London vegan news, reviews & events
Here is a super short post about something I saw in Tesco today.
If you celebrate Christmas and shop at places such as Tesco, you can pick up this vegan chocolate selection box for yourself or a friend. I saw them in the special ‘seasonal items’ aisle (and not in the free from section) of the Tesco Extra in Osterley, London.
What do you think?
Will this be one of your stocking stuffers this festive season?
A speciality, sustainably minded vegan coffee shop and arts space on Hackney Road in East London has just opened. It’s called Unripe Banana.
Upstairs they have a coffee shop with a bit of extra seating downstairs and then also downstairs they have an art gallery and events space with artist studios.
On the menu at the moment they have coffee by Origin Coffee Roasters that they pair with nut mylks made by the East London Mylkman. They also have Oatly Barista available as well as cashew and almond.
They told me their plan is to set the bar for vegan speciality coffee and eliminate the idea of dairy free mylks being bad.
They have a selection of different cakes/croissants available and even offer a cheese and tomato filled croissant.
The menu also includes a cheese pesto and rocket toastie, a tofu BLT, smavo marmite and chilli on toast (smavo being smashed avocado) and a spicy chickpea blend with spinach and avocado. There are also different flavours of overnight oats and right now they have carrot cake jars of overnight oats.
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Unripe Banana is minimal waste and against air miles so they do everything with a ‘think locally’ mind set and avoids plastics wherever possible.
They also have a retail section where they sell UK designed dungarees by Lucy and Yak, their handmade banana mugs and a variety of different items by artists and makers.
Click here to see where exactly Unripe Banana is located thanks to Google Maps (just a few steps from Hackney City Farm on at Unit 7, 268 Hackney Road).
Follow Unripe Banana on Instagram. The café is open 7:30am until 4:00pm Monday through Friday and 9:00am until 4:00pm on Saturday and Sunday.
Here is some info about an upcoming vegan cooking class taking place in London.
Join in a celebration of vegan cooking with diverse recipes drawing on Lee Watson’s recent travels around the world. Lee will be cooking a variety of nutritious and tasty dishes at this event in Brixton on Saturday October 21, 2017.
Techniques will be explained clearly and you will receive a bespoke recipe booklet meaning that you’ll have the confidence and resources to try all the dishes at home. Lee will share loads of ideas and tips, and you’ll get to taste all dishes at the end when you enjoy a buffet lunch.
You’ll be shown:
A spot at this event costs £40 per person.
Lee will be signing copies of the ‘Peace and Parsnips’ book after the event.
Click here to RSVP to the Facebook event page or click here to book a ticket.
Breaking vegan news is coming thick and fast these days, so it can sometimes feel like we might be reaching a point where it stops being a big deal.
Well, don’t get jaded just yet because this next piece of news is certainly worth getting excited about.
Superstar brand Follow Your Heart from California is launching three of its products across 130 Sainsbury’s locations from Sunday October 8, 2017. Yes, this weekend!
This launch includes the finest vegan mayo product on the planet, Vegenaise. This legendary plant-based mayo just celebrated its 40th anniversary. 40 years old and we just got it listed in a major mainstream UK supermarket.
Better late than never! Here is the full list of participating stores. Sainsbury’s Store List
Alongside the iconic vegan mayo, Sainsbury’s stores will also be stocking the Vegan Honey Mustard Salad Dressing and the Organic Vegan Caesar Salad Dressing.
You can send your love to Follow Your Heart via Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Congratulate them on this giant leap forward and let them know how happy you are to have them in the UK with more accessibility.
Don’t forget that you can also buy Follow Your Heart products from local independent health food stores. Do that when you can, people! Support local business.
Yay for the growth of veganism and vegan mayo.
It has taken a long time but we finally have a world class vegan eatery in London thanks to Wulf & Lamb.
Of course we already had delicious food and ground-breaking food businesses for vegans, but we have never really had the complete package of outstanding food, gorgeous decor and full vegan alcohol menus.
Now we do.
My experience of walking into Wulf & Lamb near Sloane Square last night was as close to spirutual as a non-believer like me is going to get.
