London vegan news, reviews & events
My regular readers will be aware of a story category I use on here known as Taking the long way around. The bulk of my stories deal with London-based tales of depravity, over-consumption and brief queer history, however I do venture further afield and I love to bring you the details of these adventures and misadventures too.
With that overly-verbose introduction out of the way, I want to tell you how a vegan eatery named Foodswings saved my life during a journey from London to LA.
If you follow me on Twitter, you will already know I am eating and drinking myself into oblivion in Los Angeles. I am having a fab time in my favourite city and have eaten in some of the best vegan establishments in the world.
Vegan life in London has kept trundling along while I have been living it up in SoCal, specifically the annual London Vegan Festival. I am a bit down about missing out on all the cruelty-free action but I do still get a small insight into the proceedings as Josh very kindly collected some photos of the event and has even written a few words about what went down.
Let’s get straight into it. Thanks, Josh!
There are a few more updates still to come from my trip to Barcelona, but before we get to those I would like to inform you of a stunning vegan eatery located roughly an hour north of this city.
In the northeastern Catalan city of Girona is a vegan food destination known as B12. This cafe is a gem of a location for vegans and it is full of burgers, desserts, beers, colas, hot drinks and more. Every single item in the restaurant is 100% vegan and the staff are 100% helpful, welcoming and friendly.
When you visit a small town in the UK, the vegan food can be extremely thin on the ground. I often find myself wandering aimlessly around provincial towns in the hope of discovering something cruelty-free to eat.
A few months ago I experienced this exact predicament in Hastings. Hastings is a picturesque seaside town steeped in history, located on the southeast coast of the mainland United Kingdom. The vegan dining options are not abundant but the people of cafe chain eat@ are somewhat redressing this imbalance.
Another post from Barcelona and with only a week remaining in this gorgeous city, I had better get a move on if I want to feature all of the vegan food I have been experiencing. There are just so many options for vegans and the two cruelty-free grocery stores are perfect places to start. That’s right… Barcelona has two completely vegan grocery stores!
The first of these stores I want to talk about is Veganoteca. Located a short walk from the bustling tourist area of La Rambla, Veganoteca is a small piece of retail heaven for vegans.
Here is your chance to tell a food manufacturer how you feel about their products and put yourself in the running to win a sample of their food.
If you haven’t been investigating the in-house range of beauty products and toiletries at UK high street mega-retailer Superdrug, then you have been missing out on a staggeringly-comprehensive range of cruelty-free items.
Something has been troubling me and I had no other choice than to bring in a guest. Many months ago Josh and I dined in a West London vegetarian restaurant. I was underwhelmed by the Indian food and have not been inspired to write a review about our experience.
Although much time has passed, Josh kindly agreed to write his first ever blog entry and has recounted our night at Sagar in Hammersmith as a FGV guest contributor. Take it away, Josh.
How much would you pay for a meal? When dining out in a fancy restaurant, do you set yourself a budget or do you sometimes allow yourself to splurge on fine food?
If you don’t mind distributing your wealth now and again, I have some advice for you. Think twice before distributing it to The Gate Restaurant, a vegetarian eatery located in Hammersmith, London. I am going to be blunt and brief. I found it to be over-priced, over-dependent on dairy and severely lacking in vegan options.
The restaurant itself is rather pleasant, if a bit grubby. My seat afforded me a lovely view across the restaurant to the massive feature window. Unfortunately I was also next to a wall that was riddled with bizarre scuff marks and scratches. I’m not above eating in a venue with a bad paint job, but after viewing the prices on the menu I would expect The Gate Restaurant to splash out on a lick of paint now and again.
Speaking of prices, I have never paid so much money for such unexciting, unadventurous and downright dull food.
There is no big mystery here. I love Ms. Cupcake and I love all of her delicious treats and temptations. I have eaten every imaginable variety of mini cake from the bakery but today I got served. That means I was taught a lesson. A lesson where the learning intention was the tastiness of the watermelon cupcake I devoured.
Delicious. Moist. Super sweet. Frosting outweighing sponge.