Rustic dining room in France

This is a fab idea.

The Hidden Veggie Kitchen is a gorgeous dining room tucked away in the French region of Haute-Vienne (4 hours from Paris). Louise is a self-taught chef who wanted to bring meat free cuisine to rural France. In a message this week, she told me how incredibly difficult it is finding vegetarian or vegan dining opportunities outside the larger cities which pushed her to open her own home to hungry diners.

Louise has set up a rustic (and super gorgeous) dining room in her, well…. in her own dining room! It is a relaxed restaurant set up where people are served three courses for the ridiculously low price of €16 and they can even bring their own wine with no corkage fee.

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You can read a lot more about the permanent pop-up restaurant on the website and be sure to like their Facebook page.

Of course I would love to see this (or any) veggie restaurant serving vegan food only but if you take a look at the The Hidden Veggie Kitchen menu, you will no doubt be keen to try delights such as the decadent praline covered chocolate truffle and the spicy lentil bolognese with quinoa spaghetti.

Get to the French countryside and eat well!

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New Year’s Eve with FGV

You all know I love being involved in special vegan get-togethers and gatherings.

Whether I’m presiding over a beer festival or watching diners be treated to a special meal, one of my favourite things to do in life is to create opportunities for people to enjoy being vegan.

This love affair with being social is being taken to a whole new level at the end of the year as I jump on board the New Year’s Eve cruise hosted by Vegan River Cruises that just happens to be setting sail from Amsterdam.

I’m so excited!

Following on from last year’s NYE adventure down the Danube, I know exactly what to expect from the 2016/2107 journey. But maybe you don’t, so let me fill you in.

This year’s NYE vegan cruise runs between December 29, 2016 and January 4, 2017 with the starting and final port of call being the gorgeous city of Amsterdam.

After spending the first night docked in Amsterdam, the cruise sets off for a magical journey along waterways as the boat visits Rotterdam, Brussels, Antwerp and Maastricht before gliding back to Amsterdam.

We are going to be wowed by the scenery as we pass medieval towns and windmill-studded fields.

The ship itself is enough to make you want to book this holiday. Check out some photos below before I jump into telling you what you get on board:

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Well, there isn’t too much more I need to say about the ship that the photos haven’t already conveyed.

These ships are the equivalent of a 5-star hotel on water. The suites are luxurious with ultra-comfortable beds and well-appointed bathrooms.

All of your meals are included on the NYE cruise, so you don’t need to spend any money while on board. Yep. That’s right. Breakfast, lunch and dinner every single day is served to you at no extra charge and of course every single thing on the ship is 100% vegan.

In addition to your three meals a day, the cruise includes afternoon tea with cakes and a late night snack. All wine, beer and cocktails are included in the price you pay for the cabin. You will not be asked to pay for any food or drink while on board. Of course, all of the wines and beers are 100% vegan.

There is free WiFi in all suites and on board entertainment including a karaoke night hosted by me and my partner Josh!

You can explore the cities and towns where we dock either on your own or by paying to join some of the organised shore excursions. You can even make use of the electric bicycles on board the ship to adventure throughout the surrounding countryside. If you choose to stay on board for most of the trip, you can make use of the pool (!) and gym.

I’m incredibly excited to be part of this luxury cruise and proud to be involved with a business that goes to great effort to give passengers a completely vegan experience. Heck, even the toiletries in your suite are vegan!

Will I see you on board over New Year’s Eve?

Click here to see full details including pricing and to begin booking your vegan holiday.

La Stella Nera Berlin

 

 

joe panel

I’m way behind on my list of new vegan places in Berlin, so I’ll start with the new collectively-run Italian restaurant, La Stella Nera.

That it’s collectively run is positive as it means that the people working there share in the ownership, the work and the income, too. After a scandal in Berlin involving accusations of shoddy worker treatment at another vegan place, it’s heartening to see somewhere like this.

But what of the food, I’m sure you’re asking! Well, perhaps the clearest indication of the quality is the fact that we couldn’t get in the first two times we went – it was just that busy. Now I’ve learned to phone ahead and reserve, especially on a weekend.

And there’s a reason it’s quickly become such a popular restaurant: the food is high quality. It’s all freshly made and it shows. The pizzas are cooked in a traditional wood-fired pizza oven (sit opposite the till and you can see inside as the pizzas are cooked) and there are also superb pasta dishes – again, the pasta is made on the premises.

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There are two types of pizza offered – ‘blanco’ and ‘rosso’, Italian for white and red. I’m not a huge fan of the blanco pizzas, which come without tomato sauce. The toppings are still nice, but I need that tomato on there! Most of the pizzas have no cheese either, but there are a few on the menu which have cheese if you need it.

