vegan shoreditch

Why Unity Diner Is More Than Just a Place to Eat

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I just hosted a special fundraising dinner at Unity Diner and it inspired me to share some thoughts with you.

There are restaurants, and then there are restaurants with a purpose. Unity Diner falls firmly into the second category.

Tucked away on Wentworth Street near Brick Lane, Unity Diner isn’t just serving up burgers and cocktails. It’s serving a mission. Every bite, every sip, every pudding forked up at the end of the night contributes to a bigger picture.

And it is how business should be in 2025.

Read more below.

The profits from Unity Diner go directly to Surge Sanctuary, giving rescued animals a chance to live out their days in safety, not suffering. While most hospitality venues are worrying about squeezing the highest possible margin out of your plate of chips, Unity is thinking about how they can create a fairer, kinder world. It’s a business model that puts impact first.

And it works.

The venue is packed, the energy is buzzing, and the food is good. Like, really good. But more than that, it’s a space that holds a radical kind of hope. The kind that says: business can be different. It doesn’t have to come at the expense of people, animals or planet. It can stand for something.

Unity Diner supports social justice movements, gives space to community events, and brings together activists and everyday diners who just want to eat without compromise. It proves that ethical business is not a fantasy or a fringe idea. It’s here, and it’s thriving.

What Unity does is remind us that hospitality can be about hospitality. Not extraction. Not exploitation. Just people feeding people, in a way that uplifts everyone involved.

This is how business should be. Fighting injustice.

Follow Unity Diner on Instagram.

If you appreciate these blog posts and the work I do to support vegan business, please consider making a one time small donation of a couple of quid online here. You might also be in the position to sponsor my work on an regular basis via Patreon.

You can order my book ‘Fat Gay Vegan: Eat, Drink and Live Like You Give a Sh!t’ online now. It has been out a while now but is still a good read. You can also listen to the Audiobook read by me!

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Veganism Is About the Animals But It’s Also About Everything Else

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I have never believed that being vegan should stop at just avoiding animal products.

Don’t get me wrong. I love animals and won’t eat or wear them for the rest of my life. But if we’re going to build a better world for animals, we need to take a serious look at the systems that hurt people too.

Read more below.

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Is This The Area With The Most Vegan Restaurants In The UK

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We are definitely seeing more and more vegan businesses popping up, even if I do write the occasional moaning post abut all the places we have lost.

The trend is definitely more plant-based, more often, and in more places.

And while vegan restaurants are appearing all over the UK, there is one (roughly) square mile of London that appears to be the actual vegan capital of the country.

Read more below.

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Unity Diner Is Back And Still Doing Good

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In case you missed the news, award-winning vegan restaurant Unity Diner has re-opened on Wentworth Street, just a short walk from Spitalfields Market.

The beloved eatery and bar had a glow up and continues to serve customer favourites as well as a few new surprises.

One of the updates to the menu is the donation they are making to a local charity.

Read more below.

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Vegan pizza restaurant to open on Brick Lane

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London. Do you need more vegan pizza in your life?

Superstar vegan pizza makers, Picky Wops, have just announced they are opening a restaurant on Brick Lane in East London. Huge news!

Picky Wops have been wowing people around London with their gourmet take on pizzas for a few years now.

A recent kitchen takeover at a pub in Brixton has been a runaway success, as have all their appearances at outdoor markets and events around the capital. People can’t get enough of their unique flour mixes, gourmet toppings, and good vibes.

If you aren’t familiar with what Picky Wops do, read on.

Picky Wops pizza bases are all fully customisable and each dough has a different colour, texture and flavour. Available bases include burnt wheat and turmeric. Pizzas can be served cheeseless or with vegan cheese, and a mouthwatering variety of toppings are available.

If pizza isn’t your thing (really?!), classic Italian sides such as garlic bread, dough balls, and a variety of vegan pasta dishes are also featured on the menu. A firm favourite is their carbonara which comes complete with meat free bacon bits. Carb loving Londoners will also appreciate the innovative loaded fries, topped with Italian inspired sauces such as pesto and bolognese.

Ingredients used by Picky Wops are high quality and plant-based, while all dishes are made from scratch. Founders Cristiano Vitelli and Andrea Moro are both trained in the art of pizza making in their home country of Italy, meaning their food remains authentic.

Enough chit chat. Where is the new Picky Wops location?

You will be able to find the restaurant at 53 Brick Lane from their opening date of Friday December 13, 2019. You can see the exact location thanks to Google Maps.

For December only, visitors can sample a festive white pizza aptly called The White Christmas. This special is topped with spiced sweet potato mash, roasted brussel sprouts and walnuts, seasoned soya, sweet cranberry jam, vegan mozzarella and a light sprinkling of parmesan.

Be sure to follow Picky Wops on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.

Photos in this post were taken by the talented Martina De Santis.

Veganism and feminism event in London

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Here is some last minute news for people in London.

Essential Vegan is a fabulous vegan eatery in Shoreditch that is celebrating being open for one year. Congrats!

