Just a quick post on what I made for dinner. It was this: It may not look particularly exciting - it may even look like what happe...
I love holidays, you love holidays, everyone loves holidays. It's the law.
But if you're a vegetarian or a vegan, going on holiday to places you know aren't veggie friendly can fill you with culinary trepidation.
Living in London, I'm spoilt for vegan and vegan-friendly eateries and shops that sell animal-free food. But, packing my bag for a holiday in small town Devon, I wasn't entirely sure if a vegan glutton like me would be in for a treat or for a week of cooking at home.
The small town in question was Brixham, near Paignton - and I'm happy to report that it was way more vegan-friendly than I was expecting.
Brixham has its own veggie cafe, the Black Cat. It's a small place with a limited menu, and thanks to a black board outside with no mention of its vegetarianism, you'd be forgiven for blinking and missing it.
We stopped in for breakfast - a full English was in the offing for both me and my boyfriend. The brekkie isn't vegan by default, but the Black Cat's cook was happy to veganise it for me - the tomatoes and mushrooms were grilled rather than friend in butter, and instead of the veggie option of toast and butter, there was toast and marmalade for the vegan (the sweet element gave it a two course main-plus-pudding feel. Result!)
Sure, it wasn't anything you couldn't make at home - Linda McCartney sausages, hash browns from a packet - but the cafe was cheery, the service friendly, the coffee good, and the breakfast well cooked. And, more importantly, vegan - I don't often get a vegan brekkie in London, so it's pretty exciting to get an unexpected (and tasty!) one in Devon.
The other place that we checked out was another cafe called Lemon Heaven. While it does serve meat and fish, it also loudly and proudly announced both vegetarian and vegan dishes, and a menu labelled accordingly.
I chose cashew and sunflower seed nut roast, the other half went for butternut and lentil curry.
The nut roast was a bit on the stodgy side (even for me, a confirmed stodge lover) and a little bland, served with readymade potato wedges and undressed salad. It was given a bit of life by some horseradish, chutney and mustard, but the end result was fine, if uninspiring fare.
The curry meanwhile was a definite winner - lightly spiced and creamy with lentils. If I thought I could have pulled a switcheroo on the two plates and got away with it, I would have given it a go. As it was, a few cheeky forkfuls under the aggrieved eyes of my boyfriend were all I could manage.
The carb fest that was the nut roast left me too full for pudding, but it's worth mentioning there were two (count them, two!) vegan puddings on the menu - crumble and sticky toffee pudding. DUDE! If I thought I wouldn't have needed a stomach pump, I would have tried the latter, but the nut roast had done for me - what it lacked in zip, it made up for in bulk. Still, two vegan puddings (as well as a vegan flapjack) on the menu gets nothing but high fives from me.
Brixham - you rule! Thanks for giving this vegan a good feed and proving it's not just London that can do vegan food well!
The Black Cat Cafe
http://www.blackcatcafebrixham.co.uk/
Beach Approach
Brixham
TQ5 8HS
01803 411 834
Lemon Heaven
40 Middle Street
Brixham
Devon
TQ5 8ER
01803 858 444
But if you're a vegetarian or a vegan, going on holiday to places you know aren't veggie friendly can fill you with culinary trepidation.
Living in London, I'm spoilt for vegan and vegan-friendly eateries and shops that sell animal-free food. But, packing my bag for a holiday in small town Devon, I wasn't entirely sure if a vegan glutton like me would be in for a treat or for a week of cooking at home.
The small town in question was Brixham, near Paignton - and I'm happy to report that it was way more vegan-friendly than I was expecting.
Brixham has its own veggie cafe, the Black Cat. It's a small place with a limited menu, and thanks to a black board outside with no mention of its vegetarianism, you'd be forgiven for blinking and missing it.
Sure, it wasn't anything you couldn't make at home - Linda McCartney sausages, hash browns from a packet - but the cafe was cheery, the service friendly, the coffee good, and the breakfast well cooked. And, more importantly, vegan - I don't often get a vegan brekkie in London, so it's pretty exciting to get an unexpected (and tasty!) one in Devon.
The other place that we checked out was another cafe called Lemon Heaven. While it does serve meat and fish, it also loudly and proudly announced both vegetarian and vegan dishes, and a menu labelled accordingly.
I chose cashew and sunflower seed nut roast, the other half went for butternut and lentil curry.
The nut roast was a bit on the stodgy side (even for me, a confirmed stodge lover) and a little bland, served with readymade potato wedges and undressed salad. It was given a bit of life by some horseradish, chutney and mustard, but the end result was fine, if uninspiring fare.
The carb fest that was the nut roast left me too full for pudding, but it's worth mentioning there were two (count them, two!) vegan puddings on the menu - crumble and sticky toffee pudding. DUDE! If I thought I wouldn't have needed a stomach pump, I would have tried the latter, but the nut roast had done for me - what it lacked in zip, it made up for in bulk. Still, two vegan puddings (as well as a vegan flapjack) on the menu gets nothing but high fives from me.
