VeganMoFo 2017: Bio BO, Bologna

Posted on October 25, 2017 by Jenny

The last stop on our Italian trip was Bologna, where we had quite a strange experience. We’d been really looking forward to a few leisurely days to finish the trip, with nothing big scheduled and the potential for a slower pace.  However, our airbnb host turned out to be such a nightmare that we spent most of our time in hiding and panicking about our next encounter.

We arrived at lunch time and got stuck being talked at for about 30 minutes before we managed to create a diversion and escape, by which time I was weak with hunger.  So I was very happy to stagger into nearby Bio BO for some much-needed sustenance.

It’s mostly a sandwich place, but I’d had my fill of sandwiches by this point.  So I ordered this Viennese salad:  hotdog sausages, tomatoes and butter beans.  It’s not a combination I would have thought of myself, but it was good and filling.

Dr HH had the farinata, after loving it in Radicetonda in Milan.  He said it was fine, but needed more seasoning – as did the spinach and beans, which were totally unseasoned.  We both loved the bread on the side though.

This place is fine for an emergency. It does serve meat, but there are lots of labelled vegan options, and the staff were really helpful.  If only it had solved my airbnb problem too!  Between our very needy host and the intense heat, our stay in Bologna was quite draining and it wasn’t one of my favourite locations on holiday.

However, I was a big fan of all the porticos and the sunset coloured buildings, and I think a visit in the spring (with a stay in a hotel) might completely change my mind about the place!  And fear not, there is better food to come!

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VeganMoFo 2017: Al Vecio Canton, Venice

Posted on October 24, 2017 by Jenny

Al Vecio Canton is not listed on Happy Cow, so I must have found it on another vegan travel blog.  There might well be a reason it hasn’t made it onto Happy Cow though.  It has only one vegan option listed which is the vegan pizza:  tomato sauce, vegan cheese and mixed seasonal vegetables.

Imagine my disappointment to find the “vegan cheese” was some crumbled, unseasoned tofu straight from the block.  I really don’t know how people can get away with this!  You know, the base was great, the vegetables were really nice, and I am a big fan of tofu – but don’t promise cheese if this is the most effort you’re willing to make.  THIS IS NOT CHEESE!

Since my visit, I have seen this same pizza feature in two vegan blog/vlog posts, and in both it actually has cheese rather than tofu, so perhaps I was unlucky on my visit and they’d just sold out.  Either way, I think it’s not really fair to serve this.

I can imagine if you’re a vegan travelling with omnis, this might be a reasonable place to eat -they”ll have lots of choice, it’s in a really central location, service was friendly. But if you’re in a plant-based crowd, definitely steer clear!

We also went to another place in Venice with slightly misleading wording, but this time I was on board with it.  Damien Hirst’s new exhibition, Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable, was on, and we decided to splash out and go to see it.

It claims to be a collection of artefacts recovered from a shipwreck thousands of years ago, such as this cyclops skull…

…but as you can see from some of the recovered works, that’s not entirely accurate.  It’s basically an assortment of statues and sculptures of everything from mythical creatures to Transformers, covered in colourful barnacles as if they’ve truly just been recovered from centuries at the bottom of the sea.

It was unlike any exhibition I’d seen before, and generally really fun.  I don’t know much about art, but if something makes me smile then I’m calling it a winner!

Exhibition:  recommended.  Al Vecio Canton: not.

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VeganMoFo 2017: Camoma Vegan Takeaway, Venice

Posted on October 23, 2017 by Jenny

UPDATE: this restaurant has now closed

When on this holiday, I ate squillions of sandwiches, despite the fact that most of the year I’m not the greatest fan.  Just a stone’s throw from the Rialto bridge (home to this stunning view, if you can elbow your way to the front) we found Camoma Vegan Takeaway, home to some excellent sandwiches and salads.  I mean, I’m not crazy about sandwiches, but I’d never have a salad on holiday!

Dr HH got the hot dog, and deemed the salad here a bit unnecessary.  He approved of the sausage, and was a big fan of the toasted bun, but yearned for a spicier mustard.

I got this dark brown toasted bun filled with slabs of tofu, sun-dried tomatoes and strips of courgette.  It was good!  Don’t sun-dried tomatoes just make everything better?!

This wasn’t the most exciting food of the holiday, but sometimes you just want something carby and hearty that doesn’t involve a massive detour – in which case, stop by Camoma!  Despite the name, they do actually have a couple of stools and a bar so you can eat in, like we did.  And the location definitely counts in its favour too!

