Christmas movies, food and beer

Do you you like the idea of vegan pizza, beer and Christmas films?

Sazzy & Fran café in Bethnal Green, London is screening a Christmas film every Wednesday from now until Christmas.

It is free to go along and then you can buy drinks at the bar (they have ordered vegan beers for the occasion) while the café will be baking pizzas and selling their tiramisu.

Pizza choices are:

  • Boscaiolo aka the Boss: roast potato, rosemary and smoked tofu
  • Funghi & Spinach: Mushroom, spinach, and cherry tomatos
  • Margherita: tomato sauce, cheese topped w/ basil

The first film of the series is”ELF” (2003) on Wednesday November 29, 2017 at 6pm. Drinks are by London Fields Taproom.

You can RSVP on Facebook.

Follow Sazzy & Fran on Instagram.

Free vegan pizza TODAY in London

Attention all London vegans who love free vegan pizza.

There is a very special event taking place TODAY for World Vegan Day this 1st November, 2017 at 6.00pm at The Stable in Kew Bridge (8 Kew Bridge Road, Brentford TW8 0FJ).

The restaurant is celebrating this day by giving away FREE vegan pizza!

That’s right… VEGAN PIZZA FOR FREE!

The giveaway is from 6.00pm until they run out of dough.

Get there early to avoid disappointment.

Gluten free options also available.

You can check out their vegan menu here:
http://stablepizza.com/media/Stable-Menu-Kew-V2.pdf

T&Cs for the free pizza event:

They won’t be taking any bookings. One pizza per person. First come, first served. No takeaways. Pizza pudding not included. Form an orderly queue!

For more information about The Stable please visit www.stablepizza.com

The Facebook event can be found here.

Vegan pizza in Elephant

I’ve been blogging lately about some of the vegan changes taking place at the shipping container complex known as The Artworks in Elephant & Castle.

There is Cupcakes & Shhht that has recently turned vegan, as well as an Ethiopian restaurant called Beza that has a vegan menu alongside its non-vegan menu.

To add to this vegan choice at The Artworks, I discovered today that the onsite pizza restaurant called Elephantastic Pizza has a whole bunch of vegan options for plant-based diners.

They even use Violife cheese for the vegan pizzas!

Check out my selection below and get along for good vegan eating in the Elephant soon.

Make empizzanadas!

Ingredients:

1 packet of vegan empanada cases*
2 cups shredded seitan or other vegan meat 1 cup sliced white onion
2 cups sliced black olives
1 packet of vegan cheese
1 cup of pizza sauce
Vegetable oil for frying
Sauce to serve

Instructions:

– ​ Leave dough/cases in fridge until just ready to use
– Place a small amount of all fillings in the disc and then press closed with fingertips – Use a fork to press the sides together, turning over to repeat the process
– When all empizzanadas are made, heat about 11⁄2 inches of vegetable oil in a flat-bottomed wok
– Fry empizzanadas in batches, turning halfway through cooking, until golden brown – Drain on kitchen towel
– Serve with a spicy tomato sauce

This cross between an empanada and a pizza is really adaptable – mix and match any of your favourite flavours and tastes!

*Many commercially made packets of empanada cases/discs are vegan but if you can’t find one near you, this recipe​ works perfectly!

Recipe and photo remain property of Sean O’Callaghan and may not be reproduced without permission. © fatgayvegan.com

Click the image above to support Fat Gay Vegan

Vegan pizza in Manchester

Big news for the vegan and vegan-curious people of Manchester. A 100% vegan pizza and fast food joint has opened today!

Zad’s of Chorlton is boasting a pretty impressive menu that includes a huge range of pizzas, burgers, hot dogs, sides and more. Seriously, this menu is epic.

Check it out below.

What do you think?!

Zad’s threw open their doors today (Friday July 21, 2017) so get along as soon as you can to say hello and support this new plant-based business.

You can click here to see the exact location of Zad’s thanks to Google Maps. The restaurant is open from 4pm until 11pm every day of the week except Monday when it is closed.

Follow Zad’s on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

FED by Water still amazing

I visited vegan Italian restaurant FED by Water for the first time today in over six months and I’m delighted to report back that the food is still as incredible as ever.

Josh and I were blown away the pizza and bread basket. The portions are mammoth and we really struggled to fit it all in… but we did, of course!

It was also a lovely surprise to see the pizza named after me still on the menu.

Follow FED by Water on Instagram and then check out photos from my experience earlier today.

Sitting outside at @fedbywater waiting on some #vegan Italian food! #London

A post shared by Fat Gay Vegan (@fatgayvegan) on

TFW you see a pizza named after you in a #vegan restaurant. Get into @fedbywater for a taste of Fat Gay Vegan.

A post shared by Fat Gay Vegan (@fatgayvegan) on

Ridiculously tasty pizza and salad combination at @fedbywater in London. #vegan

A post shared by Fat Gay Vegan (@fatgayvegan) on


Finally Pizza Express joins the club

I’m really not sure why this has taken so long, but it finally has arrived so you need to know.

After years of watching multiple other pizza chain restaurants introduce a vegan cheese option to their menu, Pizza Express is now offering vegan mozzarella.

