VeganMoFo 2017: Trattoria Alessi, Desenzano

Posted on October 15, 2017 by Jenny

Verona is a lovely place to spend a few nights, and lends itself really well to day trips – there isn’t loads to do in the city itself, and it’s quite easy to get around the area on public transport.  We wanted to take a day trip to Lake Garda, and some of my local friends recommended getting the train to Desenzano followed by the boat to Sirmione.  It turned out to be a top recommendation, and I would pass it along to any other visitors to the area.  They were both small and pretty towns, transport was easy to manage, and while there were lots of tourists, neither place was overcrowded.

I was also encouraged by the fact that there were a few vegan options listed on Happy Cow for Desenzano…though it turns out, I could have chosen much better.

This place is listed on Happy Cow as Conte Pizza – but it seemed to be one huge establishment with various names and entrances as it worked its way up the hill.  The part we went to (closest to the lakefront) was called Trattoria Alessi.  All the different parts had the same menu though, with this delightful vegan section filling me with hope.  Of course, I ordered the pie.  Cheese and tomato pie sounded quite exciting.

I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect, but I certainly wasn’t expecting this.  Yes, this is the tomato pie with tofu cheese.  And yes, this cost €11.50 (plus €2.50 cover charge).  I mean, everything was nicely grilled, but this is not what I was paying for.

Be warned, there is also a “chocolate pie” on the dessert menu – any guesses as to what that might actually be?  A bar of dark chocolate?  A mousse?  I couldn’t risk another disappointment, so I didn’t order it.

Another black mark against this place was that they wouldn’t even acknowledge that tap water existed, despite my excellent mime work.  The waiter kept determinedly asking: “Natural or sparkling?” even as I frantically turned my hands and said:  “Tap?”  Bottled water is one of my biggest hates – especially in places that are happy to put out bowls of tap water for dogs to drink.

So, it was just as well that Desenzano itself was so pretty because if I’d been judging it solely on this place, I’d have been seriously unimpressed!

And do take the ferry over to Sirmione.  It was so pretty!

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VeganMoFo 2017: Vegan Gelato in Verona

Posted on October 14, 2017 by Jenny

Yesterday I said that the vegan scene really improved once we hit Verona.  Well, Verona was also the turning point for ice cream.  So far I’d only seen dark chocolate and fruit flavours (except for a more exciting flavour in Varenna), but here’s where it starts getting good.

Gelateria Verona was our first stop when we arrived, as it was just a short walk from our airbnb.  It’s not central, but it’s in a nice square and worth a short detour.  The staff were very friendly and spoke perfect English (like most people we dealt with in Italy).

As well as the standard fruit and dark chocolate, this place had one of the flavours I’d been craving from the start:  nocciola.  Hazelnut!  Yes!  The combination of hazelnut and chocolate was like eating a really cold Vego bar…in a cone.  Yes, the cones were also vegan.  Delicious!

The next day we went to L’Arte del Gelato, which was generally less exciting:  their only vegan flavours were fruit, not even a dark chocolate.  At least they were all well-labelled though, and one of their flavours was extremely exciting:  lemon sorbet with chunks of ginger and dark chocolate.  I missed the creamier gelato texture I had become accustomed to, but it was still really tasty.  This one is located in the central hub, so it’s easy to swing by.

The last gelateria we visited in Verona also required a detour, but was worth it.  Gelateria La Romana looked quite fancy, and even provided the possibility of buying whole pots of ice cream to take away.  The staff were really knowledgeable about veganism and helped me to put together my perfect cone:  the cones themselves are vegan, but they coat the inside with chocolate on request – at present, it’s only milk or white chocolate, so don’t get it!

There were a few fruity vegan flavours, but I only had eyes for this one:  ‘crumbles fondente all’amerena’.  Basically, it was sublimely creamy and chocolatey, with lovely biscuity chunks.  If only I’d got a tub of it to take home!

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VeganMoFo 2017: La Tigella Verona

Posted on October 13, 2017 by Jenny

It’s time for Dr HH’s traditional VeganMoFo guest post.  Regular readers will know that Dr HH is a secretive fellow who has never been named or photographed on this blog.  Today, at last, I have his permission to share some real footage of him in action at this restaurant in Verona:

Now over to the man himself to tell you about all the food he devoured!

When I think about my favourite meals of all time, I think of large slabs of lasagne, an endless bowl of saag with makki di roti, or anything fried.  When I move away from these glorious comfort foods, I like to try as many things as possible.  A mixed starter plate, a thali, or a buffet.  Give me a meal filled with lots of different things and I am a happy man.  When looking back at our recent holiday it made sense for me to write about La Tigella Verona for two reasons; one, I am truly in my element with this thali-style feast; and two, I ate most of it!

