Vegan MoFo 2014 - Review: Brass Monkey Leith

I'm pretty sure everyone's aware of the results of the referendum, so you're probably not surprised that I didn't blog yesterday.  I actually hadn't intended on doing so today, but I had to get my laptop out to order pizza (for Mike's birthday, yay!), so I thought I might as well.

Yesterday evening I met a lovely Aussie PPKer for dinner at Brass Monkey in Leith.  I keep hearing that they have great vegan options, and they do have a really good booze selection, so we decided to give it a try.  I hadn't been there in years, and last time I only managed to get bread and olives to eat, so I figured anything had to be better than that.

First, the booze:  Both their food and drink menus are online, so you can have a look at them.  Like I said, they have a lot of good options for vegans.  My concern, of course, was the cider selection, and it doesn't disappoint.  They have Thistly Cross, which is made somewhere in the Lothians and is fantastic, as well as Jeremiah Weed (which I don't really consider cider but I guess it's not really classifiable).  I went with the Jeremiah Weed Sour Mash, which almost tastes like alcoholic root beer.  So good.  Beer-wise, they have Brew Dog and Innis & Gunn, amongst others that may or may not be sfv.

For dinner, I had the falafel burger, and Michelle had the veggie chili.

So, the falafel burger.  As you can see, the bun to burger ratio is about 3:1 (if I'm being generous), and the bun was really floury.  The burger itself wasn't great - mushy, bland, and unseasoned.  It was really only edible with the chips (which were pretty decent).  I'll note that I specifically asked for the bun to come out dry (it usually comes with some kind of onion jam and a chutney or something), so maybe they're hoping the condiments will serve for flavouring.  But you shouldn't have to rely on condiments to make something edible.

Michelle's chili, on the other hand, was actually pretty good (sorry, no pic).  I had a bite with one of the accompanying tortilla chips.  I probably wouldn't have enjoyed a whole bowl of it (British chili is just not really chili to me), but it was infinitely better than the burger.

So, a mixed bag, but only 2 entrees.  We didn't have any starters, and I didn't even bother to see if they had any vegan desserts (I doubt it - very few places do unless they're actually veg*n).  I wouldn't suggest avoiding the place because maybe that burger was off.  They also have a falafel sandwich that might be good (like, possibly actual falafel, not a slab of mashed chickpeas with veg and coriander mixed in).  And, you know, they try - they actually have quite a few vegan or veganisable options.  Ultimately, it's a pub, so if you go in expecting pub food, even if you have a bland burger, you're still gonna have a better experience than in most other pubs.  And even if you have a bad food experience, they'll getcha drunk (and much more cheaply than a lot of other pubs - I'm pretty sure I spent £2 more for the same drink at a different place).

Vegan MoFo 2014 - Review: Pizza Express

I may or may not have reviewed Pizza Express before, but I’m not bothering to check.  I mean, since Mike introduced his dad to the Pizza Express near our flat, it’s the only place we ever go when he’s in town.  Ever.  So I’ve eaten there a fair few times, which means I might have written about it before.

The reason I’m (re-)reviewing now is twofold:  a) They now have a pizza that’s specifically vegan, and 2) On our last visit, they told me which wines are vegan, and since they all have the same wine list, this information is pertinent to everyone.

So, the wine list:  We took my bff Eva to PE for one of my birthday dinners in August.  They’d sent me a voucher for a free bottle of Prosecco, so I asked the server if she knew whether or not it was vegan.  About 5 minutes later, we got tired of waiting and looked it up*.  While we were in the middle of that, the manager actually came out and gave us the full list of wines that are suitable for vegans.  Well, actually, he gave us the list that *aren’t* sfv.  So here are the vegan wines:

Pizza Express vegan-safe wine list
Red:
Nero d'Avola Syrah, Sicily, Italy
Merlot, Sicily, Italy
Barbera d'Alba D.O.C., Piemonte, Italy
Chianti Riserva D.O.C.G., Tuscany, Italy

White:
Grillo Chardonnay, Sicily, Italy
Trebbiano, Marche, Italy
Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough, New Zealand
Gavi, Piemonte, Italy

Rosé:
Merlot Rosé, Veneto, Italy

Or for ease, the ones that aren’t sfv are the Montepulciano and Valpolicella (red), Moscato (white) and Pinot Grigio (all varieties).

Onto the food.

As I said, Pizza Express now has a specifically vegan pizza (which most of you probably knew).  For those of us who were asking for vegan cheese, unfortunately, that’s not how they played it.  Yes, it’s a bit nonsensical that they would create an entirely vegan pizza by just making a new veggie one without cheese, since nearly any veggie pizza ordered without cheese is vegan.  So I don’t know if they were trolling us or throwing us a bone (not vegan) by creating the Pianta.  At least they kinda paid attention to the vegan request, just not exactly what we asked for.

That said, I actually like the Pianta, though I do have to modify it a bit.  I’m allergic to pine nuts, so those have to go, but I replace them with olives.  I like a bit of extra garlic oil on mine too, because if I have to forgo cheese, I have to make my pizza deliciously greasy somehow.  They go a little heavy on the rocket, but otherwise it’s really quite good.  It’s now my usual every time we go (because I’m also a creature of habit and stick with things I know are good).

