm, a dish she always enjoys. The sauce was tomatoey and rich, but needed a touch more seasoning. She thought the texture of the aubergine was perfect, it held its form but had not become tough. There was a huge slice of garlic bread, which was robust enough for mopping and scooping the sloppy parm. The side salad was fine, if unremarkable.
Pizza crunch was the dish Dr HH had been waiting for. He couldn’t resist the opportunity to have his first ever battered pizza. The batter outside was great, it had a good crunch without being too thick or greasy. The margherita pizza inside was pleasant, a nice soft texture from the base and some flavour coming the sauce and cheese. He enjoyed the chips on the side too. This dish is only available as a quarter slice of pizza, which seems sensible to me. I was also tempted by this, but thought it would be a bit much for me.
It was not too much for Dr HH though, who also ordered a side dish of haggis. This was great. We don’t really know what haggis is supposed to be like so can’t comment on its authenticity, but this was a delicious mincy, oaty, lentilly dish that was really well seasoned.
And I had fish and chips. The fish was just tofu wrapped in seaweed and battered, so there was no fishy texture, which is a shame but I knew that when I ordered. Tofish is always unremarkable to me, but it was fine and it’s what I was in the mood for. The chips were good! Truthfully, I hadn’t been too excited about the main dishes on the menu, but I was very much looking forward to dessert.
Dr HH tried the raspberry sugared donut s’more, which was quite the exciting treat. It was a sugar donut sliced in half and topped with raspberry sugar. Between the two donut halves there was vanilla ice cream, marshmallows and chocolate fudge sauce. This was delicious and everything worked well together to make for a great dessert. We’d never really seen a dessert like this before, and it’s always fun to try something completely new.
I played it a bit safer with the chocolate tart, and did not regret it. The strawberries and a dollop of whipped cream cut through the richness of the tart beautifully. The base was chocolatey and had a good firm texture. The chocolate ganache was delicious, so rich and tasty. I could have eaten another one right away, it was that good (and that well balanced).
All in all, we enjoyed our mains and loved our desserts. There were some fun items on the menu that are certainly not readily available to us in Prague, so we were impressed. It was jumping even on a Sunday night, so clearly they’re doing something right!
Our trip to the Commonwealth Games took us to the SEC in Glasgow for the morning shift, and the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome for the afternoon. With a fairly tight turnaround time, we weren’t totally sure where we’d get lunch, but fortunately there was a great vegan option a short walk from the SEC. The 78 is a pub with a fully vegan kitchen. When we were there, the kitchen was occupied by Antojitos doing a Mexican menu with a few items, including mix and match tacos, which is what we tried. We tried four different tacos across our group of three.
I was almost scared away from the chkn al pastor because it contains pineapple, but it was merely a refreshing bite in the taco and I’m glad I was undeterred. The chicken was nice and tender, and I think it was the least spicy of the tacos we tried. I really enjoyed the pickled onion on top.
We all enjoyed the soya carnitas. It contained soy strips that were beautifully crisped and in a fun sticky glaze. It was a citrus glaze and there was also a lime cream, so it all worked well. This was my favourite, it was really delicious.
The chorixo con papas should be named ‘papa’ singular, because there was only one bit of potato. But it was a fun texture to add in however small a quantity. The chorizo was a bit spicy, and it worked nicely with the refreshing avocado cream.
Dr HH was the only one of our party to try the southern fried piña. This one had a large, delicious slice of battered pineapple at its core. It was sweet and sharp with good seasoning and crunch in the coating. The sauces added a nice punch too.
All in all, we were really happy with what we got, but not blown away. (To be fair, none of us is a Mexican food enthusiast.) It was fresh food and fun flavours. Service was really quick too, which was a big plus for us on a busy day.
Mother HH was the last of our party to make it to Edinburgh, joining us in time for dinner at this all-vegan Italian restaurant.
I don’t always find vegan Italian options so exciting, because in non-vegan restaurants they can be quite dull. But I love an ambitious Italian menu, and this one definitely qualified. No making do with boring spaghetti aglio olio, there were cheesy, creamy, and meaty options galore.
We were a bit worried that the pasta courses might be quite small, because pasta dishes in Italy usually are, but fortunately they were the size of a British main course, so we were thrilled and ordered the correct amount of food.
We shared two plates of the Suppli Romani (Bolognese arancini) to start – there are two arancini per serving. The Bolognese was really tasty, and the coating was nice and crispy. There was some cheese in the middle, but it hadn’t melted at all – it could have been improved by some nice gooey cheese, but that’s a minor issue. We are a trio of arancini fans and we loved it.
I had the mezze maniche alla carbonara and it was delicious! I can never resist a carbonara. The portion was much heartier than I expected, it was very filling. The balance of pasta, sauce, and bacon was good too, there was no need for rationing or more boring bites. The sauce was delicious, really cheesy and rich with a bit of eggy flavour too. There was also plenty of black pepper. The bacon pieces were really savoury and tasty too. I love a carbonara and this was a very good one.
Mother HH had the Margherita pinsa. She loved that the base was light and crispy at the edges. The cheese was a good one, it was well melted and soft. But the tomato sauce was underseasoned, it needed a touch more salt and pepper.
Dr HH had the ravioli nduja e stracciatella. The filling and sauce were great and had plenty of flavour. The stracciatella added some nice creaminess too. He found the pasta a bit undercooked for his liking though, and the whole dish felt a bit tepid.