I was blown away by the stunning interior and more than amused when the server told me that even the furniture was vegan. Josh and I took time to order at the bar before heading upstairs to the gorgeously decorated dining space.
Every dish delivered to my table was outstanding or exceptional. The mac n cheese, seitan burger and raw cheesecakes were all standouts that I could easily consume every day. The chilli with rice? I’m getting gay married to it.
Take a look at some of the cuisine that was consumed at our table.
Whether you are looking for grab-and-go deli style food, cakes and juices or a finer dining experience with a full bar, Wulf & Lamb is the stuff of vegan dreams.
Click here to see the exact location thanks to Google Maps.
Visit the Wulf & Lamb website to see the menu, including breakfast specialties.
Follow Wulf & Lamb on Instagram.
Super quick piece of valuable information for you.
Spice Box is a fab vegan street food trader that has just announced a permanent residence at the KERB run Camden Market re-launch on October 6, 2017.
To celebrate their new home, Spice Box have announced a very special deal. Between October 7 and 13, 2017 they are offering ‘buy one get one free’ on their combo boxes.
Savings!
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You can follow Spice Box on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to stay updated with all of their Camden adventures.
Don’t forget to grab those savings!
Listen to me. You need to book a ticket for this event as soon as you finish reading.
The tickets are going to fly out.
Mao Chow is a vegan pop specialising in vegan food that they bill as inauthentic American Chinese.
Their next event is taking place in Dalston on October 15, 2017 and the menu looks like the stuff of dreams.
Check it out below.
Every single item on that amazing menu is vegan and it sounds delightful.
Tickets are £30 plus booking fee and you need to buy them online here.
If this sells out before you get a chance to book, you can follow Mao Chow on Instagram for news of future events.
Get booking!
I’m not sure I know a more magical combination of two words than ‘vegan pub’.
A few readers have been getting in touch lately to let me know about a vegan pub in Liverpool, so I reached out to the owner of The Caledonia to get a bit of background information to share with you.
Here is what pub owner Laura King had to say:
I’m the licensee/owner of the pub and kitchen manager. I’m also on team vegan! I’ve had the pub seven and a half years and last summer I decided to close the kitchen for a year off. I decided that when we relaunched the menu would be vegan comfort/junk foods and that is how CVK was born.
I decided to make the whole pub vegan too, because, why not?! It seemed silly not to. Over this last summer our team has been busy working through everything we sell to ensure that our entire offer was vegan. We use a lot of local businesses, particularly for real ale and craft beers so we contacted all of them to see if they could accommodate us and most could! The response has been amazing and support from the community (vegan peeps & the pub’s regulars) has been overwhelming. I’m so pleased to be able to do something like this in Liverpool. We’re also incredibly dog friendly and currently we’re in the running for Dog Buddy’s “Dog Friendly Pub Awards”. We also have GF & Kids menus.
I adore this pub already and can’t wait to visit in the future.
You can see the full vegan food menu for The Caledonia on their website. See the exact location of the pub online thanks to Google Maps.
Now, let’s look at some food.
I’m all about supporting local and independent vegan stores but I understand the reality for a lot of people means they rely on major chain supermarkets for their vegan products.
Places like Tesco have become especially helpful for picking up staples such as vegan cheese.
No shame in getting what you need as long as you do your best to be ethical when you can. We all try to do our best.
This is why I keep the info about the majors flowing on my blog and Instagram. Check out some of the items I saw in Tesco yesterday.
Have you tried any of the above? What do you think?
Mr Singh’s is a London-based family business most famous for a range of chile sauces but is now launching its first vegan food space in Forest Gate, London.
Yes. Forest Gate!
The brunch club is officially launching on October 15, 2017 and is set to trade on Sundays only at the moment with expanded hours coming in the future.
The entirely vegan menu includes:
Check out some of these photos the business sent over.
You can find the brunch spot inside Johnny Rocco’s Bar of Awesome on Cranmer Road. Click here to see the exact location via Google Maps.
Follow Mr Singh’s on Instagram to keep updated on the brunch club. It’s about time Forest Gate got on the vegan map!