I’ve heard that you can bring in a sealed bag of shredded vegan cheese and they’ll use it on your pizza, but I’ve never tried it.  Maybe I’ll do that next time.

*We never really figured out if the Prosecco was sfv.  We couldn’t find the specific one they were offering online, but all the ones we could find that matched generally (Prosecco from that particular region) were coming up vegan.  We took a chance on it, but I’m not necessarily advocating that everyone else do the same.  Please let me know in the comments if you happen to know one way or the other if it’s sfv.

Vegan MoFo 2014 - Chili Cheese Dogs

When Mike and I went to Mono last week, we were there on a Thursday.  They do daily specials, and the one for Thursdays is £5 for a chili dog and a beer.  I fully anticipated getting that, but it turned out that the only beer option was Heineken*.  I don't actually like beer so was hoping we could substitute for, say, one of their microbrewed drinks.  But even if we could have, the only one available was ginger beer, and I wasn't in a ginger beer mood.  And since they wanted £4 for the dogs, I just said, I can make that at home.

And so I did.

I made chili cheese dogs with fried onions (which you can't see because they're under the chili and cheese).  And in case you were wondering, yes, I did cover my broccoli with cheese sauce after I took the picture.

I used Fry's hot dogs, Asda meat-free chili (I can't remember the exact name), to which I added some of the leftover weird non-Latin passatta, and leftover Basic Cheese Sauce from Cookin' Crunk.  Served with Tesco beer-battered onion rings and steamed broccoli.  They were pretty damn good.  Though the onion rings were surprisingly bland - most things have too much salt, but these had too little.

*So, that's another complaint I have about Mono, though not referring specifically to Heineken.  They have a lot of alcoholic beverages that are known to be non-vegan, e.g. Guinness and Strongbow (and I think they stock Rekorderlig or Bulmers).  Yeah, they say all their food is vegan, so they can get away with saying they never said they were a vegan establishment, but they're listed in Happy Cow as vegan.  I wonder if, when a customer orders a non-vegan booze option, they tell them that it isn't vegan or just assume the person knows what they're ordering.  I dunno, it just feels sketchy to me.

Vegan MoFo 2014 - Review: Saramago

I'm doing double duty because of my lack of posts over the last couple of days.  This is the post that was meant to happen today anyway.

As I mentioned in my last post, I met up with a friend (interrobang?! from the PPK) for dinner, and we went to Saramago at the CCA.  I've been there a few times now, and I'm glad that I gave it another shot after my first, rather dismal, visit (wherein I got a sausage sandwich that contained a single, pre-packaged sausage).

They do a pre-theatre offer of 2 courses for £10.95 and 3 for £12.95, so I went for the three courses.  I should've done 2 and skipped the starter, but I'm a glutton.

I got the red pepper hummus for a starter.  It was a bit thick, but at least it came with actual flatbread.  It was really tasty - I'm pretty sure they use smoked paprika in it because it had a lovely smokey flavour.

My main was the haggis fritters (made with lentils and seeds, not nuts, woot!):

For some reason, they serve these like fried fish, with lemon and tartar sauce.  I'm not complaining, though, because they're freaking delicious.  They have a really similar feel to haggis (from what I remember), which I guess can be off-putting to some.  But they're just kinda soft, and the seeds add some nice texture.  I got some aioli to go with the chips, which were quite good, but I couldn't eat very many because I'd eaten too much and had to save room for dessert.

This is, according to their menu, chocolate cake.  The cake is a lie.  I'm not saying it's not good, because it is, but don't go in expecting cake.  This is a brownie - crusty on the outside, dense and fudgy on the inside, no layers, no frosting.  I know from cake, and I know from brownies, and this is a brownie.  Delicious, but a brownie.

Anyway, yeah, you should totally go to Saramago.  The food is excellent (I can also recommend the paella and the gelato affogatto), and they have a good booze selection.  It's a nice space too, though a bit out of the way if you're otherwise in the centre of town.  But it's worth the walk - I'm starting to think this might be the best vegan food in Glasgow.

Vegan MoFo 2014 - MoFail and a review of Mono

As you may have noticed, I haven't posted for a couple of days.  Here's what happened:

Wednesday, I expected to go out to dinner, but I came home to find out that wasn't happening.  I was exhausted (I did a lot of traveling for work and slept badly the night before), so once I bothered to cook, I couldn't be bothered to get my laptop out and write a blog post (if I could've even figured out what to write).  And yesterday, I was out all day, got home later than I expected, and again couldn't be bothered getting out my laptop and writing.  I should mention that my laptop is on its last legs, so I've been using an iPad for general internetting, and I don't like using it for blogging.

So, there you go.  On to the review.

Yesterday was supposed to be a day out in Glasgow.  We were supposed to have lunch around 12, do some stuff, and then I was meeting up with a friend for dinner at 5.30 (after Mike got the last pre-rush hour train home).  We ended up not even getting to Glasgow until 2.30, which meant just the eating (and checking out one cute new shop called GeekABoo).

