I have a shiny new Facebook page for Herbivores’ Heaven!
Come along and say hello, and get a sneak preview of my fine dining experience in Wigan last night.
Fresh from our Belgian adventure, we arrived in Paris in the early evening of Easter Monday ready for some serious tourist action. I’ve been to Paris a few times, but not for about ten years. It was nice to revisit the city older, wiser and better equipped to find the good food.
And find it, we did! After making a beeline for the Eiffel Tower on arrival, we wandered to nearby Brasserie Lola (nearby = probably a 10 minute walk). Nowhere on the menu or in the restaurant itself does it mention that it’s a 100% vegan establishment – we were pleased to be in the know! Indeed, it seemed to be mostly frequented by English-speaking tourists who had presumably sourced it on Happy Cow.
Not in the mood for a large meal, my beau and I both opted for sandwiches. He chose the club sandwich and declared it delicious, packed as it was with roasted vegetables and avocado. I was rather bold, overcome by the Parisian air, and went for the most French thing I could see: croque monsieur. I’m not crazy about vegan cheese, but it was actually really nice and the cheese had successfully melted, which is always an achievement. Both sandwiches were accompanied by nice crispy chips and a well seasoned salad.
We continued our fancy Parisian theme with dessert, ordering two “gourmande” plates. We were served a small piece of two of the desserts from the menu (chocolate cake and pain perdu), a shot glass of ice cream, some whipped cream and a coffee – or tea, if you ask nicely. The real highlight was the pain perdu, which was caramelised, sticky, gooey, delicious: all the good words you want associated with your dessert. I don’t know if I could have handled a full portion of it, so this was definitely the way to go.
Despite the reputation the French have of being all snooty and not helping foreigners to understand, our interaction with the staff at Lola was the first of many encounters where we found the French to be delightful, helpful and friendly.
While this was a good start to our culinary adventure in Paris, it got even better the next day with a lunchtime trip to Cafe Ginger. This was another place that we booked in advance via Facebook, and it’s just as well we did – it was rammed with people! It’s a very small cafe and has a busy lunch service, which largely seemed to be locals rather than tourists. Although we were in the minority, the waitress was lovely and helpful, translating the dishes into English and explaining how everything worked.
They offered two different kinds of savoury tart, or a salad plate. Obviously we chose tarts. We were given the freshest, prettiest, tastiest dishes imaginable. My fellow got the pumpkin tart, which had good crisp pastry, a layer of mushrooms and courgettes and pillowy pumpkin on top. I had the leek, asparagus and courgette tart which was so green and spring-like. Both dishes came with the same salads: a surprisingly dry falafel ball, some really nice bread, good rice and lentil salads, a Japanese inspired radish and beetroot salad, some zesty shredded beetroot and carrot, two tasty potato bites, some good old kale, other green veg and a spicy little dollop of salsa. Everything was fresh and beautiful. At 14.50 it’s not a cheap lunch, but you definitely get your money’s worth.
What we had seen so far boded pretty well for dessert, so we split the mango and coconut cheesecake and a chocolate terrine. As usual, I’d expected the chocolate to be the highlight. It was a small portion, but rich enough that you didn’t need more. It was everything I’d hoped for. But the cheesecake had that extra je ne sais quoi. The tropical flavours were perfect for the summery weather, the flavours were really strong and the base was good and biscuity. We couldn’t have asked for more.
That evening we went for a less fancy option at Hank’s Vegan Burger, near the town hall. If Cafe Ginger was small, this place was miniscule: it’s a fast food place with a counter with two stools, and three tiny little tables pushed together, seating a grand total of six with little space between you all. It’s intended as a takeaway, but we wanted somewhere indoors to rest our feet, so we grabbed those stools and guarded them with our very lives. There are four burgers on the menu, and a burger of the day. I had the smoky pepper burger, which had quite subtle flavours and was quite tasty, but lacked in texture – it was all soft and mushy, without that nicer outer crisp. Mr HH had the olive burger, which to me was packed with olive flavour, but to him was a bit bland and not as exciting as he’d hoped. We both agreed that the chips were good though! All in all, it was good fast food, but nothing special. Still, it’s always nice to go somewhere that’s all vegan and not have to worry.
More to come on the food front, but we did a few touristy things between feasts. I’d been to Paris a few times before, while Mr HH never had, so we were trying to strike the right balance. We viewed the Eiffel Tower but decided against going up, opting instead to climb the Arc de Triomphe. Considering that Mr HH wasn’t exactly bowled over by the Parisian skyline (and we needed some exercise after lots of treats!), this was probably a wise choice, as it was also included in the Museum Pass.
We went to the Louvre of course, queuing up before opening time. I had mixed feelings about it – the main attractions were just surrounded by a scrum of selfie sticks, and there were a lot of portraits, which I always find quite exhausting. Winged Victory was majestic, and there were lots of interesting sculptures and statues, but when it comes to art I thought Musee d’Orsay was far superior: lots of Monet and Van Gogh, all inside a wonderful bright building.
We went to the Musee des Arts et Metiers, which had a cool pendulum and some exciting flying contraptions, but wasn’t quite as science-y as my science teacher beau had hoped. Nor was the Museum of Medical History that exciting: none of the usual gore and curiosities you’d expect.
