Vegan waffles in London

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London, it’s your time to get Waffled.

Waffled tell me they are all about reinventing the waffle into a delicious savoury meal. That was enough to make me thrilled to book them for Hackney Downs Vegan Market this Saturday (September 16, 2017).

Who doesn’t love a good waffle?

Waffled products are mostly allergen free (they do contain contain tahini and garlic), 100% vegan and always gluten free.

The business serves 3 flavours of waffles which they turn into delicious dishes: 1) Falafel (chick peas + coriander) – they don’t deep fry the falafel, just waffle iron it 2) Buckwheat and rice flakes 3) Millet and oats (can also be made into a sweet option served with watermelon, banana barriers and organic maple syrup)

The waffles are complimented by 4 sauces/pastes guacamole made on the spot, aubergine-sweet pepper spicy sauce, home-made hummus, and beetroot-butter squash.

They also serve waffled vegan haloumi salad (made from drained tofu and marinated in a blend of spices making it taste like haloumi) garnished with pomegranate molasses and watermelon.

If you are excited about Waffled, give them a follow on Instagram and get along to Hackney Downs Vegan Market this Saturday.

Vegan pizza in Elephant

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I’ve been blogging lately about some of the vegan changes taking place at the shipping container complex known as The Artworks in Elephant & Castle.

There is Cupcakes & Shhht that has recently turned vegan, as well as an Ethiopian restaurant called Beza that has a vegan menu alongside its non-vegan menu.

To add to this vegan choice at The Artworks, I discovered today that the onsite pizza restaurant called Elephantastic Pizza has a whole bunch of vegan options for plant-based diners.

They even use Violife cheese for the vegan pizzas!

Check out my selection below and get along for good vegan eating in the Elephant soon.

Vegan with Shakespeare

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Vegan food is everywhere.

I’ve reported on fancy restaurants launching plant-based menus all over the planet. We’ve got more vegan fast food places in London than I could have imagined five years ago. Heck, I even dine in style on a 100% vegan cruise each year.

This saturation of vegan dining options leaves me feeling as though nothing could surprise me with plant-based developments.

I just found out I can be surprised.

You can now enjoy a three-course vegan meal in the rooftop restaurant or a vegan afternoon tea complete with scones, vegan hot dogs and croissants in the café of the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon.

Yes. Shakespeare just got vegan-friendly.

The most arguably famous theatre company on the planet now caters for vegans.

Afternoon tea sounds like a delight, especially when you consider the option for high tea featuring champagne and chocolate dipped fruit. You can click here to see the afternoon tea menu and check out the photos below.

The afternoon tea menu impresses, but the three-course vegan menu in the rooftop restaurant also caught my attention.

A thoughtful, high quality three-course meal for £26 in such a gorgeous setting is wonderful news. Click here to see the current menu items available for the three-course dining option.

The three-course dining option is a pre-theatre option and is served Monday until Saturday.

If you don’t know where the theatre company and restaurant are located, click here to get a better idea thanks to Google Maps.

OK. Now it’s time for your best Shakespeare-related vegan puns and jokes in the comments.

Extra note: all photos used for this blog were taken by Sara Beaumont of Sara Beaumont Photography.

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.