VeganMoFo 2018: Arepas de Lyna, Prague

Posted on September 9, 2018 by Jenny

Cuisine: Venezuelan

Back in 2014 I was working at a language school in Manchester, teaching English to students from all over the world.  At the start of the year we had lots of Venezuelans enrolled, many of them teenagers away from home for the first time and having the time of their lives.  As the year progressed, their moods notably changed as the situation at home worsened, and many of them returned home not knowing what state their country would even be in.  By 2015, there were only a handful of Venezuelans left – the ones lucky enough to hold a European passport thanks to one of their family members.  Nobody else could get a visa any more.

It’s hard to believe they have been stuck in the same situation for so many years now.  I wonder what the future holds for those bright, enthusiastic teenagers who spoke of their country with such pride.

In mixed nationality classes, it was always fun to get people talking about their national dishes.  I remember one Venezuelan girl being absolutely outraged that nobody in the class had heard of arepas, which she genuinely believed should be as famous as pizza.

She would be pleased to hear that I finally tried arepas for myself in 2017.  I’d walked past Arepas de Lyna many times before I spotted the words “vegan arepas” in one of their Facebook posts, and then I was there!

For the uninitiated, arepas is a kind of corn pancake stuffed with various good things.  Nothing on the menu here is explicitly labelled vegan, but the staff know what it means and served me the vegetarian arepas without the cheese.  It was stuffed with quinoa, black beans, chickpeas, cucumber and avo, and served with a pot of spicy sauce on the side.  It was tricky to eat (we used a lot of napkins!), but worth the effort – it was really good!

It’s a lovely place to while away some time too – lively music, friendly staff (presumably Venezuelans), and happy customers spilling onto the pavements in the summer.  The food was a little steep (120czk for one, and you’ll definitely want more than one unless you’re just grabbing a light lunch), but everything was fresh and delicious.  The homemade lemonades are really good too – I had the classic citrus one, and Dr HH went for passionfruit.

All in all, a great introduction to Venezuelan cuisine!

Have you tried arepas before? What other Venezuelan dishes are out there?

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VeganMoFo2018: Angkor Soul, Altrincham

Posted on September 8, 2018 by Jenny

UPDATE: THIS RESTAURANT CLOSED IN 2020

Cuisine: Cambodian

Apparently, Manchester’s Angkor Soul restaurants are the only Cambodian eateries in the north of England – so imagine my excitement on finding that they have vegan options! The first branch is in Marple, which is a way from the city centre, but this year they opened a second branch in Altrincham, which is just a fairly short tram ride from my stomping ground. Dr HH and Mama HH were very excited to be involved in my VeganMoFo challenge, and, having both visited Cambodia before, did not need any persuading to accompany me here.

There were some very exciting options on the starters menu. I’m not sure that these avocado crispy rolls are particularly authentic Cambodian cuisine, but of course I was powerless to resist them. Truthfully, I’m not sure the slightly slimy avocado texture is that well suited to a spring roll, but it was fun to try at least.

The crispy Khmer rolls were both more authentic, and more satisfying! The peanutty sauce was an excellent accompaniment, and the rolls were as crispy as I had hoped. Eating spring rolls all the time is one of the great joys of visiting Asia, and I was happy to recreate that happiness here on my local turf.

And of course, who could resist Angkor cauliflower? Again, I’m not sure about the authenticity, but all three of us were raving about this sticky, spicy battered cauliflower dish. There’s nothing quite like a really exciting starters menu, is there? Even with the slight let down of the avo rolls, this was a very promising start to the meal!

Mama HH stuck with cauliflower for her main dish too – she got the vegan General Lon Nol, which was cauliflower and cashews in a sticky sriracha sauce. She couldn’t stop talking about it the next day, so we’ll call this one a success!

Dr HH ordered the vegan spicy lemongrass saute, which he thought wasn’t very strongly flavoured with lemongrass, while I thought it tasted of nothing but! He asked for it with tofu (seitan was also available), and found it delightfully seasoned and really special.

And I went for the battambang noodles, which no longer appear on the menu. It was such a hearty portion I couldn’t even finish it (the perils of filling up on starters!), but it made for tasty leftovers too. It contained flat noodles, well-seasoned tofu, and broccoli, which are three of my favourite things, so I was very happy with this.

It was a real treat to try a cuisine that I’ve never actually had outside of Cambodia, and apparently I’m not alone in thinking so – they were so busy on a Saturday evening that they were turning people away! There were also some vegans at the table next to us, and they definitely tout their vegan menu a bit on their website, so it seems like it should do decent trade from the plant-based community. And hurrah for that!

