Vegan in Amman: Shams El Balad

Posted on May 27, 2019 by Jenny

For Dr HH’s birthday this year, I treated him to a choose-your-own-adventure: either a long weekend in Paris, or a whirlwind trip to Jordan. He opted for the latter. It was somewhat out of left field for us – it’s not really a travel destination we’d talked about before. We’re both opposed to visiting a lot of countries in the Middle East due to their use of an Asian workforce essentially for slave labour, terrible laws for women, and dreadful anti-LGBTQ+ policies. Jordan seems like the best of the bunch, I have a Jordanian friend who always raves about her home country, and Ryanair started direct flights from Prague to Amman last year, so it seemed like a good opportunity to go along and see what it was like. Everybody wants to visit Petra, after all!

We stayed in Amman, but basically used it as a base to go travelling further afield in the country. I would certainly recommend staying for longer than we did – we had two full days, and spent one of them in Petra, and the other on a tour of some ancient ruins in the north. Unlike our usual holidays, this one was all about the sights and adventures, not about the food, so this will be my only post about it.

I was not a big fan of Amman itself, besides the amphitheatre and citadel. We were staying downtown, and it was a bit of a dive really – there was lots of litter in the street, and a lot of stray cats picking over it. It was also a very male-dominated area: especially in the evenings, there were not many women out and about, unless they were part of a family outing. There were far more men, hanging around on the street in pairs or groups. An absence of women never makes me feel at ease, so I didn’t enjoy the atmosphere so much.

My friend had recommended a place called Hashem, which was listed as all vegetarian on Happy Cow, so we were keen to give it a try. It was packed when we arrived, but we managed to grab a recently-vacated table. We asked for a menu, but didn’t get anything, and nobody ever returned to talk to us or take an order. I was hungry and confused, so we bailed out. We went into a place further down the street that had falafel, hummus, and chips, and that was basically where we got all of our food on our trip.

We took some falafel, crisps, and Cliff Bars for our day trip to Petra, which was a good call as there weren’t many tempting options around Petra itself (though we did see a tomato sandwich…and there was falafel being sold at the entrance too, plus an actual restaurant inside that we didn’t take a look at). Taking a packed lunch to Petra is probably the best (and certainly the cheapest) option for vegans. There’s a lot of walking, we needed plenty of sustenance!

We wished we’d also grabbed takeaway falafel for our second day trip, a tour of Umm Qais, Ajloun Castle, and Jerash. Instead, our driver took us to a restaurant used by every tour company in the country, which had a massive buffet with no allergens listed, and a set price – so I paid four times more than I did at every other meal, and only had hummus and bread. We were fuming. Fortunately, the scenery made up for it…

…although at times the weather did hinder us a bit!

So all told, we only had one really noteworthy meal during our trip, which was this massive lunch at Shams El Balad before we headed to the airport to fly back to Prague. And if you’re only going to have one good meal, this seems like the place to go! It was a nice reprieve from all the things I disliked about Amman, right down to the fact that most of the diners were couples or groups of female friends. We sat out in the sunshine, looking out over the city, and enjoyed very good but unobtrusive service in calm, clean, peaceful surroundings. It was a wonderful haven!

The menu marked the vegan options, which is always appreciated. We decided to properly treat ourselves, as it was our only real culinary indulgence of the trip. The main reason we chose this place was because of the za’atar and olive oil bread on the menu. Just look at all that za’atar! This was everything I’d hoped for, it was really delicious – though the za-atar was quite loose and made a bit of a mess. Interestingly, the people at the table next to us were brushing all the za-atar off and just eating the bread base…clearly it was not what they’d been expecting.

We got some complementary bread as well, to accompany the two dips we ordered. This was the eggplant mutabal, which was charred aubergine, tahini, mint, and pomegranate. It was absolutely delicious! It can be quite tricky to get the aubergine nicely charred without being bitter, and this dish had the balance just right.