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VeganMoFo 2017: VgOloso, Venice Mestre

Posted on October 22, 2017 by Jenny

Like many visitors to Venice, we stayed in nearby Mestre – a short tram ride away from the tourist centre.  We did most of our eating in the city, but we found one vegan place in our neighbourhood that we were keen to try.  And in the end we loved it so much we went twice!

VgOloso is on quite a busy road, which is a shame considering there’s outdoor seating.  Fortunately the interior is just lovely too!  The menu is available in both English and Italian, and has some slight variations daily but basically has some pasta dishes, some burgers, and some other fun stuff.

On our first visit, Dr HH got this tagliatelle seafood ragout.  He loved the salty sea flavour, toasted nuts and hint of lemon, and was a very satisfied customer.

I got the carbonara, and could have eaten a second portion it was so delicious! (Mains were only about €6 each, hence they were a little on the small side – but coupled with a dessert, I was full.)  The mock meat bits were my favourite, they had so much flavour.

On our second visit a couple of nights later, Dr HH went for the hazelnut and chickpea balls.  They were good and meaty, and came with a really rich,thick tomato sauce – none of that watery stuff you sometimes get.  The potatoes were also sensational.

And I stuck with the pasta theme, this time with some ravioli.  The inside was solid green from the spinach, and they were really well-stuffed!  I also loved the tomato sauce.  It was just beautiful!

We had desserts both nights.  The first time, Dr HH ordered the coconut and blueberry crumble with lemon pistachio cream, which came in this little jar. He would have liked a bit more crumble than cream (which is always my approach to crumble too), but really liked it.

I was blown away by my dessert.  This tart with cocoa and cream was delicious!  The base was so thick, the cream was so creamy, it just ticked all the boxes.

We were both planning on having the tart again when we returned, but they’d sold out.  Nooooo!  Fortunately, the owner offered to make us an improvised dessert and returned with this lovely crunchy, nutty crumble with delicious chocolate cream.  Not only did it taste amazing, but we also appreciated them going to extra lengths to accommodate a pair of gluttons.

And finally, we also got a couple of gigantic biscuits to takeaway for breakfast the next day.  It was sandwiched with apple and mint jam, though we couldn’t really taste the mint.  The cookie was lovely and soft, and made a good breakfast.

This is one of the friendliest and nicest places I’ve been to, and if you’re staying in Mestre you owe it to yourself to pop in for a cheap and delicious feast!

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VeganMoFo 2017: Vegan Gelato in Venice

Posted on October 21, 2017 by Jenny

Venice was a spectacular place for gelato!

On our first evening we got our fix at Gelateria al Sole, which is located on the Grand Canal but far enough from the tourist centre that it’s actually really pleasant.  (It was the priciest place we’d visited so far on our gelato quest, and all the gelato in Venice turned out to be quite expenive.)  We sat in the seats outside and enjoyed the lapping of the water.

Unfortunately the cones aren’t vegan, but besides that it’s quite a vegan-friendly place – they even have a variety of plant-based milks for hot drinks!  The vegan gelato flavours were mostly the usual suspects:  fruit, chocolate, and coffee, for a change.  I got chocolate and orange together.  The orange was a little bitter on its own, but they were beautiful when combined.

Our next gelato stop was Gelatoteca SuSo, right in the thick of the tourist mayhem in the winding little alleys of central Venice.  Also, it was an insanely popular place with a queue well out of the door.  The obvious downside of this is that it’s impossible to actually see the flavours before you get to the front, and there’s quite a bit of pressure to keep things moving and decide quickly.  I could only see three vegan flavours, though it’s possible there were more.  I got a scoop of chocolate and one of ‘notanera’, which I believe combined raspberries and chocolate ganache.  It was absolutely glorious!

They have an assortment of cones, but only one is suitable for vegans – and it costs €1 extra!  Bah!  Hence I got a cup.

Something different next:  gelato on a stick!  Stickhouse has various ice lolly options, but I only saw one that was clearly identified as vegan and it was this chocolate sorbet.  The sorbets are already on sticks, and then you can have it dunked in chocolate and in your preferred topping.  The server confirmed that the dark chocolate coating was vegan, so I dunked it in there and got the pistachios for a nice colour contrast.  It was one of the best of the holiday!  The chocolate coating was nice and thick, with that satisfying crunch.  The chocolate sorbet itself was delicious.  A definite winner!

There are a few branches of Stickhouse around the city centre – we saw one branch that quite prominently displayed vegan options, and this one that didn’t.  So keep your eyes open!

dav

And finally at Gelateria il Doge I got my hands on some chocolate and hazelnut.  Hurray!  The cones are vegan, and the portions, as you can see, were extremely generous.  The gelato was really creamy, and I had to eat it quickly to avoid it all melting away – quite the challenge!