The Musee des Arts Forains is by appointment only and had some cool old fairground attractions, but rather than a 90 minute tour it would be better viewed at a casual saunter in 30 minutes or so. It also costs more than the Louvre, which just seems crazy.
We also stopped by Notre Dame and Sacre Coeur, of course. One of the most interesting sights was the pet cemetery, which is a bit of a trek on the Metro, but worth it for me. It’s chiefly a resting ground for dogs, but there are a few cats in there as well, and even the odd monkey, hen or horse. It was quite touching to see the monuments people had built in memory of their loyal companions, but also a little sad as I wondered if investing so much in the memorials prevented the owners from moving on.
Our final meals in France were the fanciest yet. More on those next week…
After flying in to Brussels last month, we spent three nights in nearby Ghent, the vegetarian captial of Europe. It was smaller than Brussels, unsurprisingly, and was exactly what I want from a European city – ideal for wandering around, full of picturesque waterways and lined with tall, attractive houses. And with a medieval castle right in the middle of it too! We couldn’t have been happier. The food didn’t disappoint either.
On Good Friday we went to Komkommertijd for the all-you-can-eat buffet. We were a little worried that we wouldn’t be able to get a table – Happy Cow reviews all advise booking in advance, but although the staff replied to my emails, they refused to take my booking, insisting it could only be done via phone. When I did shrug off the expense and try to call, I just got the answering machine. So we turned up for opening time, and it’s just as well we did: it’s not exactly a small restaurant, but almost every table was reserved. We were allowed in as long as we agreed to vacate within 90 minutes, and the restaurant around us filled up very quickly. In warmer weather, I would be happy to get the cheaper takeaway box option and go and eat by the canal or in a park, but in early April it was positively Manchester-like, so staying inside was best.
But it’s not surprising that it’s so popular: there is plenty of food and the buffet is regularly replenished. It’s also very vegetable-based, which is always a winner. It might sound obvious to say that a 100% vegan place uses lots of vegetables, but it was just lovely to see that, besides a large pot of rice and some cake, every dish allowed the vegetables to shine, rather than opting for mock meats or other kinds of protein.
The dishes were written up on the food table in Flemish, so I can’t swear what they all were. We kicked off with a small dish of soup, which I thought was probably leek and potato – it was perhaps the most disappointing element of the buffet, a touch bland. Not to worry though, the main courses were awaiting!
There were some small and crispy spring rolls, along with some aubergine pakoras that were not replenished after they ran out – instead, they were replaced by the melt in the mouth roasted aubergine on the second plate (I’d advise sitting close to the buffet if you can wrangle it – it’s good for keeping an eye on which new dishes are brought out). Besides that, the root vegetable dishes were the winners, just beautifully cooked and full of flavour. There was some mustardy veg, which had a bit too much mustard for my tastes, a tasty rosemary-flavoured potato gratin, and a spicy carrot, pesto and cashew dish. From the cold salad bar we also enjoyed the potato salad and a buttery broccoli dish.
And of course, we had some cake to finish – it’s included in the buffet price, so presumably you could help yourself to numerous slices (though we didn’t see anyone doing so, and if you’ve done your eating properly you won’t have room). This was a coconut cake with a fantastic texture and taste.
Our only complaint about Komkommertijd was the drinks policy – they refused us any tap water, saying we had to order a drink from the menu first. I strongly feel that restaurants should push tap water rather than water in ridiculous plastic bottles (especially a vegan restaurant which should be slightly more concerned with the environment).
On Saturday morning we visited the castle, and lunched at Avalon, which is just opposite it and is generally hailed as the fanciest vegan place in town. The service was wonderful, despite the fact that it was completely full (this time we had successfully booked), and there was even an English menu. Mr HH ordered a vegetable pie, which you can just about see in here surrounded by all the other wonderful bits and bobs, including a scoop of polenta and some crispy potato slices on top. The pie itself was full of tofu and carrots and had an excellent crust.
I had the bourginon seitan stew, which was really rich and succulent. It came with roasties, cabbage, a sweet roasted onion, beetroot salad and a kind of mayonnaise. Every component was good, and it was such an inviting plate.
We split two puddings, starting with this orange cake. I loved the sponge – it was quite delicately flavoured and moist. However, the sauce on the side was too sweet and strongly flavoured with orange, and I largely avoided it.
Dessert number two was more of an overall success: a cherry and almond pudding, somewhere between a yoghurt and a mousse. It had a lovely natural cherry flavour to it and was really good.
Along with these we ordered some ayurvedic tea, which we usually love. However, it was so full of citrus flavours that it took us by surprise – it was far too zingy! Fortunately, it was accompanied by a small pot of chocolate mousse which was rich and helped our taste buds to recover. I definitely recommend Avalon if you don’t mind paying a little more for a holiday treat: we loved it.
As luck would have it, for Easter weekend there was an animal liberation stand set up in one of the squares of Ghent with some baked goods. I trotted up hopefully to enquire if the food was vegan: it all was! We treated ourselves to a couple of these teeny tiny waffle bites for 1 euro each (pretty small compared to the one euro waffles that were everywhere in Belgium, but I’m happy to support the animal-loving community). They were sweet and vanilla flavoured, and an unexpected treat.
As we rambled around the town I saw some vegan graffiti too, which I hadn’t expected.
