Vegan market comes south of the Thames!

Today I headed to Venn Street market which now hosts a selection of vegan delights!

Travelling to the regular Hackney Downs vegan market takes around 2 hours for me, so I was beyond excited to see that vegan stalls are making an appearance on Saturdays at Venn Street Market in Clapham Common.

The market opens at 10am but we had a little lie in and didn’t head over until 10.30 ish. I’m glad we were a little late as there were still stalls who still weren’t set up and ready to sell. We browsed the amazing smelling candles from Self Care Company and the almond based Parmesan alternative from Nutkin before deciding to try a delicious burger from Temple of Seitan. They had a small selection available but I still found it hard to choose:

We tried the Temple Classic (without ranch mayo- much to my disappointment) as Simon isn’t a mayo fan… can’t relate.

The seitan was straight out of the flyer and beautifully seasoned. It was juicy and had a great crunchy coating. I wish we lived nearer to their shop so I could have this all the time!

We paired this with the Dennis Hopp’r beer from Mondo Brewing, even though it was barely 11am! This was a fruity ale with notes of grapefruit, it was delicious.

I let Simon have most of the burger as I had my eye on something else… PHILLY CHEEZESTEAKS. Jakes Vegan Steaks were the last stall to start serving food which was disappointing, it was around 11.15 before we could place our order. The staff were friendly but a little slow paced (it may have picked up later) so it took around 15 minutes for the food to be ready. But boy was it worth it!

The cheeze sauce was so creamy and tasted just like American cheese. The seitan was tender and juicy with lots of great spices. The fries were beautifully seasoned with rosemary- I do usually avoid these as it can be very overpowering but this was just the right amount of herbs. They also provided a homemade mayo, it was creamy but didn’t have the strongest flavour. I still enjoyed it though.

Finally for dessert we went to Ms Cupcake. We live near their Brixton store but don’t manage to get there as much as we would like. I chose the cookie dough brownie as I’ve been drooling over it on Instagram for months. Simon had a red velvet cupcake.

The cupcake was moist (I hate that word) and the frosting was lovely and sweet, it tasted exactly like regular buttercream.

The brownie was enormous! The cookie dough was great but the sugar was still a little granulated and grainy. The brownie itself wasn’t as gooey as I hoped, I assume it needed to be strong to support the cookie dough but it reminded me more of cake.

I think it’s great that a vegan market has come to South London and I hope it will receive enough support to expand. At the moment it takes up a third of the regular market but there’s definitely room for a lot more. The surroundings are beautiful and it’s a wonderful way to spend a Saturday morning.

Happy eating!

xx

Vivera vegan steak- is it worth the hype?

My boyfriend is a huge fan of steak, he has steak dinner A LOT and I always have to have a completely different meal to cater to my needs. That has now changed, thanks to Vivera releasing a vegan steak!

I follow a huge amount of vegan instagrammers and that’s how I find out about the great new vegan food popping up in stores. The hype for the Vivera steak was real, everyone who tried it loved it and I didn’t want to miss out on this.

I visited my local Tesco store three times before I was able to get my hands on this. They were sold out constantly, so I made sure to pick up two packets when I finally saw it sitting there on the shelf, just waiting for me!

They come in packs of two and are vacuum packed, this makes it look like normal steak, but it looks medium rare rather than raw. The instructions are really easy to follow, you purely pan fry these in a little oil for 5 minutes and they are done! The ‘raw’ steak has a red colour (which I imagine comes from the beetroot and saffron) and goes a nice deep brown once cooked.

I paired mine with some potatoes and veg in an attempt to resemble Simon’s usual steak dinner. I think it looked pretty convincing, not that I need my food to look like meat (I’ve never eaten meat in my life) but it just helps to make you feel like your meal is cohesive with those around you- and it spares you from those conversations that centre around your ‘strange’ food.

The soya has a stringy effect which looks like genuine steak, and I found it has a few different textures just as a real cut of meat would have. It has quite a dense structure, almost resembling a burger. It also wasn’t the juiciest, so I think it would go perfect paired with a sauce (I substituted with ketchup!).

The flavour is great, it’s kind of smoky and you can definitely taste all the herbs and spices- it isn’t bland at all.

I think this is a definite win, especially with two portions for £2.99! Whether you’re vegan, veggie or a meat eater I think you should try this and see what you think- especially as it’s a great source of protein.

What do you think? Would you try the Vivera vegan steak?

Happy eating! xx

Another yummy veggie brunch!

Back in June my mum was visiting and I decided to take her to one of my favourite places, The Gate. I have been a few times before for both brunch and dinner, the food is always incredible. As we wanted brunch we headed to the Marylebone branch which is just around the corner from Marble Arch station.

