Provincial towns you jog round

Vegan sushi

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Here is a little piece of news that is going to make a lot of people extremely happy.

Vegan sushi superstars Happy Maki now have a permanent shop front in the seaside town of Brighton. Yep, open RIGHT NOW for all your vegan sushi needs.

A photo posted by Happy Maki (@thehappymaki) on


If you have been to any vegan events during the past few years, there is a strong chance you have seen Happy Maki wrapping and selling their much-loved food to throngs of appreciative customers. They always have one of the longest lines at events I’ve seen them at and I’ve never heard a bad word.

People love this stuff!

Now people can love this stuff more regularly at the new Happy Maki shop front situated in The Lanes area of Brighton (next door to famous Boho Gelato).

The doors have only just been flung open but I’m sure there is already no shortage of loyal customers flowing into Happy Maki.

Yay for vegan sushi!

Visit the Happy Maki website for opening times and location. Follow them on Facebook and Instagram for upcoming festival appearance news.

Veganuary in Henley

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Here is a super quick update to let you know about a vegan dining experience taking place in Henley-on-Thames throughout January 2017.

The Old Bell is a much-loved and frequented pub run by vegan couple Pam and Rob, and to celebrate Veganuary the animal-friendly landlords are offering up a special deal.

Every Monday and Tuesday for all of January 2017, you will be able to enjoy their tasty, home-crafted vegan cuisine for the following prices:

All Mains – £6.50

Two courses – £10.00

Three courses – £13.50

(menu varies each week – typically there will be two starters, three mains, and two desserts to choose from)

I hear nothing but rave reviews about this pub from the few locals I know, so you should make an effort to get along if you are in the Henley, Reading or Maidenhead area.

In addition, The Old Bell is the oldest building in Henley so there is some extra incentive for all you history buffs out there.

You can follow The Old Bell on Twitter and Facebook.

 

New vegan store in Swansea

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You read the title correctly.

A new 100% vegan grocery and lifestyle store is opening in Swansea on January 3, 2017.

I reached out to owner Charlie for a little insight into Brontosaurus Vegan Lifestyle Store (what a fab name!) and here is what she had to tell me:

Brontosaurus Vegan Lifestyle Store will be Swansea’s first vegan store. We are located within Swansea’s historic Indoor Market, an ideal place to do your weekly shop: lots of green grocers, bakers and a few lovely places to have lunch.

Brontosaurus stocks a wide range of vegan products: chilled, frozen and prepacked foods, specialist dietary products for vegans who may have an allergy or intolerance, cosmetics, toiletries, household and lifestyle products. We stock products from many local vegan businesses (Naturally Kind Foods, Mr Nice Pie, Heavenly Organics, Manmane, Lincolns Lunchbox, Hygge Illustrations, Bewilder Photography, Wear Your Voice, PopCycle – to name more than a few!)

I have been helped by many kind hearted people to demolish, paint, clean, construct shelves, varnish, etc – basically make my shop! Family, friends and even strangers have offered their time and support. I truly appreciate their kindness.

Thanks for the info, Charlie!

I adore hearing stories of communities coming together in the name of veganism and your store sounds like a real labour of love for you all.

Brontosaurus will be open Tuesday to Saturday 9:30am – 4:30pm initially. The store is located at Stall 23b Swansea Indoor Market, Oxford Street, Swansea SA1 3PQ.

You can follow Brontosaurus on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Vegan fish and chip shop

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Is this a UK first?

Word has just reached me of a vegan fish and chip shop being readied for a grand opening in the UK city of Bristol. Is this the first 100% vegan chip shop in the country?

There are very few details at the moment but Jason, one of the owners of the new venture, wanted me to pass on this information to anyone who was curious or had heard whispers:

I’m one half of a partnership that is starting Bristol’s first 100% vegan chip shop next month. We are taking over a Chinese take-away in the city and converting it to a vegan take-away. We will be serving regular things you get in a take-away like curry sauce, gravy, mushy peas, there will be pea fritters and battered sausages and tofish too. Most of the ingredients will be organic. I’ll let you know more soon as we are in the process of getting our marketing side together and working on the images and fonts. The chip shop will be called Matter Battered and we are working on the shop front this week.

Wow!

Rest assured that I will bring you details, photos and links as soon as they are available.

Anyone excited?!

Vegan at a steakhouse

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Sheffield is the future vegan capital of the UK.

