vegan

Spring supper

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If you are in London this week and are not attending London Vegan Drinks, I have two questions for you.

Question the first: why the heck not? Question the second: it’s because you are going to this fabulous vegan Italian supper club, right?

My pal Sara is a much-loved food creator and she has once again put together an eating experience for hardcore foodies. Sara has just arrived back in the UK following a vacation in South Africa and she is fired up, ready to put some serious food on the dinner table this week.

Check out the menu.

STARTER – Farinata – baked chickpea pancake with red onions served with handmade vegan garlic mayo

MAIN COURSE – Handmade Beetroot Ravioli filled with Fava Beans in cheesy cream

SECOND COURSE – Artichoke and Asparagus Gratin

SIDE – Blood Orange, Beet and Fennel Salad served with handmade sourdough

DESSERT – Caramel Tiramisù

Sounds lovely, right? If you are reading this soon after I posted it, you need to act quickly to book your ticket.

All details can be found here.

Mary again

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A little while back, Josh took over with a blog post about a vegetarian cafe in the heart of the Bloomsbury neighbourhood that serves up tasty meat-free meals during academic term time. Read about his love of the place here and then scroll down below for a shot of my tasty lunch there today.

The Mary Ward Centre Café is a long-standing favourite of students, staff and visitors to this learning complex, as well as visitors and staff from the nearby Great Ormond Street Hospital. The prices are maybe some of the lowest you will find for vegan options in central London.

Here is an Instagram snap I took of my lunch today. I thoroughly enjoyed the borlotti bean pie topped with creamy mash and the lentil stew with crispy potato wedges. Both plates of food just over £4 each.

So cheap and so nutritious.
Click here to see this photo on Instagram

Cool rider

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I make no secret of how much I adore the Cool Chile Co. This London based business is my main supplier of essential ingredients needed to get my Mexican food fix.

They sell it all. Kits that take the mystery out of cooking the perfect black bean dish. Chiles that are chopped, diced, dried and powdered. Spicy chipotle ketchup. Sweet salsa verde. Their enormous tortilla machine churns out thousands of the soft, round things every week (I wrote about the machine here). They even have a chorizo spice kit that comes with instructions explaining how you can use a meat substitute if you like. I love it!

But something makes the Cool Chile Co. extra special. The people who run it.

Director Dodi and General Manager Kelly are some of the most down-to-earth, unassuming and outright friendly people I have met in London. Even if their Mexican products weren’t the best in the country (which they are by a mile), I would still want them to be a roaring success because of what decent people they are.

Mexican ingredient champions
Mexican ingredient champions

It makes it all the more enjoyable to announce that I am partnering with the Cool Chile Co. for my huge vegan Mexican dinner taking place this week. Dodi and Kelly are getting behind UNA CITA by making sure we have the freshest tortillas in the country to make my three taco plate a dish you do not want to miss.

Cool Chile Co make this possible
Cool Chile Co make this possible

As a thank you to the company for coming on board with my event, I am giving them a pair of tickets for UNA CITA to give away to one fortunate Twitter follower. You need to follow them and retweet THIS tweet to be in with a chance to snap up the tickets for this Friday’s event.

Love Cool Chile Co. and be in with a chance to win!

Limited tickets for UNA CITA also available to buy here.

About Time

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Just a super quick note to let you know about a new column I am writing for someone else. It’s not all about me, you know!

The wonderful and curious new online magazine called About Time has enlisted me to contribute a regular column called Fat Gay Vegan Eats. The first offering features my list of five destinations for vegans in Camden.

You can check it out here.

abouttime

Raw in Camden

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I was about to start this post by saying another week sees the appearance of another vegan food market stall, but I think they are popping up faster than one a week in London.

Rawwwsome is kind of unique, though.

The fabulous Steph has started this super cute stall right in the heart of Camden Lock Market. It is packed with incredibly healthy (and tasty!) handmade raw treats such as mint chocolate brownies, raspberry cheesecakes and banoffee bites.

Steph told me she is having a great time exposing this type of food to the mostly non-vegan punters of the market. During my visit, I counted almost a dozen curious people stop by to taste the samples on offer and every single one of them looked and sounded impressed.

And so was I. Everything I ate was gorgeous. Check out the photos below.

Get down to Camden Lock Market and eat all the raw treats from Rawwwsome. Follow Steph on Twitter. It might be a good idea to double check with her before you head down that she will be there. I think she is currently at the market most Fridays and Saturdays.

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Tempeh on Leather

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There must be something about Leather Lane that attracts the veggie food crowd. This curiously-named London street is now home to not one but two vegetarian sandwich stalls. Get eating down Leather Lane!