Komkommertijd’s big rival in the vegan buffet stakes is Lekker Gec, which is just opposite the train station. It had a much better drinks policy, but I also happily forked out for a hot chocolate (as in Brussels, it was made with cocoa solids and I had the pleasure of stirring it in myself), which was very tasty. There was even a choice of milks, and I went for rice (they do serve dairy milk and ice cream, so make sure you specify).
Alas, the buffet here was pay-by-weight, so there were no seconds this time. It wasn’t quite as tasty as Komkommertijd either, but still pretty darned good. The vegetable pakora were sublime: the batter was so good, and the vegetables beautifully tender. There was couscous for the grain, and a salad and soup bar that we didn’t sample, then a few hot dishes which were again very vegetable-centred. The root vegetables on the left looked tasty but were a little bland; the cauliflower at the front looked fiery but was actually in a pasta sauce; the cabbage, almond and sweetcorn concoction was delicious, as were the lentils, tofu and parsnips at the back. Once again, really filling and seemingly healthy.
Cakes were an additional 3.50 each: there were three different kinds displayed, but only a total of 6 slices left when we arrived at 6pm, and no signs of them being stocked up. The cheesecake at the front had a lovely biscuit base, was not too tofu-like and had a pleasant blueberry flavour. The banana coconut cake in the background tasted very strongly of banana but was not as moist as expected – it made me wonder if there was banana extract in it, rather than the fruit itself. The top was dusted with crunchy toasted coconut, which was just sublime!
We’d been worried that it would be hard to find somewhere to eat on Easter Sunday, but fortunately we managed to book a lunch table back at Komkommertijd (booked in person – apparently that is also acceptable). This time there was a green vegetable soup which we sprinkled with potato crisps from the hot buffet – they added some much-needed seasoning.
The dishes were all vegetable based again, with the same spring rolls, some pesto parsnips, curried kohlrabi, more parsnips with chickpeas, really nice pasta and broccoli salads and some delicious yet oily aubergine and pepper antipasti.
And this time it was marble cake for dessert, with a lovely chocolate topping.
If we hadn’t been visiting over Easter weekend, we would have had the opportunity to visit a few more of the meat-free restaurants in town. We’d also been hoping to pop into one of the few places that doesn’t use beef fat for their fries, but we were too full of vegetables (and, let’s face it, cake) to venture along.
As for what to do in Ghent, it’s definitely worth paying to enter the castle. It’s a pretty grand building, and offers lovely views of the city. It’s also a great place just to wander around and look at the canals and architecture. In contrast with the historical grandeur is Graffiti Street, which I found less impressive than the street art in Berlin, but still nice to see.
We also saw some art at SMAK, which my fellow had raved about after his previous trip to Belgium. Alas, the ground floor was closed but we still had to pay full price for just a couple of exhibitions. I’m not exactly clued up on art, but I like things that are pretty or give me something to start a conversation about, and the Larry Sultan exhibition did just that. Added bonus: we got there at opening time and had the whole place to ourselves!
And of course, Ghent is only a short train ride from Bruges, which is small and charming. We were fortunate enough to visit on a day that the sun actually made an appearance, and the good weather added to its charm. However, it was so full of people that we couldn’t appreciate it quite as much as we would have liked.
I really enjoyed Ghent – it’s not a place I feel compelled to return to soon, but it was a lovely place to wander around. It was more intimate and charming than Brussels as well, and a true delight on the food front!
The Asian Vegan Kitchen had been sitting on my bookshelf for several years, and only used twice. That’s pretty poor, especially considering how much I love Asian food. I’d always been deterred by the fact that the ingredients lists look so daunting, and there aren’t many pictures. Choosing this as a cookbook of the month forced me to actually venture into some of the tempting recipes, and I was not disappointed. As I already have a pretty good stock-pile of ingredients now, it turned out to be a fairly cheap and tasty month, though due to my holiday I didn’t have time to cook as many recipes as I would have liked. The book is organised by country, and I seemed to stick to a few of them.
Starting with the Thai section, I made these satay skewers with their delicious chunks of deep-fried tofu, mushrooms, peppers and asparagus. The recipe also called for chunks of baby corn, but I couldn’t get them onto the skewers – fortunately, they were delicious eaten straight from the marinade. The marinade was tasty, but was overpowered by the sweet peanut dipping sauce that is served alongside it – I think you really only need one or the other. We also debated whether we’d put theses ingredients on skewers again. It would be much easier to simply serve them with some rice and a dollop of sweet peanut sauce. We’ll definitely be having it again in one form or another though.
The tom yam soup was nicely flavoured, but looks a bit unappetising due to the dark soy sauce I was using. I’m now rather fed up with thin Asian broths – I’ll definitely be back to some chunky, thick soups in May!
The amusingly titled drunkard’s noodles are so named because the author believes they are a good hangover cure. I can’t confirm that, but I had them when I was full of cold post-holiday and they certainly cleared my sinuses! They were good and spicy, and delicious hot or cold.
This roasted aubergine salad was a filling and spicy lunch – again, good for my sinuses. It’s better fresh from the oven, but cold leftovers work too. I loved the crunchy peanuts!
Unsurprisingly, desserts aren’t the main focus of this book. The only one I made was the sticky coconut rice with mango, that Thai staple. It was as good as I’d hoped, and I’ll definitely make it again! The recipe calls for quite a lot of sugar, which I thought would be unnecessary in light of the coconut milk and cream. However, I would recommend using the full amount as a mouthful without any mango was really lacking in sweetness.