We had lunch at Mono.  I have a sort of love/hate relationship with Mono - well, maybe not hate, more like frustration.  Sometimes the food is just outstanding, and sometimes it's a bit poo.  We go there a couple of times a year, and it seems to go in waves where every other year is poo, and every other year is great.  Well, unfortunately, it was great last year.

I had the same stuff I always order - hummus to start, and the seitan burger for my main.  Normally I would get the sundae for dessert, but knowing how little time I had between meals, I skipped dessert this time.

The hummus itself was alright - it's pretty hard to mess up hummus.  But I realised after a few minutes that the "flatbread" was a flour tortilla.  Yes, technically a tortilla is a flat bread (of a sort), but it's not flatbread the way most sensible people understand flatbread.

Then the burgers came out, and I had a sad.  They didn't even look as good as usual.  They were at least 1/3 smaller than last time (last time they filled the bun, this time, nowhere near).  They were also overcooked, dark and crunchy on the outside.  It was really disappointing.  But at least the chips were good (though where they got their concept of skinny fries I don't know, because they were proper chips).

I'm not gonna stop going to Mono (which might be part of the problem - complacency), but I'll probably give them some time to sort themselves out.  There are other places to eat that have equally good or better food, and some places I've not been to before, so I'll give them a shot before going back to Mono.

Lazy day - pizza for dinner

Today was payday, I got an email for 2-for-1 + 7.5% off* pizza from Pizza Hut, and I was feeling lazy.  Guess what we had for dinner!

Pizza Hut pan pizza crust is vegan (at least in the UK).  Also, if you order online, you can do all your additions (+shrooms and olives for me, +onions and mixed peppers for Mike) and subtractions (-cheese for both of us) without having to speak to a person!  As you might imagine, I love ordering from the Hut.

I had some of the Tesco smoky cheese left over from taco night, so I grated the rest of it and had just enough to lightly cover both pizzas.  If I'd had it, I would've thrown something chick'ny onto my pizza (my pregan favourite was chicken pan pizza with extra cheese), but I didn't.  It was good!

*There's a thing here called VAT Parity Day, which is the day on which food and drink business owners cut their prices by 7.5% in some kind of protest at the fact that you have to pay VAT on restaurant food but not on food you buy at the store.  I'm not entirely clear on why this is unfair or whatever.  There are a number of reasons why people don't eat out as much as they make their own food, and while cost comes into it, I don't think anyone would really notice if restaurants paid 7.5% less tax because they'd probably leave their prices as they are anyway.  And even if they reduced their prices by 7.5% if they didn't have to pay VAT, it would still be more expensive than cooking my own food, so I would still eat at home about as much as I do now.

Vegan MoFo VI, Day 17 - Restaurant Review - Yeni

Sorry for doing 2 restaurant reviews in a row, but it's either that or I talk about my breakfast cereal.  I think this is more interesting.

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.

Vegan MoFo VI, Day 16 - Restaurant Review - Forest Cafe

I had this one in the bag in case I had another day of being unable to bear the thought of cooking, and that day came a lot sooner than I expected.  I sneezed for 2 days straight, and I've felt a bit crap all day today, so I think I'm just gonna be making Fry's chicken nuggets, Smash, and microwave-steamed veg for dinner tonight.

Last year (or was it 2 years ago?), the Forest Cafe was under threat of closure because their landlords had gone bankrupt and had to sell the building from which they operated.  Threat turned to reality and they closed their doors, but they've recently re-opened in what was once a quick-e-mart at the corner of Lauriston Place and Brougham Road (near Real Foods) in Tollcross.

My best good friend Eva was in town on Saturday, and we wanted a place to eat that wasn't too unhealthy.  We were near the end of Princes Street, and the only local place was Henderson's, which is always pretty hit-and-miss for me, so we decided to check out the new Forest Cafe location.

When they were at the old location, I always found the Forest to be a bit hippie-ish, and they really didn't change much (apart from the space being a lot tidier as it's not had time to be broken in, I guess).  It was another place that I found hit-and-miss, as they seem to have more vegan options on their online menu than they actually offer (this is especially true of the cakes - I can't remember ever being there when they actually had vegan cake).

When we got there Saturday around 11.30, we found that the kitchen was still closed - apparently they hadn't finished making everything and were still waiting for some stuff to be delivered.  But they had enough to make us some falafel plates (3 falafels, a toasted pita, hummus, and salad), which is what I wanted anyway, so we both got that.  They didn't have one of the salads made, so they gave us a double portion of the one that was made.

I have to admit, I wasn't expecting much, but this turned out to be an amazing meal.  The big surprise for both of us was the salad.  I'm not quite sure what was in it besides chickpeas and cabbage, though they said it was some kind of mushroom dressing, but it was one of the best salads I've ever eaten.  I think Eva almost asked for the recipe - it was that good.  It was, apparently, a "special" salad, so I don't know if they'd have it regularly, but I certainly hope so.  We definitely got our money's worth (it was a fiver!), and we both left feeling full and satisfied.  I just hope next time I go they have some damn cake (no, flapjacks won't cut it).

Vegan MoFo VI - Day 4 - Restaurant Review - Ann Purna

I don't know if I ever mentioned in MoFos past that, up until recently, in the 4+ years that I've known Mike, we went to one Indian restaurant.  He didn't like it and declared Indian restaurants off limits thereafter.  I spent the next 3ish years almost never eating at Indian restaurants because he didn't want to go to them.