The pizza bases are light and fluffy, and baked to perfection. Drizzle with some oil and they’re excellent on their own. There are no wacky toppings or stuffed crust. The menu features traditional pizza with good-quality ingredients.

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The pasta pictured here was truly excellent, by the way – I can’t remember the name of it (my Italian isn’t as good as my German), it was basically pasta with some posh mushrooms, yet despite the simplicity of the dish, it was sublime. We’re planning on going back to have another one.

And if you still have room after all that, there’s a range of desserts including tiramisu and affogato. I’m not normally a fan of coffee in desserts, but both of these rocked my fairtrade, sweatshop-free socks off.

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Despite the high-quality of the food, the place is down-to-earth and easy going – it’s not somewhere you have to dress up for!

So if you’re coming to Berlin, that’s yet another place on your must-visit list. Just remember to phone ahead on a weekend.

Visit La Stella Nera online.

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Vegan in Vegas

Regular FGV reader Ari wanted to share her experiences of vegan food in Las Vegas.

Check it out!

On a trip to Fremont Street in downtown, we visited The Container Park (think UK’s box parks) to catch lunch at Simply Pure, a vegan semi-raw food joint. A menu by Stacey Dougan consists of tacos, wraps and grilled cheese. My hubbie and I went for the crowd favourite, Ultimate Sampler, because variety wins in my books and this eliminated my affliction of food envy. 

The Ultimate Sampler consisted of Zucchini Pasta Trio, Nacho Grande, Jicama Chili Cheese Fries and Asian ‘Chicken’ Lettuce-Wrapped Tacos. The Nachos Grande with ‘beef’ and ‘cheese’ (cashew sauce) was the stand out on the plate although all the sauces were good. I’m pretty sure I let out an mmmhhh after the first nacho. Courgetti is never one to get my eco-engine going but this was the best courgetti/zucchini pasta I’ve tasted. Usually my hopes of good courgetti are dashed with slime and blandness. None of that here!

Upon leaving the container park, something caught my eye… The sign outside gourmet hot dog, Cheffini’s, read ‘VEGAN’. Hello! It would have been rude to ignore.

See the 'vegan' on the chalkboard!
See the ‘vegan’ on the chalkboard? You might have to squint.

Of the many options of which they can make vegan, we had to choose something a bit simpler as the intention was to leave with a regular vegan dog to-go for an afternoon nosh. No funny business. However, ‘vegan Salchipapa’ (deep fried vegan hot dog bits served over french fries!) caught my eye at the final hurdle.

Vegan Salchipapa from Cheffinis
Vegan Salchipapa from Cheffinis

I choose the pineapple sauce (instead of the included signature sauce which has mayo). Excellent sauce choice for the dog and fries. If only there was more time to try their different creations and sauces… a good problem to have.

Other vegan haunts to visit if you’re in Las Vegas are:

Ronald’s Donuts – retro, basic shop a couple of miles from the strip with two vegan options – glazed and soy cream – on my visit (menu changes daily). Amazingly light, fresh and very tasty. 

Settebello – Italian chain restaurant with decent vegan options.

Buffet at the Wynn – delicious vegan options clearly marked and staff can identity dishes for you. The spring rolls will make you wonder if you can sneak any in your purse. Incidentally, since Steve Wynn went vegan he has ensured that all food outlets in the Wynn hotel/casino have good vegan options!

Thanks, Ari. Sounds like you had some fantastic eating experiences in Vegas.

Of course Ari only just scratched the surface of vegan food options in Las Vegas. If you are heading their for a visit, make sure you take a look at Happycow to find out everything plant-based on offer.

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Vegan in Malmö Sweden

Post by:

joe panel

When I was in Copenhagen, I also took a day trip to Malmö, over the sea in Sweden. Some people make out like Malmö and Copenhagen are nuzzled together, but it will take about an hour to get from central Copenhagen to central Malmö, realistically.

However, if you do make the trip (take your passport, Schengen is no longer here) you’ll be rewarded with some excellent vegan food at Kao’s.

The café was a little hard to find – from the street it looked like the place is closed down (I’m not sure if they were refurbishing it). However, signs directed us through the gate at the side and into the rear courtyard where we found a beautiful, peaceful oasis.

In addition to a buffet, there are three daily specials – one soup, one fake meat, and one vegetable dish, plus a range of sweet treats to satisfy any tastebuds.

We had seitan sausage with potato salad (packed with dill, one of my favourites), and a sweet potato gratin with tofu and curry-roasted vegetables, which came with some amazingly creamy garlic mayonnaise. Both dishes were delicious, though they may not look particularly exciting on my photos! Meals include a trip to the salad bar, plus a tea or filter coffee too.

There was also a big selection of sweet stuff. After much deliberation we settled on a cinnamon swirl, plus a slice of chocolate cake with a thick caramel layer in the middle – gooey and delicious.

