London vegan news, reviews & events
I used to live in Leeds. In fact, I used to live in Armley. That’s right. The very neighbourhood playing host to one of the most exciting events in the Leeds this year!
So many memories are filed away of me mooching about on Armley Moor, which always seemed to be wet. Squelching aside, I have a lot of fond memories of my time in Leeds.
But back to this event.
Read more below.
If you’ve been around these parts a while, you’ll know I’ve got a soft spot for independent food stores that go the extra mile for plant-based shoppers.
And if you know me REALLY well, you’ll know that Out Of This World in Leeds has a very special place in my heart.
Keep reading below for the full story.
If you had told me at the beginning of the year the world would still be struggling through the COVID disaster in November, I would have had a difficult time imaging that as reality.
I would have even been even more surprised had you told me I would no longer be living in Mexico City, but rather in Sheffield!
Life is full of surprises. Due to global circumstances, I’m living in Sheffield and working alongside a vegan food business. I feel extremely fortunate to have steady employment and a place to live, it’s just that it has come out of the blue.
We do what we must at times like this (has there ever been a time like this?) and I’m doing my best in Sheffield, a city I have loved for a long time and with which I have nurtured a special relationship ever since I hosted my Vegan Beer Festival events here.
Of course many food businesses are closed or sometimes closed in Sheffield, but I am still managing to eat and consume. You can’t hold a good FGV down!
Check out some of my foodie adventures since I’ve been in Sheffield this year.
Tasty!
The photo above shows my first meal on my first night back in Sheffield in July. I ordered a big comfort food bundle from Sunshine Deli to be delivered to my hotel room.
This vegan eatery has a lot of fans and delivers not only hot food, but heat and cook at home packs for people living longer distances from Sheffield.
Visit Sunshine Deli online and follow on Instagram.
There are a lot of non-vegan places in Sheffield offering substantial vegan menus. One such place is Nether Edge Pizza.
I really enjoyed their pizza featuring walnuts, while their garlic bread is one of my favourite takeaway treats.
Visit Nether Edge Pizza online and follow on Instagram.
One of my favourite vegan businesses in the UK is Truffle Pig, Sheffield’s very own artisan truffle and chocolate expert.
I first experienced the wonders of Truffle Pig a few years back when they traded at my Vegan Beer Festival in Sheffield. When they sold out almost as soon the doors opened, I knew they were something special.
Friday restocks on their website sell out just as quickly and Truffle Pig now has fans all over the UK.
Visit Truffle Pig online and follow on Instagram.
There is nothing I love more than an independent vegan grocery store and in Sheffield, we have the best!
The Incredible Nutshell is home to a dazzling range of vegan products including meats, cheeses, ice cream, chocolates, sweets, personal care items, household cleaners, pantry items, tinned food, and even alcohol.
Visit The Incredible Nutshell online and follow on Instagram.
In the intro of this blog entry I mentioned I am in Sheffield working with a vegan food company.
My mates at Make No Bones asked me to come onboard and help with a few things, including promoting their new project called Saucy. Saucy is a vegan takeaway joint selling wings, burgers, fries, desserts, and drinks.
Check out the vegan chicken burger in the shot above.
Visit Saucy online and follow on Instagram.
I currently live near a part of Sheffield called Kelham Island and just around the corner from me is a gorgeous pub called The Fat Cat.
This pub always has a few vegan options on the menu and it is all old-school pub fare. See my meal above consisting of mushroom pie, wedges, peas, and gravy.
Visit The Fat Cat online.
This next one is a bit of a cheat as it isn’t actually in Sheffield. The Globe is in a town called Glossop but I have included it as I visited from Sheffield during one of the brief time periods when short journeys were deemed OK and safe.
It is close enough to drive to if you are in Sheffield and well worth the trip, but is actually much closer to Manchester.
The Globe has a 100% vegan food menu and is one of my favourite pubs on the planet. The prices are ridiculously low and, as you can tell by my photo, you will be more than satisfied if you love comfort food.
Visit The Globe online and follow on Instagram.
I dropped in to see Icarus & Apollo a few weeks ago in the outdoor food and bar complex known as SteelYard Kelham. The site is one of those shipping container constructions that are all the rage and even has a bar on the roof!
Icarus & Apollo serve fusion food (with a bit of Mexican and African influence) that looks great in photos. I’m always seeing happy customers sharing photos on socials.
Visit Icarus & Apollo online and follow on Instagram.
Pom Kitchen is a vegetarian cafe in a cute and trendy part of town known as Sharrow Vale. The collection of shops on Sharrow Vale Road is a mix of foodie hot spots, bakeries, fresh food mongers, and antique traders.
It is here where Pom Kitchen has built a loyal customer base with their mix of vegetarian and vegan offerings.
Visit Pom Kitchen online and follow on Instagram.
A much-loved local coffee shop that isn’t vegan might just be selling one of the tastiest vegan sandwiches in the UK.