The feast consisted of 10 little pots, each filled with some sort of exciting mystery dish:

Something best described as punchy vegetables

Green vegetables

Green olive tapenade

Sundried tomato spread

Nutty cream cheese

Cheddar style cheese squares

Mayonnaise

Asparagus cream

Strawberry jam

Chocolate spread

This was accompanied by a plate each filled with grilled vegetables (aubergine, courgette, peppers), pate and 3 types of cheese (mozzarella, cheddar and something that was kind of in the middle).

And it was all served up with 6 tigelle, little warm round breads that reminded me a little of flat English muffins, and a gnocco frito, a glorious fried dumpling which was lovely and soft on the inside and crispy and flaky outside – a truly magnificent bready feat (pictured here).

How do you go about eating such a feast? There is only one rule…there are no rules! Except save the sweet stuff for last (Ms HH’s doing, not mine).  In I went, combining everything.  Olive and cheese, asparagus cream and courgette, sundried tomatoes and green vegetables, a pizza with tomatoes, cheese and olives, a gluten free pizza where I replaced the tigella base with a slice of aubergine.  You name a combination, I probably tried it!

I ate, and I ate and I ate. Ms HH was left rolling on the floor clutching her belly, other diners were staring at me open-mouthed, people were pouring in from the streets to watch events unfold – and I just kept on eating until everything was gone.  Well, almost everything.  The mayonnaise just wasn’t that exciting.

I believe the ‘correct’ way of eating tigelle is to open them up, fill them and eat them like a sandwich.  To hell with the correct way: I broke, I tore, I scooped, I did it all and I’d do it again.  This was a fine feast! A few things that really stood out were the mozzarella, the punchy vegetable and of course the gnocco frito.  

If you ever get the opportunity to sample this glorious feast, I recommend you take it, and I’d recommend you take along someone who can’t eat their half share.

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VeganMoFo 2017: La Lanterna, Verona

Posted on October 12, 2017 by Jenny

After a few nights in Milan (one of my least favourite cities), we hopped on a train to Verona (one of my favourites).  I absolutely love Verona.  I’d previously taken a couple of day trips there, so it was nice to book a three night stay and be able to properly enjoy it.

It’s a very walkable city, which makes it much more tourist-friendly than sprawling Milan.  And there’s a river snaking through the centre, which I always love.  However, the river was not quite as pretty as I’d remembered:  look at that colour!   Even though it was no longer a case of “fair Verona”, I still loved the charm of the city centre.  And most importantly, the food was sensational!

We started off at La Lanterna, despite the fact that it’s a bit fancier than we are. It’s not a snobby or extortionate place at all though, fortunately. We were there ready for opening at 7:30pm and were given a warm welcome.  The menu was only in Italian, and we muddled through with my rusty skills, though I later heard the staff giving better translations than I managed to some other Brits in attendance.

The menu has antipasti, primi, secondi and desserts – we both wanted pasta so we stuck with the primi, but one course definitely wouldn’t be enough.  The pasta dishes were about €9 each, while the secondi dishes were a bit more substantial at around €15.

Dr HH ordered this gnocchi dish. He thinks the gnocchi itself had some tomato involved due to the colour, and it was served in a tomato sauce with basil and a very nice vegan mozzarella.  While he enjoyed it, he said it could have done with some mushrooms to make it a bit more flavoursome.

I was a bit more satisfied with mine.  This tortelli was filled with tofu and pesto, and served with toasted pine nuts and lemon zest.  I’d strongly recommend trying to avoid the lemon zest, as it really overpowered the other flavours of the dish.  The pesto could have been a bit stronger, but otherwise it was a really lovely dish.

When it came to desserts, we were both blown away!  Dr HH had been looking forward to some tiramisu in Italy, and this was his first opportunity to try it.  It just looked like a bowl of cream, much to his delight.  He had a couple more tiramisus later in the trip, but this was comfortably the best.

I stuck with the lemony theme and got this lemon cream tart.  It was just sensational!  The base was beautifully thick, the cream was glorious, the lemon was zesty and the portion was gigantic.  This is one of the all-time great desserts.

This restaurant marked an upward swing in our eating experiences in Italy:  suddenly we were finding the good food, getting more exciting vegan options and enjoying real Italian dishes.  Thank you, La Lanterna!

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VeganMoFo2017: Radicetonda, Milan

Posted on October 11, 2017 by Jenny

Time for our last stop in Milan!  I don’t know why, but this all-vegan place left me a bit cold. Radicetonda was a last minute addition to our itinerary because it was tolerably close to the central station, but the online reviews hadn’t really inspired me.  Also, service was a bit weird – the server was speaking really angrily on the phone while she served us, and threw the phone down in disgust at the end.  And the menu was a bit weird too:  there were about eight dishes on display and the menu said you could order a plate of three from €10.  To the surprise of nobody at all, ours cost more than that, but we had no idea why.