We also had this foul mdammas, which was qalayeh (some kind of bean), coriander, and garlic. It was also really flavoursome, and delicious with that soft, fluffy bread.

The harra potatoes were sensational – crispy on the outside, fluffy on the inside, and very nicely spiced. I wish I’d had room for a second helping of these!

And then there were these little aubergines stuffed with walnuts and herbs. My Jordanian friend made me these once before, so I was very excited to see them on the menu here. I believe they’re called makdous, but the menu seems to have been updated since our visit so I’m not entirely sure. Anyway, they are small, full of flavour, and definitely worth a try if you ever come across them on a menu.

After all that food, we were also full! We sat enjoying some sunshine and reflecting on our wild adventures around Jordan, sipping a really flavoursome chai.

I certainly don’t plan to get into the habit of taking holidays which don’t have food as the main focus (or at least one of the guaranteed highlights), but this was worth it as a bit of a fluke just so we could see Petra and some of the other sights of Jordan. We had a lot of falafel, saw one of the wonders of the world, and discovered the joys of za’atar bread: definitely a successful trip!

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Vegan in Prague: Veggie Naplavka

Posted on May 20, 2019 by Jenny

You know you’re working too hard when you miss a vegan festival so you can go into the office! Fortunately, I lived vicariously through Dr HH, and now you can too…

Who doesn’t enjoy a good bank holiday?  The giddiness of having a four day working week and a long weekend, oh the joys that May and August bring!  Upon moving to Europe I was jolted out of these delightful patterns when I realised they just have the holiday on a fixed date every year.  A little readjust, no long weekend, but at least it’s still a four day working week (unless the holiday falls on a weekend – disaster!).  Fortunately, this year’s May bank holidays fell on Wednesdays, phew!  What is the best way to spend a mid-week public holiday? At an outdoor vegan food festival, of course!

Veggie Naplavka is a regular festival held along the Vltava river and is one of the largest open-air vegan festivals in Europe.  This part of the river is glorious when the weather is good, making for a lovely waterside stroll with a view of many of Prague’s historic sites as you wander along.  If you get tired, there are plenty of boats and riverside spots where you can stop for a drink.

The festival normally pops up twice a year and for the last two years the spring/summer edition has been on May 1st.  This year Ms. HH decided to go in to work and use the quiet office to achieve maximum efficiency, so I embarked upon this nomming odyssey solo.

Come festival day, this previously idyllic strolling spot turns into a teeming mass of bodies to battle through, and as I fought through the crowds I had one rule in mind: don’t eat from any stalls where I could just as easily go and visit the restaurant.  I skipped the Prague favourites (and the long queues that come with them): Forky’s, Plevel, Chutnej, Forrest, Loving Hut, Country Life, Sri Lankan Curry House, Creme de la Creme, VeganGrill, Radost…not today!

First up on my list were the chickpea and seitan wings with dip from Ovegano.  From what I could glean from their website, Ovegano are based in Brno, where they do some pop up events and also sell some of their products at a few different restaurants and cafes in the city.   I was initially drawn to this stand on my first wander through, but as I got closer most of the branding I could see on the tent was for a raw cafe. Raw wings sounded a lot less appealing!  On my second pass I spotted a fryer in the back, so I dived right in.

They were excellent: a glorious crunchy coating (I assume this is where the chickpeas came in to play) and perfectly seasoned seitan with a good bite to it.  They were a wee bit dry to be nommed alone, so I was glad to see some dip. Unfortunately it was the tiniest thimble of creamy dip, so I had to ration it carefully.  On the whole, I was happy to overlook this dip-saster for these glorious crunchy wings.

