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UK: Eating in chain restaurants
I know we have a thread for vegan friendly restaurants but I thought we could use this one to talk about chain places. I'm sure the mods will move it if they see fit!
I just had this e-mail from Strada, the pizza chain:
From the starter section ( these can all be main courses too).
Insalta di Spinaci ( omitting the pancetta and parmesan shavings)
Bruschetta con Peperonata ( omitting goats cheese)
Zuppa Pasta E Fagioli
Pasta
Spaghetti Pomodoro
Penne con Bufala ( omitting the mozzarella )
You can also ask for a pizza with a tomato base with no mozzarella on and choose a topping of choice.
That's good because I used to like their pizzas!
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Re: What can we eat in chain restaurants?
Great idea! :) the only problem is we get screwed everytime the menu changes :(
Wagamama (Sept 06):
Vegans can enjoy the following as is, from our menu
Raw salad
Grilled asparagus
Edamame (both with salt and chilli garlic salt)
Miso soup and pickles
Yasai itame (main dish)
Yasai gyoza
All other vegetarian dishes would need noodles subbing for rice or rice noodles and / or the egg omitting – our server would be more than happy to help although please do be aware we cannot wholly guarantee that our products are 100% suitable and would ask that you double check before eating.
ASK restaurant: (July 06)
Marinated Olives
Mixed Salad
Tomato & Onion Salad
Spaghetti al Pomodoro
Penne del Giardino (without mushrooms)
Penne con Pomodori Secchi
Margherita pizza
Funghi pizza (without Taleggio cheese)
Vegetariana pizza
Marinated olives - not stuffed and are marinated in vegetable oil with herbs.
Bruschetta - tomatoes are marinated in garlic, basil and balsamic vinegar.
Egg free pastas available - casareccia, fettuccine, penne and spaghetti.
Pizza bases are suitable for vegans and pizzas can be ordered without cheese if you so wish.
Unfortunately at this time we do not have any desserts which are suitable for vegans.
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Re: What can we eat in chain restaurants?
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Re: What can we eat in chain restaurants?
I emailed Wagamama a few weeks ago to find out what was vegan. I thought it was strange that they had no mention of it on the dietary section of their website. Maybe it just dropped off the bottom of the page! lol. Its on there now:
http://www.wagamama.com/food_dietary.php
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Re: What can we eat in chain restaurants?
Brillo!
You can also buy the chilli men sauce in Sainsburys :p
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Re: What can we eat in chain restaurants?
I know I am so addicted to that sauce :D Guess what I had for dinner last night!? Yasai chilli men on rice noodles at Wagas :p Well I was caught up in all the travel chaos in London so I thought I deserved a treat ;)
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Re: What can we eat in chain restaurants?
Wetherspoons' veggie burger, chips and onion rings. Also several more things. See here.
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Re: What can we eat in chain restaurants?
thanks thats really helpful! My parents are always trying to drag me to Wetherspoons with them. Now at least I know I can go for a free feed :D
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Re: What can we eat in chain restaurants?
And if you like white wine, they sell Fetzer there, which is vegan (only the whites though).
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Re: What can we eat in chain restaurants?
Quote:
Linxie
I know I am so addicted to that sauce :D Guess what I had for dinner last night!? Yasai chilli men on rice noodles at Wagas :p Well I was caught up in all the travel chaos in London so I thought I deserved a treat ;)
Mmm!
I was v.unimpressed on my last visit; they didn't cook the rice noodles, and they were like plastic! I had sauce all over me! And our drinks came after we'd started our meal. Boo!
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Re: What can we eat in chain restaurants?
Pizza express can do a vegan pizza (bases and tom sauce are OK) . See this thread for more info.
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Re: What can we eat in chain restaurants?
Oh ok I see! I'll have alook when I'm in town tomorrow!!!
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Re: What can we eat in chain restaurants?
Whenever my friends go to get McDonalds or something, I just get some fries.
Probably not the healthiest thing in the world, but that's what I eat. Most places cook their fries in Vegetable oil.
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Re: What can we eat in chain restaurants?
Or in Mcdonalds case, vegetable oil with beef extract. (although admittedly it was about 5 years ago)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/1348296.stm
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Re: What can we eat in chain restaurants?
I don't think they do that anymore. Although McDonalds is a very unethical company one thing I do like about them is that they list which of their foods contain dairy and other allergy foods and which are suitable for vegetarians. Just turn over the sheet that is on the trays and its all there. Their apple pies are vegan which was a nice surprise.
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Re: What can we eat in chain restaurants?
McDonalds, or at least the McDonalds in New Zealand, advertise that their fries are cooked in 100% vegetable oil.
Non-hydrogenated Canola Oil, according to the website http://mcdonalds.co.nz
I assumed it was the same back in the UK.
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Re: What can we eat in chain restaurants?
I did say it was 5 years ago :)
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Re: What can we eat in chain restaurants?
Wasn't tryna argue, just saying. :)
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Re: What can we eat in chain restaurants?
Back to the Whetherspoons thing....My friend (Also vegan) went there and had the burger about 2 weeks ago and she told me she took one bite, realised it was cheese and spat it out. I'm soo confused!!!