We shared our two plates so we could try everything.  The first plate had the most delicious farinata, a pepper gratin which was nice but dull, and some tasty rosemary wedges.

The second plate had some polpette, which were some kind of veg balls that had a slightly bitter taste (I thought they were burnt, but Dr HH really liked them), a lovely fusilli salad and some tasty cannelini beans.  Almost everything was nice, but it wasn’t amazing, and it was vastly overpriced.

There was a tempting display case of cakes and pastries, so we picked up the last two croissants to take for breakfast the following morning.  One was empty, the other had a lovely creamy custard in it, both were delicious.  I’d happily return for more croissants, but wouldn’t have a meal there again unless it was an emergency – it wasn’t bad, but nor was it inspired.

All in all, our vegan experience in Milan was a bit underwhelming.  Would Verona be better?  Find out tomorrow!

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VeganMoFo 2017: La Passerella, Varenna

Posted on October 10, 2017 by Jenny

I’ve already mentioned how much I love Varenna, and that love was cemented by this vegan-friendly gelateria.  They had a “vegan gelato” sign at the door and their vegan flavours were clearly marked in the display case.  I finally got to see a couple of exciting varieties of gelato (more so than dark chocolate and raspberry) – alongside these staples they also had a bright blue bubblegum flavour and a cream and fig one. I chose the latter, plus chocolate.  It was a great combination, and the creamy and fig scoop was very creamy indeed.

The wafers were not vegan, but I can’t remember about the cones.

This gelateria is right on the main path along the water’s edge, and has a staircase on the side with a few cushions for sitting if you don’t want to wander by the lake while you tuck in.

When you’re full of ice cream, I’d recommend following in our footsteps and hopping on the ferry over to Bellagio, which is a charming little town.  Much like Varenna, it’s just a beautiful place to walk around.  This walk along the lake is particularly pretty, and gives you a real sense of how huge the lake is – we kept accidentally referring to it as the sea.

But do take the time to walk up one of the side streets uphill – it’s worth it, I promise!  Such a delightful view!

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VeganMoFo 2017: Caffe Varenna, Varenna

Posted on October 9, 2017 by Jenny

Last week I mentioned spending two months working in Milan and hating every second.  After that, I spent ten months working in nearby Lecco, a little town on Lake Como, and this time I loved it!  My non-Italian friends and I all kept a day trip to Varenna and Bellagio up our sleeves as a surefire way to impress our visitors from home.  I was really keen to take Dr HH there too on our day trip from Milan, and he was sufficiently impressed.

Here’s how it worked logistically: we got the train from Milan to Varenna (passing through Lecco but not stopping there), took the ferry to Bellagio, then another ferry down to Como to catch up with some old friends.  You only need an hour or two in each place.  It’s a very do-able day trip, and public transport in Italy is reliable and affordable enough to make it work.

Varenna is tiny, so there aren’t any veggie restaurants or cafes to try, and your best bet will be ordering something inherently vegan (spaghetti with tomato and basil/marinara pizza) or veganising some bruschetta, which is what I did.  Caffe Varenna had a mushroom and brie bruschetta, so I ordered it without the cheese, clarified that it should be vegan, and this is what I got.

It would have been nice to get a price cut, as I didn’t have any of that expensive cheese, but still – it was a more substantial lunch than I was expecting, and really we were paying for the view of the lake (pictured up top).

All you really need to do in Varenna is wander around and take in the view.  Between the lake and the mountains, it really is something.  Dr HH had never been to one of the Italian lakes before, and he said he’d never been anywhere quite like it.  Just the kind of praise I like to hear about a well-planned day trip!

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VeganMoFo 2017: Flower Burger, Milan

Posted on October 8, 2017 by Jenny

We had a slightly strange culinary experience in Milan, in the sense that we ate sushi and burgers, and the only Italian food we ate was gelato.  I don’t remember being particularly dazzled by the vegan options on Happy Cow, and certainly there were none of the vegan pizzerias I was hoping for. But these burgers were so good, I’m not really complaining.

Flower Burger is a small, colourful fast food place that is 100% vegan.  There are just a few tables, but it’s right opposite a park if you prefer to dine al fresco.  The Italian menu is displayed on the walls, while an English menu is available on a postcard at the bar and the staff speak excellent English.

Dr HH got the flower burger itself:  a black bun with a seitan patty, tomato confit, cheddar, red pepper sauce and soy beans.  Doesn’t it look incredible?!  He reported that the red pepper sauce was really flavoursome and the burger had good structural integrity, but he would have liked a slightly thicker patty.