Has Cambodian food taken off in your neck of the woods?

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VeganMoFo 2018: Paprika, Prague

Posted on September 7, 2018 by Jenny

Cuisine: Middle Eastern

For vegans, it’s very easy to get sick of falafel, hummus, and chips. They seem to be the default options on many an uninspired menu, and every takeaway cafe in the UK seems to have a standard dry, chewy falafel wrap or sandwich on the menu. But still – is it possible to get sick of proper falafel? I mean fresh falafel cooked by someone who knows what they’re doing.

Deep fried, crispy, flavoursome falafel with smooth hummus is still one of my favourite meals – and if there are chips on the side, so much the better. For this dish alone, I might have to consider Middle Eastern cuisine amongst my favourites. (I couldn’t find any consensus on where exactly falafel originated, so I’ve stuck with a broad Middle Eastern label.)

I have had some top notch falafel in my time – most notably from Go Falafel in Manchester, and with honourable mentions to Dr Falafel in Vienna, Hummus Bar in Hungary, and L’as du Falafel in Paris. The Czech Republic is notoriously resistant to immigration, and as such there isn’t really a thriving falafel scene here (I genuinely believe that falafel is one of the greatest pro-immigration arguments – it’s right up there with human decency as one of the reasons we should welcome people in). So I was delighted when Paprika opened up in 2017.

It’s a teeny place with some indoor seating, but it’s probably better suited to takeaway, as it’s always jumping. They serve meat, but also have some great vegan options, including shawarma along with the standard falafel and hummus dishes.

Dr HH and I love to share the vegan plate. It consists of hummus, shawarma, tahini, fries, bread, falafel, and salad. The shawarma has a great texture, and is really well seasoned – the best vegan shawarma in Prague by a mile. And the falafel, chips, and hummus are all absolute perfection (in fact, the chips are also the best in Prague).

Oh, and did I mention the bread? It’s so soft and pillowy – sheer perfection!

On less indulgent days, I’ve also been known to simply grab a falafel pita. Again, it’s hard to go wrong with this.

One of my most used phrases in this VeganMoFo is probably going to be: “I know chips don’t really belong to X cuisine, but still…” I mean, look at those chips. Beautiful!

VeganMoFo friends, do you ever suffer from falafel fatigue? And where’s your number one falafel spot?

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VeganMoFo 2018: Nosteagia, London

Posted on September 6, 2018 by Jenny

Cuisine: Hong Kong

When I first started this blog many moons ago, I was living in Hong Kong and working in a language centre directly above a bubble waffle place. Every day I would smell that sweet batter cooking away, and peer curiously at its bubbly shape, wondering exactly what it was. I wasn’t even vegan at the time, yet in my two and a half years in Hong Kong I never once tried a bubble waffle.

Enter Nosteagia!

This is a little bubble tea and bubble waffle takeaway place in Boxpark Shoreditch. I’d been ogling them on Instagram for a few months before finally getting the chance to visit. London vegans had revealed that there’s a weekly vegan special, but I couldn’t see any vegan info on their website, so I was a bit anxious.

I needn’t have worried – most (if not all) of their bubble teas can be served vegan, and they have a separate vegan bubble waffle menu. The waffle dishes there don’t come with ice cream – you either have to ask for some to be added in or go for the special. One of the vegan ice creams is chai, which I’m a bit disappointed I passed up on. But not too disappointed, of course…

How could anyone be disappointed with this?! This was the vegan weekly special: bubble waffle, vanilla coconut ice cream, hazelnut chocolate sauce, Oreos, peanut butter, and coconut. I’m sure you don’t need me to tell you that this was delicious.

Fortunately, the staff provided some tips on how to tackle this beast: don’t let go of the napkin around the bottom of the cone, use a spoon for the ice cream, and start eating the waffle from the highest point at the back. Nevertheless, it was messy. I ended up with chocolate and ice cream all over my chin, nose, and chops, while Dr HH, who has a resplendent beard and moustache, didn’t make a drop of mess – apparently he’s so used to eating ice cream cones with extreme care that he didn’t make any rookie mistakes.

It was a great novelty, and I’d recommend it for that reason, but truthfully I’d probably prefer to eat a regular waffle with similarly extravagant toppings, using a knife and fork.

With all those decadent toppings, it might not be entirely traditional Hong Kong fare, but I’m not complaining!

Have you tried a bubble waffle yet? How much mess did you make?