Once the starter had been dispatched, I tackled a plate of dumplings from Yara Street Food.  They are usually found at Farmer’s market at Dejvice on Saturday mornings and are not usually all vegan.  For this festival they had a selection of four different types of steamed dumpling, a noodle dish, and a sweet mango hotdog.  Whilst in the queue I was thinking long and hard about which flavour of dumplings to have, before I spotted the mixed plate option.  I tucked into an exciting looking plate of four dumplings with some pickled vegetables and bits of salads.

The pea, cabbage, and spring onion was a pureed filling that was a little bit uninspiring and didn’t have a particularly strong taste.  The chickpea curry flavour was a little disappointing – the curry didn’t have a huge amount of flavour and I am glad I didn’t go with my original idea to just get a plate of those.  The next one on the plate was sweet potato and garden vegetable (my translation may be slightly off there), which was enjoyable with a good sweet potato flavour, but I couldn’t really pick out much else.  Last of all was the cauliflower, ginger, and coconut.  This was the other flavour I was considering just getting a whole plate of, and it did not disappoint.  It was a pureed filling bursting with flavour from the ginger and coconut.

Overall, it was a bit of a mixed bag on the different flavours and I felt the dough on the dumplings themselves was a bit on the thick side, but I could definitely see myself getting a plate of the cauliflower, coconut, and ginger dumplings again.

At this stage I was starting to get a full belly but I thought I could sneak in one more little savoury before moving on to pudding, so I opted for some fries with garlic sauce from Sinea.  Sinea are a Czech (I think) company that sells a wide range of pre-made vegan goodies, and this stall seemed to be primarily aimed at selling sauces and sides (potato salads and the like).  The chips were excellent, chunky, crispy, and had the skins still on (and there were certainly more than it looks like in the picture).  The garlic sauce was a bit sweet and not garlicky enough, so they had failed in their attempt to hawk me some sauce, but I would buy chips from them again without hesitation!

Finally, to pudding!  I had already decided to pass on Creme de la Creme, even though for the first time in Naplavka history the queue was not obscenely long.  I was tempted by Rolls Bros, but figured I knew I could taste their wares elsewhere. I eventually decided on a little stall with no visible sign (later research led to me believe that this was Juicee) that was selling ice cream on a stick, dipped in chocolate, and topped with nuts. This immediately brought back fond memories of StickHaus in Venice.  There were a few fruit flavours on offer: mango, strawberry and raspberry. I opted for the raspberry with chocolate and peanuts.  It wasn’t the delightful creamy treat I was hoping for, and was more of an ice lolly than an ice cream, but it was tasty nonetheless.  The combination of raspberry and dark chocolate was well balanced and the peanuts gave it a nice crunch.

After that I was satisfied and ready to head home. I had been providing live updates to Ms. HH throughout the afternoon after she missed out on all of the fun [and much appreciated they were too – Ms HH].  I was of course under strict instructions to pick her up a nommy treat and I obliged by popping to an old favourite, Donut Shop.  They had a lemon iced donut with a brownie on top that I hadn’t seen in the shop before (but have seen since), so I grabbed two of those for breakfast the next day [not pictured, alas].  The chocolate from the brownie and the bit of sharpness from the lemon made for a good combination, but it didn’t challenge the other well-established vegan options for the top spot.

I wasn’t done with picking up nommy treats just yet, and stopped off at a Prague vegan food festival favourite, Nebeske Dorticky.  I picked up four cupcakes from here for some evening treats: two Ferrero Rocher, a Rafaello, and, a chocolate and cherry.  I am happy to report that these cakes lived up the usual high level, perfectly baked cupcakes with delicious icing.  Ms. HH ranked the Rafaello the best of the bunch, and I ranked the Ferrero Rocher ahead of the chocolate and cherry.

That is the end of my nomming odyssey.  I was happy to see how the festival has expanded, and there seemed to be more choice than ever. It was great to have several small plates of food and not have to rely on a getting a vegan burger or something from the Linda McCartney stand.

I look forward to the next edition and the exciting new options it may bring!

