London vegan news, reviews & events
The fab people of Vintage Roots sent me a bottle of vegan wine to review. Here is my review: Kip and I guzzled it. It was nice. Order vegan wine from Vintage Roots.
As you can see, I have little expertise with wine parlance so I’ve asked the infinitely more qualified Kip of Messy Vegetarian Cook to share her reflections. You can like Kip on Facebook and follow her on Twitter.
What’s the 411, Kip?
Can you believe it? I’ve only just made it into one of the longest-standing and most-loved vegetarian restaurants in London. Shame on me.
Mildred’s of Soho is one of those places I always told myself I would get to one day. It was always just around the bend. Days turned into weeks turned into years and I still hadn’t put my fat foot through their doorway.
A few weeks back, I decided to break the drought and discover why Mildred’s is such a popular eatery for people deciding to give meat a miss.
I don’t often write about pop-up events not related to food and/or beer but I have no problem making an exception for one of my favourite cruelty-free skincare companies.
Leading up to Christmas (and a little bit beyond as well), festive shoppers who care about their skin AND animal welfare can shop ’til they drop in the Premae Skincare pop-up store just off world-famous Carnaby Street.
I have written about this vegan skincare company previously, so it is no secret I am a huge admirer of Clare Eluka and her ethical products. Clare is one of the hardest working business owners in the UK and I am continually thrilled to see the professional advancements she is making and hear about the never-ending platitudes piling up for her range.
If you are looking for a festive gift for a loved one, or just want to give the range a try for yourself, pop into the pop-up soon. Support an independent, ethical business for Christmas and beyond!
The Premae pop-up store is located in unit 2.8 of Kingly Court on Carnaby Street. The closest Underground station is Oxford Circus.
UPDATE: This cafe has now closed!
Have you been along Oxford Street in central London lately? Longstanding businesses are being turfed out as the area gets dissected by the Crossrail tunnel project currently tearing up that part of the city. Shops are closed or closing and it is a sea of discount retailers mixed with scaffolding.
It’s a bit of a sad visual but something good has come of this messy situation. London just got a new vegan cafe!
Can you ever have enough vegan beer? If you said yes, don’t let the door hit you on the way out. If you said, “No, FGV. There can never be such a thing as too much vegan beer!” then I’ve got news to make you smile.
Get down to east London this Saturday (December 14, 2013) for a festive vegan beer pop-up bar put on by the good folk of Pitfield Brewery. There will be microbrewed craft beers on the bar including their limited run Christmas beer, Hoxton Scotch Bonnet, as well as a DJ spinning some tunes.
Of course all that vegan beer is incentive enough to attend this cool event, but it gets better still. The Pitfield Brewery Christmas Party is being held in the slightly-spooky venue known as The Ditch, located in the basement of Shoreditch Town Hall. Located at 380 Old Street, the venue is a short 5 minute stroll from Old Street Underground Station (take exit 2 out of the station).
The party starts at 7pm and runs until midnight. Oh, I almost forgot. The party will cost you nothing to enter. Yep. FREE ENTRY!
Vegans have got a good life in London. We can dine in fancy restaurants like Saf. How about cake delivered straight to your house? Sure thing. Vegan gourmet hot dogs are another treat and don’t even get me started about Cookies & Scream in Camden.
Yes, life is grand. But there is always room for improvement and expansion. Enter food delivery service The Urban Kitchen.
Before I dive into telling you how delicious the meal was I was sent to review, I would like to state up front that this caterer is not a vegan company. That being said, all of their vegan dishes are clearly marked online and they are very approachable people. If you are wondering about any ingredient or element of a dish, get in touch with them.
Now, down to business.
When I handed out my Day of the Dead vegan supper club goodie bags, one of the items that got a lot of attention and murmurs of appreciation was the Chocolate Orange Pud cups from vegan dessert experts Pudology.
As you might know from an old post of mine, the Pudology cups are filled with smooth, sweet and irresistible gluten free pudding. They can be purchased online from grocery retailers in either chocolate, strawberry, lemon or banoffee flavours and are starting to become more widely available in high street supermarkets, too.
You know all this. Why am I droning on about puddings that you have seen and tasted?
I am simply giving you a refresher course so when I give you my opinion on the new Pudology flavour, you can skip quickly to the part where you run to buy your own pack.
The Chocolate Orange Pud is delicious. It is dense, creamy and decadent. The orange is perfectly balanced with the choc. The pudding pots come in packs of two and I don’t know if I will ever be able to show enough restraint to eat just one and save one for later. They are too lovely.
The Chocolate Orange Pud cups are currently exclusive to Sainsbury’s but I have been assured by Pudology that we will start seeing them popping up in independent health food stores in the new year.
Tasty!
Follow Pudology on Twitter
Some of you probably think that if a restaurant in London is serving vegan food, the FGV must have been there. Right?
Sorry to disappoint, but even after all this time eating and reporting back to you there are still eateries that have escaped my fat clutches. Loving Hut in Archway was one such destination and I was constantly being asked for my opinion on their food. I couldn’t take the harassment from curious vegans any longer, so I made a special trip to the north London restaurant just to get you all off my back.
Just like Loving Hut locations the world over, the Archway version serves a completely vegan menu and is staffed by followers of the Quan Yin Method (Google exists for a reason, people). The menu is much more extensive than the recently-closed Camden branch but I do believe the Edgware location still holds the title of most gigantic Loving Hut menu in the world.
Josh and I ordered like the professional eaters we are. Wanna see what we got our teeth into?
There is so much juicy, tasty and succulent vegan news to get through this month that I’m going to hold the witty comments and jump straight in.
Is that OK?
Here is an opportunity for those of you craving national exposure!
This morning I saw a call out on Twitter for a vegan couple to join a new television series and thought I would share the info with you all. You never know, the vegan version of Pauly D or Snooki may very well be reading this right now!
Here are the details you need if you fancy being emotionally vulnerable in front of millions of people:
A brand new series by the multi-award-winning Lime Pictures Ltd is in early stages of production and aims to explore the psychology behind relationships while investigating interculturalism. Kinda heavy.
Each episode will feature two couples aged between 18-25 years old – in both the UK and abroad. A member from each couple will embark on an exciting overseas adventure, exploring and living their counterpart’s life. The other person from the couple will remain in the UK to entertain the visiting half of the overseas couple. The producers say it is through this unique life-swap that each couple will learn about another culture and themselves.
The producers are especially keen to have a vegan couple participate in the show. Check the image below for contact details.
If any of you get involved, I will expect a FGV shout out!