Create Coffee is a few doors along from the aforementioned The Incredible Nutshell on Chesterfield Road. They of course specialise in caffeine but just happen to do an incredibly tasty vegan Reuben using seitan supplied by Make No Bones.
Follow Create Coffee on Instagram.
The Beer Engine is one of Sheffield’s favourite drinking spots but unfortunately they have been more closed than open during my time here due to the pandemic.
When they do re-open for service, I really must insist you try the food of Dumpling City. This is the in-house kitchen of the pub and the flavours of the vegan offerings will knock your socks off. They are also branching into delivery, so stay alert.
Follow Dumpling City on Instagram.
Finally, I’m delighted to share these two photos from Make No Bones. They are the reason I’m currently in Sheffield and even though I work alongside them I don’t think it is unfair to say it is the best vegan food in the city.
Their food is currently reaching people only via delivery and takeaway due to the lockdown but that is not dampening the city’s love of the menu. The Sunday roast dinners fly out each week, while the newly-added Big Make burger is winning hearts all over South Yorkshire.
Visit Make No Bones online and follow on Instagram.
That’s everything so far.
There are many more vegan food experiences I’m looking forward to having in Sheffield, but I will have to wait for lockdowns and tiers to be relaxed.
Follow me on Instagram to see my latest food photos.
Please do comment with any recommendations you have!
Leeds has been a bit of a slow burner when it comes to food.
There is maybe just one 100% vegan eatery and it seems to be really developing a lot more slowly than the rest of the UK.
However there is one area where the northern city is picking up a bit of steam and that is in the field of non-vegan places adopting stand alone vegan menus and options.
Take Mog’s for example.
Drool over some of the amazing and decadent sandwiches being served up by this not-completely-vegan cafe on Kirkstall Lane.
Wow, right?!
I am absolutely beside myself over some of those photos.
Take a quick look at Mog’s Instagram or Facebook pages to see plant-based customers raving about this food. I also see a lot of people talking about the huge vegan breakfast.
Get involved and get to Mog’s.
I got a message from my friend Anna this morning saying, “Sue, have you seen the Goat Café drama?” to which I responded, “No, Sue. What going on?”.
Firstly, we call each other Sue. It’s an Abigail’s Party thing.
If you are not aware, Goat Café is possibly the only fully vegan eatery in the northern town of Huddersfield.
But the drama?
In a bizarre Facebook exchange with a handful of customers, the person in charge of their social media abused and berated some customers.
By abused, I mean:
And that is just the tip of the iceberg. Reports are online of the Goat Café social media person also taking the argument and name-calling onto personal Facebook pages of customers including one instance of them using the term ‘fucking cocks’ to describe people voicing their concerns.
The backlash from the local and online vegan community has been swift and brutal.
The café has seen it’s star approval rating on Facebook plummet with more than 300 one star reviews being posted since the conflict commenced.
I don’t completely understand what started the tirade of abuse, but a lot of the conflict seems to surround a post by the Goat Café in which they expressed their plans to stop accepting credit cards and social media in their business.
This somehow turned into a particularly nasty exchange with a customer who had previously complained about a meal that wasn’t to her liking. You can see references to all of this on the Goat Facebook page (it might take a bit of sifting through as I believe the café has started deleting its older posts related to the situation).
The Goat Café serves an incredibly valuable purpose for Huddersfield and the surrounding area. I hear of vegans travelling from nearby towns once a week as it is the only place where they can be assured a 100% vegan menu.
My two visits to the café have been welcoming with solid food choices.
Whatever is happening to their team internally to result in this situation, I genuinely hope they sort it out not only for their own sake but for the valuable contribution their café and food make to the community.
Also, I don’t like seeing people attacked verbally. It’s not OK and rightfully people won’t stand for it. I have concerns for the owners who have always presented as kind and approachable. This behaviour appears completely out of character. I have concerns for the workers at the café and their job security.
Abusing people and name-calling on the Internet doesn’t fly in this day and age, least of all when the abuse is directed at your customers. People will shut your business down or at least work extremely hard to make it happen.
Hoping for the best but fearing the worst for Goat Café. Another drink, Sue?
Wanna try and stop the vegan food revolution sweeping the UK? I pity the fool!
There is now a vegan cake and coffee shop in the Yorkshire village of Mytholmroyd in Hebden Bridge!
My Kind of Cake is now serving all manner of sweet bakes including cheesecake, Victoria sponge, coffee & walnut plus so many more. It sounds like cake heaven.
The shop is a 40-minute drive west of Leeds (just past Halifax) so it might feel a little off most radars, but the area is gorgeous and well worth a sightseeing weekend. Keep driving another hour after Hebden Bridge and you’ll find yourself in Manchester, so there is plenty to see and do in that part of the world.
You can visit My Kind of Cake online and like them on Facebook.
This news slid into my inbox a few days ago and I didn’t pay a lot of attention. I get a ridiculous amount of emails and press releases every day, so much in fact I find it difficult to really soak in the content of everything I see.
But for some reason I went back to this email for a closer look and I’m sure glad I did because now I can share news with you of this unique vegan meal plan service offered in both Leeds and Sheffield!
