Mike owed me dinner (well, closer to 5, since I've been doing a lot of dishes), so we decided to go out tonight since we're having a guest tomorrow. I looked for a few places online, even consulting The List, which is a pain in the ass since they don't list vegan options (so you have to look at the menu for each place that says they have vegetarian options). I used the Round the World tag since "world" cuisine tends to have better options than almost any other category. After trawling through nearly every entry, I found a Turkish (I think) restaurant called Nargile.
Well, it turns out that Nargile is now Yeni (so when you click on the Nargile link, you go to the Yeni website). Apparently they've just reopened as Yeni (and when I say "just", they've only been open for a couple of weeks) and are focusing more on mezze than ... whatever it is they used to make. I don't know because I'd never been there. But the best thing - they clearly label all of their vegan options! And there are more than 2!
I made a reservation, but it wasn't really necessary - we got there a bit early and there was only one other couple there. But if word gets around about this place, that situation won't last long.
The full menu is online, so I had a pretty good idea what I wanted when we got there. But I had to let Mike make some decisions. We got the bruschetta, hummus, red lentil rolls (lentil and herb croquettes), spinach börek (spinach in pastry flutes), falafel, patates (thinly sliced fried potatoes in tomato sauce), and Arabian flatbread (which came in a basket with several small pieces rather than one large piece).
Mike ate all the bruschetta - he said it was tasty (and +10 points for being able to find vegan bruschetta). We were both kinda meh on the red lentil rolls - Mike said they were kinda like Scotch eggs, but I've never had a Scotch egg so couldn't confirm or deny this assessment. I think they would've been better warm. The falafel was maybe a bit heavy on the coriander and/or onion - strangely, I wasn't quite sure which it was - but was still good. The hummus was tasty - you can't really cock up hummus - and the flatbread was warm, fluffy and delicious dipped in the hummus. But my favourites were the spinach börek and the patates. I told Mike that we can skip the red lentil rolls next time and just get two orders of the spinach börek.
We had a decent meal for less than £30, and we got a card for 25% off our next visit! Also, the staff were really friendly and helpful - when we told them we were vegan, they asked if we'd like to sub the sauce for the falafels unprompted. This would be a great place to take a large party because of the nature of the meal - you get a bunch of stuff to share. We'll definitely be going back - there are some things I didn't get to try but wanted to - and would highly recommend it.
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