I’d expected to use the Indian section a lot more, but it only got a couple of outings. The navratna korma is actually one of the dishes I’d made before. This time I tweaked the recipe, soaking a cup of cashews beforehand to provide a real creamy sauce for the curry. Actually though it wasn’t particularly creamy, and turned out to be one of my least favourites.
The mushroom and green pea curry from the Indian section was one of the more intriguing dishes I tried- it was unlike any curry recipe I’d used before. It called for a sauce made from ground up blanched almonds, which I decided to replace with almond butter, which resulted in quite a thick and creamy sauce. The poppy seeds were a pleasant but unusual addition. All in all, it was a nice tasty curry.
And I even made my own bread to serve with it! I’m a famously bad breadmaker, so this lachedar paratha was quite the surprise – it did exactly what I wanted (except that it was meant to be round and came out rectangular). Mr HH is an expert in Indian flatbreads, and even he seemed tolerably impressed with my efforts, so I’m calling this one a definite win.
Although I lived in Vietnam for two and a half years, I rarely cook Vietnamese food. I only remember eating pho once when I lived there (I know. My only defence is that I hadn’t even heard of Happy Cow back then and didn’t really know how to find meat free food.), and that was when a student took me out and failed to grasp the concept of vegetarianism – she ordered me the soup without the meat, but it was still meat broth and I could barely choke down a few polite mouthfuls. This was much better! There were lovely tofu and shiitake strips, some fiery red chillies, crunchy beansprouts and of course plenty of noodles which I slurped up like a true Vietnamese.
The spicy coconut vegetable soup from the Vietnamese section doesn’t look too appetising, thanks again to the strong colouring from the dark soy sauce I used. But it’s all about taste, and that was spot on – it didn’t lie about the “spicy” part.
Spring rolls were probably my favourite Vietnamese food, and while I’d usually go for the crispy, deep-fried variety, this time I made some healthy fresh ones. They were simple and tasty and I’ll definitely make them again – they made for a nice light meal and were nice simply dipped in soy sauce. As always, the presentation needs improving, but the taste was an immediate hit.
China was quite under-represented in my endeavours, and the only dish I tried was this one. I was extremely nervous and excited about making gyoza for the first time – and astonished at how easy they were! The filling was really simple but tasty, and construction was easy. We popped a few in the freezer as well, so we have some more to look forward to.
The Japanese section was one of my favourites: I’m crazy about Japanese food at the moment. The tofu and vegetable soup was simple, but really tasty. It included burdock, a mysterious ingredient that I’d planned to simply omit until I spotted some in the Chinese supermarket and thought I’d give it a go. I suppose I’d expected it to taste like dandelion and burdock, but in actual fact it didn’t seem to lend a particularly distinct flavour to the soup. Still, it was an exciting purchase, and the soup was really nice- the best of the ones I made.
I was a little anxious about making this vegetable pancake because I don’t usually excel at flipping pancakes. But this one turned out pretty nicely, as you can see. The recipe said it would serve four, but (gluttony alert) the pancake above consists of half the batter. That looks the perfect size for a main course, in my opinion, so I don’t feel too guilty about it. It was nice and crispy, and really delicious with the tomato-based sauce from the recipe. I made it again with asaparagus rather than shiitake mushrooms, and it was just as good – they added a nice bit of bite to it.
The tofu teriyaki steak was one of the dishes I was most excited about trying. I simplified the recipe somewhat, frying the mushrooms and asparagus in the same pan as the steak to save on washing up. I know a lot of people complain about tofu being bland (that’s the point, it’s a flavour sponge!), but this had some good flavour from the sauce. I might marinate it in the sauce next time to really let it soak it all up.
I served the steak with black sesame asparagus – I didn’t grind the seeds as recommended, and I really liked the texture as it was. The taste was good too, and it accompanied the steak nicely.
I felt like I hadn’t done that well with my challenge this month, but looking back I think sixteen recipes is pretty good in a month with a long holiday. And the challenge worked for me in the sense that I finally overcame my fear of this book and no longer feel so daunted by it – it’s one that I’ll happily dip in and out of again in the future. Despite the lack of pictures, the recipes are easy to follow and are quite easily adaptable if you want to replace expensive/hard to source ingredients with those you can pick up easily at the supermarket.
Next month I’m turning my attention to Afro Vegan, a book I got for my birthday this month. The recipes look quite involved, but hopefully I’ll have enough time to dedicate to them.
While on our recent European holiday, we managed to find ourselves a nice spot for afternoon tea at Koffie ende Koeck, a vegan cafe in Amsterdam. And oh my goodness, it was amazing! I suspected nobody would do an afternoon tea quite like the English, but how wrong I was.
While the staff were putting the finishing touches to the main event, they brought us over a little appetiser in the form of this pineapple smoothie with a gingery kick – this was part of their breakfast menu which, considering our pretty dismal breakfasts elsewhere in Amsterdam, I wish we’d sampled as well.
They brought over a pot of rose tea with a little coconut biscuit on the side. My fellow wished it had been standard English breakfast tea, but I thought this was delightful and complemented the sweet treats very well. Free top ups were included, which is always a bonus.
