VBites - anyone been/going?

[KatieKins]

I heard about Heather Mills opening up VBites in Hove. My boyfriend (the omni, surprisingly enough) suggested going there.

I just wondered if anyone has been there yet or is going?

I think there's another vegan restaurant further along in Brighton and I was thinking that if we're going to make the trip down (about an hour and a half), it might be worth going there instead.

What do you guys think?

[Gorilla]

there's been discussion about V-Bites in the Heather Mills thread here (http://www.veganforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=21309) (mostly on the last couple of pages)

i don't think there are any other completely vegan restaurants in Brighton & Hove, unless you count the Cowley Club. there are other vegetarian restaurants though. do you know the name of the place you're thinking of, or what the food/place is like?

[Rebbecca]

It sounds good, but it is too far south for me. If I am ever in Brighton then I will definitely check it out.

[cxmnz]

Apparently there's quite a lot of meat analogues on the menu, and it's vegan versions of traditional meat based dishes, rather than any particularly imaginative vegan cooking.

There's plenty of vegetarian places in Brighton (Food for Friends and Bombay Aloo in the centre off the top of my head), but I can't think of anywhere completely vegan apart from the Cowley Club as Gorilla mentioned.

[KayJay]

Anyone tried any of the products yet?

http://www.bazaarbuilder.com/cgi-bin/vbites/myshop.php?catparid=4&merchant=vbites

[Enchantress]

The V-Bites products are just re-branded Redwood products. So a lot of people would have tried them.

[KayJay]

I don't think I ever saw the cheese or the sausages - what are they like Enchantress? I'd be interested to know what the Greek style cheese is like especially.

[Enchantress]

The Greek-style cheese tastes like white cheddar-style Cheezly in oil, or at least it did last time I tried it.

[Gorilla]

I don't think I ever saw the cheese or the sausages - what are they like Enchantress? I'd be interested to know what the Greek style cheese is like especially.

the sausages appear to be the Redwoods sausages that are readily available in Holland & Barrett and other health food stores, haven't you seen those before? i agree with Enchantress about the Greek-style cheese, it's quite good in a 'Greek' salad but nothing particularly exciting.

[harpy]

The Redwoods sausages are OK as these things go - can be a bit rubbery if you overcook them (reminds me of a joke...) but are quite nice if you don't, IMO.

[KayJay]

Thanks - I think I do recall seeing the sausages in redwood packaging but haven't tried them. Good to see that the range will still be available.

[Blue moon]

The Redwoods sausages are OK as these things go - can be a bit rubbery if you overcook them (reminds me of a joke...) but are quite nice if you don't, IMO.

Oh go on, i'm dying to hear the joke :)

[harpy]

Not sure I should, Blue moon, as it's not very PC, or very vegan come to that :o

[wildcatstrike]

Anyone tried any of the products yet?

http://www.bazaarbuilder.com/cgi-bin/vbites/myshop.php?catparid=4&merchant=vbites


CoOOooooOOOOOool! Hadn't seen the new packaging yet till i saw this link! I love the Redwoods/VBites sausages, they're my fave veggie sausages!

Hopefully with Heather's money and determination she'll really be able to promote the hell out of these products and get them into Supermarkets, adverts on TV etc :D

[Jiffy]

Oh well, finding myself in sunny Brighton today with the Mrs, after much anticipation I took her to V Bites for lunch. Here's my take on the experience......

I regret to report that due to the cumulative effect of several mistakes with our order, overall we found the visit rather a let down. I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt and take the view that this was a one off and that we were just unlucky, however from what I could gather from the apologetic little tableaus unfolding on adjacent tables, I'm not optimistic.

We decided to have an early lunch to beat the rush and turned up at 11.45, whereupon we were greeted by a charming and pleasant waitress who informed us that the kitchen was closed until 12.00. We thought this was a trifle strange as they are supposedly open all day, but never mind, we were more than happy to have a coffee while we waited for the magical hour to arrive and for someone to take our order. By 1215 we concluded that we had been forgotten and had to grab someone.

We decided to share a portion of Nachos with Soya Melted Cheese, Salsa and Guacamole to have as a starter. For our main meals I went for the Sweet Potato Green Thai Curry with Crunchy Oriental Vegetables and Basmati Rice with the optional add-on of Soya chicky and a side order of garlic bread. The Mrs opted for the Spaghetti and Soya Bolognese.

After what seemed an eternity we started to wonder what had happened to our starter. I was just about to enquire when a waitress appeared bearing our main meals only. They were duly whisked away and our starter eventually appeared. Our thoughts turned to if and how our main courses would be kept hot.

The starter was OK but frankly rather bland. I will freely admit that I do adore spicy food, but the Mrs is the polar opposite and I often take the mickey out of her for disliking any food that actually tastes of anything. For her to call a salsa dip bland is astonishing, so it wasn't just me.

Our curiosity about the fate of our premature main courses was soon satiated. Barely had we finished the last mouthful when the empty plate was whisked away by the person who appeared to be in charge. In a complete reversal of the previously glacial pace of the service our now familiar main courses made their triumphant, if thermally challenged reappearance. To be charitable the Spag Bol wasn't actually cold but certainly wasn't hot. By now we really coudn't face sending it back. It was OK I guess but again very lacking in flavour and was curiously sweet.

My Thai Curry was at least hot, such a shame they had omitted the soya 'chicky' that I had ordered with it! :rolleyes: This was a curious dish, effectively a bowl of sweet Potato soup with a blob of compressed rice on the side. Quite palatable though and surprisingly filling.

