If you know anything about vegan food in London, you’ll be aware that Essential Vegan is one of the best places to get plant-based cuisine in the city.
Vanessa has established her vegan Brazilian food business as a real leader on the food scene over the past few years and now you can celebrate Valentine’s Day 2022 with a special set menu.
Tapioca dice with homemade sweet chili chutney
Palm hearts and plantain moqueca with basmati rice
The 3-course Valentine’s Day dinner is available for one night only at Essential Vegan, inside Dalston Superstore, on Monday February 14, 2022 from 5pm.
The menu is priced at £25 per person and includes:
tapioca dice with homemade sweet chili chutney
palm hearts and plantain moqueca with basmati rice
Brazilian donuts with guava paste
This is an incredible line up of dishes that is going to have you all loved up!
You can choose the time that suits you with bookings starting from 5pm. Click here to make a booking.
The full Essential Vegan menu will also be available on the night, as it is 7-days a week.
If you like the sound of the Valentine’s Day dinner but can’t get along, think about getting along to the Essential Vegan Dalston Superstore drag brunch that takes place every Saturday and Sunday between 12pm and 5pm. You need to book in advance (same link as above) as this event sells out most weeks.
Essential Vegan is an independent café run by chef Vanessa Almeida and her husband Neni.
I got to know Vanessa and Neni several years ago through the vegan scene in London. They would both come along to events I hosted and it wasn’t long until we counted on each other as friends, not just vegan comrades.
Vanessa and Neni work as hard as anyone I’ve ever met in the vegan community, if not harder.
I have seen them pull all-nighters, often multiple nights in a row, in order to prepare for large scale vegan festivals such as VegFestUK. At the first ever Hackney Downs Vegan Market Vanessa was swamped by customers and sold out of everything instantly, resulting in her actually RUNNING home to bake more cakes for attendees while Neni stayed at the stall and chatted with customers.
Their shed/hatch window takeaway stall in the now-defunct PUMP foodcourt in East London was crucial in pushing vegan food forward in the capital. Vanessa and Neni worked tirelessly to make delicious seitan burgers and succulent cheesecakes to keep the hungry crowds satisfied.
Essential Vegan also became famous around this time for their gourmet plant-based cheeses.
Vanessa has invested thousands of hours in order to perfect her handcrafted artisan cheeses. If you consider yourself a vegan cheese fan, you owe it to yourself to get along to Essential Vegan to buy a few of Vanessa’s creations.
As Essential Vegan Café turns two years old, it is also important to recognise how Vanessa has helped put Brazilian food on the London map. As a chef, she is a pioneer in the UK.
Vanessa and Neni relocated from Brazil to London many years ago and it was a dream of theirs to feed traditional dishes from back home to the population of their new home. They have realised this dream with Essential Vegan Café.
Feijoada is one of their specialties and I promise you will struggle to find a weekend brunch as delicious as this anywhere else in London.
I haven’t even touched on the rest of the sensational menu which includes cake, cassava chips, Brazilian cheese balls, seitan wings, salad, quiche, and casserole.
Congratulations to Vanessa and Neni for two years of Essential Vegan Café. I’m truly inspired by your determination, work ethic, and commitment to improving outcomes for animals.
See the exact location of Essential Vegan Café thanks to Google Maps (just a few skips from Shoreditch High Street Station).
Read this menu and then click to buy your tickets IMMEDIATELY because this is gonna sell out quickly.
Essential Vegan is the much-beloved Brazilian vegan café located in Shoreditch, London. It is one of the best places in Europe for vegan eating and now you can attend an exclusive pop up dining event featuring an eight-dish tasting menu that is exceptional.
Check this out:
Pinto beans soup (caldinho de feijao) with farofa and cheese crackers – Rich and hearty, this slow-cooked beans soup is served with a seasoned and toasted cassava flour and cheese cracker
Tapioca dice with green apple chilli sauce – Golden, crispy-skinned cubes packed with melted lupin cheese combined with the sweet and sour flavours of their sweet chilli sauce
Warm cassava salad – Boiled and seasoned cassava sticks (mandioca) served with a fresh vinaigrette
Grilled okra – Crunchy, creamy okra served with their coriander chilli sauce
Acarajé – A fritter light in texture and bold in flavour: Stuffed with caruru (okra paste), vatapa (peanut, cashew and coconut milk paste) and fresh tomatoes
Ginger mango sorbet – Highly refreshing and creamy sorbet
Brazilian doughnut with guava paste – They call it bolinho de chuva, a deep-fried dumpling, sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar served with a creamy guava paste
Green apple tea with Sequilho – End this journey with a highly digestive and fragrant tea served with their famous coconut biscuits
The café doesn’t sell alcohol but you are more than welcome to take your own booze, make yourself at home and enjoy their supper club with your favourite tipple.
The tasting menu night is taking place on August 28, 2019 between 7:00pm and 8:30pm. Cost per ticket is £35.