First we tackled the savoury plate, which included a smoked tofu and salad sandwich on delicious toasted bread, a savoury scone and a pot of yoghurt with crunchy granola. The sandwich was fantastic, and the scone was a real surprise – it was nice and crisp outside, and the filling was a mixture of cream cheese, cucumber and avocado with a real spicy zing to it. The granola was quite unorthodox, but I liked that, and it made a nice transition from the savoury to the sweet plates.
On the middle plate we had a slice of upside down banana cake, which was surprisingly pink! It was really tasty, but the sponge was a touch drier than usual, presumably because it was upside down. At the front was the surprise winner, a gluten-free lemon cake. I always expect gluten free cakes to be dry, but this was gloriously sticky and sweet, and full of lemony flavour. Hiding at the back was a little bounty bar: a layer of chocolatey puffed rice topped with creamy coconut and topped with dark chocolate. The puffed rice had gone soft and didn’t lend that longed for crunch, but it was still really tasty – there are few flavours I enjoy more than coconut.
And to finish off, gluten free brownies and the house speciality, rose petit fours. Again, we’d feared the worst from the brownie as it looked quite dry, but fortunately, beneath that crust lurked a moist and dense cake. It had a few chocolate chunks hiding in there as well. The petit four had a really delicate rose flavouring (it’s easy to make it too over-powering) and lovely white chocolate icing: no wonder they’re a favourite.
Koffie ende Koeck is such a gorgeous little place, I keep wishing it were my local cafe. It’s situated just near Westerpark, so it’s perfect for a summery stroll as well. The interior is really cosy and nice, and there’s outdoor seating as well for the nicer weather. The waitresses were lovely, and provided an unhurried, relaxing service and made us feel very welcome. We booked the afternoon tea via their Facebook page, and communication was all very easy. Writing this up, I may have just persuaded myself to book another flight to Amsterdam!
Brussels is the cheapest place you can fly to from Manchester, so it’s little wonder that I wasn’t even the only person from my school hopping over for the Easter holiday. Like most people, I went away from In Bruges thinking ‘Wow, I really want to go there!’ and my fellow reliably informed me that Ghent was the vegan capital of Europe, so it seemed like the ideal break for us. We flew into Brussels on a Thursday night and spent Good Friday exploring the city before boarding a train for Ghent.
Our accommodation was pretty central, and just down the road from the Jewish Museum of Belgium, where we stumbled upon armed soldiers for the first (but certainly not last) time in our stay in Europe. When I say armed, I mean it: they were carrying machine guns. There was a terrorist attack there last year so I suppose more security was needed, but nothing about those machine guns make me feel safe. Everytime I saw them in Belgium and France it made me extremely thankful that we don’t see guns on the streets in the UK. Nevertheless, we enjoyed our wanderings and needed some fuel for our morning. As it was Good Friday, what choice did we have but to eat some chocolate?
I had read on HappyCow that Laurent Gerbaud Chocolatier stocked soy milk for their hot chocolate, and a polite enquiry (in English; fortunately their language skills surpassed ours) proved this to be the case. It was €3.50 for a drink, and it was served with a complementary chocolate from the counter. The staff showed us all of the vegan options (probably about a third of them) and recommended two. The chocolates were delicious, and we’d been very much looking forward to sampling some real Belgian chocolate. The hot chocolate was even better: it was made by pouring hot soy milk onto chocolate solids, so it was thick and intense and delicious. It was in a great location too, surrounded by some pretty buildings and photo-worthy spots.
We ate at the Brussels Midi station, at a little meat-free fast food place called Greenway. It’s merely a counter with some adjacent seating, but the food definitely elevates it above standard greasy fast food. On Friday I had the Mexican smoked jalapeno burger – it wasn’t really spicy at all, but an excellent mock chicken burger in a lovely toasted bun.
My fellow went for the Yakitori wrap, which was also vegan (vegan options are clearly marked on the board behind the counter – there are 3 wraps and 2 burgers to choose from for lunch). He’d feared that my burger would outdo his meal, but the wrap was gigantic, and reportedly also delicious. Again, the mock chicken warranted particular praise, but he also enjoyed the salad and was only disappointed that it was a little heavy on the dressing.
After spending a couple of days in Ghent, we stopped by Brussels once again on Easter Monday to catch a train to Paris and once again grabbed a quick bite at Greenway. This time we split the kebab and falafel wraps so we could try everything. It was my first ever vegan kebab – my first ever kebab at all, actually, it was never something that tempted me as a pre-teen meat-eater. I am definitely in favour of it, as it was essentially just spicy mock meat with lots of salad. That can only be a good thing!
We’d had reasonably high hopes for the falafel, but it was actually pretty disappointing, largely because we struggled to find any falafel hiding in amongst the salad. It could more accurately be described as a salad wrap with a smidgen of falafel burrowed at the bottom. Quite the disappointment.
While on the train to Paris, we split some takeaway cake (and I shall blame the poor photographs on the moving train). The carrot cake was tiny, but it had a great texture and some nice crunchy seeds in there as well. It could have done with a bit more spice, and, ideally, some icing too.
The chocolate brownie was much better (they serve both vegan and non-vegan brownies, so specify when you order) – a nice crust on top and a good gooey, chocolatey centre.
Greenway is reasonably priced – it was €7.95 for each burger or wrap, and they were generously sized (though alas, no chips on the side). The only downside is that you have to pay by card.
