As much as I would like to eat every single vegan food item in every part of the world, there is only one FGV and I physically can’t be everywhere.
Thankfully, friendly readers like Alex send me awesome guest reviews of food in their neighbourhood and places they have visited.
Check out what Alex has to say about gorgeous vegan pizza being served up in Exeter:
The Old Fire House in Exeter is famous for two reasons. A tenuous possibility it was the inspiration for the “Leaky Cauldron Pub” in Harry Potter is the first and, more importantly, its amazing vegan pizza is the second.
We have always used the Harry Potter link as a brilliant excuse to take visitors to this pub and then stuff our faces with pizza.
The menu actually has a number of vegan options, all very clearly marked. If you are organised enough on a Sunday, which we have only succeeded in being once, the Vegan Sunday Roast Lunch is stunning. The Chickpea & Spinach cake is not remarkable but the thick gravy and roasted vegetables more than make up for it.
In the evening pizza is their thing and we are talking big square pub style pizza served minutes after you order. It would be a challenge for anyone to finish a whole pizza themselves. The best ratio we have found so far is three people to two pizzas.
You have four vegan options but to be honest, who would bother with a plain or mushroom pizza when you can have something with wacky toppings. Chickpeas on a pizza. I class that as a wacky topping and together with the sweet roasted butternut, it works really well.
A word of warning on the next logical choice, the “Fired Up”. It is, as the menu says, extra hot. Don’t let this put you off though. It is really good with the heat coming from the smaller sliced red chiles rather than the big chunky jalapeños which are just tangy. If you are not into the heat then best to avoid, but if you are sharing pizzas then give it a try. It really compliments the sweetness of the butternut pizza.
Any vegan pizza review needs to go into detail about the vegan cheese. In the case of these pizzas the cheese is of no real significance, rather the flavours and textures all come from the other toppings. The cheese is a mere decoration to make the pizza conform to what society has convinced us it should look like.
Being a pub popular with students from the local university, drink prices are reasonable. Along the back walk behind the bar they have boxes of local ciders, many of which are proper cider that are not the carbonated type that feel like they will take the enamel off your teeth they are so dry. As these ciders are from smaller producers and typically made traditionally they are more likely to be vegan, but obviously you still need to check. A good place to start is with any made by Cornish Orchards as all their ciders are vegan.
Thanks for the great review, Alex. Next time I find myself in Exeter, I will definitely stop by The Old Fire House for a pizza and a cider.
