London can you wait?

Vegan Vietnamese food in London

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How about this tasty news?!

Liz and Joe are a couple with big plans for their brand new vegan food stand being launched at The Boiler House in Brick Lane on February 25, 2017.

What’s so special about ANOTHER vegan food stall in that part of London? Take a deep breath as I tell you Eat Chay is a 100% plant-based Vietnamese food stall!

Before I show you some mouthwatering food photos, take a look at how the Eat Chay menu is going to work.

That all sounds RIDICULOUSLY fabulous.

Now for the photos. Vietnamese coffee and tea. Korean meat-free ribs. Start planning your first meal with Eat Chay now.

Be sure to follow Eat Chay on Twitter and Instagram. Plus, get all their details online.

Get down for the grand opening on February 25 and then visit Eat Chay each and every weekend following that at The Boiler House.

Extra note: neither Liz or Joe are vegan but have decided to invest all of their efforts into a 100% vegan food business. Interesting.

Best vegan donuts in London

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London. You are onto a good wicket.

(Does ‘good wicket’ actually mean anything? Am I using that term correctly?)

After a short time away from the action, the glorious Peanut Butter Bakery is BACK to its usual weekend haunt at The Boiler House market on Brick Lane (see location on Google Maps).

Peanut Butter Bakery caused an absolute sensation at my vegan Christmas market, with people lining up for an extremely long time to get hands and lips on their sensational donuts.

If you think you would enjoy eating the best vegan donuts in the UK, get along to The Boiler House on Saturday 4 and Sunday 5 February, 2017. You will be unbelievably happy if you make the effort to get along.

To inspire you, here is a photo just posted by Peanut Butter Bakery detailing some of the things you should be excited about this weekend.


You need to follow Peanut Butter Bakery on Instagram.

Vegan pop up event

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UPDATE This event completely sold out in about 48 hours. The organisers have added five extra tickets to give people a chance who missed out. Click here to book QUICKLY! Also look for this to become a more regular event with changing food themes.

One of my favourite chefs in London is Adrian of Vegan Peasant Catering.

Together with his partner Diana, Adrian has built a peerless reputation as one of the finest vegan food caterers in the UK. I’ve collaborated with them on a few events and the food always leaves people raving.

Now is your chance to take part in the Vegan Peasant fine food experience for yourself.

I know I say this about a lot of things, but honestly if you don’t book a spot for this dinner as soon as you read this there is a HIGH chance it will be booked solid.

Thursday February 23, 2017 from 7pm until 10pm. Admission is £25.

Menu

Canapés

  • Smokey Aubergine Ganousch, Candied Lemon Zest & Sage Crisp Crostini
  • Cream Cheese, Pink Grapefruit & Garlic Chive on Buckwheat Blini
  • Black Pepper & Sea Salt Shortbread, Ricotta & Candied Fennel

Bowls

  • Sauté Wild Mushroom and Spinach with Oregano and Cherry Tomato Concasse over
    Gnocchi, finished with curly Endive and Basil oil
  • Balsamic Glaze Roasted Beetroots, Red Onion, Carrots and Toasted Walnut over Bulgur
    Wheat Salad finished with warmed Horseradish Sauce and Parsley

Sweet bites

  • Frutti di Bosco (Italian Fruit of the Forest)
  • Chocolate Chocolate Brownies

A welcome drink is provided on arrival and additional drinks will be available to purchase. This exclusive event is in the Hackney Central area close to Hackney Central Overground and Homerton Station. Attendees will receive directions and details within 48 hours of the event.

Click here to book now.

Follow Vegan Peasant on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. You should also get in touch with them for any large scale vegan catering needs you have as they have fed up to 300 people with mouthwatering plant-based food.

Non-vegan café switching to vegan

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I simply ADORE sharing news about non-vegan food places switching to plant-based offerings.

Slowly but surely, small victories for animals are turning the world just that little bit more vegan… and victories rarely come more uniquely planned out than what is going down at The Fields Beneath.

The Fields Beneath is a much-loved coffee shop and café situated at Kentish Town West station in North London.

Owner Gavin gave me some VERY interesting insights into how he is easing his loyal customers into veganism. I absolutely love his plans for 30 plant-based coffees for £30.

Let me step aside and give Gavin some more space to explain:

At The Fields Beneath, we’ve been open a little over four years and started transitioning to a vegan menu in December, cutting out meat first. The exciting opportunity we’ve got with the shop is that a vast majority of the customers are not vegan. They don’t get it in the way I feel only vegans do; I certainly didn’t myself until about this time last year, and the cafe has the chance to introduce customers to many parts of the vegan journey.

We started the conversation two weeks ago by offering a program where a customer can get 30 coffees for £30, the catch being no dairy! As of yesterday we’ve signed up 100 people. ‘What’s wrong with dairy?’ comes up a lot but the aim is to cut out dairy completely by the end of April.

As for the food, we’ve aimed so far to replace things with their vegan counterparts; our cakes, our croissants and sandwich ingredients. The hot dishes have been vegan for over a year.

From February we’ll be pushing the possibilities with food, choosing not just plant based menus, but leaning on as much seasonality as we can. On top of the team we’ve got, led by Helena Vieira, we’re building one for the future and have welcomed back old friend Avneet Padda after two years away working for the likes of Silo in Brighton and Cafe Oto in Dalston. She’s bringing a wealth of experience with baking, fermenting, pickling, seasonal produce and so on. So we’re very much at a ‘watch this space’ point.

We roast the coffee ourselves at Tate Britain, and have plans to make our own oat milk so that a) our costs don’t go up by moving from dairy to Oatly, and b) to make sure people don’t need to spend more money to be vegan.

What a well-thought out and inventive way to ease people into accepting vegan café choices as an everyday occurrence.