As for MacDonalds....I work for a company whose current client happens to be MacDonalds (not happy I can assure you!!!) and I know for a fact all the oil used is vegetable oil....however knowing the restaurants in the entire south east...I wouldn't trust them not to fry the fries with the chicken.
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Re: What can we eat in chain restaurants?
I ate a wetherspoons burger along with my freinds over the weekend, definately no cheese in them.
As for the Mcdonalds thing, I'm sorry I mentioned it. Although they're a horrible company I seriously doubt they'd ever risk using bits of animals in their fries ever again after they got sued for it.
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Re: What can we eat in chain restaurants?
Even though a chain restaurant, since we already have a thread dedicated to 'J D Wetherspoon', several posts have been moved there, making it easier to find useful info on the pub.
http://www.veganforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1352
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Re: What can we eat in chain restaurants?
Poppet
I seem to remember a few lawsuits a while back which stated that McD's fries also contained beef extract - it might be worth you checking it out, although I personally wouldn't go to McD at all...
Regards
Phibes
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Re: What can we eat in chain restaurants?
McDonalds was sued in recent years for using beef extract in the fries. However I can personally assure anyone that the fries within McDonalds are now fried in seperate vegetable oil and are completely vegan. I work for a company who recently took on logistics for Mcdonalds (yes yes I know I'm desperately trying to leave!!!)
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Re: What can we eat in chain restaurants?
Oh I never heard about that, yukky.
I'm pretty sure they are Vegan now, even if they wern't before.
But they might cook their chicken nuggets and such in the same deep fryers because when I worked at BurgerKing (It was an after school thing when I was 16, and I wasn't Vegan then) they deep fryed all the deep fry things in the same vats of oil, fries, fish fillets, chicken tenders, etc.
That was a few years ago though, and McDonalds might be different to Burger King.
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Re: What can we eat in chain restaurants?
Ok NANDOs does actually suck for Omnis cuz all they get to eat is chicken! But as it happens the Bean burger has egg in it but the VEGGIE burger is milk and egg free. I got Nandos to send me an ingredients list cuz my mates eat there all the time!
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Re: What can we eat in chain restaurants?
Watch out for the pesto in Pizza Express. We were told it didn't contain cheese but apparently it does!!!
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Re: What can we eat in chain restaurants?
Anyone know if Frankies and Bennys do anything vegan? I get the feeling il be taking my own lunch and debating it with staff no doubt. Im due to go with some students for a summer scheme, could try to go elsewhere on the retail park but only other options are Mc Deaths (which i refuse to go in) and Nandos or pizza hut - not exactly vegan friendly options:rolleyes: there might well be a pub but will depend on where students want to go.......and on the budget......
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Re: What can we eat in chain restaurants?
Quote:
emzy1985
McDonald's was sued in recent years for using beef extract in the fries. However I can personally assure anyone that the fries within McDonalds are now fried in seperate vegetable oil and are completely vegan. I work for a company who recently took on logistics for Mcdonalds (yes yes I know I'm desperately trying to leave!!!)
WARNING! DATA DIFFERS BY COUNTRY!
Emzy1985 is probably correct for the UK, but McDonald's own website states that for the US, and I would assume some other countries as well, the ingredients are:
French Fries:
Potatoes, vegetable oil (partially hydrogenated soybean oil, natural beef flavor (wheat and milk derivatives)*, citric acid (preservative), dextrose, sodium acid pyrophosphate (maintain color), dimethylpolysiloxane (antifoaming agent)), salt. Prepared in vegetable oil ((may contain one of the following: Canola oil, corn oil, soybean oil, hydrogenated soybean oil, partially hydrogenated soybean oil, partially hydrogenated corn oil with TBHQ and citric acid added to preserve freshness), dimethylpolysiloxane added as an antifoaming agent). *CONTAINS: WHEAT AND MILK (Natural beef flavor contains hydrolyzed wheat and hydrolyzed milk as starting ingredients.)
Data obtained today from this source.
To check your own country start here.
edit: Please pardon my intrusion, I know this forum section is for the UK, but I just didn't want anyone to falsely think all McDonald's French Fries, worldwide, were vegan.... Why aren't you all calling them "chips" by the way?:confused:
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Re: What can we eat in chain restaurants?
:eek: How can fried slices of potato have so many ingredients?
Quote:
Mahk
Why aren't you all calling them "chips" by the way?:confused:
'Cos chips have got to be chunky. If they're thinner than your thumb, they aint chips.
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Re: What can we eat in chain restaurants?
[COLOR="Indigo"]I have had Franky and bennys pizza, the calzone, withouth the cheese sauce. .the base was vegan but that was few years ago so check!/COLOR]
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Re: What can we eat in chain restaurants? (UK)
I have spoken to Frankie and Bennys the pizza dough is still vegan and the pasta sauce the tomato one they use on the pizzas too. They were really helpful checked the nut roast it has egg in and cheese but they offered to make pizza/calzone minus the cheese.
Also said if there is nothing on the munu i liked i can take my own ingredients in they will prepare like pasta or pizza.