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VeganMoFo 2018: The Cedar Tree, Dublin

Posted on September 5, 2018 by Jenny

Cuisine: Lebanese

I’m no connoisseur of Lebanese food, but when this place popped up on Happy Cow while we were in Dublin this Easter Dr HH was beside himself, enthusing that Lebanese food is the perfect blend of falafel, hummus, and Mediterranean treats. That turned out to be the case! The Cedar Tree was a very popular and friendly little place, just around the corner from Trinity College. There was a vegan mezze on the menu, €52 for two, and we decided to splurge.

The “starter” occupied the entire table, which is always a welcome sight. There were a few warm dishes, which we scoffed first: some expertly seasoned potatoes; little spinach pastries (samosa-style, but a little bland as they only contained spinach); and two big, beautiful falafels.

We also had two salads: fattoush (which had a slightly bitter dressing, but those crispy bits were delicious!), and tabbouleh (fresh, light, and flavoursome). There were some pickles and olives, perfect for picking at, and stuffed vine leaves with a delicious filling.

And of course, some bread and dips! The baba ganoush was very smoky, but not especially auberginey, which was a shame. There was a broccoli and cauliflower dip, which was unusual and very exciting, and also a red pepper and walnut one, which was almost like a nut butter. And of course, hummus! The hummus was perfect. Absolutely perfect.

This was a huge, hearty spread and we both thoroughly enjoyed it. It’s always such a treat to try lots of different dishes, and really get to explore a cuisine in this way. I barely had room for a main dish after that, so I was glad to see a relatively light portion coming our way. This was magmour: a chickpea, tomato, and aubergine stew, which was very sweet and flavoursome, with a rich sauce and melty aubergine chunks. It was a little strange to have a heavier starter than main, but I enjoyed it very much.

I would recommend this place, despite the cost – it’s got a great central location, which never comes cheap, and we left feeling extremely well-fed. I didn’t even ask about desserts, I was so stuffed! Clearly Lebanese food is something I need to be having more of.

Have you ever had a starter this humongous? What’s your favourite Lebanese dish?

Posted in Travel, Vegan Mofo | Tagged , , , | 13 Comments

VeganMoFo 2018: Cat Tuong, Berlin

Posted on September 4, 2018 by Jenny

Cuisine:  Vietnamese

Vietnam has a special place in my heart, as I lived there for two and a half years when I first started teaching English. And so too does Vietnamese food. Although I was only vegetarian at the time, most of the food I ate in restaurants was vegan by default, as it’s more in keeping with the people’s Buddhist leanings: my local friends took me to Buddhist restaurants attached to temples, or invited me to their family meals when they had their plant-based days at certain points in the lunar calendar. I’ve really missed the food since moving away.

There is a huge Vietnamese community in Prague, but no vegan Vietnamese restaurants, which is a real shame.  As usual, Berlin leads the way!  A few years ago I ate at Quy Nguyen, and, when we visited Berlin in October 2017, I was determined to tick off another of the all-vegan Vietnamese establishments.

This time it was Cat Tuong’s turn.  We popped along at about 6pm on a Sunday, and to our surprise it was absolutely heaving!  Who goes out on a Sunday evening?!  We managed to squeeze in to the last table (it’s a small place, but they’ve got as many tables in as possible), and everyone arriving afterwards had to wait outside at the picnic tables until space became available.

The menu was pretty tempting:  an array of starters, including summer rolls (but not fried spring rolls, more’s the pity) and these dim sum. The filling was fairly nondescript vegetable slivers, but the dumpling itself was good, and there was plenty of flavour in the dipping sauce. I’d never had dumplings quite as long and floppy as these, but they were still very good.

For my main, I went for the caramelised tofu dish, which came in a hot pot.  This dish had oyster mushrooms, seitan shreds, rice and veg, alongside caramelised tofu – I was hoping for sticky cubes of tofu, each side caramelised and delicious, but in fact it was thinly sliced so there wasn’t much edge on offer.  It was a little disappointing, but the dish as a whole had so many warming, delicious flavours that I can’t complain too much. The mushrooms were especially good.

Dr HH was less satisfied with his dish, which he chose from the specials board.  It was billed as green curry with soya balls, tofu, auberinge, coconut milk, veg, herbs, peanuts and onions.  There was one soya ball in the whole dish. One!  Obviously he was disappointed, though the curry itself was flavoursome.

We decided to give them a chance to redeem themselves with some dessert!  There were only two options, and we got the banana in sticky rice with coconut cream.  At first I was baffled as to where the rice was, but actually it was packed around the banana!  The coconutty custard was really good.  (The picture makes it look pink, but it was definitely all yellow.)  This dish got an enthusiastic thumbs up from both of us!