4 Kao%27s vegan Malmö - cinnamon swirl and chocolate-caramel cake 3 Kao%27s vegan Malmö – sweet potato gratin 2 Kao%27s vegan Malmö - seitan sausage and dill potato salad 1 Kao%27s vegan Malmö - courtyard

We both thought Kao’s was excellent, a perfect spot for some lunch. There’s also a branch of the vegan supermarket Astrid Och Aporna very close by, so you can stock up on goodies for your travels.

Later, after wandering around the city, we went to the clearly-named Vegan Bar. I quite like that it’s so proud of its credentials – and it was packed, too!

They specialise in burgers, and they have a build-your-own system in place. First you choose your burger style – soya mince, chickpea, or portobello – then you choose your type of bread, then finally your toppings.

We chose a mushy-mushy chickpea burger with sourdough bun. The mushy-mushy includes lots of mushrooms and a slice of vegan cheese. It came with chunky fries and was pretty big and very tasty!

8 Vegan Bar Malmö - burger close-up 7 Vegan Bar Malmö - burger and fries 6 Vegan Bar Malmö - busy seating 5 Vegan Bar Malmö - window sign

The only odd note came after ordering, when the friendly member of staff told us that we should have been charged extra for sharing (we weren’t hungry enough to each tackle a burger and fries). This is a bit weird for a bar. I can understand why a restaurant might do this, but for a place where you order your food at the bar, and where not everyone is eating anyway, it seems a bit off.

But the food was great, and the atmosphere was pretty cool, too. It’s not in the centre of the city, but off to the south, close to Triangeln station where the Copenhagen train stops, which makes it ideal for starting or ending your day in Malmö.

Which is what we did, and thus ended our day in Malmö…

…well, almost. On the way to the station we passed an ICA supermarket and decided to drop in. To our surprise we discovered a huge corner dedicated to vegan products! They even had flapjacks, which funnily enough aren’t easy to get over here. Good to see such prominent vegan marketing, and useful to know too.

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Copenhagen 2016

Post by:

joe panel

You know, I’ve got no excuse to go on holiday to Copenhagen again. There are so many new vegan places in Berlin that I’ve failed to tell you about (though that will soon be rectified, I promise!), yet here I am trotting off to Denmark again.

Anyway, the good news is that since my last visit a year ago, Copenhagen’s vegan selection has improved considerably. In addition to seeing more vegan options in non-vegan places, there are a few new all-vegan restaurants too (and they’re not of the faddy health food variety that dominated previously). Here’s the low-down on two of them.

I think our favourite new place was Souls. Located on a quiet but pretty square in the residential area of Østerbro, Souls is a real step up for vegan fare in Denmark.

We had two sandwiches, and they were not only huge but incredibly tasty too. Photographed here you can see a “Soulful BBQ” which includes grilled mushrooms and tofu, and the Kidney Bean which includes something like Mexican-style refried beans and guacamole, among other ingredients. One sandwich (or “sanger” in their Australian parlance) is plenty of food for one person, but you can order some sweet potato fries now, if you have room.

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They also have a (US-style) pancake brunch, which we never made it to, much to our regret!

We also visited Café N which has a wide range of food available. They have some tasty croissants (the best vegan croissants I’ve had, maybe) and enjoyable sandwiches and sides, as well as full-plate meals (and the portions are generous here, too). You can see a big sandwich crammed full of mushrooms and tofu, with some chunky fries and home-made mayonnaise dip artfully blurred in the background.

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My only complaint about Café N is that they stop taking orders at 9pm, but their website doesn’t mention this (just says they close at 10pm). Come on guys, it’s easy to put that information on there! The staff were very friendly and directed us to another restaurant that had some so-so vegan options, but it was still disappointing, especially as we could have got there earlier if we’d known.

Anyway, those are my latest recommendations for Copenhagen. I hope the city continues to expand for vegans… maybe one day it will catch up to Berlin!

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Vegan surf camp

What follows on this page is one of my favourite guest posts of all time.

I won’t explain as Elena from The Vegan Society does such an amazing job. My words would only get in the way.

Vegan Surf Camp By Elena Orde from The Vegan Society

Sun, miles and miles of beaches and all the delicious food you can eat… have I got your attention yet? Vegan Surf Camp is a haven for globetrotting vegans, located in the wonderfully green Plage-Moliets in the South of France. The camp runs throughout July and August each year, and I was lucky enough to visit in the second week of their season.

Let’s begin with the important stuff… the incredible food. Each night the staff laid out an array of amazing homemade dishes. A few examples include mushroom and seitan stew, crispy garlic bread, tomato and ‘tofu feta’ salad, vegetable tempura, burgers, fried potatoes, plus the camp’s own vegan mayo, which they literally made by the bucket.