I have had a reply to my email to Nandos:
Hello,
The veggie patty has Soya but no milk or egg. You can order this in a
pitta or bun and just order it without the mayo. You can also order the
veggie patty on its own and have it with a salad.
Hope this was helpful
Best wishes
Rachel
I also rang my local branch - the spicy beanburger has egg in but the veggie patty is ok.
Chiquitos Mexican got very confused when I rang said the flour wraps wer ok but were not sure about the chilli as he did not know if quorn was used, they said i could make up wraps with salad, salsa and veggies, he did say i needed to ring head office to ask about the veggie chilli as he did not know what was in it thinks its vegan but not sure. I will do that at some stage!
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Re: What can we eat in chain restaurants? (UK)
I have been out with students on a summer scheme today bowling and had lunch at Franki and Bennies - did wonder how this would work out but the staff were very helpful checking ingredients and offering to adapt where they could, I had a pizza crammed with sweetcorn, toms, mushrooms, peppers etc with no cheese - very tasty and fresh.
I had potato skins with bit of salad for starters - minus cheese
They have said the spaghetti is vegan with the tomato pasta sauce and the pizza minus cheese was fine. Soups have dairy in. The staff have said they are happy for people to take soya cheese in to add to the pizzas.
The dough is vegan.
Its quite expensive in the eves but there is a good lunch deal on:
1 course £4.99
2 courses £6.25
3 courses £7.49
The pizza was the same quality as pizza express so another chain place that can make things vegan. No pud options but this didnt suprise me.
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Re: What can we eat in chain restaurants? (UK)
ah I used to love Frankie&Bennys in Glasgow before i became vegan..(the cocktails are great!)
At least I know they can fix me something when i go over the next time, so thanks alisont, thats very helpful!
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Re: What can we eat in chain restaurants? (UK)
Thats great info about Frankie and Benny's! I am so glad their pizza is vegan.:)
Does anyone have any info about Chiquitos?If not I will ask them myself, just wondering if anyones already checked?
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Re: What can we eat in chain restaurants? (UK)
Damn I forgot to mention about F&B's. I've been eating in there for the longest time and knew I could make things vegan....even though there is NOTHING stated as vegan on the menu. I.E you have to mod it to make it vegan.
I pretty much always have potato skins, minus dairy and then bring in my own tub of toffuti garlic and chive spread. Then a calzone with a tomato sauce instead of a cheese one and obviously minus the cheese. I also add extra onion and sweetcorn to that hehe. I quite often take my own cheese if I'm gonna have a pizza.
I go to the one in Stevenage and they are pretty damn awesome.
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Re: What can we eat in chain restaurants? (UK)
F & B's were so friendly they said they work on a 'no refusal' policy in that they are happy to be as flexi as they can.
They are happy do adapt veggie dishes to vegan where they can and if they dont have what you want you can take your own foods in - she said a lot of people have dairy intollerances so they are use to making pizzas without the cheese, happy to add soya cheese if you take your own.
She said to email head office about the lack of vegan puds - not got round to it yet....dont see why the fruit crumble cant be made the vegan way?
I also need to email Chiquitos - as if the chilli is quorn free it is a good vegan option, but need to find out more about that menu first before visiting!
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Re: What can we eat in chain restaurants? (UK)
I was going to go to Frankie and Bennys last year and I called them in advance to check if they would have anything vegan on menu. The guy who answered phone was very helpful and quite knowledgable I was very surprised.
(I didn't actually go there in end as we turned up and they had lost our table reservation:rolleyes: - but their heart was in right place I suppose )
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Re: What can we eat in chain restaurants? (UK)
It would be good if there was a vegan presence at these previews:
"opening in 2008
coming soon in the uk...
wagamama silverburn, glasgow opening march 2008
wagamama high wycombe opening march 2008
wagamama harrogate opening march 2008
wagamama heathrow t5* opening march 27, 2008
if you live locally to any of the above towns and would like to come along to our previews please email offers@wagamama.com with the restaurant name in the subject title and your postcode!
*heathrow t5 will not be having previews"
http://www.wagamama.com/article.php?...=123§ion=2
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Re: What can we eat in chain restaurants? (UK)
Not sure if there's a separate Subway thread...couldn't find one so thought I'd post here :)
I've noticed that Subway have new Veggie patties on the menu. Does anyone know if these are vegan here? And what about bread? I presume the wraps are ok, but don't really like to presume too much!
I hate those sort of chains, but it'd be really handy if I could pick up some fast vegan food sometimes!
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Re: What can we eat in chain restaurants? (UK)
http://subway.com/subwayroot/MenuNut...ergenChart.pdf
have a peek on that emmy.
no sniff of the pattie thing..last year i asked what was in it in a subway and they went off up the stairs to look and came back telling me there was milk or something in there..so i don't think they're vegan in the uk..though i have heard they might be um..elsewhere..alsothere IS a subway thread..or was..unsure where it is or if it's been 'got rid of'
if you get a veggie delight keep a beady eye on them cos they'll try to sneak in triangular shaped pieces of cheese..chaaaaange your gloooooves!!!!