And Dr HH treated himself to a Vietnamese coffee, complete with sweet, thick milk.  He deemed it a proper Vietnamese coffee!

Overall this place was a bit of a mixed bag. I’d definitely go back and see if the other dishes ticked the boxes a bit more – there were some very exciting noodle-dishes being devoured! The flavours were so good that I suspect there’s a reason this place was so popular, even on a rainy Sunday evening.

Is going for Vietnamese food on a Sunday evening a trend I’ve missed out on? And does anyone prefer summer rolls to spring ones?

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VeganMoFo 2018: Rifugio Romano, Rome

Posted on September 3, 2018 by Jenny

Cuisine: Italian

When I was looking for food tips ahead of my trip to Italy last summer (my theme for last year’s VeganMoFo) and our weekend in Rome this winter, I found some very distressing advice.

“Order a pizza marinara!”

“You can get spaghetti with tomato sauce anywhere!”

“There are so many fruit sorbets!”

I don’t know who these losers are, but I don’t go on holiday to eat plain pizza and pasta followed by a boring old fruit sorbet. I want some real food! And that is exactly what I got at Rifugio Romano, an omni restaurant with an extensive vegan menu covering about 4 A4 pages of starters, primi, secondi, and pizzas.  They even have vegan desserts and labelled vegan wines! This place is close to Termini train station and was extremely popular with tourists, but it wasn’t overpriced or tacky.

There were some very tempting starters, but we only had eyes for the fried rice balls! I got the suppli vegan, and Dr HH tried the vegan arancino.  I’m not sure what the difference is between suppli and arancino (the shape?), but they were similarly crispy and delicious, and both stuffed with rice.  Mine contained rice in tomato sauce and little cheesy pockets, while Dr HH’s was rice dotted with peas and mushrooms. We were both satisfied with these.

I have never seen a four cheese vegan gnocchi on a menu anywhere, so I was compelled to try this.  Actually, it didn’t quite live up to my expectations – I was expecting more depth of flavour from four different cheeses, but it tasted like my regular mac and cheese sauce which is only made with nooch. Maybe the four cheeses they used are too similar?  It was nice, but not the flavour explosion I was hoping for.

Dr HH definitely won with his main dish: bucatini with smoked seitan and tomato and chilli sauce.  I believe he only ordered this because one of his favourite quotes from Master of None is: “That ain’t spaghetti, that’s bucatini! It’s a thicker noodle, you dummy!” Whatever the reason, it was a great choice: those thicker noodles were perfectly cooked to retain a bit of bite (whereas my gnocchi were a bit too soft), the chilli provided a good kick, and the smoked seitan was delicious.

He managed to leave room for his favourite Italian dessert: tiramisu. It was extremely creamy, which he said was a big plus. He told me it wasn’t strongly coffee-flavoured, but I can confirm that this was a malicious lie to trick me into trying some (even a hint of coffee is too much for me).

I ordered the dumplings with vegan nutella, which would have been ideal for sharing – it was far too much for one person!  I feel like this speaks for itself. Look at it. It was amazing!

With a wealth of veganisable Italian dishes, let’s never settle for a boring tomato sauce and fruit sorbet ever again!

What’s your favourite Italian dish? Could you have managed that entire portion of dessert dumplings?

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VeganMoFo2018: Vegan’s, Prague

Posted on September 2, 2018 by Jenny

Cuisine: Czech

If you’ve never been to the Czech Republic, you’ve probably never tried Czech cuisine. I’m not sure that there’s much international demand for it – the traditional dishes are all quite meaty and stodgy, and you definitely couldn’t eat them every day. (Of course, the Czechs still have the cheek to claim that British food is awful. Pfft!) Before I moved to Prague, I’d certainly never tried any Czech dishes, but after three years I’m something of a (vegan) svíčková expert.

This traditional dish pops up quite frequently on the daily lunch menus in places like Incruenti and Moment, but if you want to try this Czech classic , Vegan’s (formerly LoVeg) is the place to go.  We had it on our first trip to Prague when we were just scoping it out as a place to live, and have been back for it again several times since. It’s one of those dishes that’s never going to be particularly refined: it’s just big, hearty food, and not the kind of thing you could eat particularly regularly.  But it’s good when you’re in the mood for it, with the big dumplings, slabs of tempeh, a root veg sauce and a dollop of cranberry sauce.

There’s another traditional Czech dish on the menu there too – the old Bohemian feast, which is a mishmash of a few different things. How well those things go together is debatable, though.  As you can probably tell just by looking, this was a dry plate.  There was steamed buckwheat with spinach, plain polenta, puffed barley, baked millet casserole, and one other thing that was not listed on the menu and that I really couldn’t identify.  The buckwheat, polenta and barley weren’t particularly flavoursome, and I wouldn’t order this again. Stick with the svíčková!

