vegan UK

Delicious vegan food in Shrewsbury

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Shrewsbury. Are you ready to eat ALL the vegan food?

Okra is a vegan café located on the High Street and the food looks beyond tempting.

The café was previously known as güd and traded in Altrincham Market, however they have enjoyed such wonderful success they have now expanded and relocated to Shrewsbury with the new name.

Okra is all about fresh, flavourful 100% vegan food. It’s kinda like gourmet street food.

They make almost everything in-house from scratch, including all their sauces and vegan burger patties. All their flat breads are made by hand to order, every time!

The menu is small and changes often, but there are always classics like the Mexican black bean burger and tarka dal.

Okra also throw in weekly specials, too. The ‘chippy T’ being a recent favourite featuring crispy tofu fillet, salt and vinegar hash brown, and katsu ‘chippy’ curry sauce on a toasted bun!

Okra is open for breakfast and lunch and should be doing evenings soon.

Follow Okra on Instagram and see their exact location thanks to Google Maps.

New fresh vegan milk trader for London

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London. It is time to get milky.

Nut Milks is a new company bringing fresh dairy alternative milks to your doorstep.

The company is committed to supplying a low carbon footprint alternative to cow milk, therefore they only deliver within the London area. I absolutely LOVE this approach to their business.

The vegan milks are made in London and sold in London!

The milks are made freshly and locally. They contain no additives therefore last only five days. These products are old school!

Nut Milks flavours include:

  • Pistachio Milk
  • Chocolate Hazelnut
  • Hazelnut Milk
  • Almond Milk
  • Cashew Milk

Nut Milks currently have a stall at Borough Market but they are mostly an online business.

You can visit their webshop to browse all milk products and place an order for London-only delivery.

You can also follow Nut Milks on Instagram.

Fundraiser dinner with Animal Equality in London

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Hey London!

You can join Animal Equality at their Festive Fundraiser on Tuesday December 3, 2019 for an evening that promises to be packed full of merriment.

Entertainment at the Central London event (near Farringdon) will feature the always inspiring Christopher Sebastian and the hilarious Carl Donnelly. If you haven’t yet had the opportunity to see them in action, then you definitely don’t want to miss this event.

You’ll also hear about the incredible work that Animal Equality has been able to carry out this year thanks to the generosity of their wonderful supporters, as well as enjoy a delicious plant-based, three-course meal and help the charity raise funds through a raffle.

The ticket price also includes a welcome drink and wine with the meal.

Entertainment

Speaker – Christopher Sebastian

Christopher Sebastian is the director of social media for Peace Advocacy Network, he sits on the Advisory Council for Encompass, he is senior editor at Vine Sanctuary Press, he is co-founder of VGN, and he lectures at Columbia University in the Department of Social Work for the graduate course POP: Power, Oppression, and Privilege. He primarily focuses on animal violence and how it influences anti-black racism, queer antagonism and class discrimination throughout the global west.

Comedy – Carl Donnelly

Carl has been nominated for the Edinburgh Comedy Award twice and has appeared on various TV shows including Mock the Week and Russell Howard’s Good News. He is a regular on the international comedy circuit, performing at pretty much every comedy festival there is!

Animal Equality look forward to seeing you next week. Click here to book tickets.

Extra note: The event space is accessible and Signing can be arranged on request.

Return of Hackney Downs Festive Vegan Market

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It is back!

The original London vegan market, Hackney Downs Vegan Market, is back for one day only in festive form on Saturday December 14, 2019.

This festive market has become an annual tradition for vegans, the vegan-curious, and our friends from all across London. Our traders help us showcase the best plant-based street food in the capital and there are always plenty of cheeses and gifts, ensuring quality shopping.