Make No Bones is turning out food perfection, BurgerLolz has garnered a lot of fans, The Incredible Nutshell is one of the best 100% vegan grocery stores in the country and I’m even launching Sheffield Vegan Beer Fest in the city during 2017.

If you need further proof of how much plant-based eating has impacted on this South Yorkshire location, you only have to look at the GIANT vegan menu on offer at Italian steakhouse Luna Rossa.

Yep. Sheffield is so very vegan that even a freaking steakhouse has a bigger vegan menu than most plant-based places.

Check it out below.

I’m thrilled to see such a rapid vegan takeover of Sheffield.

If you have a meat eater who refuses to go to a vegan restaurant, you now have two choices for dealing with the situation.

Never speak to them again or take them to Luna Rossa.

See the restaurant website here and check out the location on Google Maps.

Hornett second birthday

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I hear some many positive bits of news and info about Hornett Wholefoods in Wellingborough that  I thought a few of you would like to know the shop is throwing a 2nd anniversary party on January 7, 2017.

Check the old school flyer.

Everything being handed out as a gift on the day is vegan, even the glasses of Prosecco.

Get along to this much-loved store in Northamptonshire and support their birthday.

You can follow the shop on Facebook or see where they are located on their website.

Gorgeous vegan food in north Wales

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As fabulous as it is seeing the explosion of vegan food businesses across the UK, I do worry about ever having enough time and money to visit them all.

Take Harvest Vegetarian Kitchen for example.

The food being served looks absolutely stunning but when and how am I ever going to get to Wrexham in Wales?

However, the more I read their GIANT vegan menu the more feasible the mammoth journey seems.

The Harvest menu features all manner of stir fried dishes, noodle mains, crispy sides and vegan meats in black bean sauce. I would order one of everything!

The restaurant kindly gave me permission to reproduce some of their photos here. Check them out!

curry fried-dumpling gyoza noodles

That is only a tiny fraction of the menu. Looks fab, right?

You can see the entire menu on the Harvest website and be sure to follow their Facebook and Instagram accounts.

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Leeds and Sheffield

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I’m currently in Leeds and that means I get to visit one of my favourite vegan food places in the UK.

Humpit.

Check out what I devoured today in what is surprisingly the only permanent 100% vegan eatery in Leeds.


What do you think?

Humpit is located inside the Corn Exchange building in Leeds city centre, but in great news they also have an outlet in Sheffield.

You can grab gorgeous hummus bowls with a variety of toppings in two different Yorkshire cities.

Have you been?

See the Humpit menu and locations online, like their Facebook page and follow them on Twitter and Instagram.

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Pizza crunch done vegan

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I thought I had seen it all when it comes to vegan junk food.

I was wrong.

There is a dish in Glasgow known as pizza crunch. This outrageous food invention involves taking a slice of pizza, covering it in chip shop batter and deep frying it.

Yes, deep fried battered pizza. And of course you can now get a vegan version of this ‘dish’ that I’m told is mostly loved by people who have been drinking for a few hours.

Check out the vegan pizza crunch I got my hands on at Mono in Glasgow yesterday.


What do you think? Please take note of the hand cut chips and pickled onion rounding this out to a complete meal. LOL!

If that is not enough for you, Josh and I sampled a few other delicacies as well including the bánh mì and the to-fish and chips.

Mono have certainly got vegan comfort food down to a fine art.

Bánh mì at @monoglasgow is beautiful. #glasgow #vegan

A photo posted by Fat Gay Vegan (@fatgayvegan) on

The to-fish and chips at @monoglasgow seriously on POINT today. 🎯 #vegan

A photo posted by Fat Gay Vegan (@fatgayvegan) on


What do you think? Would the pizza crunch make your ‘must try’ list? Do you like the look of the to-fish?

Like Mono on Facebook.

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Good looking food in Cardiff

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I haven’t been to Cardiff for a really long time. Maybe years.

This is why I have not been able to share any photos from the 100% vegan café known as Anna-Loka, even though I keep hearing amazing stories about their menu.

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Due to my inability to visit the Welsh city, the kind people of Anna-Loka sent me some photos of what they are serving up.

Are you interested in seeing some of the food? Of course you are!

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Looking good at Anna-Loka, right?

You can get more details about the café on their Facebook page and follow them on Instagram.

See where the location is on Google Maps.

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