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Vegan in Berlin: Secret Garden

Posted on May 13, 2019 by Jenny

A few years ago I tried the best vegan sushi ever at Edamame Vegan Sushi in Warsaw, and since then I’ve been hoping to recapture that brilliance. Unfortunately it hasn’t quite happened yet, but Secret Garden in Berlin made a pretty good stab at it. It’s a really nice, all vegan eatery, tucked away above the Veganz supermarket on Warschauerstrasse. Despite its location at a busy junction of a main road, the restaurant itself feels extremely peaceful and calming. The menu is not exclusively sushi-based, there are some general Japanese dishes as well, but we were mostly focused on the sushi, which had some quite ambitious and exciting flavour combinations.

It was so peaceful and relaxing in there that we decided to treat ourselves to some cocktails! I honestly can’t remember the last time I had a cocktail, it always seems like such a ridiculous expense. But in the spirit of our forthcoming trip to Japan I decided to throw caution to the wind and have a cherry blossom cocktail, while Dr HH opted for a zingy mocktail. We were both very happy sipping away at our fancy drinks.

Continuing with the non-sushi elements…we were really keen to try some dumplings, because they are always a treat. There were four varieties on the menu, and we opted for these little island ones – steamed dumplings with shiitake, garlic, and vegetables, topped with dried olives, hoisin sauce, and chilli rice flakes. It was tough to pass on the ones that were fried, but flavour wise these were definitely winner! The filling was not that strongly flavoured, but the sauces really delivered.

We also tried some spicy shroom summer rolls, because alas there were no spring rolls on the menu. These contained three types of mushrooms, lovely chunks of cashews, and veg, and were drizzled with a shittake-truffle sauce. The sauce looked so much like mayo (which I hate) that it was a little off-putting, but it was absolutely delicious.

And on to the sushi! You can order them in sets of 4 or 8, so we tried a few sets of four. First of all, we got the excitingly-named angry samurai – black rice, mango, avocado, soy strips, and tomato chilli sauce. They looked good, and tasted even better! Actually, I could have lived with a smaller piece of mango, but the other flavours kept it in check.

Then we went straight for the two tempura options! First up was the golden foo dog, filled with aubergine, tofu, and radish, and topped with Unagi sauce. There’s nothing like a crispy tempura roll, is there? That crunch is just so satisfying! These tasted really savoury and delicious.

But the tempura tiger were possibly even more exciting – rolled with black rice, grilled courgette, mushrooms, and garlic. I would definitely recommend these. None of these sushi varieties were quite as exciting as the ones we had in Warsaw, but this was still a really solid meal.

Nowadays when we go to Berlin we do not really do any sightseeing, we just go to visit the vintage clothes shops and eat…so we spent pretty much a whole afternoon here, ordering small plates, sipping our drinks, and enjoying people-watching (aka dog spotting) from the window. As such, we decided to plough on with some dessert. It is quite rare to spot creme brulee on vegan menus, so I was powerless to resist this one. It had a liquidy layer on top, which made me fearful that it was missing the lovely crackable surface, but fortunately, it was right there! It was a delicious dessert, with the perfect texture and flavour. I am not sure that the berry compote really added much, but it was nice too.

And Dr HH had this matcha cheesecake, which he cannot remember anything about. He shrugged and said it was probably good…so there you go!

This place was not cheap (not extortionate either though), but it was a really nice place to relax and spend a few hours with unobtrusive service, tasty dishes, and a pleasant atmosphere. And most importantly, it had tempura sushi!

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Vegan Easter Haul

Posted on May 6, 2019 by Jenny

I haven’t been buying as many chocolate bars or sweets since moving towards the zero waste lifestyle, but sometimes I really need a little something chocolatey. Easter is one of those occasions, and Mama HH was good enough to send over a few treats from The Vegan Kind. (Interestingly, when we were children she only allowed my brother and me a bar of chocolate, nothing in a fun shape. Nowadays she’s always asking what kind of special themed, novelty shapes I’d like. It’s weird.)

