vegan menu

New vegan menu at Chiquito in UK

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The UK’s biggest Mexican restaurant Chiquito has launched a new vegan menu and Oumph! is now featured in two new plant-based dishes.

Keep reading for details on the two Oumph! dishes as well as an overview of the entire vegan menu.

• Vegarrito – Salty & Smoky Oumph! Black beans, jalapeño slaw, rice and greens wrapped in a spinach tortilla. Served with tortilla chips and a side of Oatly creamy oat fraiche.

• Vegan Fiesta Fajita – All of the favourite flavours from their classic fajitas filled with Salty & Smoky Oumph! Served with Violife vegan cheddar style cheese and Oatly creme fraiche, Pico de Gallo salsa, guacamole and unlimited tortillas.


“We are particularly proud of our new vegan menu”, says Chiquito Managing Director Angelo Gabrilatsou. “Having guest choice at the heart and understanding growing trends, this menu allows Chiquito to be more accessible to guests that seek vegan options.”

Angelo Gabrilatsou continues:

“We are very fortunate that Mexican food lends itself very well to vegan and our new additions bring amazing tastes and textures that will appeal not only to vegans but to all our guests. We are incredibly excited about this menu and firmly believe it puts us at the forefront of vegan dining in the UK.”

The new vegan menu will be available now at all Chiquito sites. The company currently has almost 70 locations around the UK.

Click here to search for your nearest location on their website or keep reading for an overview of the new vegan menu.

The new vegan menu at Chiquito features the following items:

Starters

  • Cassava Fries
  • Vegan Nachos
  • Sweet Potato Skins
  • Banana Blossom Croquette

Mains

  • Vegan Fiesta Fajita
  • Oumph Bbq Fajita Sauce
  • Oumph Hot Habanero Fajita Sauce
  • Banana Blossom Burger
  • Jackfruit Baja Tacos
  • Palm Heart Baja Bowl
  • Vegarrito

Sides

  • Mexican Rice
  • Citrus Salad
  • Skin On Fries
  • Sweet Potato Fries

Desserts

  • Passionfruit Sorbet
  • Chocolate Coconut Lava Cake
  • Small Churros With Chocolate Sauce
  • Large Churros With Chocolate Sauce
  • Vanilla Nice Cream

You can follow Oumph! on Instagram.

ASK Italian now has vegan menu

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A huge trend for UK restaurants is the addition of a specialised vegan menu.

Chain restaurants all over the country are rushing to present vegan diners with separate meal choices on a designated menu.

The latest UK chain to join the vegan menu club is ASK Italian. With approximately 120 locations around the UK, there is no shortage of spots to chow down on pizza, pasta and bread.

Check out the vegan ASK Italian menu below.

That’s not too shabby for a non-vegan restaurant chain. I especially love the sound of the roast Charlotte potatoes!

The menu does seem to change slightly between outlets. You can see the menu online and choose your nearest restaurant using a drop down list. This will adapt the menu and prices for your area.

Click here to see the vegan menu online.

Extra info time:

ASK Italian was bought out by a private equity group called Bridgepoint. Interestingly, this private equity group also owns or has invested in Pret a Manger and Zizzi. It just so happens that all of these chains have been extremely active in responding to vegan market trends and demands. This is surely a top-down directive for food companies owned by Bridgepoint, right? It couldn’t be a coincidence that these major restaurant chains owned by one group are all now suddenly super vegan-friendly.

If this isn’t proof of the surge of veganism, I’m not sure what is.

All Bar One keeps vegan menu alive

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Money talks.

Do you remember when I blogged about the vegan menu being promoted at UK chain pub All Bar One for Veganuary?

Click here to read that post and see full menu.

Well, it seems that the vegans (and non-vegans) of the UK did such a stellar job of buying everything on that special menu during January, the company has decided to keep the plant-based options alive for another month.

Michael Duffy, who is the marketing manager at All Bar One, commented:

The feedback we received from the new vegan friendly menu has been extremely positive and we’re really pleased that we are reaching new audiences and continuing to impress our regular All Bar One guests. With one in four of our guests now being a vegetarian or vegan, we created the pop up menu in partnership with Veganuary to serve this increased demand for plant-based dishes.

One in four customers don’t eat meat? That is huge!

This decision is clearly driven by the financial rewards the company saw during Veganuary and I wouldn’t be surprised if the vegan menu stays permanently. Maybe they have already decided to keep it but are stringing out the attention they are getting from people like me. LOL

Have you tried the vegan menu at All Bar One? How was it?

You can find your nearest All Bar One via their website.