We decided to skip dessert and have some cake to take away instead....haven't tried any of those yet.

There is another little gripe I must get off my chest, this is perhaps just one of my little foibles, other people may think nothing of it and think I'm strange, so be it.

Call me old fashioned but when I'm eating out I don't wish to be forced to share in the inner workings of the establishment in question, but this was exactly my experience. There seems to be an arrangement that the person in charge carries out their administrative duties from behind a counter in the restaurant in full earshot of the customers. To me, this rather intrudes. I'm sure some people would find it fascinating to learn that they had run out of salad and frozen spinach and that there is a new chef waiting to start but I'd settle for a bit of peace. It didn't help when various members of staff kept appearing, including the chef with various queries and innumerable delivery drivers. Get an office FFS! :mad:

Purely on the basis of my experience today I'm not sure I'd rush back. Maybe in a few months time when they have ironed out what may still be teething troubles. Until then I'm afraid it's a case of 'must try harder'. I really hope that they can improve and make a go of it.

[Troutina]

Oh no! Thats sounds super disappointing.
I went to have a peek at the weekend and to try a Mr Swirly.
It was also disappointing :( It looked pretty good but just tasted like really cold soya milk- not creamy or vanillary or that yum. Shame, because I think it could be really nice.

[Senza]

Oh no! Thats sounds super disappointing.
I went to have a peek at the weekend and to try a Mr Swirly.
It was also disappointing :( It looked pretty good but just tasted like really cold soya milk- not creamy or vanillary or that yum. Shame, because I think it could be really nice.
That's a shame - i'll be in Brighton in a few weeks and was looking forward to walking down to this place for a vegan soft ice cream by the beach :(

[Hekaterine]

Yes, I'm going to Brighton in a few weeks to visit my son and we were going to have lunch at VBites. Not sure if it's worth the effort now.

[wildcatstrike]

It's totally worth the effort because you may get a completely different experience!

Just cos one person doesn't like something doesn't mean another person won't. A fully vegan restaurant?? - it's gotta be worth a try :D

[veganista]

It's totally worth the effort because you may get a completely different experience!
Yep, my experience of the place was good - quick service and very friendly staff. I think the food is really good value for money.

[Jiffy]

Yep, my experience of the place was good - quick service and very friendly staff. I think the food is really good value for money.

I knew it! I'm just an unlucky bleeder :(

I agree about the friendliness of the staff though.

[nickysr]

hi there - my husband and I braved the car ride from London to Hove on Saturday to try Vbites.
I had wanted to go since it opened so was very excited!
Unfortunately the food is really not good which was such a let down as I had high hopes!
BTW, the interior is great - really welcoming and the maitre de and staff were super friendly too.
We shared the nachos to start and this was OK - but was just prepacked tortilla chips with redwood cheesly (which does not actually melt properly IMO) with a bit of guacamole and a very unspicy salsa.
Then I tried the burger and Ian had the Chicky, avacado and rasher ciabatta.
We both had a bowl of chips (these were McCains oven chips I am 99% sure - really crap quality)
If you are going to serve chips and want to do healthy ones that are oven baked then at least make your own - these were really bad as mass produced oven chips are!)
Ian sandwich was literally 2 slices of Redwoods chicken slices - one slice of redwoods rasher and some lettuce - no dressing, no seasoning - really bland and something you could make at home 100 times better.
My burger was the redwoods one (obviously as all the food is redwoods!) which I actually dont rate muich - Red veg is so much better.
The cheesly was not melted (see comment before) so was very dry to eat.
We then tried a cupcake each and I can honestly say it was the most bland sponge I have ever eaten - there was literally no flavour, no sign of vanilla, just really no flavour at all and the icing was like pure sugar taste - no 'buttery'ness or any type of taste at all.
I really wanted to love this please and knew it was a cheap cafe style but even so I would never take anyone here as an example of vegan food. It was really very unimaginative in the flavours and as both vegans, we thought we would love the choice of foods but even my husband, who is a junk food fiend!, thought it was terrible.
Sorry to say but we will never go back which is a shame as I assumed we would be the ideal market....

[Jiffy]

That's a shame, still, it sounds like you at least got what you ordered.

What I find disappointing is that I emailed them, describing my experience in great detail and didn't even get a reply. I was genuinely trying to offer some constructive feedback.

We too found the cakes dire beyond imagining and we bought four different ones. The sponge was akin to ready mix post-fix and all you could taste was sugar and at £3.50 a pop they ain't cheap.

[harpy]

Hmm, I would still like to try VBites sometime but I'm reviewing my plan to take my omnivorous friend there! Thanks for the reports folks.

[nickysr]

That's a shame, still, it sounds like you at least got what you ordered.

Hi Jiffy,
actually i ordered a (an?) Hawaiian Burger but actually received a nacho one - which considering we had just had natchos for our starter that was really annoying - I said this is not what i had ordered but the plate was hovered over me and the waitress said that was what was put in. I explained we had already had nachos for starter etc... but she looked like it would be a mad effort to redo it so I caved!
She came back and said the server had misheard me - that was the problem but I ate it anyway!
I didn't mention this before as felt I had given them a bad enough review!
Like you, I found the cakes amazingly bad - and as anyone here who has made some from the Vegan cupcakes take over the world cook book, you know how easy it is to make fantastic cakes!