A few months ago, my boss took me and the other admin on our team to dinner at Kushi's (omni place with vegan options).  I decided then that Mike was gonna have to suck it up and learn to like Indian restaurant food (he'd eat curries I made, but they were hardly authentic) because I was tired of limiting our restaurant choices so much.  Since then, he's finally realised that Indian food is awesome, so we've been going to a lot more Indian restaurants.

Tonight, we went to our favourite - Ann Purna.  Ann Purna has been around for a while - I'm not sure how long, but at least since well before I moved here.  The first time I went there, I wasn't too impressed, but I also still didn't like vegetables, so I wasn't the best judge of quality then.  They've since come under new management, but it's still within the same family that owned it originally.  I think they've changed up the menu since my first visit, because I want to eat everything on it.

The first time Mike and I went there, we got the vegan thali.  It was alright - the highlights were the poori (fried bread), the chana batata (chickpeas and potatoes), and the kofti (vegetable dumpling).  But I've always found that thalies are hit and miss since it's up to the discretion of the chef to decide what to put in it, and I'm far too picky to let someone else make my food choices.

We've now been there enough that we've settled into a bit of a routine, as you do (well, I do) - pretty much the only thing we change up are the starters.  I always get the saag aloo (greens and potatoes), Mike always gets the chana dhal (dhal made with split chickpeas), and we usually go for the chana batata as a side.

Tonight we started with the kachori - potatoes and lentils in a thin pastry shell, fried and served with tamarind sauce.  It was the best starter we've had there - a bit of crunch from the pastry, soft potatoes, and mildly spiced lentils, with just the right amount of sweetness from the sauce.

We then had what we always have, served with pulao rice and a poori to split between the two of us (though I totally could've eaten one by myself).  They make the absolute best saag aloo in Edinburgh.  OK, so only one other place has a vegan saag aloo, and it's good, but Ann Purna's is better.  Though we get two chickpea dishes, they're prepared in such a way that it doesn't feel like you're eating chickpeas twice.  The chana batata is a bit tomato-y, while the dhal is creamy.

The only vegan dessert they have is basically mango puree.  But that's OK, because we usually leave full and with leftovers.  That's the only thing my other favourite Indian restaurant, Kalpna, has over Ann Purna - Kalpna has a vegan dessert that isn't just pureed fruit.

I would absolutely recommend Ann Purna.  The food is wonderful, the prices are reasonable (and they're doing 20% off Mon-Thu this winter), and the staff are incredibly friendly and helpful.  If you find yourself hungry in Edinburgh, check them out.

Cookbook Challenge - Cheating with testers

Thinking about testing always makes me think of one of Tom Hanks's many SNL appearances, the one in which he played Wayne's cousin Barry, who was a roadie for Aerosmith, and gave a demonstration of his job by doing a mic check ("check, check, sibilance, sibilance").  I digress.

This week's cookbook challenge is another Isa and Terry week.  I spent all of my new-recipe-making energy on Terry testing, so I'm cheating and saying I did them for the challenge.  Let's be honest, the only Isa/Terry book I haven't already made loads from is the cookie book (well, and the pie book, but that just came out), and I really don't need to make a bunch of different cookies (especially after my week-long cookie-fest in which I made 3 types of chocolate chip cookies).

I ended up making five testers this week:

The first was Toasted Lentils, Onions, and Rice.  Yeah, it's not all that pretty, but it's tasty.  It's loaded with caramelized onions, which are one of my cooking nemeses.  It took me about an hour (probably longer) to caramelize those bloody onions.  Next time, they're going in the slow cooker.  This would actually be a pretty quick-ish recipe if one were to use frozen caramelized onions.  It's got a bit of a sausage-y flavour with the addition of whole fennel seeds.  I tasted this shortly after it finished cooking and didn't really care for it, but the flavour improves immensely after sitting or a few days, so I'm glad I reserved judgment.  The recipe also makes a ton, so I had lunches all week and a few dinners.

After a most of a week of frozen food and leftovers, I knocked out three more testers on Thursday (well, four, but I made another tester with tester seitan).  Pictured are Gyro Roasted Seitan (made with Lemon & Olive Seitan), Lemon Garlic Roasted Potatoes, and Roasted Broccoli with Lemon and Sage.  The reviews were mixed on this meal.  We both loved the broccoli - roasted broccoli is really a thing of beauty.  I really liked the potatoes, but Mike thought they were just OK.  I only kinda liked the seitan (the flavours were good but the texture was off due to my seitan being underdone, as you can probably see from the pic), but Mike didn't like it because he thought it was too "different".  Honestly, I'd make it again because I knew it was just a user error, but Mike probably wouldn't eat it (or would eat it but complain about it, more accurately).  Together, it was actually an excellent meal.

We went to Glasgow today to get Mike's passport sorted and had lunch at Heavenly.  Be warned - you don't wanna rock up at 1 on the Saturday they do the craft fair, because you might not get seated.  We actually had to get a snack at Holland & Barrett and do some shopping, then go back after we'd picked up his passport.  Anyway, I finally got the breakfast, and I was not disappointed.  On the plate are tofu scramble (made with smoked tofu), mushrooms, tempeh rashers, toast, beans, tomatoes, sausage, and a potato scone.  This was the best vegan breakfast I've ever had at a restaurant, and the two things that made it were the scramble and the scone (which was actually more like a mushy hashbrown or giant latke).  It was so, so good.