The traditional Czech dessert is much better:  these plum dumplings are just beautiful!  In the past I’m pretty sure they came sprinkled with icing sugar which was great for my sweet tooth, but they were still nice without that extra touch.

As if things couldn’t get any more Czech, just look at the view from the balcony! Yeah, that’s Prague Castle up there. It’s always worth booking ahead and requesting a table out on the balcony (weather permitting, obviously – it gets pretty cold here!).

Have I sold you on Czech cuisine? Would you brave the svíčková?

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VeganMoFo 2018: Midland Hotel, Manchester

Posted on September 1, 2018 by Jenny

Cuisine: English

Is there anything more civilised than an afternoon tea? It’s such a quaint and fancy affair, and if it turns out not to be English, then I don’t want to know! Regular readers will know that I am always on the lookout for a good vegan afternoon tea, and I’d heard several glowing reviews of The Midland Hotel in Manchester, so it seemed like the perfect option for a family treat on my birthday back in April.

Afternoon tea is hosted in the Tea Room, where everything is simple and classy – no mismatched crockery here. Vegan champagne is provided if you wish to upgrade to the fancier version, and there are several teas to try, including a Victoria sponge inspired one and another with a hint of whiskey.

There are five varieties of vegan sandwiches, served on white or granary bread. We all found the avocado, radish and bean sprout one the least exciting (not many bean sprout fans in the house), while the mushroom duxelle with walnut was absolutely sensationally flavoursome. The other three (jerk-spiced chickpea hummus with courgette; heritage tomato, black pepper, and olives; fried aubergine caviar with roasted red pepper) were all very good too, and more exciting than some of the standard vegan afternoon tea fare. Not a cucumber in sight!

The scones are kept in the “scone warmer” (so we were told) and only brought over to the table when it’s time to devour them. How fancy! There’s one plain and one fruit scone per person, which I honestly believe is one too many – you need to save room for cake! The scones were very good though, warmed to perfection (as you’d expect, in their specific scone-heating device) and well-baked. They were served with soy cream, which looked quite unappetising, but was fine, and a choice of three jams: strawberry, raspberry, or gooseberry. The staff come around with the jam and plonk some on your plate as requested, which is certainly fancy, but it would be nice to judge for yourself how much you’d like.

And then the cake plate. Oh, the cake plate. It was the stuff of dreams. Just look at that meringue! It was so sweet and crumbly, and the raspberries made for a suitably tart filling. I’d happily eat one of these every day!

The pistachio cheesecake wasn’t much of a traditional cheesecake – it was a very decadent, creamy log coated in pistachios. It was tasty, but there was perhaps a bit too much of it. The dark chocolate and cherry delice was equally indulgent, but more manageable somehow – rich, without being overpoweringly so. The cinnamon and orange polenta cake was the only disappointing one of the bunch, as it was quite dry and crumbly. The flavour was lovely though.

All in all, this was a thoroughly classy affair, and the service and ambience were spot on as well. I didn’t feel like we’d been shafted with the vegan option – everything was creative and well thought out. I’ve had a fair few afternoon teas, and this was the most traditional one in terms of service and menu, so if you ever want to get that classic English experience, this is the place for you.

Are you a fellow vegan afternoon tea aficionado? Where should I try next? And, most importantly, should I invest in a scone warmer?!

Posted in Afternoon tea, Travel, Vegan Mofo | Tagged , , , | 16 Comments

VeganMoFo 2018!

Posted on August 31, 2018 by Jenny

It’s the most wonderful time of the year: VeganMoFo! The Vegan Month of Food starts tomorrow, and I’m very excited to be participating for the fourth time (and helping to organise it for the third year in a row).

While there are daily prompts and weekly themes that MoFo participants can follow, I always prefer to choose my own theme. Back in 2015, my posts were all about breakfast, the most important meal of the day. In 2016, every day I posted about a place to eat and a thing to do in a different town or city. And last year, I took you on a culinary tour of Italy.

This year, I’m taking you around the world in thirty different cuisines! Every day I’ll post a review of a restaurant which serves a different cuisine. There are a couple of places I’ve reviewed before, but it’s all new content – and some wholly new (to me) cuisines. I’ve got a host of exciting dishes to share, from traditional Czech dumplings here in Prague, to a veritable feast from the only Cambodian restaurant in the north of England.

So please read along, comment away, and let me know about the vegan dishes from these cuisines that you’ve tried too!

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