Traders on the day include:

Vegan cheese and pantry

  • Kinda Co. – a London favourite when it comes to cheeses, they will be selling cheese boards for your Xmas table
  • New Roots – Vegan Cheese – one of the most innovative vegan cheese companies out there at the moment with spectacular products
  • Vegan Cartel – need vegan bacon? They have it for you in take home packs
  • Plant Based Artisan – the original and the best gourmet vegan honey alternative

Hot food

Cakes

  • Vegan Delice – one of the original Hackney Downs Vegan Market traders and our resident queen of cake

Gifts

Beer

  • All Good Beer – beer to help make your Xmas market experience even better!

Whether you are stocking up for Christmas or just coming along to eat your fill on the day, Hackney Downs Festive Vegan Market is the place to be.

The market will run between 11am and 5pm.

You can see the exact location of the festive market online thanks to Google Maps and be sure to invite your friends using the Facebook event.

New vegan pizza and beer hot spot for London

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The team that founded Young Vegans Pie Shop – London’s only vegan pie and mash outlet – have opened a new pizza restaurant in Bethnal Green, East London.

Young Vegans Pizza Shop opened its doors to the public for its launch on Wednesday the 13th of November, 2019. The restaurant contains 30 seats, a licensed bar, and a dedicated takeaway/delivery counter.

The Pizza Shop began life as ​Death By Pizza​, a small pop up based out of a ramshackle hut with clay pizza oven in Hackney serving up highly rated wood fired vegan pizzas. One year later and the company has rebranded it to Pizza Shop, aligning itself with the Pie Shop, and relocating to a much bigger space in Bethnal Green.

Young Vegans has always proudly produced all ingredients at their prep kitchen in Camden. These include mock meats and vegan cheeses, and the vegan mozzarella used at the Pizza Shop.

The revamped menu retains previously popular pizzas such as the Devil’s Coglioni (seitan pepperoni, mozzarella and marinara sauce) and the Holy Ghost (ricotta, mozzarella, marinara, red onions and spinach) as well as new favourite Horror Show (butternut squash, caramelised onions, mozzarella, marinara, walnuts and rocket). What’s new is the full set of starters and desserts, from mac ’n’ cheeze and mozzarella fingers to cheesecake and a cookie dough pie.

Alongside the much expanded food menu, Young Vegans Pizza Shop serves a range of cocktails, wines, and local craft beers from Hackney Brewery.

The restaurant’s weekly opening hours are Wednesday to Friday from 5pm-10pm, and Saturday and Sunday from midday-10pm.

You can follow Young Vegans Pizza Shop on Instagram.

You can see the exact location of the restaurant thanks to Google Maps.

Taiwanese vegan food in central London

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Gil and I were recently invited along to an extremely popular (and busy!) restaurant in Covent Garden to try their vegan options and I was more than impressed.

Din Tai Fung is an award-winning global restaurant chain that was once named one of the top 10 restaurants on the planet.

The London location is just steps from the famous Covent Garden market.

The chain has really upped their game to make the menu more welcoming to vegans and from I sampled, they are doing a damn fine job.

Check out the photos below of my delicious meal including mushroom and truffle dumplings, sweet bean buns, garlic greens, savoury rice, and iced tea.

You can see the exact location of Din Tai Fung London online thanks to Google Maps.

Best vegan curry in the UK

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I was recently invited by Pho to pop into one of their restaurants to try the new vegan Christmas menu.

In case you don’t know, Pho is a restaurant chain around the UK serving up amazing Vietnamese street food and a quarter of their menu just happens to be vegan, making it a loved destination for plant based eaters.

The Christmas menu is not seasonal specific food but rather focussed on giving you the choice of two courses for £14.50 or three courses for £18.50.

The menus have been designed with groups in mind such office Christmas parties, seasonal meet-ups for friends, and family dinners. It is the perfect place to suggest if you are being dragged along for a mandatory end of year dinner because there is SO MUCH vegan choice.

Check out the vegan Christmas menu for Pho below.

I ate a few things in order to give you some feedback (research purposes only!) and I was blown away. As always, the vegan options at Pho are amongst some of the best dishes on the planet in my opinion.