We had a couple of Considerit vegan creme eggs, which we also tried last year (and reviewed here). Like last year, I was disappointed by the fact that it was two separate halves, but it still tasted good.

These peanut butter cups are my greatest weakness! I’ve tried at least one other brand before, but I think these are probably still my favourites because they’re made with a milkier chocolate. Dr HH and I keep talking about making our own peanut butter cups – I suspect it should be pretty easy.

It saddens me that there’s still no vegan version of Mini Eggs, but at least these little truffle eggs exist. They have a good creamy centre and are milky and delicious – and perfect size for snacking.

Most excitingly, we got these Walnut Whirls! Dr HH had never tried a classic Walnut Whip before and I can only remember trying it once or twice, but there’s no denying that it’s an exciting sweet. There are a few flavours available, but I asked for this one, assuming it would be closest to the original. For the uninitiated (are Walnut Whips universal?), it’s basically a dark chocolate cone with a flattened tip, topped with a walnut and filled with a sweet and delicious truffley cream of sorts. They were so good, I’m already planning on placing another order! The best thing about them was probably the thick layer of chocolate on the bottom – very generous indeed.

So it was quite the exciting Easter haul. There should really be more holidays that we celebrate by eating lots of chocolate…

Did you get any delicious Easter treats that I need to know about?

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Vegan in Berlin: Brammibal’s Donuts (Again!)

Posted on April 29, 2019 by Jenny

The fact that I love donuts has probably not escaped your attention. They are exquisite! In Prague we have two solid options for vegan donuts, but they’re not quite in the same league as Brammibal’s Donuts in Berlin. The donuts there are so soft  that, as I commented to Dr HH, “It’s like eating a cloud!”

And over the last year the number of Brammibal’s branches in Berlin has tripled – especially good news as I found it tricky to get a table at the original one. On our recent trip to Berlin, Dr HH and I treated ourselves to a trip to Brammibal’s every day, and we regret nothing!

The maple smoked coconut balanced the sweet and smoky flavours really nicely, but the coconut was all loosely piled on top which meant that it all started tumbling off as soon as I picked up the donut. So points for flavour, but not for construction!

The banana peanut fudge was a flavour explosion – in fact, it was possibly even a bit too banana-y for my tastes. But if that’s a combo you like, this is a great option.

The Boston cream was sublime! We didn’t want to both order the same donut, but we both really wanted to try it and I refused to share (because it would be messy, and because cream isn’t always evenly distributed so one of us would probably end up losing – I stand by this decision, but Dr HH seemed to think I was insane). Anyway, I’m glad I didn’t share. It was delicious! The chocolate was still a little glossy and not-quite-set, which made for messy eating. The cream filling was exquisite, the chocolate was dark and delicious, it was the perfect combo.

We shared the pink hibiscus because it sounded exciting and looked like a proper Homer Simpson donut. Neither of us knew what hibiscus was, and to be honest we’re still none the wiser – it was a generic sweet donut!

And finally, a couple of donuts for the road! These were actually the best of the weekend. Yes, even better than the Boston cream! The cashew and cacao nib donut on the left was super chocolatey and exactly my kind of donut. And Dr HH loved the texture and flavour of the nougat one on the right.

So once again, it was a great, donut-filled trip to Berlin! I was quite alarmed to see a fellow diner at Brammibal’s tucking into their donut with a knife and fork. Is this the norm where you are? I can see a certain kind of sense to it, considering how sticky our hands got with some of them, but surely there’s a line that should never be crossed?

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Vegan in Berlin: Ataya Caffe

Posted on April 15, 2019 by Jenny

UPDATE: this restaurant closed in 2023

Berlin is just a few hours away from Prague and reasonably priced via bus or train, so Dr HH and I have been there enough times now that we don’t even have to pretend to be going to experience the culture or history anymore. Now we can just straight up admit that we’re going to for the vegan food, and TK Maxx. Part of the vegan food draw is the brunch scene. There’s nowhere in Prague that does the same all-you-can-eat, all-vegan buffet brunch that is prevalent in Berlin. We’ve already ticked off a few places, and this time we tried another one: Ataya Caffe.

