Posts tagged eating out
Wegan Wednesdays
It's OK to be vegan just one day a week.
Spending a few days in St Petersburg for work… It’s not very vegan-friendly but I found this delicious Uzbek Red bean stew from Caucasian restaurant Baklazhan, in the centre of town. If anyone knows how it’s made, I’m interested!
Another Saturday, another vegan brunch. Chickpea and tahini burger with mango chutney and seasonal salad from Blue Legume in Stoke Newington. Definitely my favourite local breakfast!
Yesterday was a rare day in London - very sunny and very cold. We went for a wander in Borough Market (post to follow) and the SouthBank. Warm vegan options were scarce in the market so we ended up for lunch at Wagamama’s. The Saien Soba was delicious. Many people turn their noses up at Wagamama’s - but I genuinely like it. What do you think?
Hot, spicy, and vegan, chapter 3: our dinner at Huong Viet (ex-Vietnamese Centre) on Englefield Rd - already quoted on this blog as part of my Top 3 Vietnamese restaurants in London. Somehow the place seemed better lit this time so I took a few photos - it’s normally too dark.
We had green leaves soup (to which I added a giant dollop of crushed chillies), tofu summer rolls, black pepper and chili tofu, and special steamed rice - it’s cooked in a banana leaf with baby corn, water chestnuts, mushrooms, peas and carrots. Delicious.
Old friends’ reunion around an old time favourite: Akari, on Essex Road. We had cucumber maki rolls, seaweed salad and kitsune udon. Gochiso-sama-desu!
Paris. A joy for the eye and the cheese-lover. Hell for the vegan soul. Not far from Montmartre, we found heaven at Mont Liban, an old Lebanese restaurant that offers a few vegan options. This is the Assiette Saveurs du Mont Liban - slightly rejigged the replace the goat’s cheese with a spinach fatayer.
Lunch from Ping Pong on Great Marlborough St with Michael, Paula and Jen. We shared some seaweed crackers and chilli sauce, then I had spinach and mushroom griddled dim sum, vegetarian sticky rice and spicy vegetables dumplings. All topped up with the magical dragon tea!
As oficial patron of vegetarian discovery, Celia took me for lunch at the Orchard earlier this week. They’ve only been open a little while but are getting many and good reviews - I’d like to take this as a sign that London foodies are increasingly curious about good veggie offering.
Described as “Vegetarian Kitchen and Grocer”, it’s a caffee-style eatery that does no-frills breakfast and lunches (soup, sandwiches, salads).
I had a truffle oil mushroom paté with bull’s blood leaves (fancy new salad of the season) on raisin bread, and a mug of Red lentil and Potato soup. It was simple, good and heart-warming - just what you want on a rainy April (February?) day.
Orchard is the brother/ sister of Vanilla Black, a restaurant in the City which I once stepped into, and then very quickly out of again, because of the total lack of charm of the atmosphere. I might have to revisit it on the basis of its little sibling.
(Thank you Instagram, although I wish you hadn’t sold out/ Valencia Filter)
Lunch was an experiment. We were in the direction of the Usual Suspects (Whole Foods) and stumbled upon a new Japanese restaurant just off Golden Square. So new it doesn’t have a website yet! Lingo is tiny, pretty good value (£6.50 for a soup) and the food is not amazing but fresh and simple.
We shared some green pumpkin fritters, then a tempura udon ramen and yasai ramen soups.
Last night, Gabor and I went to try out London’s first entirely vegetarian and organic Italian Restaurant, Amico Bio. The menu changes everyday and is made up of original, veggie Italian dishes, with about three quarters of the dishes vegan, or easily made so.
We shared Potato and Kohlrabi Cakes topped with Spinach, a Swiss Chard and Pear Salad, and some Gnocchi with Rocket Pesto. The food was very different, fresh and tasty. The service wasn’t there yet - but they have just opened, so they might need easing in a bit more. And we should definitely applaud an Italian restaurant that offers good vegan food! So it’s made it onto the map already.
