Vegan high tea

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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

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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

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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.

Most read of 2016

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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

Two for one tickets

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Hey!

The huge Vegan Life Live show is rolling into London on January 7 and 8, 2016.

This is the first outing for the show put on by the publishers of Vegan Life magazine and will feature new product displays, a beer bar run by the amazing Brass Castle, cooking demos, a food court and presentations.

The presentation part of the line up is how I am involved in the show. Come along to see me talk about how I became a vegan blogger, why I do what I do plus a few other sassy anecdotes.

If you want to attend Vegan Life Live London, here is a special deal just for friends of Fat Gay Vegan.

Click here to buy a 2-for-1 ticket. That’s right! Buy one of these special tickets and two people can enter on it. Save money!

Extra note: I don’t mind if you use this deal to enter but don’t watch my talk on the Sunday. I won’t be offended!

A vegan hat trick in Amsterdam

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I’m on the vegan cruise, wrapped up warmly on the ship as we float through the mist-shrouded waters of Europe.

It’s beautiful.

But before the ship departed Amsterdam, I made time to visit these three fabulous vegan hot spots.

Visiting the gorgeous @vegabondfood in Amsterdam. Very special #vegan cafe and grocery store. xx

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


It is wonderful to see a city so alive with vegan options and opportunities.

Of course there is plenty more for vegans to see and do in Amsterdam, so I will be having a quick scout around once my ship return to the city in a week. I’ve heard whispers of a place with a high tea!

Do you love vegan Amsterdam? What are favourite spots?

Food in a train station

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If you ever have to depart from, arrive to or transfer at Brussels train station, I have a tip for you in regards to vegan eating.

Greenway is a small chain of vegetarian restaurants in Belgium. The restaurant menu showcases a lot of vegan options and it just so happens there is a fast food counter style version of this eatery inside Brussels train station.

I took a snap of it yesterday.

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


The queue for food was too long for me to actually purchase anything between trains, but I was certainly interested in the wide variety of vegan options including burgers, seitan wraps, soups, salads, and juices.

Greenway can also be found in Ghent, Leuven and Antwerp. Visit their website here. The company are also involved in the foodservice industry and running catering stands at festivals.

Have you eaten the vegan options at Greenway? How was the food?

Vegan Camp Out

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This might be old news to a lot of people, but just in case…

There is a huge outdoor event next year in the UK called Vegan Camp Out.

This two-day, family friendly camping event is taking place in Nottingham between July 7 and 9, 2017. The cost is extremely low and the weekend includes a huge line up of of vegan personalities and speakers (not all of them I love – Vegan Bros?! Not for me but in such a far reaching movement, we are bound to come up against approached we don’t love).

The funny and kind Carl Donnelly will be doing his thing on the weekend and it looks like campers can look forward to a pretty big weekend of talks, workshops, live music and of course food.

Click here to visit the website and buy tickets. Follow Vegan Camp Out on Facebook 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.