We also stocked up on a few things in Brussels, to ensure we had breakfasts (unfortunately my research had not revealed many promising vegan breakfasts in either Brussels or Ghent, though there are some options at good old Greenway in the station) and just in case most places were closed on Easter Sunday and Monday. At Natural Choice we got some museli and apricot soy yoghurt – there was a much better selection of soy yoghurt flavours than I’m used to seeing in Manchester – along with a few treats.
We also stocked up in Origin’O at the station on these very filling biscuits and as yet unsampled speculoos chocolate.
On our wanders we also stumbled upon a little chocolatier with the word “vegan” on its blackboard, and we knew we had to go in. They had some of their own vegan dark chocolate, in expensive seasonal Easter shapes. They also sold Belvas chocolates, some of which are marked vegan, and which are pretty widely available in all three countries we visited.
All in all, Brussels wasn’t the vegan chasm I’d been fearing and I would have liked a couple more days to eat and explore there. But as it’s so cheap to fly, I daresay I’ll be over there again before long, rooting out other possibilities!
Brighton will forever be one of my favourite places. Last year when I went there for Vegfest it was not only my first time in Brighton, but my first holiday with Mr HH, and we had such a wonderful time exploring, eating and enjoying the sea air. We had no choice but to return for Vegfest 2015 last weekend, and found ourselves revisiting the same cafes and restaurants (even ordering the same dishes occasionally) and having just as magical a time. This year I am on the prowl for as many afternoon teas as possible, and the Terre a Terre special was too good to resist. As Terre a Terre is a meat-free fine dining restaurant with a wonderfully inventive menu – it’s the fanciest vegan food I’ve eaten – it proved an excellent addition to the itinerary.
It is, of course, no ordinary afternoon tea. The savoury plate comprises various elements from the normal menu – not a cucumber sandwich in sight! At the front of the picture you can see pickled lotus root slices, sandwiching some delicious chunks of sesame hoisin tofu – a lovely crunchy layer of seeds, and some quite sweet flavours mingling throughout. This was the highlight of the plate for me. In the back right are the arepas (Venezuelan corn cakes, which in this case are chip-shaped, deep-fried and a wee bit spicy). They’re served with a lovely avocado hash. Usually I feel like you should be able to eat an afternoon tea with your fingers, but here we had about eight different pieces of cutlery. While we didn’t use most of them, it was nice to be able to scoop up any lingering traces of avocado with a spoon. It would be a sin to waste it! Finally, in the back left, you should be able to glimpse the tapioca cracker, which was lovely and crisp, with some pickled vegetables, including lovely vibrant beetroot.
Not only was it a tasty plate, it was also a nicely colourful one, with the yellow lotus root, green avocado and purple beetroot. And, somewhat untraditionally, each person receives their own plate of savouries – presumably as some of them are a little too delicate to move!
The sweet plate also looked very enticing. It deviated from the menu slightly, but we had no grounds for complaint. First we tried the chocolate cake at the fore of the picture, and to be honest, it was a little disappointing. The sponge was quite dry and it was all a bit heavy. I wouldn’t have wanted a much bigger slice, let’s say. Next we had the small cake to the left of it: a polenta cake with a fruity bit of sauce on top. I’d never had polenta cake before and now I wonder why – it was glorious! The outside was almost biscuit-like in its crumbliness, but when you bit into it it was really soft and moist, and everything the chocolate cake wasn’t. I definitely wouldn’t have complained about a bigger piece of that!
Behind the polenta cake is half each of a mini banana cupcake. Well, that is rather a simplified version: it is in fact a hot banana almond spice cake. It was nice and moist as well, and served with a pineapple chunk, but it wasn’t as flavoursome as I’d hoped, and wasn’t as good as the polenta cake. We finished on a high with the mini churros. Ah, churros. They are the best dessert on the main menu, and these mini ones left me wanting more. They were nice and warm, coated in cinnamon sugar and served with little pots of vodka cherries (meh) and melted chocolate (yum!). Delicious!
And finally, the scones. The texture was good, but they were quite small and I actually preferred the ones from February’s afternoon tea at The Hideaway. But the home-made jam was a lovely touch, and the oat cream was a really welcome addition – far superior to a bit of spread. And basically I could eat scones all day every day: they were really nice.
Afternoon tea is £18.95 per person at Terre a Terre, so it’s not cheap but it really is value for money. It’s extravagant, ideal for a special occasion, and a treat for the eyes as well as the taste buds! Service was fast and friendly, and it’s nice to have a vegan option that’s as creative and tempting as it’s “normal” counterpart. I usually judge vegan food in restaurants by asking myself: “Would they serve this to omnivores as well?”, and while sometimes I’ve found the vegan options to be disappointingly bland or simple, here it was a resounding “YES!” And for all my claims that I could have eaten more, I was actually extremely full at the end and had to waddle up the hill to the train station. It’s probably just as well I was sitting down for the next few hours on the train home!
Continuing with the cookbook of the month, here are some more of the recipes I’ve tried in March from Isa Does It.
Creamy leek and potato soup is such a classic, it’s hard to go wrong. The picture here is terrible, but the soup is really simple and tasty. I used a hand blender to blitz about half of the soup, meaning the broth had a bit of thickness to it but there were still some nice little chunks of potato.
The chunky miso vegetable soup was not quite as good – the chunkiness of the title refers to the vegetables, rather than to the broth itself, which is very watery. It needs a partial blitz as well, I think, to thicken it up a bit. And I’d probably double the amount of miso to really pack a flavour punch.