Bonus picture of Mike eating his brunch.

For dessert, we both got caramel hot chocolate, which was delicious, and I got the gingerbread.  I was really excited to eat it based on my previous experience, but they've already changed it.  This one came out floating in a puddle of really thin custard with no chocolate sauce.  It was still good, but not mouthgasmic like the last time (and the presentation, which I usually don't care about, was sub-par).  The custard wasn't as flavourful, the cake was flatter and seemed less fresh (which isn't surprising since the last time I know they'd just baked it), and it didn't come together as well without the chocolate.  I'll maybe skip this if we're not having it as a post-dinner dessert - I'm hoping that they just didn't try as hard because it was a lunchtime thing.

I'll be doing more testing next week, and I'll also be attempting Irn Bru cookies.  Let's hope they work better than the cupcakes.

Vegan MoFo - Restaurant Review: Phuket Pavilion

I'm gonna be a bit lazy today as I slept badly and had a crazy busy day, and then we went out to dinner.  Also, I forgot my camera.  Sorry.

We went to Phuket Pavilion, which is an amazing Thai restaurant up the road from our flat.  We could've walked there if it hadn't been raining.  We probably go there every couple of months because the food is delicious and filling, and it's really convenient.

Mike always gets the spring rolls as a starter.  I usually get the sweet potato fritters to start, but the last time I had them, they were just too greasy, so this time, I got the Soup Pak (veg in clear broth).  It was really lovely - not spicy, not too heavy, and very few bits to avoid (unlike the Tom Kah Hed Nang Fah, which, while delicious, has bits of lemongrass and such that aren't very appetizing to me).

For mains, we shared a Panang Tao Hu (bean curd in red curry sauce) and a Chu Chi Hed Nang Fah (oyster mushrooms in red curry sauce), and we got a coconut rice each (which comes out in a hollowed out coconut!).  I wanted bean curd but also something veg-like.  We usually only get a starter each and one curry and rice to share, but I thought I'd still be hungry enough for my own curry tonight.  I was wrong.  Even though I only ate about 2/3 of my soup, I still only managed half of my curry and rice.  That said, it was, as usual, delicious.  And we have leftovers!

 We'd probably go more often, but it's a bit pricey, and I usually need to be in the mood for Thai.  But I'd definitely recommend it.  Also, it's not a veggie restaurant, so it would be good for groups full of omnis.  And they always seem to be a bit empty, so we worry about them staying open.  Go there!

Vegan MoFo - Restaurant Review: Heavenly

I took today off from work and took myself to Glasgow for a day of eating and museum-ing.  Usually when we go to Glasgow, we don't stay long or do much because Mike's a bit of a homebody and doesn't like to stay out long.  Also, when we go to museums, he has a tendency to get bored quickly (because he reads faster and finishes sooner), so I end up getting rushed and not seeing everything I want to see.  So this time, I was by myself and could go at my own pace, and it was great.

I started off with lunch at Heavenly.  They're a fairly new all-vegan restaurant - they've only been open since May.  Heavenly became my favourite restaurant after my first meal there, and it remains firmly in first place after today.  It doesn't hurt that they don't have much competition, but they easily quash the few other contenders with a varied menu that doesn't seem to be based around vegan stereotypes (elaborate salads and every other dish full of nuts).

They just debuted their winter menu today, so the lunch service was a bit off due to having just received the ingredients.  There were a few things on the menu that I liked the look of but weren't available, but even with that I had some tough decisions to make.  I started out with a new item, garlic mushroom crostini (picture below).  It was gorgeous - so much so that I got it again at dinner.

Luckily for me, the one thing on the old menu that I'd not been able to try made it to the new menu, and they had that ready to go, so that was my main - bangers and mash with red onion gravy.

As you can see, the gravy was nice and thick.  The sausages were a bit overcooked, but it didn't detract from the taste (neither did the fact that they're clearly Redwood's or similar).  The whole dish was tasty and comforting.

The only dessert I fancied wasn't ready yet, so I moved on to my next destination.

I went to the Kelvingrove for the AC/DC exhibition.  It was really good.  It not only contained your standard photos, ticket stubs, backstage passes, clothing, and other memorabilia, but interactive bits like a guitar with tabs for some of the more famous songs, and a couple of screens showing concert footage and interviews.  And it was only £2!  I'm glad I went - I still have "For Those About to Rock" in my head.

After that, I did a bit of shopping.  I went to Roots and Fruits, which seems to have reorganised and shifted half of the shop to the new (2nd) location on Argyle Street.  However, I did manage to get some Tofutti Sour Supreme, so hopefully I'll get it in gear and make the Deli Reubenettes from American Vegan Kitchen.  After that I went to Lupe Pinto's and bought Bisquick.  I will make the I-40 Blog's sausage balls.