It used to be that you could take your own vegan cheese into one of the almost 500 outlets in the UK and Ireland for the chefs to add to a customised pizza (I’m not joking), but now you can go into any one of their restaurants and order a vegan pizza without having to bring some of the ingredients yourself.

The following is from the official Pizza Express announcement online this week:

For some time now, our customers have been telling us that they want a vegan mozzarella alternative on the menu and in parallel, the world of vegan ingredients has opened up and become so interesting, enticing and tasty too. So, after a lot of tasting and testing, from June 20th we finally have an option that we believe you’ll love. One that we can say is sufficiently delicious to warrant it’s inclusion on our menu and sit atop our unique dough and delicious passata.
Made in Italy using Italian ingredients, our new vegan mozzarella alternative melts perfectly in our pizza oven and gives a creamy finish to any recipe. To celebrate, we have taken some of our favourite ingredients and created a new pizza recipe that combines flavoursome artichokes with our new asparagus, red onion, garlic oil, black olives and seasoning on a classic dough and passata base to create our new Vegan Giardiniera. Not only this, our vegan mozzarella alternative is available to be used across all of our pizzas, making this a great option for those looking for a dairy-free alternative.

How do you feel about this new option? Is it going to make your life any easier when it comes to dining out with friends, family or colleagues?

Yay for vegan pizza!

New vegan pizza joint for Manchester

This is all a bit mysterious and details are thin on the ground, but you really should know that a brand new vegan pizza and fast food restaurant is set to open in Manchester.

That’s about the extent of my knowledge. I don’t know the opening date. I don’t know the location.

The restaurant has shared a sample menu on Facebook. Check it out below:

As you can see, it’s as if Fat Gay Vegan himself had a hand in the menu. Pizzas, cheesy fries, curly fries, hot dogs, onion rings and more.

You need to follow Zad’s on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter so you can be the first to know about grand opening details.

Extra note: images used belong to Zad’s and have been used for promotional purposes.

London pizza shop turns vegan

London. Here is some news to make you grin.

One of the best pizza restaurants on the planet has turned vegan.

Picky Wops of Fulham has ditched meat and dairy in order to become the first 100% vegan pizza outlet in West London.

I asked the team over there what made them take the big step and they replied:

Because we cannot keep doing what we believe is wrong, we cannot keep sustaining cruelty! We believe that everyone should contribute in every reality, small or big doesn’t matter. That’s why we want be part of the change ourselves, with our restaurant. We are very happy!

The bases at Picky Wops are absolutely delicious, made with specially-crafted flour mixes that are baked to perfection. I wrote about one of my first experiences with the shop here.

Get along to Picky Wops for top level pizza now. Follow the shop on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

See the location of Picky Wops thanks to Google Maps.

La Stella Nera Berlin

 

 

joe panel

I’m way behind on my list of new vegan places in Berlin, so I’ll start with the new collectively-run Italian restaurant, La Stella Nera.

That it’s collectively run is positive as it means that the people working there share in the ownership, the work and the income, too. After a scandal in Berlin involving accusations of shoddy worker treatment at another vegan place, it’s heartening to see somewhere like this.

But what of the food, I’m sure you’re asking! Well, perhaps the clearest indication of the quality is the fact that we couldn’t get in the first two times we went – it was just that busy. Now I’ve learned to phone ahead and reserve, especially on a weekend.

And there’s a reason it’s quickly become such a popular restaurant: the food is high quality. It’s all freshly made and it shows. The pizzas are cooked in a traditional wood-fired pizza oven (sit opposite the till and you can see inside as the pizzas are cooked) and there are also superb pasta dishes – again, the pasta is made on the premises.

pizza-with-potato%2c-mushroom-and-tofu%2c-at-la-stella-nera-in-berlin pizza-with-vegan-cheese-and-aubergine-at-la-stella-nera%2c-berlin

There are two types of pizza offered – ‘blanco’ and ‘rosso’, Italian for white and red. I’m not a huge fan of the blanco pizzas, which come without tomato sauce. The toppings are still nice, but I need that tomato on there! Most of the pizzas have no cheese either, but there are a few on the menu which have cheese if you need it.

The pizza bases are light and fluffy, and baked to perfection. Drizzle with some oil and they’re excellent on their own. There are no wacky toppings or stuffed crust. The menu features traditional pizza with good-quality ingredients.

pasta-with-mushrooms-at-la-stella-nera-berlin

The pasta pictured here was truly excellent, by the way – I can’t remember the name of it (my Italian isn’t as good as my German), it was basically pasta with some posh mushrooms, yet despite the simplicity of the dish, it was sublime. We’re planning on going back to have another one.

And if you still have room after all that, there’s a range of desserts including tiramisu and affogato. I’m not normally a fan of coffee in desserts, but both of these rocked my fairtrade, sweatshop-free socks off.

creamy-coffee-desserts%2c-including-tiramisu%2c-at-la-stella-nera-in-berlin

Despite the high-quality of the food, the place is down-to-earth and easy going – it’s not somewhere you have to dress up for!

So if you’re coming to Berlin, that’s yet another place on your must-visit list. Just remember to phone ahead on a weekend.

Visit La Stella Nera online.

nye-2017