Vegan friendly pub with food in Swansea

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Swansea. Your time has come.

The Last Resort is a contemporary drinking venue that is rapidly becoming the number one place where vegans and vegan-friendly people like to socialise in Swansea.

Carl from The Last Resort (located at 207 High Street) got in touch to let me know that the bar serves about a dozen craft beers on tap (all vegan) and that their food menu currently consists of the following:

  • Tofu-phish and chips
  • A southern fried seitan burger
  • Mac and ‘cheese’
  • Vegan scotch ‘egg’

The bar is super proud to serve up fairly monstrous portions and I’ve been hearing amazing reviews from their regulars.

You can follow The Last Resort on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Yay for vegan boozing in Swansea!

Follower drives on Instagram

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One form of support I’ve been involved with as a blogger and social media person recently is Follower Drives.

I got the idea a few days ago when I was visiting a brand new vegan restaurant in Sitges, Spain. Spice Garden is the only 100% vegan restaurant in Sitges and I was a bit disappointed that the Instagram account for the restaurant had quite a small number of followers.

During my meal, I posted a series of photos on my own Instagram asking my followers to consider following the restaurant. I set a target of 500 followers and if you click through to the account now, you will see that we were able to zoom right past that number.

The restaurant started with 187 followers and now has over 1,300 in just a matter of days.

I applied the same campaign idea to raising the follower count for a brand new late night vegan bar in Barcelona called Bar de Retro. This time we took them from 99 followers to over 1,200 in a day!

My latest Follower Drive is for a London vegan shoe store and ethical boutique called The Third Estate.

This store is exquisite but their Instagram account had been languishing around the 700 follower mark for a while. I set a target of 2,000 followers and we are almost there within 24 hours. I think they need just about 200 more.

Please get involved and get over to their profile.

I hope you can join me for more Follower Drives in the future. I think it is a great way to give independent vegan businesses a boost and help raise their online profiles.

Vegan burger battle

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Oh. My. Buns.

Do you enjoy decadent vegan burgers? Well, you had better along to Hackney Downs Vegan Market on Saturday Septmeber 16, 2017 between 11am and 5pm as four of the best vegan food traders in London go head to head with gorgeous burger creations.

It’s a Vegan Burger Battle, people!

Should we explore the options?

1- Temple of Seitan – soft white bun lightly toasted featuring a special recipe burger sauce, crunchy hash brown, succulent burger with gristle, fried mozzarella block, and a slice of bacon. 

2 – Big V London – the Classic Facon Cheeseburger. Classic plant meat burger with melted mature cheddar, crispy house maple bacon, burger sauce, spicy tomato relish, red onion, pickles on a toasted custom poppy seed Brioche bun.

3 – Cafe SoVegan – the Mac Daddy. A southern style chicken burger topped with salad, mac no cheese and crispy onions.

4 – Eat Chay – Korean BBQ Big Mac with vegan cheese and homemade vegan kimchi.

If you had to pick just one, what would you do? OK, that’s a bit cruel. I’ll let you pick two.

This version of Hackney Downs Vegan Market is going to be one of the best showcases of vegan burgers you can get in the UK.

If burgers are not your thing (please leave), rest assured that we have a stunning line up of sweet and savoury food from a huge roster of street food traders.

You can see the full line up here and you can RSVP to the Facebook event online here.

Yay for vegan burger battles!

Barcelona is your next vegan destination

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I just got back from a few days in Barcelona and Sitges. What I’m about to tell you is old news to most people, but I’ll say it anyway.

Barcelona is outstanding for vegan food.

I couldn’t possibly run through every vegan business in the city. There are so very many so I’ll leave it to you to add your favourites in the comments below.

I just want to share some of my new favourites with you.

Check these out:

La Trocadero is a superb vegan fast food restaurant located just steps from Sagrada Familia. The burgers are tasty, the nachos are loaded and the juices are refreshing. Eat in or takeaway. This is a must visit spot.

 

Next up is an exquisite late night bar called Bar de Retro. Every single drink served is vegan and this spot also has a limited bar menu featuring burgers, hot dogs, nachos and olives. The soundtrack is 80s pop and rock plus if you get the right night you might even witness an improv theatre performance or swing dancing social. This is the place to be.

 

My next tip isn’t a vegan place, but Gelaaati di Marco in the Gothic Quarter has a huge selection of vegan gelato. You need to get a large tub!

 

The perfect quick bite on the go has to be the vegan falafel spot located at the back of the Boqueria food market. Tasty and quick.