To celebrate Essential Vegan‘s first anniversary, a conversation about feminism and veganism is taking place in their café between 6pm and 8pm on Wednesday October 17, 2018.

Heloisa Righetto, co-founder of Conexão Feminista, will make a presentation about contemporary feminism and its key concepts. Afterwards, there will be a conversation with Essential Vegan chef and founder Vanessa in which these concepts will be expanded to understand the intersection between feminism and veganism.

You don’t need to buy a ticket but you do need to book a table in advance via their website!

You can also invite friends via the Facebook event page.

Please follow Essential Vegan on Instagram.

London vegan superstar chef announces book deal

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If you are one of the hundreds of people (maybe thousands) who have turned to me for London eating advice over the past few years, you would have been told to eat at CookDaily.

King of CookDaily has been busy serving up some of the tastiest vegan food on the planet for a while now and his Shoreditch restaurant is nothing short of legendary.

Noodle and soup bowls absolutely burst with flavour and the food is so incredibly popular, you’ll often find yourself caught short if you leave a visit too close to closing time.

In huge news, King reached out to me today to announce that he has finally signed his very first book deal.

This recipe book is surely to be one of the most anticipated book releases for vegans in recent times.

Follow King on Instagram to keep updated and make time to get reacquainted with the CookDaily menu ahead of the book launch.

Join FGV for a bubbly and cake party

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London. You are not just getting a few more vegan establishments opening lately.

You are being completely OVERRUN by some of the best vegan food outlets on the planet.

My friend Vanessa Almeida is opening her gorgeous vegan café in Shoreditch following on from years of running pop ups and residencies around the capital.

The lease is signed on the shop and I’m sitting inside right now as people paint furiously around me. It’s so thrilling to see Vanessa’s hard work and dedication to good vegan food finally paying off.

I’m working with Vanessa to raise some funds to ensure her Essential Vegan Café gets off to the best start possible. We are running a fundraising campaign to help pay for equipment costs, legal fees, paint, stock, furniture, and the countless expenses associated with opening a world class café in one of the most expensive cities on the planet.

If you think you have an idea of how expensive it is to open a business in London, I’d hazard a guess that your figure would be nowhere close to the reality.

I am trying to help Vanessa raise £30,000 to safeguard her business beyond opening. Most of the money is coming from Vanessa and her husband Neni, but they need a little bit of help from team vegan.

Essential Vegan Café is set in a stunning space just off Shoreditch High Street and it is the perfect location to showcase Vanessa’s Brazilian inspired menu that features seitan burgers, cheese bread and artisan coffee.

Of course there are a whole bunch of rewards on offer if you are able to support Vanessa’s campaign, but the one reward I’m most interested in telling you about today is the opening night party hosted by me!

If you donate £40 to the Essential Vegan Café fundraising campaign you can choose a ticket to the opening night party on Saturday September 30, 2017.

There are three separate sessions to join:

  • 6:00pm until 7:30pm
  • 7:30pm until 9:00pm
  • 9:00pm until 10:30pm

The ticket includes entry to the party where you will enjoy:

  • Free vegan bubbly to drink
  • A slice of cake (you get to choose from a selection!)
  • An Essential Vegan tote bag
  • Sneak preview of the café’s new menu before anyone else in London
  • 10% off your bill if you want to order food at the party

This is a very special event to help support a very special person. You will not meet anyone on the vegan scene who has worked as hard as Vanessa.

Join me for a party, eat some cake, drink some bubbles AND support an independent vegan business. It is going to be the MOST FUN.

Click here to see all of the rewards. If you can’t make the party launch, perhaps you will be tempted by some of the other rewards such as gourmet vegan cheese, private dining experiences and more.

Cheese sticks and ice cream

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Do you know about the much-loved vegan eatery and bar on Brick Lane called Mooshies?

If you don’t, my guess is that you will become familiar with the place in a hurry once I tell you about the new cheese sticks and ice cream being served.

Umm…. those cheese sticks, though!

Mooshies is bringing you all this fabulous food stuff PLUS a completely vegan bar with beer, wine and cocktails. How fantastic is it that you can go out for vegan cheese sticks, vegan burgers, ice cream and vegan prosecco all in one place?

Get over to the Mooshies website to check out the full menu including awesome burger line ups and watch for future movie screening sessions. Yes, film screenings at a vegan burger bar! Mooshies don’t intend on messing you about. They mean business.

Follow Mooshies on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Vegan cake in London

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Here is a super quick blog post to let you know about a nifty little spot for picking up gorgeous vegan cake in central London.

MissFlits Bakes Vegan is on a mission to spread the good word about vegan cake and they are starting by selling their tasty treats at Forge & Co on Shoreditch High Street.

Check these out!

Of course Forge & Co is not a vegan establishment but if you are in the area and in need of cake, this is a very handy location of which to be aware as they have multiple vegan cakes each week.

You can see the exact location of Forge & Co thanks to Google Maps. It is only a few minutes on foot from Boxpark!

New cakes are delivered to the Shoreditch eatery by the MissFlits Bakes Vegan every Tuesday. You should follow them on Facebook and Instagram to keep updated.