Then it was time for me to meet PPKer Debbie for dinner, again at Heavenly!  I was going to get the polenta cakes, but then I realised they had pesto, which was made with pine nuts (allergen), so I had the crostini again.

Sorry for the green-ness - we sat at The Smiths booth, which has a green-shaded light overhead.  This was even better than earlier - loaded with creamy, garlicky mushrooms and slightly crispy - I could eat it daily.

Debbie had the soup and sandwich combo.  The soup was leek and tattie, and the sandwich was the New York Doll.  I don't recall what she thought of the soup, but she said the sandwich was good but messy, and the seitan was a little less firm than she would've liked but still tasty.

My main was the roast vegetable pie with mash and gravy (which they inexplicably call sauce here, but that there is white gravy, I don't care what they say).  The pie was a little odd - really large cuts of veg, including leek, piled on top of each other and sandwiched between two rounds of puff pastry.  It was tasty, but kinda weird.  But the mash and gravy were good, though I prefer brown gravy on my mash.  But dessert made up for it.

I got the gingerbread with cinnamon custard - the chocolate sauce was a pleasant surprise.  This is hands-down one of the best - if not THE best - desserts I've ever had at a vegan restaurant.  I always bemoan the fact that no one seems to be able to make a simple damn cake with no crap in it - no nuts, no dates, no raisins, just cake and icing.  Though not exactly "just cake and icing", this was brilliant.  The gingerbread was very cakey, and the custard was a perfect complement, and the chocolate sauce tied it all together nicely.  If I hadn't been so full, I might have gotten a second serving.  It was delightful, and I'll be sad if they don't have it next time I'm there.

So, in case you hadn't worked it out, I would absolutely recommend Heavenly.  We've been a couple of times when it wasn't very full, so we worry a bit that they'll stay open.  But with the new menu moving away from, as Debbie put it, everything looking like the one vegan option in most non-vegan places, to truly unique and creative dishes, I hope it's soon regularly packed and in no danger of closing, because every other restaurant now pales in comparison.

Vegan MoFo - Restaurant Review: Bonsai

I'm late writing this because I had a horrible allergy attack this afternoon and had to take some pills (and then a 5-hour nap).

We went to Bonsai Bar Bistro (caution:  non-vegan stuff on the home page, and it plays music!) for lunch this afternoon.  We've been going to Bonsai for a few years now.  We're pretty sure it's the first place we ever had a meal out.  We were with the uni sci-fi society, which actually had some vegans in it, so it was pretty easy to learn what was OK for us to eat (though Mike wasn't yet vegan at the time).  We've been going somewhat regularly ever since.

I'm the type of person who is very set in her ways.  I like to establish patterns and stick to them.  Yeah, we'll check out a new place, and we'll try a few things if we decide we like it.  But once I've tried all the vegan stuff on the menu, I pretty much stick to ordering the same thing every time.  So, every time we go to Bonsai, I order the same things - yakisoba (fried noodles with veg), inari (sushi rice wrapped in fried bean curd sheets), and agedashi tofu (breaded tofu in a soupy sauce).  Mike tends to order miso soup, takuan maki (pickled radish), and either plain or seasoned rice.  And it's not necessarily for a lack of options - we just prefer those things.

So, as per usual, I got what I always get.  I tend to eat the agedashi tofu with the yakisoba.  Both were good, but there was something not quite right about the tofu.  I couldn't really put my finger on it - it was still good, but not as good as usual.  The yakisoba was still great, though.  I tend to eat my inari last because it has a bit of sweetness from the sushi rice.  I love the combination of sweet and salty, so I always dip my inari in a bit of soy sauce.  It's like a relatively healthy dessert (if fried bean curd sheets count as healthy).  I can't really comment on Mike's food because I didn't try it, but he liked it.

As I said, those aren't the only vegan options.  They actually have quite a few, but mine are limited because they use avocado in most of the sushi.  They also serve French fries, which seems incongruous for a Japanese restaurant, but they're actually really good.  They're sprinkled with coarse sea salt and served with a sauce that definitely has soy sauce in it, but other than that I can't place the flavours.  It's amazingly good, though.

Oh, I should also mention that they do a reward scheme - a stamp for every £10 spent, and after 5 stamps you get 20% off.  The prices are pretty good, so we usually manage to eat pretty well for around £20, and then we get 2 stamps, so we get 20% off about every 3 meals, which is a damn good deal.  It's obviously a place I'd recommend.  The only person we've taken there who hasn't liked it was my grandpa.  There's something there for everyone ... except my grandpa.

I apologise once again for the lack of photos.  I hope to go camera shopping tomorrow (would've done it today if not for the bloody allergies) and be back in the photo-taking game soon.

Vegan MoFo - Review: David Bann

My friend Mary had a birthday today, so a large group of her friends went to David Bann, Edinburgh's schmancy vegetarian restaurant.  I've been to David Bann before and wasn't terribly impressed.  I almost didn't go because of it, but then they suddenly changed their menu.  They now actually have more than two vegan options, so I didn't have to have Asian spaghetti this time!

We went with the three-course menu, since I could actually get something from all three courses.  I started with the Thai fritters - smoked tofu, broccoli, peas, ginger, herbs and spices.  They were served with a banana chutney and plum dressing.  The fritters and plum dressing were pretty good.  I didn't try the banana chutney because I'm not fond of bananas.  I washed it and my main down with Sam Smith's organic cider.