Ataya Caffe is owned by an African/Italian couple, and so every Sunday they serve a brunch buffet with a mixture of both cuisines. This sounded super exciting, and we were very happy that they could squeeze us in for a last minute reservation.

There were quite a lot of dishes to choose from, including two different kinds of hummus, an assortment of salads, some fluffy bread and crispy crackers, one aubergine antipasti dish, and a collection of African stews. There was a peanutty one that was very good indeed, and the hummus was also top notch. A pasta dish appeared at one point, but Dr HH reported that it was a pretty unexciting sauce. There was some falafel as well, briefly -that was good.

There were lots of things to try, and everything looked colourful and fresh, but the peanut stew and the anitpasti were the only properly remarkable dishes, and so we weren’t too fussed about going back for seconds and thirds as we usually would.

Alas, there was only one sweet dish – these little bites of chocolate cake were good and intense, but it would have been nice to have more options.

My main complaint about this is that it wasn’t really a brunch buffet so much as a lunch buffet – we couldn’t think of anything about it that seemed particularly breakfasty. And we were also expecting more fusion cuisine, whereas there wasn’t really much of an Italian flavour running through it at all.

All in all, it was a nice idea and solid food if you’re looking for a good lunch. But not the best of Berlin’s brunch options.

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Vegan in Berlin: Lily Burger

Posted on April 8, 2019 by Jenny

I think a case can be made that certain trendy foods are designed more with social media in mind than actual feasting. That’s probably the case for freak shakes, and I suspect also for the burgers that are stacked up taller than a toddler. So while I was lured in by the social media snaps of the massive burgers at Lily Burger in Berlin, I wasn’t really expecting to be able to eat my entire meal. And it’s just as well I went in with that expectation, because the amount of food was insane!

Lily’s reminded me somewhat of the great Annie’s in Nottingham, because it too has an extensive burger menu where every option is available meaty, vegetarian, or vegan. It didn’t have quite the same atmosphere though: when we were in on Friday evening they were playing loud dance music and it was a bit more of a dive than I’d like. But the food was good!

There’s only one vegan patty, a good crispy seitan one, so we started with that and then chose which concoction we’d like. Mine came with vegan cheddar, bacon, halloumi, BBQ sauce, and an onion ring. It was the tallest burger I’d ever tackled, and it was presented on a sturdy metal skewer. Obviously it had to be eaten with a knife and fork, which is never my favourite approach, but there was no alternative here.

The patty was top notch, and I loved both cheeses. I think it was my first time trying vegan halloumi, and I enjoyed it – it even had that classic halloumi squeak! The bacon was pretty standard European vegan bacon: not massively bacony, but significantly better than veggie bacon was back in the nineties. And the onion ring was delicious! I managed about two thirds of this before accepting that continuing would have been unwise. I was stuffed!

Dr HH, of course, put me to shame and devoured this monstrosity in its entirety. Imagine! His came with cheddar, bacon, honey mustard sauce, chilli mac and cheese, and a bacon onion ring. The bacon onion ring was inspired! Why don’t more places add rashers of bacon inside their onion rings?! The mac and cheese was a little rubbery and cold, which was a disappointment, but otherwise he loved it. And he tucked it all away somehow as well – clearly for some people these burgers aren’t just for social media!

Not only that, but he also put away more than his fair share of these curly fries! There were a few different kinds of potato sides, and additional sauces unavailable, but we only had eyes for the curly fries because they’re not really a thing in Prague. Oh, they were beautiful, and seasoned to perfection!

