UPDATE: THIS RESTAURANT CLOSED IN 2017

Day Thirty:  Fusion Challenge

You don’t really get much fusion at the breakfast table, but there is a touch of chilli in this Full English, so why not shoehorn it in here?

I went to The Hideaway back in February for an afternoon tea and always planned to return for their big vegan breakfast.  I finally made it, and it was a pretty good start to a Sunday!

I had a really nice soy chai latte, which actually lasted me for the whole breakfast meal – there are few things more annoying than running out of liquid mid-meal.  And the breakfast itself arrived not far behind it.  I was immediately struck by the presentation:  beans in a separate ramekin.  YES!  At last, people who understand that it’s a very personal choice where to put the beans on your breakfast plate.  For my part, I kept them neatly in that pot, but anyone so inclined could upend them over the plate.

I was quite excited at the prospect of a sweet chilli tofu scramble.  Alas, this was just tofu mixed with some sweet chilli sauce, and I found it almost cloyingly sweet.  It wasn’t a hit for me.  The potato cake was lacking in seasoning, whereas the mushrooms (we asked for extra, in place of the ubiquitous roasted tomato) were seasoned to absolute perfection – I could have eaten twice as many still.  Just one slice of toast, as usual, which makes me suspect we are rather piggish in serving ourselves two slices at home.  And then the most intriguing element, the falafel patties.  They were a pleasant alternative to sausages, and were really tasty and nicely flavoured.  My only complaint is that they were very soft and mushy.  A little extra bite to the outside would have been heavenly!

Speed of service:  we were the only customers and got our food very promptly – we’d barely made a start on our drinks when the food arrived.  5/5

Value for money:  it was £5.50 each, and I felt like we had quite a lot.  A solid 4/5

Quality of cooking:  the potato cake was crying out for some salt and pepper, and the falafel patties were lacking a bit of crunch, but otherwise, spot on.  3/5

Creativity:  The falafel patties were an interesting substitution, I really enjoyed them.  It was a nice idea to give the tofu a sweet chilli twist, although it didn’t appeal to my personal tastes.  A nice balance between traditional breakfast elements and originality.  3/5

Total:  15/20

And so this is the end of Vegan MoFo!  This means that the winner of the Ultimate Full English Championship is…

Fuel!  Everybody hurry to Manchester now to give it a try.  Dr HH suggested that I compile a list of the best individual components, so here we go:

• the beans from Fuel
• the mushrooms from The Hideaway
• the sausages from Odd
• the black pudding from Thirsty Scholar
• the hash brown and potato cake from Teatime Collective
• the toast and spread from Healthy Spirit
• the baked tofu from Eighth Day (assuming you don’t have Dr HH on hand to provide the ultimate tofu scramble)
• the chai hot chocolate from Iydea

This month of blogging has been harder work than I’d expected, but I’ve really enjoyed the challenge.  The best thing of all is the number of vegan blogs I’ve discovered.  After reading the same people’s thoughts for thirty days, I feel like I know my fellow vegan bloggers pretty well and I’m going to be sad not to check in on them every day any more.

Are there any great vegan breakfasts that I’ve missed?  Send any tips my way!