If you’re wandering around the city collecting vegan gelato ice cream, you can also factor in some artistic endeavours too if you are visiting during the Biennale. You can pay to visit the main exhibitions at two central locations, but we’d already blown our art allowance on another exhibition.  Instead, we went to some of the free pavilions for individual countries and got to see some weird and wonderful art.  This one was from Azerbaijan…

…while the Cuban Pavilion featured a library full of illuminated bottles of plants.

Here’s the Montenegro Pavilion, featuring lots of little figures presumably inspired by Gru from Despicable Me.

Any art experts who can explain what this from the Estonian Pavilion means?!

At least the climate change installation was a bit easier to understand!

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VeganMoFo 2017: Pizzeria L’Angelo, Venice

Posted on October 20, 2017 by Jenny

I ate surprisingly little pizza during my fortnight in Italy, but I managed two while in Venice and this was the first, acquired at Pizzeria L’Angelo.  This place serves meat, but it’s extremely vegan-friendly, with around five vegan sandwiches displayed and five pizzas in the vegan section of the blackboard menu.

I got the sirio, which was topped with radicchio, lupine slices, vegan mozzarella and mushrooms.  I had no idea what radicchio was, and apparently I hate it, but it was easy to pick off.  Besides that, I loved this pizza!  It was very generously topped, and the cheese was especially good and creamy.  The meaty slices were tasty, but I wish they’d been baked into the pizza with everything else, rather than just balanced on top.

Pizzeria L’Angelo is a very popular spot in a busy, bustling little alley. It’s pretty close to St Mark’s Square and the real tourist hub, so it’s very convenient too. It’s takeaway only, which poses quite the problem:  where to eat your delicious vegan pizza?  We first found a little spot by the canal next to a shop, but the shop owner came out with the harried look of someone who does this a million times a day and asked us not to eat right by the water as it attracts rats.  Lovely!

So we crossed the bridge to a big square where numerous people were just sitting on the ground eating takeaway from various eateries.  We found a shaded spot outside a bank, at least 10 metres away from the entrance and well out of everyone’s way – or so we thought.  Just as we were finishing up, a local scolded us in Italian, telling us:  “It’s a bank, not a restaurant!”

I’ve read a lot about the tourist industry in Venice and how the locals hate it, and it is something I thought about a lot while I was there.  But I felt like that was a bit unfair.  Where are people who get takeaway pizza supposed to eat?  I can’t imagine shouting at the many people who eat sandwiches or burgers on the street in Manchester – but I guess Manchester isn’t as pretty as Venice.

In conclusion, I can’t recommend the pizza here enough, but try to have a plan of where you will eat – or be prepared to be shouted at by a local!

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VeganMoFo 2017: La Tecia Vegana, Venice

Posted on October 19, 2017 by Jenny

There’s nothing quite so exciting as seeing the word “vegan” when you’re hungry, is there?  We arrived in Venice Mestre train station in the late afternoon, dumped our stuff at our airbnb and set a route for La Tecia Vegana ready for its 6pm opening time.  We walked from Piazzale Roma, where the tram drops you off, and it was a really charming walk.

I kept warning Dr HH that he would hate Venice as much as I did because it was so crowded and dirty – I’d only ever visited on day trips before, and had spent my few hours right in the thick of it.  So this little walk was my first time seeing the more charming side of Venice:  small alleys, little canals, not too many people.  I loved it!  I didn’t stop for any photos though, because I was hungry.

Fortunately I didn’t have long to wait for food!  Although it opens at 6pm, we were the only customers till 7pm (though they did have a few takeaway customers in that time).  The menu covers the standard Italian elements: antipasti, primi, secondi, sides and desserts, all priced at around €6 each.  Also, they serve vegan wine by the glass, which I so far hadn’t spotted for our whole time in Italy.  Finally!  I was very happy indeed.

On to the food!  I ordered the lasagne from the primi section, so of course it was a little small. It packed a lot of flavour in there though! The seitan ragu was really nice, and the texture on top was just perfect.  I’d happily order this again.

Dr HH ordered from the secondi section, so he got a bigger helping of parmigiana.  It was his first ever ‘parmo’, and he raved about it – the smoky aubergine, the bits of potato, the cheese.  A very satisfied customer!

He also couldn’t resist a portion of tiramisu (I held out for ice cream later in the evening), which he found very good and creamy, though not as creamy as at La Lanterna in Verona a few days earlier!

All in all, we were very satisfied with our first culinary experience in Venice. Service was super friendly and fast too.  Once it hit 7pm quite a few people arrived, and there were already several tables reserved, so I’d strongly recommend either booking in advance or arriving early.

