-
Re: Vegan London, Part Three
The Vegan Society and Animal Equality both posted about it on Facebook. My Mum is even excited about it! She's a foreigner who loves anything quintessentially English. So a tea shop is perfect! And we can all go there and it looks like a place where she'll feel very comfortable.
-
Re: Vegan London, Part Three
My other half and I had been looking on Happy Cow for a vegan restaurant to go to for my birthday meal tomorrow evening in central London. We've done Tibits, and the Rootmaster bus off Brick Lane, and want to try somewhere new and reasonably priced. We saw about a restaurant called Itadaki Zen in Kings Cross, which would be handy as we will be going to the Vx shop at Kings Cross. However, I read this thread on the forum about it, and am now a bit worried. From what others have said on here, it isn't great and is very pricey for what it is. Does anybody have really recent reviews of it? Or please could anybody recommend somewhere in central London? We want to go somewhere where others would say "Wow! Yes, definitely go there! It's a great place!".
Thank you!
-
Re: Vegan London, Part Three
I've only been to Itadaki Zen that once, so can't say what it's like now. I didn't dislike it but found the menu a bit challenging. There are some more recent reviews on HappyCow I think.
We always have a jolly time at Sagar (usually the Catherine Street one) and they have a vegan menu, but perhaps that's not fancy enough for a birthday? What about 222, is that not central/festive enough?
The food in Mildred's is usually pretty nice (haven't been for a while) but you sometimes have to queue.
ETA near Vx there are the Indian veggie places in Drummond Street - Chutneys is possibly the best of the bunch these days.
-
Re: Vegan London, Part Three
Pusskins, have you been to Manna? It's not quite central I guess but only a 5 minute walk from Chalk Farm tube. I've always really enjoyed it there. It can get pretty expensive (about the same prices as Rootmaster I'd say).
If you want something more central and reasonably priced I'd agree with Harpy - I think Mildreds is always very good. Although definately more of a sense of occassion at Manna.
Have a lovely day!
-
Re: Vegan London, Part Three
Thank you, harpy and VeganMonkey! Will let you know how we get on :D
-
Re: Vegan London, Part Three
You may not see this in time but I'd definitely go for Manna - nice and romantic with very good food. The 'build your own meal' main course taster plate is great as you can choose which 4 starters you have a mini portion of as a main, this way you get to sample more of the menu. I really like their starters so usually go for that.
Amico Bio (Cloth Fair, near Barbican tube) and Zilli Green (in Soho) might also be worth considering. Have a lovely day and evening.
(By the way Rootmaster is currently closed.)
-
Re: Vegan London, Part Three
Quote:
pusskins
New vegan tea shop/patisserie opening up! October Cafe. Based on Old Street in London.
Website
here
I went there this week. The food is very nice, everything is presented on sweet mismatched vintage crockery. The seating area at the front of the shop is bright and airy and there is another room at the back.
They usually have cakes, scones, savoury pasties and sweet pastries as well as afternoon tea for £7.50 which includes sandwiches but as they are just getting into the rhythm of things in their opening week they may not have everything every day. (Check their Facebook page for details and opening hours as they vary at the moment. They also have photos of all the lovely food they do on there.)
-
Re: Vegan London, Part Three
Thanks for the report, Marrers - must go to October Cafe. Also to Manna which I haven't been to for many years.
I quite liked Zilli Green when I went a while back but I have read some mixed reports recently - anyone been lately?
-
Re: Vegan London, Part Three
Manna has really improved imo - all vegan now harpy!
I haven't been to Zilli Green for a while but they are no longer opening for lunch every day during the week so I'd advise checking by phone before you go during the day as in my experience the website isn't always kept up to date (sadly I didn't get to try the lunch buffet which was well reviewed on this thread a while back) but apparently they have a new dim sum menu available. I understand their tiramisu is no longer vegan . . . but talking of vegan tiramisu they now have a very nice one at Tibits - though if you're making a special trip you might want to check they have it as I'm not sure if it will be available every day.
-
Re: Vegan London, Part Three
Yum, I'm sure they didn't have the vegan tiramisu at Tibits last time I was there but it was a few weeks back.
I read a report about someone being served instant mashed potato at Zilli Green, which if true would be outrageous at those prices.
-
Re: Vegan London, Part Three
I need some suggestions of thai/chinese/indian restaurants in central London that serve both meat and vegan food. Preferably either as a buffet or set menu's.
It's for a stag night so would need to be somewhere that we can book and sit and eat (not a tiny cafe) and would need to sell alcohol. The reason for the buffet/set menu is that the guy organising it wants us all to be able to pay the same amount so we don't have to argue over a bill or worry about eating too much.
-
Re: Vegan London, Part Three
Not sure if any of the current set menu's would appeal (:rolleyes:), but throwing out the Mango Tree as an option - as it was the first thing that sprung to mind. Perhaps they'd be able to do something especially if enough people are going?
-
Re: Vegan London, Part Three
Thanks Gwydion, I should have said I already suggested the Mango Tree and Wagamamas. I think there might only be 2 vegans going so I'm trying to persuade the guy organising it that the meat eaters could all have a set menu and us vegans could sort out our own bill between us.