First up I had the Chả giò. These crispy spring rolls are served with lettuce and herbs for wrapping before plunging into the accompanying dip. I picked the peanut dip but you can opt for soy ginger sauce.

I also tried two mains. They offered! What was I meant to do?

I had the giant bowl of Phở chay, featuring tofu and button mushrooms in veggie broth with rice noodles. This dish was simply delicious.

My final dish was Cà-ri. This rich, fragrant Vietnamese curry with tofu and
mushrooms was topped with nuts and served with broken rice.

This was the tastiest and most enjoyable curry I’ve eaten in my life. I will order it every single time I return to a Pho restaurant, without fail.

Make sure you get along before Christmas to enjoy the Christmas menu prices.

The restaurants do also serve meat but are extremely proud of their vegan options and do everything they can to make plant based diners feel at home.

Click here to visit the Pho website and find your nearest location.

New vegan full English breakfast in Wagamama

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The future we never thought would be possible has arrived.

Airports haven’t been known as hotspots for plant-based food. Traditionally, vegans have needed to pack our own snacks when spending time in transit or otherwise deal with uninspired crisp selections.

Imagine my shock today when I discovered a vegan full English cooked breakfast at Wagamama while waiting for my flight at Heathrow Terminal 3 in London.

This marks a huge shift in the state of mainstream plant-based foods.

The full English features seitan bacon, scrambled tofu, sausage, mushrooms, tomatoes, spinach, sweet potato, and toast.

The meal isn’t cheap at £10.25 but it certainly feels like good value when held up against other airport meals.

And the thrill of enjoying a plate of hot vegan food before a flight cannot be overstated. It is a real joy.

If you want to follow my travel and food adventures, follow me on Instagram.

New vegan croissants for the UK

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On the morning of Friday November 1, 2019 (World Vegan Day) I was invited to a new product launch and let me just say that you are in for a treat!

La Boulangere is a French baked goods company that has just launched vegan croissants and pains au chocolat into the UK market!

These were some of the finest vegan pastries I have ever tried.

La Boulangere vegan croissants and pains au chocolat are now available from Ocado, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons.

Get shopping and enjoy. These are very special products.

Vegans are obsessed with IKEA

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Trends in the vegan world are tough to keep up with as there seems to be a never-ending stream of breaking news and product launches in 2019.

I’ve made it my business to know what is happening when it comes to plant-based developments over the past decade but I sometimes feel like I have vegan fatigue from the ridiculous number of news stories breaking every week.

Yes, I am tired and worn out from trying to stay updated with vegan developments however there is one story within this swell of stories that still has the power to get me excited and hold my interest.

IKEA.

I am obsessed by how obsessed vegans are with the plant-based products of IKEA. This is the strange and wonderful world we find ourselves in right now. IKEA is somehow the hottest global trend in veganism!

I spend a lot of time in Mexico City and we do not have an IKEA here. Can you even imagine?! I’ve got IKEA envy. Every single day I watch vegan after vegan post photos of plant-based foods from their local IKEA and I don’t have one near me.

Because I’m currently out of the IKEA loop, I’ve pulled together a few recent Instagram posts showcasing this love affair between UK vegans and the Swedish-founded mega store… plus a few photos from IKEA-loving vegans from around the rest of the world, too.

And until the Mexico City location reportedly opens next year, these photos are all I have.

Let’s do this!

UK photos first up.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B36W_uZJYs0/
https://www.instagram.com/p/B34HkJLJldu/
https://www.instagram.com/p/B3wMkObJB8t/
https://www.instagram.com/p/B3PuH9upZ2N/
https://www.instagram.com/p/B3PryWPBgbB/
https://www.instagram.com/p/B16HsJBpGjX/

Rest of the world.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B3mWzhDnXjw/
https://www.instagram.com/p/B3koXEHJYEn/

If I haven’t showcased your favourite IKEA vegan eats, please let me now all about it in the comments.

In the instance I ever do make it to an IKEA, the first place you will hear about it is my Instagram account.