I can’t wait until my London return when The Fields Beneath will be 100% vegan. Who wants to meet me for a croissant?!

Please follow The Fields Beneath on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

Extra note: The Fields Beneath is a London Living Wage Employer. Fuck yeah!

Extra extra note: The Fields Beneath are running a hot water bottle drive. If you have a hot water bottle that is spare, drop it off with the café. If you are currently on the streets, you can drop in to collect a hot water bottle that has been recently filled. You are also welcome to return for hot water refills when needed.

Vevolution topics

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If you like to hear other people share ideas and knowledge, this series of events could be of interest.

You might know that Vevolution is an annual information event designed as a platform for vegan people to share expertise or insights within their chosen fields. But of course the problem with an annual event means you have to wait a full year for it to come around.

There is some good news for fans of the Vevolution set-up and that good news is the short series of events being lined up by the festival founders. You don’t have to wait that full year!

The sessions (called Vevolution Topics) are split into four categories that include Food Innovation in February, Health & Wellbeing in March, Activism & Campaigning in April and Inclusivity & Diversity in May.

The February session costs £10 (plus booking fee) and speakers will include:

  • Ian Theasby & Henry David Firth – Founders of Facebook vegan video food channel BOSH!
  • Sarah Bentley – Founder of plant based community kitchen Made In Hackney
  • Jonathan Petrides – Founder of plant-based home delivery vegan meals allplants

If you can’t afford the £10 entry or you are not within the London area, the organisers assure me the sessions will be filmed for sharing online in the near future.

You can click here to get more information and book your tickets.

How about a vegan potluck?

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I’ve got some news for all those people who reminisce of the days when we had London Vegan Potluck.

No, the much-loved monthly event that ran for four years is not returning. Instead, you can get along to this one-off fab potluck feast event being hosted by MOTHER in Hackney Wick.

MOTHER is a brand new plant-based juice works and café, so you need to know about them to start with before we even get to this potluck feast.

The potluck feast on January 21, 2017 means whether you’re a vegan or a non-vegan you can enjoy an evening of shared food, culinary inspiration and entertainment at MOTHER.

The principle is simple. Bring your own vegan dish and share with your fellow diners.

MOTHER will be providing the organic vegan main, but it obviously become a feast with all your starters and desserts.

You need to buy tickets for this event in advance, so click here to get yours.

RSVP to the Facebook event and be sure to like the MOTHER Facebook page.

Vegan Burns supper in London

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Do you know about Burns Night?

You can read in more detail here, but the short version revolves around a dinner or supper held to mark the birthday of celebrated Scottish poet Robert Burns.

This celebration is something I always see people talking about on social media throughout January, usually people I know in Scotland.

But now there is some good news for those wanting to commemorate the revered bard’s birthday in London.

There is a vegan supper club happening in London on January 22, 2017 that is billed as an alternative Burns Supper fusing Scottish and Indian cuisine.

Tickets: £35 for 3 courses including a cocktail and entertainment
Venue: The Joker of Penton St, Angel, London
Time: 6:00pm – 9:00pm

The good people putting this night together go by the name of Ruby and Pickles, and they are known for hosting some very special and unique food events. Did you miss their vegan Indian-style afternoon tea on a canal boat in Victoria Park? Never fear, they plan to revisit that event during 2017 due to overwhelming popularity.

In the meantime, you need to be extremely fast if you want to secure a spot for the Alternative Burns Supper.

Tickets are on sale now via Edible Experiences.

Keep up to date with future Ruby and Pickles happenings on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

BREAKING NEWS: fried chicken location

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When I broke news of Temple of Seitan announcing plans to open the UK’s first ever fried chicken shop, it set off shock waves around the vegan Internet.

People went absolutely wild for the news.

In keeping with my tradition of bringing the most fun news first, here is the scoop on just exactly where the fried chicken shop will be AND the official opening date.

Temple of Hackney

Grand opening: Saturday January 14, 2017 at midday

Address: 10 Morning Lane, Hackney E9 6NA

How amazing is the name?! What you can see above is a sneak preview of the inside wall of the shop.

I asked Rebecca of Temple of Seitan (and of course Temple of Hackney) how she was feeling ahead of the launch. Here is what she told me:

It is equal parts excitement and anxiety! We can’t wait to share the fruits of our labour over the last 3 months. The past year of doing stalls and festivals has gone so quickly and we almost couldn’t believe it was real when the signage and graphics went up today. In store, people can expect the usual fast food experience, except that they will be free to attack all items on the menu without having to worry about ingredients. Hopefully, we can fool a few omnis who stumble in as well.

Temple of Hackney, people. Make it your place of worship.

Click here to see the shop location on Google Maps.

Follow Temple of Seitan on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

Discount for Veganuary

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How would you like 15% discount at three of the finest food outlets in London throughout January?

Yes!

All you need to do to save 15% on any dish or any meal deal at CookDaily, Home and CookDaily Croydon is to show up and order.

No secret handshake. No confusing codes. Good for January 2017 in celebration of Veganuary.

Vegan dining in Tooting

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I don’t know if I have ever been to Tooting or even if I’m properly aware of its geographic positioning, but that doesn’t stop my excitement on hearing the rave reviews for a new vegan restaurant in the area.

Vegan Express is a fresh addition to the quickly growing vegan food scene of London.

Visit the restaurant website to marvel at the tempting menu that includes delicacies such as seitan stroganoff, fish and chips, and even raw tiramisu.

The prices are a few pounds more than your neighbourhood café will be charging, but the runaway rave reviews appearing all over social media make me think the menu is priced accordingly.

You can follow Vegan Express on Facebook and Twitter.

You can see where Vegan Express is located thanks to Google Maps.