Brixham - you rule! Thanks for giving this vegan a good feed and proving it's not just London that can do vegan food well!
The Black Cat Cafe
http://www.blackcatcafebrixham.co.uk/
Beach Approach
Brixham
TQ5 8HS
01803 411 834
Lemon Heaven
40 Middle Street
Brixham
Devon
TQ5 8ER
01803 858 444
I love holidays, you love holidays, everyone loves holidays. It's the law. But if you're a vegetarian or a vegan, going on holiday...
I've just started a new job in the region of King's Cross - time for a bit of culinary exploration!
Handily enough, not only does King's Cross have The Secret Society of Vegans to satisfy my vegan cake urges, it also has vegan Japanese restaurant Itadaki Zen.
When we arrived, the restaurant was silent and unpopulated, while the service was efficient if not particularly warm - not the best of starts.
Luckily, things warmed up - someone remembered to put on some background music and a few more diners turned up to warm up the atmosphere - and we could turn our attention to the food.
The food at Itadaki Zen is, according to the restaurant's website, all about healing, healthy food with rice, root veggies, seaweed and tofu all featuring strongly. (And some good booze - nice to see the lovely Whistable Bay beer on the menu.)
First up we tried miso soup and shira-ae - tofu with veggies and seaweed. The shira-ae I'm used to is mainly tofu shot through with hijiki and a tiny bit of carrot - not the earthy, spinach-heavy dish we got here. Not was I was expecting, but lovely nonetheless. If only there had been more of it, by way of tribute both to its taste and the size of the portion.
For mains, I opted for udon noodles with tempura, my boyfriend went for tempura too, only over rice (a dish called ten-don).
Handily enough, not only does King's Cross have The Secret Society of Vegans to satisfy my vegan cake urges, it also has vegan Japanese restaurant Itadaki Zen.
When we arrived, the restaurant was silent and unpopulated, while the service was efficient if not particularly warm - not the best of starts.
Luckily, things warmed up - someone remembered to put on some background music and a few more diners turned up to warm up the atmosphere - and we could turn our attention to the food.
The food at Itadaki Zen is, according to the restaurant's website, all about healing, healthy food with rice, root veggies, seaweed and tofu all featuring strongly. (And some good booze - nice to see the lovely Whistable Bay beer on the menu.)
First up we tried miso soup and shira-ae - tofu with veggies and seaweed. The shira-ae I'm used to is mainly tofu shot through with hijiki and a tiny bit of carrot - not the earthy, spinach-heavy dish we got here. Not was I was expecting, but lovely nonetheless. If only there had been more of it, by way of tribute both to its taste and the size of the portion.
For mains, I opted for udon noodles with tempura, my boyfriend went for tempura too, only over rice (a dish called ten-don).
He won the tempura battle - what ever rice Itadaki Zen used, it was slightly sweet and nutty and a nice foil to the tempura. My noodles, while nice enough, lacked a depth of flavour - only the occasional nori shreds gave it a lift above the little-too-understated.
Again, though, I felt myself longing for a bit more - the tempura on my noodles was more a dainty garnish than a substantial part of the meal.
There were a couple of tempting puddings on the menu - kanten or cake - which I'd have liked to try, but we were running off to another event and couldn't linger. It was the essence of Itadaki Zen - nice food, just not enough of it.
That said, I enjoyed the food. I left Itadaki Zen feeling light and healthy - and just a little hungry.
Itadaki Zen
139 King's Cross Road
London
WC1X 9BJ
020 7278 3573
I've just started a new job in the region of King's Cross - time for a bit of culinary exploration! Handily enough, not only does ...
This is my fourth 'one week cooking from' post - the fourth time I've cooked from one cookbook all week.
There's not much in the way of photos this week, because this week's recipe book - Simply Good Food - didn't deliver as much as some of its predecessors.
As the title would suggest, the recipes were simple. They were definitely food. But good? Not always.
First up, Seed Bread. I like making bread, but I'm a lazy bugger. I can't often be bothered to wait for it to rise and then work up a sweat with the kneading. The seed bread didn't need too much of either handily enough, and still rose like a dream, ended up being light and flu and tasted not half bad either.
Savoury Filo Triangles were like a vegan spanakopita - spinach, tofu in place of feta, and a bit of spice. Yeah, they were alright. If you'd told me they came from an Iceland £1 a pack range, I wouldn't have been surprised. Yep, I'm now the vegan Kerry Katona!
Savoury Pancakes though, they were alright. Well, the pancake batter was really watery and needed loads of flour before it could be made into crepes. So, not alright then. Still, post flour surgery, the pancakes filled with veggies and baked in the oven under a big blanket of tomato sauce were pretty nice.