I got the oliseitan burger, which had the same seitan patty in a yellow bun with red onion tartate, confit tomato and olive sauce.  I was surprised to find that there were beans in the patty as well.  The olive sauce was wonderful, and I really enjoyed the lovely soft red onions.  Chickpea and tofu-based patties are also available, and you may have noticed that we shared a side of chips which were sublimely crispy.  And there were some desserts there too, but oddly enough we didn’t indulge.

Truthfully, there were only two things I really loved about Milan:  one was Flower Burger, and the other was the Duomo.  I would never get tired of looking at this building!  If you are organised enough to book in advance, I would recommend getting a ticket for the roof, which is really spectacular.

Even if you just walk around the building though, you’re sure to find some fascinating details.  Look at these guys working it!

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VeganMoFo 2017: Amorino, Milan

Posted on October 7, 2017 by Jenny

More gelato!  Amorino is actually an international chain and we even have it in Prague – but everything’s more exciting when you’re on holiday!  This branch is in Brera, which is a nice but very touristy area of Milan.  (Later in the day we were desperate for a sit-down and took a table at a bar, only to see it would set us back €4 for a regular can of Coke!)  Fortunately this place didn’t seem extortionate.  There was no outdoor seating, but some tables in the beautifully air-conditioned indoors which made life worth living.

The vegan gelato flavours were labelled, though unfortunately they were mostly fruit (yawn) and dark chocolate.  It took quite a long time in the trip to get to some more exciting flavours.  Nevertheless, the chocolate and raspberry was a winning combination – the raspberry was really refreshing and the chocolate super creamy.  No complaints from me!

They also get bonus points from us because Dr HH left his camera on the floor under our table, and when we went sprinting down the cobbled street two minutes later they had it safely behind the counter for us.  Huzzah!  (Considering that my personal history in Milan involves being pickpocketed, I was delighted by this display of goodwill.)

As a bonus, it’s not too far away from castello sforzesco, where you can wander the grounds for free, then head off for an ice cream to help you cool off – look at that cloudless sky!

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VeganMoFo 2017: Zushi, Milan

Posted on October 6, 2017 by Jenny

UPDATE: this restaurant has closed

After our 24 hour stay in the Cinque Terre, we made our way back up to Milan for a couple of days.  Milan is not my favourite city, largely due to a terrible job I had there back in 2010.  It was only a two month contract, thankfully, replacing a teacher who had done a runner overnight.  “We can’t imagine why he left,” the boss told me, while moving me into the same accommodation this teacher had had:  a room in a convent.  Yes, a convent.

The room had no kettle or fridge, nor was there access to a kitchen in the convent. My room just had two single beds and a desk, and that was pretty much it. No wifi either.  It was a horrible, horrible time, made worse when I got pick-pocketed on my way to the airport to fly back home and didn’t even have money for the airport bus (thankfully, the Italian police took pity on me and got me on board).

So I don’t have fond memories of Milan.  As I wasn’t particularly enthusiastic about this destination, I encouraged Dr HH to choose what he wanted to see, and he found the Monumental Cemetery.

It’s a gigantic cemetery full of mausoleums and statues, and even a life-size stone replica of The Last Supper.  It’s certainly an interesting place to have a wander.  And, more importantly, it’s only about a ten minute walk from a vegan-friendly sushi place.

I seize any opportunity to try sushi, even if it’s in Italy! We were the first diners for the lunch session at Zushi, which has both takeaway and eat-in options.  It was a bit fancier than we were expecting – it’s fanciness can best be demonstrated by the fact that the seat of your chair actually lifts up so you can put your bag inside a little compartment out of the way.  La di da!

There were only a few vegan options, which are nicely consolidated into the vegan brunch set for €14.90 – quite steep for what it was. We got a bowl of edamame for a starter, which was quite exciting.

The brunch set itself came next.  There were two pieces topped with tomato, which were unsurprisingly a bit boring.  The two with avocado were better, and there was another delicious one topped with some tofu and fig jam.  There was one topped with an actual mountain of wakame, and six little rolls striped with chives, filled with tofu, asparagus and fig jam, and topped with flaked almonds.  They were the most exciting, and the most delicious.

We were still a little hungry, so we decided to split the only vegan dessert: a €6 chocolate cheesecake.  It had a thin, spongy base (my kingdom for a biscuity base!) and some kind of marmalade layer, and the chocolate mousse itself was rich and indulgent.

I enjoyed our dishes, but we basically exhausted all the vegan options right here, and it was quite an expensive meal.  Zushi is a chain that we saw in most of the other big cities we visited later, so it’s a good backup to have up your sleeve for emergencies, but not really a must-visit unless you’re a die hard sushi fiend!

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