The menu was really extensive and also had veganisable waffles and pancakes with numerous toppings (it’s open 24 hours), plus milkshakes and desserts. Who would ever have room for any dessert though?!

This place is definitely not cheap. Alongside these three dishes, we also ordered two Sprites and it all came to €56. It was worth the splurge though as a one off. Who knows when I’ll have the chance for such an Instagrammable meal again?!

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Vegan in Prague: Waf-Waf

Posted on April 1, 2019 by Jenny

I’ve been stuck in a rut lately, food-wise. There are new eateries popping up all the time on Happy Cow, but I can’t seem to tear myself away from my familiar old favourites. The far more adventurous Dr HH finally convinced me to visit a spot with new vegan options lately, and I’m glad he did…though when it comes to vegan pancakes and waffles, I don’t need too much persuading.

Waf-Waf rivals Wafflin on the Prague brunch scene, but there are some differences. I have to say that I prefer the Waf-Waf aesthetic: it’s a pretty place. But on the downside, there’s no table service – you have to order at the counter and listen out for them calling your order so you can go and pick up your tray. Also, it seems to be more popular with the younger crowd than Wafflin, and if you’re an old lady like me there are few things worse than spending your Saturday morning sitting next to a bunch of teens.

The vegan menu seems fairly new, and features two specials: a sweet vegan pancake, and a savoury vegan waffle. Regular readers will not be surprised to hear that Dr HH went savoury and I went sweet. There were two waffles, which is always a good sign, and Dr HH reported that they were very good and flavoursome. The toppings left a bit to be desired though: red cabbage, mayo, sweet corn, and, rather mysteriously, a solitary kidney bean. Not too inspired. He would definitely get the savoury waffles again, but would go for a build-your-own approach instead (the vegan waffle isn’t listed on the build-your-own menu yet, but we assume it would be a possibility, and there were some good vegan options on there, both sweet and savoury – not as extensive or as well-labelled as at Wafflin though).

I was much more satisfied with my choice. A vegan crepe is quite rare in Prague – the chunky American-style pancakes are far more common. The crepe itself was lovely, if a little thicker than I was expecting, and I enjoyed the additions of raspberries, banana, chocolate sauce, and Lotus crumbs. Actually, the crumbs were the best part, adding a lovely crunchy texture. I would happily order this again every day!

As a bonus, they were playing some great ’80s hits when we were in there. Take that, teens!

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Vegan Products: M&S Plant Kitchen Range

Posted on March 25, 2019 by Jenny

If you are a vegan who does not live under a rock, you may have noticed that Marks & Spencer has released a new line of vegan ready meals, known as their Plant Kitchen range. This has inspired the usual comments from the online vegan community: they’re too unhealthy, inspire laziness, use too much plastic. Personally, I think anything that  makes veganism more accessible must be a good thing, and even the most well-intentioned home cook/zero-waster has the occasional day when they just need a quick fix. As such, I was very pleased to see these products start popping up at the M&S branches in Prague.

The mushroom pie is my favourite discovery, because vegan pastry is virtually unheard of here. This pastry in particular is so buttery that the first time I had it I went and double checked the box just in case it wasn’t really vegan. It is delicious! So far I’ve only found it in one location in Prague (Wenceslas Square, for anyone trying to track it down), but it’s always worth the detour.

The dirty fries are more readily available, and also pretty good – proper, thickly cut chips are hard to come by in these parts, to I definitely appreciate that.

The chips are doused in a tomatoey sauce and bechamel. Generally, I like a dry chip, but I can’t deny that these are tasty. Both sauces are really nice, and there’s good coverage on the chips as well. There’s something quite decadent about chips like these!

We paired the fries with the cauliflower popcorn for a lazy night in, kicking off our long overdue great Buffy rewatch (six episodes in I have to say that Xander’s creepy obsession with Buffy has not aged well). It is perfect in-front-of-the-TV junk food!