The cheddary broccoli soup was more enjoyable: it really does taste like a broccoli soup with cheese in it, almost unsettlingly so. The texture is unsurprisingly smooth and creamy, and broccoli soup remains one of my all time favourites.
The wild rice soup with browned seitan was quite meaty (though meat-eaters might disagree), and really packed with flavour. This is one that I’ll definitely make again, not least because I will take any opportunity to say “I love seitan.” I didn’t use wild rice, because I am not made of money – simple brown rice, with a courgette thrown in for colour.
I was worried the sweet potato and red curry soup might have a bit too much going on: red curry paste, rice, sweet potato, kale, coconut milk. Fortunately, it’s a really well-balanced dish and a soup that’s definitely going to be on regular rotation in our house. It’s filling (unsurprising, with the rice), and just full of exotic Thai flavours, but it’s really simple and comforting at the same time.
This is the king of the soups: new England glam chowder. It’s thick and tasty, and the crumbled nori sheets (never, ever try to chop nori. It’s a fool’s errand) lend a taste of the sea. The shiitake mushrooms have such a great texture and meatiness, and there are chunks of carrot and potato in there too. It’s a substantial meal, and every part of it is delicious. I want to eat it every day.
I far prefer soups to salads, but I did give the dragon noodle salad a go. It’s very fast to prepare, and the sauce is so tasty, combining nut butter and sriracha beautifully. It even managed to make the abominable cucumber more bearable! Next time I think I’ll add some tofu to really make it into a well-balanced meal.
The porcini tofu burgers may be the best tasting burgers I’ve made: they’re formed by blitzing some dried porcini and mashing the crumbs with tofu, panko, and various other delicious things. There are lots of powerful savoury flavours in there. However, the texture didn’t quite work out for me, they were too soft on the inside and crumbled quite easily in cooking. I’m going to play around with them a bit more, because they are simply too good to be forgotten.
I hate sandwiches, and even I enjoyed this shiitake banh mi. I felt a bit fearful when I was pickling the radishes and cucumber (eating anything pickled is quite adventurous for me) and when I blitzed the almond butter and sriracha for the spread. But when those two elements came together with the meaty shiitakes, the fresh baguette and the fresh herbs, it was a beautiful combination and a lovely light meal. I used the same fillings with seeded brown bread for an exciting addition to my afternoon tea table as well – it was unconventional, but a hit with everyone.
I had high hopes for the red lentil thai chilli, and it didn’t disappoint. It has red curry paste and coconut milk to lend a taste of South East Asia, but also kidney beans and red lentils in a nod to the usual Mexican chilli ingredients: a very happy combination!
The Omaha yakisoba was really easy to make, even on a work night. It didn’t take long to throw together, and it was a really tasty and satisfying mix of udon noodles, sweetcorn, shiitakes, red cabbage, broccoli and Asian seasoning. It’s easily adaptable as well to whatever veg you’ve got in – I made it again the next night with asparagus and chestnut mushrooms.
As I said in Part One, this book is famous (in my home, at least) for its breakfasts, and while I’ve already tried out quite a few there were still some more to explore. Behold the chipotle sausage hash. The dressing (miso tahini, my new favourite combination) was heavenly, and the potatoes and sausages are obviously a delight. The recipe suggested just two sausages to serve four people. I don’t know what kind of people this is meant to feed, but we had two sausages each and called it a proper meal. It was delicious! The only possible complaint is that it looks so very brown – a handful of wilted spinach leaves next time will sort that out.
Less sensational, but still tasty, was the scrambled chickpeas. Again, I don’t feel like there was enough to serve four people – you really did need the tomatoes and avocadoes to fill you up. Fortunately, they were a good tasty addition, though I think I might chop the tomatoes and add them to the pan for a few minutes next time.
What a fine month it’s been! The recipes are all easy to follow and the results have been uniformly good – the only problem has been the seasoning and spiciness, which I feel need to be significantly increased. Those are the kind of tweaks that are easily made, though, and I think this book is a great addition to the bookshelf. It’s not surprising that Isa is one of the most famous vegan cookbook authors in the world – she presents dishes that are by turns colourful, exotic, comforting and flavoursome, and she makes veganism very accessible. When people ask me in horror, “But what do you eat?” I want to hand them a copy of this book so they can see that my diet is in no way dull and repetitive.
Next month I’m being bolder and going for one of the cookbooks I rarely use. In fact, it has only had two outings in about 4 years. Fingers crossed I will discover some hidden gems in Asian Vegan Kitchen!
March’s cookbook of the month is the brilliant Isa Does It. I’ve tried a number of recipes since I got it last year, particularly from the breakfast section, but I challenged myself to try new recipes this month. It was very easy to choose my dishes, as there are numerous tasty options, and the photographs are all extremely tempting. Yes, it’s been another month of stupendous food.
The Bowl section of the book has been a revelation! It’s essentially just a combination of some kind of grain (rice/quinoa), a vegetable (usually roasted), some beans or lentils, and a sauce packed with flavour to tie it all together. This means there’s a lot going on in the kitchen, but each element is quite simple to make, so it’s only a matter of timing. We started off with the Roasty Soba Bowl, which unites noodles, roasted cauliflower, green lentils and a dressing, and the combination of miso and tahini in the sauce made my heart sing. This is my new favourite thing.