I didn’t have room for pudding after my breakfast feast at Considerit, but my companions were ready for it. Mother HH had the soft serve. It’s available with sauces and toppings, but she just got it plain. It was very sweet and had plenty of vanilla. It was a generous portion too. It was a little grainy, but very enjoyable.
And Dr HH had the tiramisu, one of his favourite desserts, and thought it was delicious. The sponge was soaked and held its integrity, so it wasn’t just a pile of mush, as sometimes happens. There was a generous layer of cream that was nicely sweetened, with plenty of cocoa powder on top.
Service was really good and we enjoyed the experience. The front of the restaurant is really bright with huge windows, but we were seated in a much darker area at the back where the tables are crammed in so much that getting in and out was quite uncomfortable (and I am an average sized person). I’d request a table in the front section in the future.
Overall, I was a bit more satisfied with my dishes than my companions were – the arancini and carbonara were both absolutely delicious. Even with some small quibbles with their main dishes, Dr and Mother HH also enjoyed the experience and would happily go back for more. Carbonara for everyone, I say!
I was one of a party of three for my trip to the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow (staying in Edinburgh), and all three of us were arriving from different starting points. I was first to arrive in the very early hours, and took my solo trip to Considerit.
The next arrival was Dr HH, whose train rolled in around midday. We immediately made the short walk to Holy Cow, a pleasant all vegan cafe in the city centre. There were a few burgers and other items on the menu, but we only had eyes for one: the full vegan breakfast. There are a few places in Prague that offer a variation on this dish, but they never live up to a proper British version. This is what I’d been waiting for!
There were two sausages, which is the appropriate number. It was a really nice meaty sausage. The menu said it was an Italian sausage. I’m not sure what the Italian aspect was, we didn’t notice any Italian herbs, but it was perfectly good!
The scramble portion was reasonably sized, but for us it needed more seasoning (ideally some black salt) and a bit less turmeric.
Tempeh bacon is a novelty for me on a cooked breakfast (at restaurants, anyway – it’s a staple in our home cooked version), so I was excited to see it here. This one had a nice flavour but the texture wasn’t perfect – it needed more crisping on the edges.
Another novelty was the potato scones, which were crispy and tasty like a fried potato pancake (to our Czech-influenced palates). This was perhaps the best component of the dish, we loved it.
Again we appreciated the generosity of the mushroom serving. They were nicely cooked and juicy, but needed a lick more salt for us (there was salt, pepper, and ketchup on the table).
The tomatoes were a bit disappointing, as usual for me. There were just a couple of cherry tomatoes. They’d kissed the grill at least, unlike the uncooked ones you sometimes get.
The beans seemed like regular tinned beans, nothing wild to report there – there’s a reason they’re a classic.
Unfortunately, the toast was hit and miss. The bread was lovely, but Dr HH’s serving was extremely under toasted (only one side out of four appeared toasted). Mine was fine, so maybe it was just a miscalculation in the kitchen – lord knows it’s difficult to serve up this many components at the same time. There was plenty of spread for the toast, which we appreciated.
Alas, I almost thought I’d stumbled back into Europe when I saw the small serving of rocket on the plate. Salad doesn’t belong on a breakfast plate! At least there wasn’t too much of it.
Of course, it’s hard to get every element of a multi-component dish like this to be absolutely top tier. We were really pleased with the overall quality of this dish and found it a really enjoyable meal, with salt and pepper at the table to make any necessary seasoning adjustments. Service was great, and there was a very enticing looking cake counter, which we were too full to explore, more’s the pity.
I’m already looking forward to my next opportunity for a big cooked breakfast!
We recently had a trip to Edinburgh and Glasgow to see a bit of the Commonwealth Games – the Games themselves were in Glasgow, but accommodation was cheaper in Edinburgh, so we made that our base. For me, it was like a weird journey back in time. I went to university in Edinburgh, but I’ve only been back once since then for a visit, and even that was a good ten years ago. I had a stroll around the University buildings, which looked exactly as I remembered, and walked a few well-trodden routes from my late teens/early twenties and found everything just a little bit off from what I remembered. It was also wild to see all the young people around and remember myself as a silly youth galavanting around the city. Oh, the passage of time!
In tribute to my younger self, I wanted to treat myself to a luxurious hot chocolate because they were extremely important to me in my younger days. Considerit, an all vegan cafe and chocolate shop, seemed like the ideal spot for me (it was not knocking around twenty years ago, unsurprisingly).
I ordered the hot chocolate with marshmallows and cream. The drink did not stay very warm, but that’s the name of the game when you put a load of cream on top. The cream was delicious and it was a generous serving of marshmallows. It was a really filling and delicious drink, and it made me wish I had more opportunities for decadent hot chocolates now – I can’t think of anywhere in Prague that pushes the boat out on that front.
I was overwhelmed by the doughnut choice and mindful of how much my drink would fill me up, so I went for a cinnamon roll. I was offered it warmed up with cream, so I said yes – this did of course make it more filling anyway! The roll was really nice, soft and sweet. Maybe it could have done with a crisper edge, but that’s a small issue. I don’t think it needed the cream, but it was definitely good to have it warmed up. I wish I’d had space for some donuts and chocolates too.
There is not a lot of seating in this little cafe, only four tables, but there were plenty of free seats when I arrived on a Saturday morning, and it’s right by the Meadows, a big green space with plenty of benches and grass, so it’s a suitable spot for takeaway. There are also a few savoury dishes on the menu which smelled delicious, but I stuck to the sweets.
I hope to return to Edinburgh soon enough that this place is still standing. Its nice to have a belly full of sweetness on a nostalgic trip!
