Vegan menu at All Bar One

by

If you can keep up to date with all the non-vegan places around the UK falling over themselves to serve vegan food, you are doing a better job than me.

Every single day seems to bring news and I feel like lots of it is hurtling straight past me. It’s too much!

However, one piece of news that didn’t evade my chubby gaze is the brand new vegan menu being featured for Veganuary by All Bar One.

You know All Bar One, right?

The famous bar chain has more than 50 locations around the UK and is often a favourite meeting spot for friends. I think All Bar One was the first place to serve me booze when I first moved to the UK back in 1998.

But the food!

Check out the menu:

Doesn’t that sound like a well-thought out vegan menu?

Of course I’m not satisfied with simply showing you the menu, so I asked All Bar One to send me some photos of these news dishes.

Can you handle this?

How about that food?!

Everything looks splendid and I could really see myself eating a few servings of those potatoes.

Check out the very special deal All Bar One has for Veganuary. You can devour three vegan dishes for £13.

Visit All Bar One online to find out their locations close to you.

Meet Domenic

by

Yesterday I had the pleasure of speaking in front of a couple of hundred people at the Vegan Life Live show in London. I also had the immense pleasure of meeting a young vegan named Domenic.

Just before I started my presentation, Domenic approached me to say hello and let me know that he always looks for me in his mum’s vegan magazines.

He told me he is a vegan because it is good for animals.

Domenic was very kind in telling me that he had been invited to a birthday party but decided instead to come to the vegan show and meet me.

Domenic asked if he could have a photo taken with me and last night his mum sent it to me (with permission to share). Here I am with the inspirational Domenic.

During the Q&A section after my talk, Domenic asked a question that I almost never get asked but secretly loved being asked. He wanted to know about my favourite food. I told him all about potato.

I am grateful to everyone for coming along to my talk and feel extra thankful for Domenic.

He made me hopeful and in this day and age, that can be a tough emotion to feel.

Thank you, Domenic. Thank you for making me feel happy and thank you for being a kind person who cares about animals.

Vegan fish fingers

by

Love them or hate them, you can’t escape the fact that Quorn is steadily marching forward with expanding its vegan range and this newest addition is causing a lot of stir.

Say hello to Vegan Fishless Fingers.

Fish fingers are close to being a national food in the UK, so I’m certain there will be hundreds of thousands of people happy to see this product readily available all over the country.

I’ve heard of them currently being available via Tesco and Waitrose.

As an aside, I’d be interested to know if this vegan expansion also means a reduction in Quorn‘s vegetarian options. I think the only way I can really celebrate this ‘better late than never’ vegan onslaught from the food giant is knowing that it translates into the non-vegan stuff being phased out.

Are you excited about this new product?

BREAKING NEWS: fried chicken location

by

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

by

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.

Making tamales

by

TAMALES

Ingredients:

  • 500g Tamale masa/corn flour – make sure it is the type suitable for tamales! 250g solid vegetable shortening
  • 250ml liquid vegetable stock
  • Corn husks
  • Salt
  • Plus whatever fillings you decide to use!

Makes approximately ten tamales/serves three or four people

Instructions:

For the dough/masa

  • In a large bowl or saucepan, soak corn husks in very hot water for about 5 minutes
  • In an electric mixer, use the flat beater/dough hook attachment at a high speed to soften the shortening for a few minutes until it is very smooth
  • Reduce speed and add the Tamale flour
  • Slowly pour in the vegetable stock and add the salt
  • If needed, add some extra water to get the right consistency in the dough. You want the dough to be sticky but not too sloppy

To make the tamales

  • Take a softened corn husk and spread approximately two tablespoons of dough in a flattened patty in the centre
  • Add your fillings (approximately 1 tablespoon) on top
  • Gently roll the edges of the corn husk over the fillings and fold the end over to enclose
  • Tie the tamal together either with strips of corn husk or pieces of string

Cooking instructions

  • Steam the tamales either in a pressure cooker or a traditional steamer. In a pressure cooker, they will take approximately 30 minutes or 11⁄2 hours in a traditional steamer.
  • Once cooked, allow to cool for at least 10 minutes before opening – they will be very hot inside!

Filling suggestions

In Mexico, tamales are filled with a seemingly endless combination of ingredients, but common vegan tamales are:

  • Spinach and huitlacoche (a type of edible corn fungus)
  • Mushroom and salsa verde
  • Black beans with salsa verde and vegan cheese

Note – this is a recipe for savoury tamales but sweet tamales are also very popular. This requires a sweetened dough so look out for a future video for sweet tamales!

Recipe and photo remain property of Sean O’Callaghan and Julio Alcantara and may not be reproduced without permission. © fatgayvegan.com

Vegan high tea

by

This was certainly the FINEST vegan high tea I have ever been served. Get along to Koffie ende Koeck in Amsterdam for a treat you won’t soon forget.

I stopped by this cute and comfortable coffee shop with my friend Bob. As I had arrived early, I ordered the high tea for two people but was surprised when Bob showed up with her new boyfriend.

No matter. The high tea was crammed with so much food, we needed the third guest to ensure we devoured everything served.

Check it out.

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


I can’t say enough wonderful things about this place.

The high tea was superb, with sandwiches so delicious we all ordered multiple more for takeout. You might not be able to spot them too clearly in the photo but mini glasses of tiramisu came as one of the many cake and cookie options.

The tower also included bakewell tart, chocolate cake with pistachos and rose sponge.

Follow Koffie ende Koeck on Instagram and Facebook. Click here to see where they are located in Amsterdam on Google maps.

Extra note: you need to order ahead for the high tea. I seriously begged to have it with no notice. I’m a jerk. Don’t be like me.

Vegan dining in Tooting

by

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.

New vegan store in Swansea

by

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.

Most read of 2016

by

If you are into end of year lists, check out the top ten MOST read posts from my blog this year:

  1. Never was vegan – even though this post about Rekorderlig not being vegan was written in 2014, it still scraped into the top ten most-read of 2016.

  2. New vegan burger bar in Sheffield – the title of this post says it all and people loved the news about BurgerLolz.

  3. Vegan Quorn in the UK – enough people read this 2015 post to take it to number 8 on this list.

  4. Vegan ice cream in London – enough people were interested in this chilly news to get Yorica onto this year end list.

  5. Pizza Express – another old post that readers can’t get enough of is this 2015 outing about vegan options at this chain restaurant.

  6. Toilet paper not vegan? – this story sent us all into a tailspin.

  7. Vegan at Wagamama – this blog post won’t go away. Having been first published in 2014 didn’t stop it from being the 4th most-read of 2016.

  8. Breaking news: vegan fried chicken shop – the story about Temple of Seitan that almost broke my blog, was lifted by news outlets all over the world and got enough views within about 4 hours to make this list.

  9. Christmas – the post associated with my first ever vegan Christmas market drew an unprecedented number of people… just like the market itself.

  10. New vegan grocery store for London – the readers have spoken and this post about the opening of GreenBay London is the most-read post on fatgayvegan.com during 2016.

Thank you to everyone who visited my blog and shared posts.

December 2016 was the most visited month in the entire 6 year history of my blog. It feels great to have a committed and appreciative audience! xx