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As a complete surfing newb I didn’t know how I would take to it. But with the guidance of the surf instructor I actually managed to stand up on the board a handful of times over the course of the week (before plunging into the sea and having a little drink of ocean each time). So I think that counts as a win.

If surfing isn’t your bag, the camp has so much else to offer. You can go for walks along the coast or in the surrounding woodland, become embroiled in ping-pong wars, or lounge around the camp’s outdoor bar in their rainbow-striped hammocks or on their rustic decking complete with cat-patterned upcycled cushions. It’s all gloriously Instagrammable.

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The camp also offers daily outdoor yoga sessions in the woods. What with the warm breeze and the chirruping wildlife, the atmosphere was so relaxing that I found myself dozing off during the end-of-session Savasana. I can definitely get behind a yoga pose which basically consists of having a bit of a lie-down with your eyes closed.

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The only downsides to the camp were due to my own lack of preparation. If you’re going, take suncream. Take a lot of it, and use it. Or you will end up like me, with randomly-placed patches of sunburn from where you fell asleep in the sun and your towel slipped off a bit. Also: come prepared with mozzie repellent. I found myself having some very un-vegan thoughts towards these little guys as they nibbled on me in the evenings.

Members of The Vegan Society receive 5% off their Vegan Surf Camp booking fee, plus hundreds of other great discounts. Sign up here.

Vegan Surf Camp runs throughout July and August each year. Get more details and pricing here: https://envegansummercamp.wordpress.com/

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Vegan banana split

I know the majority of readers are based in the socially, politically and financially crumbling UK so I thought I would offer you some pure vegan food escapism to brighten up your bleak week.

During my trip to Los Angeles last week, I had the extreme pleasure of visiting a completely vegan soft serve frozen yoghurt store located in Glendale.

Yoga-Urt is a gorgeous experience from top to bottom. Friendly people, delicious yoghurt (old school, isolationist UK spelling!) and a delightful selection of vegan toppings.

Take a look at the stunning banana split below and tell me if you can even handle it!

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Save your devalued Pounds and get to California for some frozen goodness at Yoga-Urt.

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New vegan donut café

Post by:

joe panel

Just when you thought that Berlin just couldn’t get any better for vegan food, along comes another place to make you drool. And this one is a corker!

Brammibal’s have been selling incredible vegan doughnuts at fairs and through other vegan cafés for about a year now, but finally they’ve achieved their goal of opening a café all of their own. And I’m pleased to say it’s excellent. The café is spacious and relaxing, a great place to spend an hour or so. It feels like it’s a piece of New York City transported across the Atlantic, I’m not quite sure why but that’s the feeling I get (in a good way!).

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The headline product is the doughnuts, of course. A wide range of sticky, sweet confections which are well worth travelling for. But it’s not all about the sugar – even though it’s not promoted much, they also have excellent coffee and sandwiches. We had one with grilled BBQ tempeh and portobello mushroom, and another with cashew cheese and smoked “lox”, made from thinly-sliced carrot. (Lox isn’t a word I’d ever heard in Britain, but I recently learned that it’s used in North America to describe smoked salmon. And it surely comes from the German word “lachs”.) They were both magnificent.

You can find out more about Brammibal’s online.

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Vegan snack extravaganza

I’m currently in Los Angeles which means a lot of snacking.

Check out some of the food and drink stuffs that have been making me smile these past few days.

Two massive take out trays of #vegan Ethiopian food from Rahel in Los Angeles. Look at that injera!

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Nothing going on around here except a bag of garlic dill pickle potato chips by McClure’s!!!!!! #vegan

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Too cool. The sea salt peanut bag on the right is just like how I remember peanut M&Ms. #vegan

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Gorgeous #vegan kale Caesar salad with crispy tempeh from @veggiegrill

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These will ALWAYS be one of my favourites. #vegan

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These gorgeous things made the cut during my #vegan snack frenzy today.

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Absolutely guzzled this! #vegan

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In love with the fried #vegan chicken basket at Doomie’s in Hollywood. Sides include slaw, mac n cheese and fries.

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Fried sprouts with nacho cheese at Vegan Beer and Food Festival in Los Angeles. #vegan

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Devilled #vegan eggs at Los Angeles Vegan Beer and Food Festival

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Tasty #vegan slider with seitan from @snackrilegeveganfoods at Los Angeles Vegan Beer and Food Festival today.

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The double down burger by @theherbivorousb at Los Angeles Vegan Beer and Food Festival today. #vegan

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I could drink this all day long. Gorgeous.

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Not a bad array of snacks, hey? Anything take your fancy?

Extra note: all these photos originally appeared on my Instagram account.

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