The coating on the cauliflower was good and well-seasoned, and the pieces were the perfect size for pecking at. The dip was also pleasant, though not spectacular.

I’d heard mixed reviews about the cashew mac from the rest of the vegan community, so I was expecting the worst. I needn’t have worried though!

The sauce was good and creamy, and the mushrooms and crumb topping were great additions. It might have needed a touch more seasoning, but honestly, for a ready meal I think this was really good.

And lastly, we’ve also tried the lasagne (ah, behold the yellow stickers – always a welcome sight!). This was the most underwhelming of the bunch – solid, but a bit bland and unremarkable. Fine for an emergency, but I won’t be rushing to purchase it again like I will with the others.

So there we have it – vegan life just got a little easier, and I’m definitely on board! The pie is already one of my favourite vegan products ever (yes, better than the Linda McCartney pie), and I hope it will spread to the other locations around Prague.

What other products from the range should I look out for? And is anyone else really disappointed that the sandwich from this range is essentially just hummus and avocado? I was expecting so much more!

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Vegan in Prague: Pastva (Take Two)

Posted on March 18, 2019 by Jenny

We all know that veganism is on the rise, and I’ve been very pleased to see the evidence of this in my own workplace. When I started there 18 months ago, I was the only vegan and it was a sad and lonely time with no options for me at the Christmas party. Now there are two other vegans in the office, plus four people who are mostly plant-based besides the odd bit of cheese: we’re taking over the world! I even managed to get us some delicious, labelled vegan options at our last Christmas party. Not only that, but I’ve successfully convinced two separate teams to schedule our team lunch at a nearby vegan restaurant, and set up a standing weekly lunch date there with one of my omnivorous colleagues. And that restaurant is the wonderful Pastva.

I’d been a good few times before I started working in the neighbourhood, but then it was mostly for the evening menu. Now I’m all about the lunch specials. Every day they have a different menu, generally with one soup and three mains (one of which is always a salad – yawn!). They keep things pretty creative and don’t repeat dishes that regularly, which means it’s always exciting to turn up and see what the daily options are. Best of all, the portions are insanely generous and do not skimp on the carbs: a lunch here sets me up so comfortably for the afternoon that I never need a snack (though I could often do with a post-lunch nap).

Another thing Pastva has going for it is that the chef is not afraid of spices. Quite a lot of their dishes are curries or involve spicy sauces, and they know how to hit the sweet spot of spiced but not too fiery. I wish this tofu curry would pop up on the menu again.

And if the spicy food has some deep-fried tofu on top, so much the better! They know how to prepare tofu in this place.

It’s not always curries though – the quesadilla (with homemade sour cream and guacamole, no less) is absolutely spectacular…

…and there are quite often French stews, or this magnificent concoction: French potatoes with ratatouille. The potatoes were just exquisite! (I also once had hasselback potatoes here, and felt like the fanciest person in the world.)

And occasionally something Czech pops up too, with the classic dumplings thrown in – they may look like slices of baguette, but they’re actually dumplings.

The only downside to Pastva is that it’s so popular! It’s always packed from 12-2pm, and they don’t take bookings for groups smaller than four, so it can be a gamble to see if you’ll get a table. If it pays off though, it’s definitely worth it.

And on days when I take a packed lunch to work, I’ve been known to pop out mid-afternoon for a tea and cake break at Pastva, which is also highly recommended. They do a mean chai latte, and some very exciting cakes (though usually only one or two to choose from – savoury is definitely their speciality).

They’ve got their presentation down – doesn’t this one look pretty?!

And this peanut butter cookie sandwich is one of the best things I’ve ever eaten – hopefully it’ll become a regular fixture.

Looking back over these delicious meals, and reminiscing about the ones I forgot to photograph, I feel incredibly lucky to work near this brilliant establishment and be able to go for a top notch vegan lunch whenever I like. And I feel extra lucky to have so many plant-based friends to share these treats with!

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