-
Re: Vegan London, Part Three
Seems I might be the only vegan so can do the above, they can all get set menu's or a buffet and I can pay for my meal separately.
-
Re: Vegan London, Part Three
VEGAN TIRAMISU!!!!
I am going back to London ASAP!!!
We went to 222 last night, and had the most amazing meal. The staff are super friendly. The food is just out of this world. We shared a starter, kind of shared each other's mains (I had a cooked meal, the other half had a raw meal, plus plantains as a side) and shared each other's desserts. I just can't praise the food or the people enough. And it was very reasonably priced!
And I got to meet harpy, which was lovely :D Thank you for the beautiful card! I hope you enjoyed your meal, too!
-
Re: Vegan London, Part Three
It was lovely to meet you both pusskins - hope to have a proper chat next time but didn't think you'd want to spend your special evening hanging out with a load of old codgers :D
We did have a very good meal. I think 222 has actually got better the longer it's been open which is unusual with restaurants. The raw avocado soup was especially delicious and I had some kind of raw cake for pud. (Ate far too much again :/ )
-
Re: Vegan London, Part Three
Quote:
Marrers
I went to October Cafe this week. The food is very nice, everything is presented on sweet mismatched vintage crockery. The seating area at the front of the shop is bright and airy and there is another room at the back.
They usually have cakes, scones, savoury pasties and sweet pastries as well as afternoon tea for £7.50 which includes sandwiches but as they are just getting into the rhythm of things in their opening week they may not have everything every day. (Check their Facebook page for details and opening hours as they vary at the moment. They also have photos of all the lovely food they do on there.)
Here is the photo of the food we had - prices may have been adjusted since then. Potato bread £2, baby fairy cakes (gluten-free?) chocolate with mint frosting and lemon drizzle, £2 each, plum frangipane £3.50 a slice and a 'twinkie' £2.50 - all delicious - as well as the 'afternoon tea' you can see on the tied cake stand (costing £7.50 then*) which consisted of cucumber sandwiches, cream 'cheese' sandwiches, 2 scones with jam and whipped cream and a slice of victoria sponge - plus a pot of tea of course.
* I went in the opening 'test' week - I believe the prices of afternoon tea is now £9.50.
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b1...d/IMG_4213.jpg
-
Re: Vegan London, Part Three
Is that price per person, or price for the tea as a whole, Marrers? Seems very reasonable if it's the latter. I can see the sandwiches are cucumber, what was in the savoury pastries though?
-
Re: Vegan London, Part Three
Quote:
twinkle
Is that price per person, or price for the tea as a whole, Marrers? Seems very reasonable if it's the latter. I can see the sandwiches are cucumber, what was in the savoury pastries though?
Sorry, I've only just realised I hadn't listed what we had on that table so I've now edited my post. We had one cream tea and a selection of other things, all sweet except for the potato and rosemary bread. (They aren't licensed to sell hot food so the savoury pastries will be cold.)
-
Re: Vegan London, Part Three
Awesome! Thanks Marrers.
If anybody is going a over a weekend sometime soon and fancies a brew and bread buddy, please let me know.
-
Re: Vegan London, Part Three
Went to October Cafe again recently. I tried a savoury pasty (would be better warmed so I might take one home next time) as well as tasting the Rum Ball and St Clements cake of my companions - both delicious. I also had a very nice chai latte. They now have boxes of chocolates for £9 too, I think you can buy them mail order via the website. It was open til 9pm and you can bring your own alcohol.
Talking of mail order I can't praise Accidentally Vegan's pastries highly enough - profiteroles and eclairs are wonderful and they do macaroons and various other goodies. Vx also sell them but no need to miss out wherever you live as you can buy some things via their Facebook page.
In Wholefoods (Kensington branch) today I found a frozen Luxury Vegan Nut Roast, £7.99 made by Thank Goodness (they do a veggie one too so make sure you pick up the right one).
On the deli counter they had a NY Times black bean burger and a Quinoa & Sweet Potato cake which looked nice.
They are also selling Saf chilled goods - marked 'Vegan & Raw' - cakes, cashew cheese and sweet mousses. Also crackers.
The fresh cashew cheeses are £4.49 each and comes in a reasonable sized plastic cup. Mine weighed 162g but they will vary a little. They had Olive flavour, Herb flavour and Sundried Tomato flavour. They had two triple layered mousses for £4.29 each - Rose, Lavender & Lemon (I got this one - very tasty) and Chocolate, Mint & Vanilla - in same sized plastic cups as the cheese.
On the downside I found 4 packets of sausages which were 17 days out of date and two mousses which were 2 days out, so check the dates carefully.
(I couldn't find a 'New Foods' thread or a Wholefoods thread but if there is please quote any part of this post in those or any other more relevant threads as I'm very rarely on here these days.)
-
Re: Vegan London, Part Three
Vegan choux pastry at last? Hallelujah!
-
Re: Vegan London, Part Three
Quote:
harpy
Vegan choux pastry at last? Hallelujah!