My main was the chilli crepe (vegan option, natch).  I liked it - the chocolate sauce was interesting, but not bad.  It just gave it a little bit of sweetness and depth.  The printed menu had the wrong description, so I was expecting potato in there somewhere, so the lack of it was a little disappointing (since I decided on it because of the potato).  Overall, though, I liked it.

Dessert, however, was another story.  I don't know what it is about vegan desserts that most restaurants seem to not be able to get right.  There was only one vegan dessert option - raspberries in jelly, orange drizzle cake, and coconut rum sorbet.  The jelly was atop the cake, which was about the size of a hockey puck, and they honestly put about 1/2 tablespoon of sorbet on top of the jelly.  I took a bite of the jelly and thought, oh sweet Jesus, what did I do to deserve this?  I don't know what they made it from, but it wasn't the stuff that mimics gelatin.  I can't really describe it, but it was wrong, and this was verified by someone else.  The cake was nice, but insubstantial, as was the sorbet.  I would've preferred twice as much of those and none of the jelly, but what can you do?

Everyone else loved their food, though the person who got the risotto said it wasn't enough.  It's a good place to take people you want to impress, especially if they're vegetarian.  Now that they have the new menu, I would probably go back to David Bann, but I sure as hell won't get dessert again if they only have that option. 

Adventure, excitement - a Jedi craves not these things.

I decided to cover the last two days of our holiday in Brighton in this post because there was so much to cover. I hope you're still awake by the end.

Day 4 (Thursday):

We started off with brunch at Wai Kika Moo Kau. We both had the vegan full breakfast, minus the tomato because the pesto was made with something I'm allergic to. I had a lovely chai latte with my brunch. The food was average - I'm pretty sure the beans and shrooms (at least) came from a can, and the sausage was probably Linda McCartney (though I can't really remember). They subbed baked tofu for the fried egg - unseasoned, unmarinated baked tofu, which was kinda weird.

Then we went to the Brighton Museum and Art Gallery. It was, again, a bit of a hodge-podge - everything related to Brighton, but stuff like the Ancient Egypt exhibit felt a bit incongruous next to the "life in Brighton"-type exhibits (which most of the rest of the museum was). But it was good. We were gonna go to the Royal Pavilion, but Mike was bored/tired, so we skipped it and instead did a bit more shopping. We checked out Taj, which was like a cross between Real Foods and Maqbool (the shop across from the AI building on Potterow). Then we got Mike a new t-shirt - a gray shirt with Clyde, the orange ghost from Pacman, on the front. We then got some snacks at Waitrose, including the elusive Isis Luxury Belgian Pralinoir - I've looked at both Edinburgh Waitrose locations for this stuff multiple times and never found it. It's amazing - more on it in a later post.

Mike decided that he was too tired for dinner, so I went to Loving Hut (again) by myself and got the burger and fries (and also grabbed a few more Go Max bars). Honestly, this was one of the best meals I'd eaten the whole trip - it was exactly what I wanted in a burger and fries. I also got a piece of the cheesecake. I stupidly forgot to ask what was in it - I even thought about it but decided not to ask (mostly because I'd already paid for it). Mistake!

About 2 bites in, I started to feel tingly in my mouth/throat (I assumed it was made from cashews). I calmly took my plate inside (I was eating outside because there were too many people inside when I got there) and took 2 Benadryl, which usually does the trick. I got something for Mike to eat and went back to the hotel. At this point, my eyes and pallet started to swell, I couldn't breathe through my nose, and I broke out in hives. We ended up having to go to A&E (in a taxi - the NHS Direct nurse said, since I was still breathing, she couldn't justify an ambulance). They gave me more meds, kept me there to see I got better, checked me out again and sent me home. They wanted to give me a scrip for an epipen, but I would've had to get it filled at their pharmacy (which was closed at the time), and we were leaving the next day, so they strongly suggested I speak to my dr about getting one. And I will - promise! They also sent us to an all-night pharmacy to get some OTC stuff, and the pharmacy turned out to be closed. And then it turned out that the taxi driver didn't take cards, so we had to be taken to a cash machine so we could pay him. We eventually got sorted and got back to the room and crashed for the night.

Day 5 (Friday):

Last day in Brighton! We started off with a trip to Infinity (the shop) to pick up some stuff I don't have access to here - Pepperjack, Bacon, and Bleu Cheezly and Tofutti sour cream (which seems to be available everywhere but Edinburgh). We then went to the Infinity Cafe for brunch. We both had the vegan full breakfast, which was so much better than the one at Wai Kika Moo Kau. First of all, it contained veg! The sausage was the same as the sammich I'd had a couple of days earlier, and they just threw the beans on top of the toast. But the mushroom (a big-ass portobello) was delicious - garlicky, meaty, a little salty - and I got two since Mike doesn't like shrooms! It was incredibly filling - shrooms, spinach, potato wedges, beans, toast, rashers and sausage. Some evil bastard bought the last piece of mocha cake, and the only other option that would've been appealing the day before was the cheesecake, of which, by that point, I was terrified, so we didn't get dessert. Then we walked to the train and went back to London.