Nourish is a company with two outlets, one in Bond Street Leeds and the other in Pinstone Street Sheffield. Although not vegan restaurants, the Nourish outlets feature an impressive number of vegan-friendly menu items and everything plant-based is clearly marked.
But wasn’t I talking of a vegan meal plan service. Yes. Here it is.
Nourish has just launched a service where you take a meeting with their nutritionist and have your very own vegan meal plan developed just for you.
The meal plan provides clients with breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, drinks and supplements. You don’t go shopping, you just have to eat! Check out this sample three-day meal plan supplied to me by Nourish:
This appeals to me due to my laziness. I’d love all my meals prepared by a chef. I also love how it changes every day.
It would also appeal to vegans looking to explore their own personal nutrition, I suppose!
Get on over to the Nourish website to find out more info regarding the vegan meal plan program. You can also find the address for both restaurants in case you would like to pop in to try their vegan menu items before committing to the meal plan.
Nourish are also on Twitter.
You all remember a few months ago when Josh told you about The Goat Cafe’ in Huddersfield, right?
Now you can read an actual review of the café thanks to our friend Sammy who lives nearby. Sammy popped in for a quick bite and was kind enough to share this review with us.
Thanks Sammy!
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This café opened its doors a few months ago and it is so exciting for Huddersfield which didn’t even have a vegetarian café, let alone a vegan one.
I have eaten at The Goat Café twice and have to say the food is top quality. This is the place for healthy food or total indulgence, whatever turns you on.
I recently had sweet potato dhal with parathas as a main. The helping was huge, wonderful in the tradition of Yorkshire Fayre!
The dish was delicately cooked with perfect spices and was a surprisingly light dish. Perfect. Five stars as far as I am concerned. The only comment on this was there could have been a tad more mango chutney and yoghurt.
I took my pud home. It was a wonderfully rich chocolate cake with a chocolate pastry crust and a wonderful mousse-y filling. My partner thought it was bliss, as reluctant as I was to share it with him.
The recipes at The Goat Café have been gathered from a wide range of sources but with their own ideas infused into the meals. There is a good choice of mains, snacks and soup of the day. All are very reasonably priced and are a very good deal for a decent meal. The menu changes daily. They will be adding sandwiches to the menu now that they have sourced wonderful bread from a local independent baker called Roger’s Bakery. His crusts are to die for!!
The coffee is sourced from a Huddersfield company called Bean Brothers. I had an excellent black Americano. I would have liked a larger cup, or the option to buy a larger coffee, as you can see from the photos the cups are a bit small.
The café is now serving alcohol, craft beers and wine, and has a good range of cold drinks and smoothies.
The ambience is good with vintage 50s/60s tables and chairs and a comfortable homely feel. The walls have a bit of an odd collection of art works as if they have come from home and I think a little more co-ordination would work better. There are tons of local artists that would be happy to have their work hung there. The people running it and staff are very helpful and friendly and the café has a lovely atmosphere. I got the impression they love what they are providing local people and want to encourage non-vegans to use the café.
So, excellent food and drink and I highly recommend it. It is serving the faithful well but it will need to attract the mainstream meat eaters to survive and I think their food is definitely up to it. In fact, one customer who had been brought to the place by someone for lunch went up to the till afterwards and said that the food had been so wonderful he “could almost become a vegetarian”.
Definitely a great addition to eating out in Huddersfield and as it is close to the main big park, it could well be a very pleasant way to spend some time in town. I highly recommend it to anyone who likes good food.
Visit The Goat Café online.
Did you know there is a pub and live music venue in Sheffield that is now serving vegan pizza and vegan real ale?
I was contacted by Dave from fab vegan food provider Make No Bones as he wanted to let me know that he has taken over The Cremorne, a drinking establishment in Sheffield that also doubles as a live music venue.
Dave was thrilled to tell me he is now serving decadent vegan pizzas in the pub, as well as vegan real ale.
In other good news, Dave has plans to turn the entire pub vegan by the end of the year. Let’s hope he can pull that huge feat off. Make sure you pop in for a pizza and a pint soon and let Dave know what a bang up job he is doing in raising the profile of vegan food in Sheffield.
Follow The Cremorne on Facebook to see photos of tasty pizzas and to keep updated on the pub’s vegan transformation.
Try and stop the march of veganism. I dare you.
Plant-based shops are opening all over the UK and the seaside town of Bridlington in East Yorkshire is next on the list.
Planetwise is opening today (Thursday March 24, 2016) to sell compassionate goods to the 35,000 residents of Bridlington! It is a totally vegan and eco-friendly shop with fair trade and gluten free products and a yoga studio attached.
Check out the photos below showing the Planetwise team getting the shelves stocked ahead of the grand opening.
How fantastic is this?
You can stop by Planetwise to snap up drinks, snacks, pantry items, household products, yoghurt, canned food, ice cream and much more.
I love that veganism is exploding even in small towns like Bridlington.
Get over to the Planetwise Facebook page and give them a like.