Wagamama in Amsterdam Centraal Station

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Post by:

josh panel

I recently had to meet my elderly Dutch aunt in Amsterdam for a brief lunch before catching the train back to London. Of course Amsterdam has many vegan options but given the time constraints and accessibility concerns, I wanted something close to Amsterdam Centraal Station.

A quick search online showed that I was in luck as Wagamama has a branch inside the station and there were rumours that they had a separate vegan menu available to customers. We arrived shortly after they opened and were greeted by the friendly servers who, like everyone else I met in Amsterdam, spoke perfect English. When I asked for the vegan menu, I was delighted when the server brought this to me:

Vegan menu at Wagamama in Amsterdam Centraal Station

How great is it that they have actually taken the time to see which dishes are inherently vegan and which ones can be easily made vegan and how to do so! This is in stark contrast to the UK Wagamama restaurants where if you ask about veganism, you are shown some crusty old ring binder with all sorts of confusing charts about crustacea, grains, egg etc. Kudos to the Amsterdam branch for being on top of shit!

Yasai Itame curry at Wagamama Amsterdam Centraal Station

I played it safe and ordered what I always order at Wagamama – the Yasai Itame cury (no mushrooms, extra tofu) which is a delicious mix of rice noodles and assorted vegetables in a piquant coconut broth. It was wholly delicious and I’m terrified of ever ordering anything else at Wagamama in case it doesn’t live up to this dish.

So, if you’re in Amsterdam and in need of delicious vegan food in a hurry, pop into Wagamama and thank them for having a vegan menu.

Vegan at a steakhouse

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Sheffield is the future vegan capital of the UK.

Make No Bones is turning out food perfection, BurgerLolz has garnered a lot of fans, The Incredible Nutshell is one of the best 100% vegan grocery stores in the country and I’m even launching Sheffield Vegan Beer Fest in the city during 2017.

If you need further proof of how much plant-based eating has impacted on this South Yorkshire location, you only have to look at the GIANT vegan menu on offer at Italian steakhouse Luna Rossa.

Yep. Sheffield is so very vegan that even a freaking steakhouse has a bigger vegan menu than most plant-based places.

Check it out below.

I’m thrilled to see such a rapid vegan takeover of Sheffield.

If you have a meat eater who refuses to go to a vegan restaurant, you now have two choices for dealing with the situation.

Never speak to them again or take them to Luna Rossa.

See the restaurant website here and check out the location on Google Maps.

Autumn Yard goes vegan: one day only!

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If you thought my Vegan Christmas Market was enticing enough already, you are about to get another very persuasive reason to join me and a few thousand vegans in Hackney tomorrow (Saturday, December 17, 2016).

There is a brand new, gorgeous café and bar on the site of the market called Autumn Yard. The venue has been lovingly fitted out inside one of the old warehouses on the Hackney Downs Studios lot and it really is a beautiful space.

Autumn Yard features a large dining room and bar, as well as housing special pop-up events and happenings. There is a store inside the venue selling decadent cakes and gourmet pantry items.

The new dining space is getting into the festive swing with us plant-eaters by turning their food menu 100% vegan for the day to help us celebrate Vegan Christmas Market.

If you fancy a break from the jostling market crowds, make your way inside the restaurant for a proper sit down meal with table service.

On the menu for Autumn Yard tomorrow?

Starters

  • Falafel & Salsa Verde
  • Rosemary Butterbeans
  • Orange & Carrot, Roast Cumin Soup

Mains

  • Vegan Burger (sweet potato, beans & lentils) & Polenta Chips
  • Vegan Curry
  • Stuffed Butternut Squash

Desserts

  • Warm Chocolate Brownie
  • Banana Ice-cream
  • Roast Pineapple

Drinks

  • Vegan Coffees (almond & soy milk)
  • Apple Spiced rum

Cakes for the store

  • Vegan Cake pops
  • Vegan Tomato Cake
  • Vegan cookies
  • Pumpkin & Almond Cakes

So, now you have to struggle with the decision of what to buy from the incredible line up of vendors we have in the outdoor market as well as leaving enough tummy space to dine with one of London’s brightest new non-vegan restaurants as it goes vegan for one day only!

I almost feel like I need to apologise for the dilemma I’m putting you in. This could very well be the finest day for vegan food London has ever witnessed.

See Autumn Yard online, like them on Facebook and follow them on Twitter and Instagram. Hey, why not give them a shout out online and say thanks for joining our vegan party? And keep checking in with them for ongoing vegan menu items and specials.

All images on this page are courtesy of Autumn Yard, so don’t steal them like I did.

Vegan pizza at UK chain

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Alex is a reader who wants you to know about his experience at Zizzi. In case you haven’t heard, Zizzi is a restaurant chain with 140 locations around the UK and they are now offering vegan cheese as a topping option in every restaurant.