We were seated really quickly, and I took forever making a decision, I always struggle when I have my pick of the whole menu- us veggies & vegans aren’t used to it! I decided to go for the veggie breakfast with scrambled tofu.

My one complaint about The Gate is the service, it is so slow. The 12.5% discretionary tip is automatically added to the bill and I feel some of the servers now feel they do not have to work as hard to earn this. It was a fair 15 minutes before we managed to place our orders, which was disappointing. Our server was a young man who was clearly already done with today. He didn’t say anything that was longer than a syllable, if he could help it. I think he preferred to communicate in grunts. When my mum ordered the breakfast he just said, ‘with what?’ my mum wasn’t sure what he meant so asked him, and his response was ‘with what?’. After several repetitions of this we learned he was asking if this was with scrambled tofu or eggs (bearing in mind the menu states it comes with tofu and eggs are an optional change). I felt this could have been communicated much better and had already left a sour taste in our mouths. Drinks were then brought and slammed down on the table as if we had personally offended the server and made us feel very uncomfortable. We tried to shake it off, but I already regretted booking The Gate- the prices are fairly high and I already felt it wasn’t worth it, and I hadn’t even eaten yet!

We were excited when our food arrived, it had taken a little while but I’m happy to wait for fresh food. The presentation was beautiful, and the portions were a fair size.

Our breakfasts included homemade baked beans, hash browns and aubergine bacon. These were served in mini frying pans and were still really hot (in a good way).

Mum and I ordered some polenta fries between us and these are the best I have ever had! They are crispy on the outside but so light and fluffy on the inside. The flavour is delicious too- if you’ve ever had Pizza Express ones, these are nothing like them they’re 100% better! The vegan aioli that accompany it is very garlicky but so creamy.

Simon (an omnivore) chose the veggie burger which comes with polenta fries and he enjoyed it. He did find that it had a very strong chickpea flavour so I recommend you use the accompanying sauce.

We waited about 20 minutes for our plates to be cleared and maybe another 15-20 minutes to place our dessert order. This was frustrating, and I think had it been another minute or two we would have given up. Fortunately, a server arrived – a new one who seemed much more friendly- and took our order. I went for the dark chocolate bombe and the others chose Sticky Toffee Pudding. We were served our desserts with forks, despite them both being very sauce-based. We tried to flag servers constantly, but their heads turned away each time they passed our table & we were left trying to eat with forks. The bombe was incredible, very very rich but the chocolate sauce was hot and melted away the dark chocolate shell to reveal a mousse inside. There was also a creamy swirl of mascarpone ice cream which complimented the rich chocolate. I wish I had a spoon to drink every last drop of the goodness.

The sticky toffee puddings had a little jug of warm sauce too and the sponge was very light. My mum said she could have eaten another two or three of these in one sitting!

Our bill was pretty high at almost £90, but we had to ask for the tip to be removed. I know a lot of people would be embarrassed at this, but we felt the service had been diabolical. Our second server was polite, so I gave her a small tip, but I felt 12.5% was not justified. To be honest, this experience has taken the shine off The Gate for me. I don’t feel like it is worth returning when I have had several experiences of less than desirable service. It’s a shame as I have nothing but good things to say about the food itself. I have only been to the Marylebone branch, so it may be worth trying another branch to see how things go.

If you are happy to spend 3-4 hours in the restaurant then I would encourage you to try The Gate. The food is delicious and presented beautifully, the surroundings are beautiful and if you have nowhere to be you can spend a long time here socialising. The menus are constantly changing, and I haven’t ever eaten anything I didn’t like here! Simon loves it here and he is an avid meat eater, so don’t let the vegetarian food discourage you- it’s still one of the best meals you will have.

Happy eating!

xx

Trying out Daiya dairy free cheese! Is it worth the hype?

I am a huge cheese lover. I have tried veganism countless times and I usually end up breaking in order to have a day of cheese, it’s the only thing I miss. So I am determined to find a really good cheese alternative that will mean my veganism sticks forever.

It was recently my birthday and that meant a birthday trip to a nearby ‘As nature intended’ store for a little spending spree (’cause what else are birthdays for, right?) You might think this is sad but I could spend an entire pay cheque in places such as Whole Foods so I try to stay away.

I have been dying to try Daiya products after so many of my American friends have raved about them, and now they have come to the UK! I picked up this pack of Mozzarella Shreds for a pricey £4.95, so I prayed I would like them. I often find that vegan cheese has a very strange taste that overpowers everything you pair it with. To be honest, the smell alone can make me gag.

Spot the Basil in the background!

Anyways, a couple of days later I was looking for some lunch and decided this was the best time to try out my new cheese. I had some bagels and thought that a little pizza bagel would be exactly what I needed right now.

