London

Vegan pub food

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London, you have new vegan food options and they look incredible.

On the Holloway Road sits a live music venue called 12 Bar Club. This venue hosts live music and any given day will find punters enjoying indie, alt-country, punk, folk and rock ‘n’ roll bands.

This is all well and good but I promised you talk of vegan food, right?

Phil T’s at the 12 Bar is the new name for the kitchen inside this north London location. The menu reads like a gourmet rundown of British comfort food and every course has a vegan option. No, I don’t mean you have to ask for salad. Phil T and his team will serve you straight up, wholesome vegan comfort food and you can order it from the menu without having to freak out or nervously explain plant-based eating to your server.

Check out the feast Fran of Vx recently enjoyed in the restaurant. (Thanks for the pics, Fran!)

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Get into Vx

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Do you need convincing to get into vegan grocery store Vx this weekend? Because I’ve got some compelling arguments for you to hurry down there right now, London.

Check out my solid reasons for making a speedy trip to this King’s Cross retail outlet ASAP.

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Guest hosts

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I am incredibly proud of London Vegan Drinks.

This party has been running since 2011 and has established itself (with a little bit of help from me) as one of the biggest and best monthly social events for vegans on the planet.

The current location (Kabaret @ Karamel) welcomes in excess of 100 vegans and their friends on the first Saturday of every month. With a 100% vegan venue, lots of friendly faces and late night sets from a rotating line up of DJs, London Vegan Drinks is a party not to be missed each month.

But I am missing it in February!

My insatiable desire for off-Broadway theatre and overeating is taking me to New York City on the day I should be hosting London Vegan Drinks in February, therefore I have sourced the finest guest hosts in the capital. Only the best for the best.

IMG_9616Meet Bob. Bob is a party planner not to be underestimated. She has had a hand in some of the biggest fashion events in the capital and (as she proved at my roller disco last year) is an extremely competent roller skater.

Bob won’t be on roller skates on Saturday February 7th, 2015 but she will be armed with name stickers and a giant smile.

You can follow Bob on Instagram.

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London Vegan Drinks is such a massive party, it needs reinforcements. Enter James and Angela of ethical boutique and vegan shoe store, The Third Estate.

The Camden/Kentish Town store run by James and Angela is a vegan landmark. People come from all over the UK and the world to shop with the compassionate duo. The blog post I published about The Third Estate is still one of the most viewed in the history of this site.

If you are new to London Vegan Drinks on Saturday February 7th, 2015 then cosy up to these two and they will make you feel like an old friend. Also marvel at the unrivalled song selection prowess of James as he takes to the DJ decks later in the evening.

You can like The Third Estate on Facebook.

London Vegan Drinks is going to be one heck of a party in February. Makes me kinda wish I wasn’t missing it.

Get all the details about the location and transport options here.

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Green Party film screening

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If you are interested in progressive politics and improving outcomes for everyone on the planet, this news will be of interest.

February 17th, 2015 is the date to pencil into an empty page of your diary for a fundraising screening of environmental documentary, Cowspiracy.

Never heard of Cowspiracy? Watch the trailer.

Screening organiser, Rachel, reached out to me with this comment:

The screening will be on 17th February at Whirled Cinema, Loughborough Junction (very close to Brixton). Tickets are £10, with all profits going to Lambeth Green Party. The aim is for it to be an informal evening that should be a great opportunity for people attending to meet other like-minded people, as well as learning about the environmental impact of the meat and dairy industries. I’m hoping some people will arrive from 6PM, and then stick around after the film for a bit of a discussion about the points raised (the film will be shown at 8PM). We’ll be providing some vegan nibbles, and the cinema has a bar should people wish to buy drinks.

To repeat the basics again: tickets for the screening taking place at the Whirled Cinema in Loughborough Junction are priced at just £10, with funds raised going to the Lambeth Green Party.

Click here to buy your ticket.

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Truffle shop

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A few months ago, I wrote about the impending arrival of a shop in west London set to sell decadent truffles.

Update: it has arrived.

Josh and I visited the Bianca Márton shop front on London Road in Brentford and it is a stunning showcase of gourmet sweets.

Check it out below.

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Cakes ‘n’ treats closed

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Cakes ‘n’ Treats, the Camden-based vegan bakery that has been the subject of an ongoing anti-fascist campaign, has shut its doors.

According to a post on the company’s Facebook page, the store has permanently closed but the owner will return after winter to open the business in a new, undisclosed location somewhere in London.

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Vx shopping haul

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Every now and then a shopping expedition to vegan boutique and grocery store, Vx, is in order.

I love walking into a shop safe in the knowledge I can buy anything I want.

Wanna see the latest haul of vegan groceries that found their way back to my house from Vx yesterday?

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Vegan DJ alert

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I am just 24 hours out from opening the doors for my second annual New Year’s Eve party.

Earlier this week, all 70 tickets for the vegan buffet dinner starting at 6:30pm sold out completely. I have been in touch with Louise and Frank of host venue Kabaret and we have sorted a few extra spaces for the meal, so book here for one of the last dinner spots. The dinner ticket also gets you access to the disco starting at 10pm.

Which brings me to this news.

Check out the line up of DJs set to keep the compassionate crowd dancing tomorrow night after 10pm until late.

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Lots of ice cream

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It has been a bit quiet on the Vegan Ice Cream Wars front. Not much to report back from the trenches.

Quiet, that is, until I stumbled into Waitrose in White City Westfield today.

When you shop in a mainstream grocery store in the UK, you usually find just one brand of vegan ice cream (or two if you are fortunate). My experiences as a vegan consumer have left me disappointed by the freezer section of most supermarkets.

This is what makes the ice cream freezer at the White City Waitrose so impressive.

I didn’t see one brand. Or two. Or three. I saw four brands of vegan ice cream or frozen desserts. This sighting was also impressive as each brand featured had at least two flavours available.

Check it out below.

(After the pics, I’ll let you know which one came home with me. Can you guess?)

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