 

Finally, we need to take a quick 20 minute train ride to the seaside town of Sitges. The town’s first 100% vegan restaurant opened just weeks ago and it is outstanding. Spice Garden is a showcase of some of the finest curries and side dishes I’ve tasted anywhere. Coupled with vegan friendly veggie restaurants and a health food supermarket brimming with vegan products, Sitges is more than a worthwhile stop during your Barcelona trip.

 

 

Enjoy this gorgeous city, its food and its friendly residents.

Vegan thick shakes in London

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Holy shit.

I was strolling through Spitalfields Market in central London today and I got the thrill of my life when I saw this sign outside Leon.

Yes. Vegan thick shakes at a mainstream chain restaurant.

I rushed inside and quizzed the server (who turned out to be a vegan, too!) to find out the shakes are brand new, they are made with a cashew base, and they are only available in this one location of the chain.

I wanted the salted caramel flavour but it had sold out, so I went in for chocolate and Josh had the strawberry.

Check out this video to see the exciting process of one of our drinks being made.

This is serious, big time game-changing stuff for London. I mean, they have a freaking soft serve machine churning out cashew shakes!

Apparently this machine and the drinks are being trialled in this one location, so let us work hard on buying a whole bunch of them so they roll them out across all stores in the UK.

Vevolution is back in 2017

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The vegan information event that had a lot of people buzzing last year is back for another round in 2017.

Vevolution is taking place in November 2017 at a central London location. I know that seems like a long way in the future but tickets have gone on sale and you you should click here to buy them if you are keen. The event sold out ahead of time last year.

You can find out about the full line up of speakers, presenters and food vendors for the festival over on the official website.

A limited allocation of tickets with a 25% discount is available for recipients of Universal or Pension Credit, full-time students and those aged 16 and under. To claim the discount you need to email judy@vevolution.co

Have fun at Vevolution!

Chinese vegan food pop up in London

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Dear London.

Please be extremely careful not to injure yourself or each other as you all rush to this three-day pop up Chinese vegan food event in Tottenham.

Honestly, I rarely see a vegan menu this special in London.

Angela runs a food business called Vnited (stands for vegans united) and is cooking a stunning mutli-dish pop up meal across September 7, 8 and 9 at Craving Coffee on Markfield Road in Tottenham.

Look at this menu sheet. I’m drooling.

At the event, you use the menu to mark what you want before taking it to the counter to order and pay. Five of everything, right?

You should book your spot at this event because it is going to be rammed solid. When a menu this fine comes along, people are even prepared to miss a few episodes of EastEnders.

You can book via email at tottenhamsocial@gmail.com or they do welcome walk ins… but, seriously. Book! Don’t blame me if you can’t get in.

You ready to see and devour some vegan Chinese food?

Follow Vnited on Instagram.

Vote for FGV (if you want!)

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Hey!

It is always lovely to get a spot of recognition for this blog. Of course I don’t do it for awards but it does feel nice when someone tells me they appreciate what I do.

VegfestUK reached out to inform me that my website has been nominated in the VegfestUK Awards 2017 for the category of Best Vegan Online Resource.

How fab!

You can click here to vote for me or any of the other nominees in the category (I won’t be upset) and make sure you vote for your other favourites across all categories.

Thanks to everyone at VegfestUK for nominating me and for all their tireless work when it comes to spreading the vegan message.

London cafe turns completely vegan

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Amazing news.

Cupcakes and Shhht is a vegetarian cafe in Elephant and Castle. CORRECTION. Cupcakes and Shhht is a vegan cafe in Elephant and Castle!

After five full years trading as a veggie business, Cupcakes and Shhht has decided to become completely plant-based. No cheese. No cow milk. No animal derived ingredients at all.

I popped along for their first full vegan day today and was thrilled to see how busy the café was and how chilled out everyone was when they were asked to pick a plant milk with their coffee!

The café is located in the super cool shipping container complex known as The Artworks. It is steps from the main Elephant and Castle roundabout, meaning it is close to the Underground and rail stations too. Click here to see the exact location thanks to Google Maps.

Follow Cupcakes and Shhht on Instagram and then check out the photos/video from my visit today.

Yay for cafés that become fully vegan!

Vegan options in Crouch End

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Do you ever find yourself in the London neighbourhood of Crouch End without a bite to eat?

Well, say goodbye to being hungry in Crouch End as you say hello to Miranda Café.

This vegetarian eatery is located on the corner of Broadway Parade and Elder Avenue, plus it has a whole LOAD of vegan options.

Of course it would be fabulous if the entire menu was vegan (I’m contractually obliged to say that as FGV) so let’s hope that is the direction in which the business is moving.

Check out some of the tasty vegan dishes being served by Miranda Café below and follow the eatery on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.