They also now serve vegan pasta, vegan wine and vegan desserts.

This is HUGE news and Alex is going to tell you all about it:

After hearing on Facebook about the new vegan cheese available at Italian restaurant chain Zizzi, we headed to the Exeter branch for date night.

The standard menu had vegan options clearly marked with a Ve symbol and our server brought us the “Allergen” menu which has a “Vegan Menu” page. Not a huge selection of vegan options but the revolution is the vegan cheese. No more dry, half empty pizzas.

As we had not booked and promised to give back the table within an hour, we just ordered olives for starters with some Prosecco. A nice touch is the little “Did you know?” box on the menu that tells you all of their wines are vegan except for a few listed. The Prosseco was lovely.

Of course for the main course we had the pizza. You have to pretty much build your own, starting with a Margarita and adding your selection of toppings. I went for artichokes and caramelised balsamic onions, my partner had mushrooms.

When the pizza arrived they looked exactly like the other pizzas, so we both simultaneously asked the server if they were vegan. Another nice touch here, Zizzi put little green stickers on the plates for vegan orders so you can be reassured you’re getting the correct thing. The pizza was brilliant. This is the Italian style thin crust pizza not overloaded with topping so you could easily have a starter and a full pizza and not be too full to order a dessert.

My caramelised balsamic onion topping was great with lots of sweet flavour. The “Mozzarisella” cheese is very creamy in taste and texture but does not take away much from the flavour of the pizza. In texture it does lack the stringy texture some people might associate with pizza, but for me that is more something for deep pan style pizza, loaded with toppings, which this is not.

No dessert for us this time, but a few vegan options based on sorbet are on the menu. Next time we are in town we will probably stop for an afternoon coffee and try the vegan nectarini which is a nectarine with scoops of coconut & mango swirl gelato.

zizzi vegan pizza

You can view the full vegan menu from Zizzi online, search for your nearest outlet here and thank the chain for their vegan-friendliness on Twitter.

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UK pub chain has a vegan menu

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If you live in the UK or have ever visited, you will surely know about the J.D. Wetherspoon pub chain with locations everywhere.

These pubs are known for being cheap and sometimes cheerful places to meet friends, down a few drinks and not be too far from home at the end of the night.

And now the chain pub is making a different kind of name for itself by offering a vegan menu!

It isn’t going to set the world alight with excitement, but the menu is going to be a welcome change for thousands of vegans who find themselves in a Wetherspoon pub on any given day.

wethersppon vegan menu

Part of the vegan menu at Wetherspoon pubs can be seen above, or click here to download a full PDF version.

You can also click here to locate your nearest Wetherspoon pub.

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Go posh this World Vegan Month

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The people over at PeTA just gave me some interesting news that I thought I should share with you right now.

Gauthier Soho is an exclusive restaurant with dining rooms spread across three floors of a Regency townhouse in Central London. The expensive eatery is the recipient of multiple awards and commendations, including being rated at number 4 in the ZAGAT guide for best food in London.

Up until now, Gauthier Soho hasn’t been particularly focussed on vegan cuisine but that is all about to change this month as the restaurant launches a special plant-based menu for World Vegan Month.

Keep reading below to see the intricate vegan tasting menu available in Gauthier Soho this November.

Tasting Menu

LES PLANTES Celebrating World Vegan Month

Butternut Squash

Smoked Tofu & Fondant Squash Chervil & Bitter Dandelion Crisp

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Hay Baked Beetroot

Crystalised Samphire, Maple Syrup & Garlic Dressing

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Heirloom Rainbow Carrots

Celery & Pine Nut Broth Chard Tortellini

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Sticky & Glutinous Fermented Rice

Date Chutney & Fresh Figs Walnut Bread

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Lemon & Thyme Sorbet

Ginger Crumble

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Saffron & Quince

Caramel Pops

£55

With Sommelier Selection “Les Petits Producteurs” £100

With a 3 Teas Flight Pairing (280ml) £70

Teas by Lalani & Co

carrot-chard tortellini

Carrot chard tortellini

What do you think of that menu?

Are you excited to try a 100% plant-based menu at a world-renowned restaurant?

You can visit Gauthier Soho online.

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Vegan menu in Ayr

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Yay for Ayr in Scotland!

The Chestnuts Hotel in Ayr is a pleasant surprise for vegans. My buddy Kay messaged me last night to let me know the restaurant in this gorgeous hotel has a lunch menu for vegans and a dinner menu for vegans. (Both links open as PDFs)

11279965_10155727728690430_1901406736_nHave any readers been along to The Chestnuts Hotel? What did you think?

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