The chimichurri bowl was just as good, packed full of flavour from the herbs in the parsley and coriander sauce. This was a really pretty bowl, with the vivid orange butternut squash slices, green noodles and sauce and the darkness of the black beans. It tasted as good as it looked.
And the pizza bowl in no way resembled a pizza, but it was tasty: sausages, kale, olives and rice united in a delicious tomato sauce. Again, the sauce was the real highlight.
This spinach and black bean burrito bowl looks so healthy and appetising: quinoa, spinach, tomato, black beans, homemade guacamole. However, it was surprisingly bland and needs some serious seasoning. All the other bowls I’ve made from this book have instant hits, and this is the only one requiring any real tweaking. It has definite potential – next time I plan to double the amount of cumin and add some chilli flakes, and probably throw some salsa together for serving too.
The curried peanut sauce bowl was more of a hit, tastewise. The sauce was a great balance of the salty peanut butter, spicy curry powder and sweet agave nectar. The tofu cubes were wonderful (how anyone doesn’t like tofu just baffles me – it’s glorious!), and the steamed kale was a nice healthy touch. However, there were a lot of different pots and pans on the go which always stresses me out a bit and deters me from making it regularly. I’ll definitely make it again, but I don’t think I could throw it together on a work night, even though it’s fast.
Moving on from the bowls, this dilly stew is raved about in the vegan community, so I had no choice but to try it. I found it a little bland at first and had to add some serious seasoning, but it was a really tasty dish. The dumplings are wonderful and it’s a very comforting meal.
The okra gumbo was nice, though again it didn’t pack quite the flavour punch I’d been expecting and generous lashings of hot sauce were required to give it some fire. I’d never seen okra in the shops until I moved to my new place, and now it’s available in our local Tesco (that’s the bonus of your local being a Tesco Superstore) and the local grocery shop. I was eager for another opportunity to use it, which leads us nicely to…
…the bhindi masala. First tasting, as it cooked, revealed quite a bland taste, which was not entirely surprising as the recipe included curry powder but no chillies. My Indian fellow would be outraged if I served him a curry with no chillies (as he is when I serve him anything that doesn’t pack a spicy punch). I added some green chillies and doubled the amount of curry powder, and it was finally strong enough to serve. It was tasty!
The marbled banana bread looks pretty spectacular, no? Yet somehow, some of the slices turned out all brown! I have no idea how I managed to achieve that. I suppose it’s all about taste though, and this was very good indeed: the bananas come through strongly, and the cocoa and vanilla mingle happily. And it’s a lovely moist cake, as you’d expect from banana bread.
I tried to make the chai spice snickerdoodles on a day that I didn’t have any ground cardamom or cloves, so they turned into normal, cinnamon snickerdoodles. They were tasty, and the texture is absolutely perfect – crisp on the outside, soft on the inside. Just check your spice rack before you start!
And to finish on the highest of highs, the Chandra Malay Kofta is probably the tastiest thing I’ve made from the book. The picture doesn’t really do it justice: the kofta balls are made of courgette, chickpeas and panko breadcrumbs, and the sauce is creamy and spicy and wonderful. It was such a satisfying combination of flavours and textures. Delicious!
Stay tuned for more delicious meals from this book, including some very special soups.
In days gone by, a trip to York meant only one thing: tea at Betty’s. Now, with my vegan sensibilities, I’ve given up Betty’s in favour of a meat-free little cafe just off the Shambles: Goji. York is a wonderful, ancient little city with a network of narrow streets of largely independent shops and eateries, so it shouldn’t be surprising to find somewhere amazing nestled in there. Now every time I sail past the queue at Betty’s and straight into the warmth at Goji, I can’t help feeling a little smug.
I’ve eaten at Goji probably four or five times in the last year, and I just love it. I’ve had the Sunday roast twice, and it’s easily my favourite thing on the menu (not including the cakes, obviously). The roast itself is chock-full of lentils and nuts. Nut roast has an unfair reputation as being a bit bland and sawdust-like, but I’ve never really found that to be the case, there’s always so much flavour. You get a really generous portion and a lovely mushroomy sauce surrounding it with those wonderful earthy flavours. The accompaniments are also pretty special: plain green beans don’t add much to it, but the cabbage and roasted carrots and parsnips are good, and it’s rare to get quite so many roasties, I find, so I’m happy with that. And behold, at the front of the picture, a vegan Yorkshire pudding! Whenever I see one on a menu, I devour it. True, it doesn’t look like a Yorkshire pudding – but inside it’s just the same and is a very welcome addition.
Goji also has an impressive cake selection in the window, luring in the passers by (it’s always busy in there, and does good take-out business too, with an enticing deli counter of samosas, salads, etc). The lemon and poppyseed cake is good, and I’ve had the chocolate hazelnut bundt cake before. This time I tried something completely new: the rose pistachio cake. The texture was just spectacular, it was a lovely moist sponge, with really subtle flavours (you have to be careful with rose, after all), and good creamy icing. A definite winner! Goji also has vegan cream and ice cream at the ready too, and a vegan sticky toffee pudding on the menu which I am, astonishingly enough, yet to try.
For anyone else who shares my old ‘York=Betty’s’ mentality, I urge you to cast your net a little wider. Next time you go to York, take a detour away from the crowds at Betty’s and opt instead for this tasty and cosy little place!
Herbivores' Heaven 