The picture doesn't look like they nailed it yet. It might taste good but they aren't true eclairs :(
-
Re: Vegan London, Part Three
The appearance of the eclairs varies (in the picture you are probably looking at they are on their side and they have extra filling). They also do a fab Mille Feuille.
Here is a (frozen) cherry eclair.
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Abxv1qzTks...rry+Eclair.JPG
-
Re: Vegan London, Part Three
I looked at the inside of the dough part in the picture of the site linked. Eclairs puff up in the oven and turn out completely hollow by themselfs. In the picture it looks like there is more a cake-like interiour to the eclair than there should be. Mille Feuille is easier to veganize.
-
Re: Vegan London, Part Three
I would certainly be prepared to risk it :) I'm trying to eat healthily at the moment though so perhaps I'll wait until I can get to Vx rather than ordering a cwt over the web.
-
Re: Vegan London, Part Three
The Rootmaster has been listed as part of Time Out's new 101 things to do in London...get down to Brick Lane soon before it starts getting ridiculously busy!
-
Re: Vegan London, Part Three
Has Rootmaster reopened then? Their website still says they have "no plans to reopen" :(
-
Re: Vegan London, Part Three
Yeah - someone's a bit out of sync here. Also heard today that they are not planning to re-open. They haven't been based at Brick Lane for quite a while now. Hmmmmn.
-
Re: Vegan London, Part Three
Glad I didn't rush off to Brick Lane then ;)
-
Re: Vegan London, Part Three
I'm back in London! Slowly getting out there and having fun. Went to Amico Bio last week. Thought it was pretty good. The food was tasty, although the prices were a bit high relative to the portions (you have to order potatoes and vegetables separately in addition to the main course, so it quickly adds up). The only vegan desserts were ice cream and sorbet, but I tried the vanilla and chocolate ice creams and they were home-made and very tasty. They also did a delicious seitan dish and yummy focaccia.
Then Chutneys buffet - fantastic as usual.
And today, Vx - pleasantly surprised by their range. Had my first ever mille feuille - it was really good! I don't usually care much for pastry, but this was a pleasant surprise. Better than the neapolitan cake, which was good but needed the (very rich) icing to compensate for being slightly dry. I prefer moist cake without too much icing. I also loaded up on jerky, Vegusto cheese, Wheaty products and nutty chews. :thumbsup:
Table booked for Manna on Sunday - can't wait! Will also try to squeeze in 222 Veggie Vegan if we get the chance. From next Monday it's back to work so trying to get as much vegan tourism done in London as time and budget permit!
-
Re: Vegan London, Part Three
Welcome back to civilisation, rainbow ;)
I really like Amico Bio, and it stays open quite late so you can sometimes go after a concert at the Barbican. I invariably have the affogato for pudding - vegan icecream doused in espresso (which I suppose one could easily do at home if one had an espresso machine or went out and bought some). I hope they still have that? I don't normally bother with side dishes.
Please report back on Manna as I haven't been there for yonks.
-
Re: Vegan London, Part Three
Although the website could do with a bit of work, A Taste Of Heaven could be interesting. Think it is brand new, so not sure if anybody has had the pleasure of sampling yet?
-
Re: Vegan London, Part Three
Does look interesting, Gwydion. Maybe 7th Day Adventists as they are shut on Saturdays and don't like booze or caffeine?
I thought we had discussed this already but I can't find a mention of it so I will just remind people that if you're stuck for a vegan restaurant Le Pain Quotidien has quite a few branches in London now and usually has several things that are marked vegan, including a salad and a mezze platter. I went in the Victoria branch today and had a vegan muffin which was a little on the chewy side but quite acceptable.
-
Re: Vegan London, Part Three
Hmmm, good point Harpsickle! Didn't even notice that. I have the observance qualities of a quilt. Cheers for Le Pain recommendation, good to know.
-
Re: Vegan London, Part Three
Harpsickle? :p I used to like that other Adventist place, Country Life, that was near Piccadilly Circus a few years back, so I have high hopes of this one. You can always get tanked up afterwards - with coffee I mean, of course :devil:.
-
Re: Vegan London, Part Three
-
Re: Vegan London, Part Three
I was thinking of going to Zilli Green for lunch today so looked up the website to check opening times and found it closed on 25th July and is supposedly moving . . . I wonder if it will ever reopen. Does anyone have any further information?
Quote:
Zilli Green is being relocated from Monday 25th July 2011 and will no longer be in Dean Street. To make sure our vegetarian customers are not neglected whilst this transition happens we have a selection of Vegetarian Dishes from the menu available in Zilli Fish restaurant, this will be cooked by our Zilli Green Head Chef to ensure the quality of the meals. Please call 0207437 4867 for more information or to make a reservation.
Our apologies for any inconvenience caused.
-
Re: Vegan London, Part Three
No idea, but I certainly won't be going to Zilli Fish - ugh!
-
Re: Vegan London, Part Three
Nor me. However, I hope they don't take our lack of interest in ordering vegetarian food at Zilli Fish as a lack of interest in Zilli Green reopening.