I am not a patient person and my bagels were frozen, so rather than wait for my bagels to defrost I threw them in the microwave. And now they are deformed. I apologise for the ugly ass bagels you are about to see. Once they were suitably frost free, I popped them in the toaster for a few seconds. During this time, I did what I would normally do with cheese- ate it straight from the bag. I really didn’t enjoy this experience, the shreds were a bit slimy and just kind of crumbled in your mouth. I understand that these taste best when cooked but I was disappointed and starting to worry about how this meal would work out. 

I powered through and spread some tomato puree on and sprinkled with the Daiya mozzarella shreds before heating under the grill. I was excited to see that the mozzarella shreds were melting and bubbling, just like the real thing. It even started to brown which looked way more appetising than the usual white stiff pieces you usually get from vegan cheese.

After a couple of minutes they were done, and here is the result (after I’d already taken a bit because I’m a rubbish blogger):

Despite looking ugly af, they actually tasted liked pizza! The cheese was stretchy and if I didn’t know it was vegan cheese I would have believed it was regular mozzarella.

So is it worth £4.95? Yeah I would say so, it’s a decent size bag and it’s still going strong despite using it for almost every meal since. It’s great to have a vegan alternative that looks like the real thing, especially in a group where you don’t want to have yet another conversation about being stranded on desert islands. I recommend you try it for a pizza night with your friends, see if they notice the difference!

xx

Vegan delights at The Diner

Currently only available at the Dalston, Spitalfields & Strand Diners, I tried out a few items from the vegan menu and want to share my experience with you!

My boyfriend and I had one of our first dates at The Diner and since I went vegan it’s not been high on our visit list. However, I have been dying to go since they announced their new vegan menu. Since it was Simon’s birthday we decided to head to The Strand diner and feast.

The Strand is pretty busy on a Saturday so we are glad we booked in advance. Unfortunately, a Saturday night seems to be when the music is cranked up and you have to spend the evening yelling at each other. It wasn’t ideal for Simon’s mum who has hearing aids and really struggled to follow our conversations with the bass shaking the table. I can’t speak for the other branches but if this isn’t your ideal atmosphere (like me) then maybe visit at a quieter time or ask to be seated in a quieter section, if possible.

However, this is about the food so I’ll get right to it! I was given a copy of the Vegetarian & Vegan menu and it is HUGE. For those of us who are used to one or maybe even two options, you will struggle to make a choice here! I was super tempted by the Southern Fried Seitan with waffles but, in the end, I decided to go for the Southern Fried Seitan burger. I couldn’t not try the vegan cheese fries so those were added to my order and Simon & I decided to share the Freakshow Seitan on the side.

We didn’t have to wait too long for our food and it was definitely freshly cooked when it arrived so I was happy.

The burger was really tall, I had no idea how I was going to eat this gracefully (disclaimer: I didn’t) but it looked delicious. The seitan had a good crispy batter and was cooked well, I find seitan can go quite chewy if overdone. There was a good amount of vegan mayo and the jackfruit was juicy, it meant the burger wasn’t dry. If you haven’t had seitan before it is a substitute to fried chicken with a slightly different texture (though I can’t validate that it tastes exactly like it as I’ve never eaten meat). Simon thinks it tastes a little bit like sage & onion stuffing, but I’m not sure how much I agree with that! Jackfruit is a fruit that you can pull apart and its texture is just like pulled pork. The two together in a burger went really well, the seitan had crunch whereas the jackfruit was soft and saucy.

Simon’s mum joined me in having this burger and she has never tried any vegan/vegetarian burgers so I was a little nervous. She was pleasantly surprised and has since asked me for tips on cooking jackfruit at home (I think she’s trying to pass it off as pulled pork for the meat eating men).

The Freakshow seitan was a very generous portion, they served it with a wedge of lime which I wasn’t sure about- but I tell you squeeze that lime all over the seitan. It was delicious! It really brought out the flavour of the seitan and made your taste buds go a bit crazy. The seitan was much more chewy than the burger but I think it worked well. Simon and his brother are both meat eaters and I couldn’t fight them off these, so I recommend them whether you’re vegan or not!

The vegan cheese fries were yummy, there were a lot of fries- I didn’t finish them all. The cheese was deliciously creamy but there wasn’t enough of it for me. I like my cheese fries coated. To be honest, if no one had told me the cheese was vegan I’m not sure I would have known the difference. I wish I had asked the server which cheese they used because I need that in my kitchen!

There are some really amazing options on the vegan menu here, there are so many items I want to go back and try. I really recommend taking a visit to The Diner branches that serve this and hopefully the demand will mean it gets introduced everywhere!

If you’re curious about the menu, here is the link to the website (warning: this will make you want to eat everything on it immediately).

I love that chain restaurants are adding more vegan options, it’s a great chance for us to go out with friends and not worry that we’re stuck with a salad or plain fries!

Happy eating!

xx