And I’d also recommend wandering the alleys and bridges away from the tourist drag.  It’s so quiet and charming, you won’t want to return to the chaos of St Mark’s Square ever again!

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VeganMoFo 2017: Dulcamara Bio Vegan Bistrot, Verona

Posted on October 18, 2017 by Jenny

The highlight of our trip to Verona was undoubtedly visiting the arena.  It’s right in the middle of the city and is considerably more relaxed than the chaotic Colosseum in Rome.  I first visited it one summer when I was a teenager and saw that the inside was prepared with a stage and scenery for an opera that evening.  Since then, I always wanted to go back and see an opera.  This time, I finally did it!

Dr HH and I went to see Aida, and it was really impressive.  Or the first half was, anyway.  It was a four hour long performance that didn’t even start until 9pm – practically bed time!  We were nodding off by the second interval, and that was no reflection on the performance itself, so we sloped off.  Tickets were surprisingly affordable, as long as you’re happy sitting on the stone seats rather than the fancy folding chairs (take a cushion, or rent one at least if you do go for the cheap option).  It was so great watching the sun set while we listened to these singers belting it out!

That show was the highlight of our stay in Verona, but the food came a close second: we ate really well.  That continued through our last meal there as well.

Dulcamara Bio Vegan Bistrot is an all-vegan place is quite near the train station (a little way out of the city centre), so we grabbed lunch there just before hopping on our train to our next location, Venice.  It was a really friendly and cute little place that got quite busy over lunch time.  The menu (also available in English) predominantly featured burgers and sandwiches.

I couldn’t resist the kebarba, which had delicious seitan strips in lovely toasted bread.  It was a bit too saucy for me (with both mayo and ketchup), but I think for most people it would be fine.  It was an absolute beast of a kebab, and I had no room left for dessert (though the cupcake selection looked spectacular!).

Dr HH was a bit less impressed with the delicato:  breaded tofu cutlet in a bagel with salad and avocado sauce.  He loved the avo sauce, all the veg and the texture of the tofu, but thought it needed more seasoning.  Still, he was stuffed too.

While we couldn’t squeeze in a dessert, we did get two apricot croissants to takeaway for breakfast the next morning.  And very good they were too – if a little breadier than the flaky ones we’d had elsewhere.  There was quite a lot of jam in there, and they set us up nicely for a day of exploring in Venice.

And what of the vegan scene in Venice?  Come back tomorrow to find out more!

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VeganMoFo 2017: Caffe & Parole, Verona

Posted on October 17, 2017 by Jenny

I think coffee is perhaps the most disgusting drink in the world, and like any good Brit abroad, I always travel with a packet of my preferred brand of teabags, so I was happy to miss out on the ‘coffee and pastry’ culture in Italy.  Dr HH, less so.  So one morning we decided to go for coffee (for him) and vegan pastries (for us) at this lovely place right next to the Duomo in Verona.

Caffe & Parole was a lovely place with outdoor and indoor seating, soy and almond milk for hot drinks, a few vegan salad and toast options, and three listed vegan croissants or cakes.  Delightful!

There were two kinds of croissants listed on the menu:  those filled with custard cream, and those filled with jam.  Apparently we should have got there earlier than 10:30am because they only had jam left.

Fortunately, they were still delicious:  the pastry was good and flaky, and the jam definitely packed a punch without being too tart.  They cost €2 each, which was pricey but not extortionate.

And it felt very civilised to sit beside a cathedral, eating vegan pastries and (watching someone else) drinking coffee.  The only way Dr HH could have been more Italian would be if he’d taken up smoking for the occasion – though I’m thankful that he did not!

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VeganMoFo 2017: Pizza Doge, Verona

Posted on October 16, 2017 by Jenny

This isn’t a particularly vegan-friendly place, and in fact there are no advertised vegan options.  But we were looking for a light meal and Dr HH had his heart set on some of the vegetarian pizza and calzone goods displayed in the window.  While he was placing his order, I asked the server (who spoke perfect English) if they had any vegan goods.  “Veganism?  That’s a bit too far for me,” he replied, then instantly added, “Oh, but these ones here are fine.”

He pointed to this tomato bread and a similar olive-topped one.  Hurrah! It was a good deep dish bread which he warmed up for me, topped with flavoursome tomatoes and a hearty drizzle of oil.  It was just what I needed!

This place is just along the road from Castelvecchio, so it’s handy to stop in when you’re seeing the sights.  You can pay to enter the castle properly, which enables you to climb the towers and walk the ramparts.  We just wandered as much of the grounds as possible for free, including this bridge.

Alas, there’s a metal chain on the bridge, and you all know what that means:  people have covered the chain with their love locks.  Guess who thinks love locks are a self-indulgent eyesore?

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