A short while ago I wrote about the glorious sandwich I enjoyed from Killer Tomato and now the Mexican sandwich stall has company in the form of a vegetarian Indonesian-style tempeh vendor, located on the opposite side of the lane.

This is a brand new business with a few kinks to iron out, but you can’t fault their enthusiasm. The owner makes his own fresh tempeh (a rarity in the UK) and it is fried and seasoned right in front of you on the stall.

All you have to do is pick your fillings, pay your money and eat a delicious tempeh wrap.

Word of warning: even though the stall is emblazoned with the words ‘100% vegetarian’, they bizarrely have a sauce that contains real fish. The owner told me he cannot find a replacement for this ingredient, which doesn’t sound completely believable to me. My pal Messy Vegetarian Cook conjures up all sorts of southeast Asian cuisine requiring fish sauce and her stuff is delicious. She has even shown me a bottle of vegan fish sauce she bought in London.

Get along for a tasty treat, but remember to voice your rejection of the fish sauce.

menu stall tempeh wrap

Come see

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Here is a treat for you that requires very little reading. This post is super heavy with photos from my visit to the Natural and Organic Products Europe show that took place over the weekend at London Olympia.

It took me almost five hours to see everything and I was overwhelmed by the huge number of vegan companies and products on display.

The photos below don’t even come close to detailing the full range of cruelty-free goods at the event. I decided to include some of my favourites as well as brand new products showcased.

Is there anything that catches your attention?

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Sneak preview: UNA CITA

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My giant Mexican dinner party taking place in east London is just a few weeks away. UNA CITA is a 50 person, 3 course party featuring Mexican pop music, visuals on a big screen and a welcome cocktail that will impress.

May 9, 2014 is going to be a day for the vegan eating history books.

I popped over to the venue tonight (The Gallery Cafe in Bethnal Green) for a test run of the main dish and is was nothing short of spectacular. Check it out below.

Three taco plate

The plate features three corn tortillas filled with mouthwatering ingredients and a mound of chipotle rice in the centre. I literally pounced on my plate.

**Ingredients are supplied in part by Cool Chile Co. Follow them on Twitter where they will be giving away a pair of tickets to this event**

The three vegan tacos feature:

  • Pan seared garlic mushrooms, red salsa and diced peppers
  • Shredded cabbage, frijoles negros (black beans) and avocado
  • Chorizo, sour cream and tomatillo salsa

Everyone on the testing team tonight was blown away by the combination of flavours. This plate will be served after a starter of esquites and before a serving of hot, sweet churros with dipping chocolate. I will post photos of the other dishes as we workshop them over the next fortnight.

Buy your tickets for this special event NOW.

Follow The Gallery Cafe on Twitter.

una cita copy

Best vegan cake in Europe

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I have been racking my feeble brain for a witty or whimsical way in which to announce this epic news, but I have been reduced to a quivering mess and can no longer think. I’m going to just have to come straight out and say the facts.

The best vegan cakes and desserts in the whole of Europe are now available in London.

If you have been loitering around these parts of the Internet for a few years, you should be able to recall this mammoth post I wrote about irresistible vegan cakes in Barcelona created by the magical company known as Lujuria Vegana.

Their cakes are absolutely peerless in Europe. I am a super fan.

Imagine then my sheer delight/shock/convulsions of hysteria when I was confronted by masses of Lujuria Vegana desserts sitting in the chilled fridges of the brand new Whole Foods Market location in Fulham. I almost fell over.

The range in Whole Foods is staggering in size. You can see by the photos below that I was completely unable to control myself and bought many varieties. I was overcome by a cake buying frenzy.

As far as I can tell, this particular Whole Foods Market is the ONLY place in the UK selling these gluten free and vegan desserts. I had heard whispers of them making inroads over here but this is the first time I have seen them on a store shelf.

Check out my photos (yes, I bought ALL cakes featured). Get to Fulham. Buy many cakes. Be happy.

Follow Lujuria Vegana on Twitter.

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Need chips?

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Chips. Fries. Pommes frites. Papas fritas. Frieten. Whatever name you give to it, sliced potato cooked in scalding oil and dusted with salt is my favourite food of all time. I can’t get enough of it. No seriously, I cannot get enough of it in London.

I need your help.

Where can I buy freshly cooked chips that are vegan in the capital? I don’t want fries that have been reconstituted with lard. I am not interested in thick cut chips that have been fried in the same oil as fish. Please don’t tell me about potato that is covered in chicken-flavoured salt as soon as it comes out of the basket.

I need more vegan chips in my life.

Here are some photos of my favourite chips and fries in the UK. I will be eternally grateful to anyone who can point me in the direction of any London cafes, shops, restaurants or market stalls that will do right by me and potato.

Suggestions below!

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