But you know what's good right? Chocolate and amaretto and biscuits, that's what. What's that you say, Simply Good Food? I could combine these ingredients into a Apricot Chocolate Refrigerator Cake? I could bring some of it around to a friend, who practically wept with joy at its magnificence? And it made me forgive you all your trespasses against veganism? Yes, yes you're right. Apricot chocolate refrigerator cake couldn't have been any better if it have made itself and brought itself to me with a cup of tea. Apricot chocolate refrigerator cake, I love you.
There's not much in the way of photos this week, because this week's recipe book - Simply Good Food - didn't deliver as much as some of its predecessors.
As the title would suggest, the recipes were simple. They were definitely food. But good? Not always.
First up, Seed Bread. I like making bread, but I'm a lazy bugger. I can't often be bothered to wait for it to rise and then work up a sweat with the kneading. The seed bread didn't need too much of either handily enough, and still rose like a dream, ended up being light and flu and tasted not half bad either.
The same couldn't be said for the Gougere of Caramelised Vegetables. (The choux wasn't vegan, so I substituted a recipe from the Vegan Boulangerie instead.) It was, like most child actors, a bit too sweet and a little weird. Winter veg are sweet enough without the sugar that the recipe called for, and the end result was soggy and sugary. Not a great combo.
I also made Sweet Baked Beetroot. The fact that I can't remember if it was a hit or not probably tells you what you need to know about that.
Savoury Filo Triangles were like a vegan spanakopita - spinach, tofu in place of feta, and a bit of spice. Yeah, they were alright. If you'd told me they came from an Iceland £1 a pack range, I wouldn't have been surprised. Yep, I'm now the vegan Kerry Katona!
Savoury Pancakes though, they were alright. Well, the pancake batter was really watery and needed loads of flour before it could be made into crepes. So, not alright then. Still, post flour surgery, the pancakes filled with veggies and baked in the oven under a big blanket of tomato sauce were pretty nice.
But you know what's good right? Chocolate and amaretto and biscuits, that's what. What's that you say, Simply Good Food? I could combine these ingredients into a Apricot Chocolate Refrigerator Cake? I could bring some of it around to a friend, who practically wept with joy at its magnificence? And it made me forgive you all your trespasses against veganism? Yes, yes you're right. Apricot chocolate refrigerator cake couldn't have been any better if it have made itself and brought itself to me with a cup of tea. Apricot chocolate refrigerator cake, I love you.
This is my fourth 'one week cooking from' post - the fourth time I've cooked from one cookbook all week. There's not much...
I have for some time resisted going to veggie restaurant, bar and takeaway Tibits. I don't know why.
I think it's the name - the irksome loss of the second 't' that it's so clearly crying out for either weird marketing reasons or reason prudish reasons grates on me.
Still, this Thursday, my boyfriend was in possession of a Taste card and a hankering to use it. A quick search of veggie places that are available on the Taste card found Tibits, and we were off.
The Tibits schtick is basically a huge buffet (renamed a 'food boat' for the squeamish) of hot and cold dishes that you pick from yourself, and then take to the counter to be weighed. It's £2.20 per 100g, or half that if you've got a Taste card.
They serve beer and wine, cocktails and puddings, and all is handily marked vegan, gluten-free etc where appropriate.
I love buffets. I think it's the glorious feeling that greets you when a hotel buffet breakfast is laid out before you - no waiting, the freedom to mix jam with hash browns if you feel like it, and the sheer open invitation to gluttony it offers.
While the pay-by-weight scheme means gluttony comes at a price, the fun of getting to try a bit of everything and create random and possibly noxious combinations is still there and, unlike a few of the dodgier buffets I've visited in my life, the food really is quite good.
There's some stodge (potato wedges, samosas) and loads of healthy salady bits to balance it out with, along with some dishes that you could easily make a main out of on their own (thai green curry and rice) along with dips, sauces, breads and all sorts of other bits and pieces.
The highlights for me were the salads - a couple involving green beans were phenomenal - and the samosas, which were a cut above the lazy jobs you normally get in restaurants.
There was only one pudding in the form of sticky toffee. It wasn't sticky toffee in any traditional sense of the word - it wasn't hot, there wasn't a sticky toffee sauce - but for a nicely fruited and spiced iced sponge, it wasn't half bad. And, thanks to having landed in Buffet World, I stuck a bit of fruit on the side, so I could pretend my pudding was healthy.
So you don't end up with the prettiest plate of food (see above) - you do end up being able to eat one dish or try 20 of them. And if you go for the latter, remember you can always put a piece of pineapple on the side - it's only wafer thin...
Tibits
www.tibits.co.uk/
14-18 Heddon Street
London
W1B 4DA
I have for some time resisted going to veggie restaurant, bar and takeaway Tibits . I don't know why. I think it's the name - ...