Our first stop in London was Ms Cupcake. We got a half-dozen cupcakes (3 each), a sandwich cookie with chocolate frosting (they were out of vanilla), and some Plamil milk chocolate spread (I buy the plain almost exclusively, so we wanted to try this other option that we don't otherwise have). I'll talk more about Ms Cupcake in another post, but know this - if you're vegan and in London, it's worth the trip no matter what part of town you're in.

Despite the fact that we'd just eaten a giant-ass sammich cookie, we decided to go to lunch first, then find a place for Mike to sit at the station while I went to my next destination. Lunch was at Mestizo - their vegan menu isn't online, but they do have a separate one that you can ask for.

We split an order of panuchos



and an order of the enchiladas with salsa roja.



The panuchos - corn pastries filled with refried beans and topped with a red sauce and marinated onions - were incredibly delicious. The enchiladas - potato with probably the same red sauce, served with black beans and rice - were perfect. The whole experience was excellent - perfectly seasoned beans, fluffy rice, red sauce wasn't too spicy, potatoes were cooked properly. I wish I didn't have to go to London to get that again, but if we ever do have to go to London again, we'll definitely be hitting Mestizo for a proper meal (because I could eat the hell out of a couple of orders of panuchos).

After Mestizo, we got back on the Victoria line and headed for King's Cross. Mike found a convenient place to sit, and I headed up the road to Vx. It's a small shop that manages to pack in a ton of stuff - mostly vegan junk food, but also fresh-baked sweet and savoury goods from Ms Cupcake, shirts, shoes, accessories and a few cosmetics. I got 2 packages of fake Oreos, some chocolate-covered vanilla sandwich cookies (prepackaged), another Ms Cupcake sandwich cookie (this one with vanilla frosting, which I prefer), some Ms Cupcake sausage rolls, a donut stick, and a tube of chai spice lip balm. Then I went back to the train station - this whole trip took all of 30 minutes, so we still had about 2 hours to kill before our train at 7.30 (last one out until the sleeper).

About an hour before our train, we discovered that there had been a fatality at Alexandra Palace (I think), so all the trains were delayed. We thought we'd be sitting in the station for a few hours, but luckily Mike checked on our train and found that we'd been assigned a platform. When we got on the train, we realised that we were sharing with the 7pm train, so there were no seat reservations. Luckily, we found two seats together. Of course, it being first class, there were bound to be some privileged, entitled middle-class white folks who got their knickers in a twist because people were sitting in "their seats". We explained to them that there were no reservations because the trains were combined, and they continued to bitch and moan - but as they walked through the door, so I didn't have to pay any more attention to them. We left near 8pm, and then we were further delayed for some other reason, so we ended up being about an hour behind schedule. We finally got in to Edinburgh around 1.15am, and then we had to wait for a taxi. The taxi rank was full of people but empty of taxis because, of course, it was well past the time for the last train. But some kind soul at the station called one of the companies, so the taxis started arriving, and we managed to get home just before 2am.

Overall, it was a decent trip, though I have to say that I preferred Nottingham. I guess I just had my expectations too high, so I was disappointed on a lot of fronts. But I'm super picky about my food, so others who are less so would probably love it. I also had to contend with someone who, let's face it, doesn't really like to do stuff, so actually doing anything other than eating was a bit of a chore. Maybe next time, we'll agree a couple of things to do together but otherwise explore separately (or, more accurately, I'll explore while he reads in the hotel room). I'd still recommend Brighton to anyone, especially if you're more able to explore or are more inclined to Brighton's other amenities, like the pier or beach.

Holiday in the sun

We just got back from Brighton early this morning (nearly 2am - more on that later). We had a really good time, met some awesome folks, and ate a ton of junk (candy bars for breakfast more than once). I felt that giving a more detailed account than I would've given on the Facebook would be a good way to get me back into the blogging habit outside of Vegan MoFo (and give me more license to ramble), so expect a couple of posts in the next few days. Not only do I have a couple of posts about the holiday lined up, I'm also gonna do a couple reviews - specifically on chocolate and Ms Cupcake. So, on to the holiday review!

Day 1 (Monday):

We traveled from Edinburgh to London first class. Having gone to London on our honeymoon, Mike decided that 4.5 hours in standard was just no good on his legs. I didn't think first class was all that different to having a table seat in standard, but I guess it was better for him. We started off the trip with a mini-adventure - we had a last-minute change of platform and none of the catering stuff got onto the train. Apparently you get a bunch of free stuff in first class, but we mostly didn't bother (though we did on the way back).

We had planned on stopping for lunch in London, but we'd both eaten enough on the train that we weren't that hungry and just wanted to get to our final destination, so we skipped it. We got to Brighton around 2.30 and made our way to the hotel. We got a bit lost on the way there because Google's directions were a bit crap. When we finally got there and checked in, we were given the wrong room and ended up walking in on some people (who thankfully were fully clothed). We did eventually get a key for an empty room (which we later discovered had a nasty kettle with junk all over the inside (possibly limescale) that they didn't change after we asked - avoid Travelodge Brighton if you can).

It was balls hot in Brighton that day, and we hadn't had much to drink since we were on the train, so we made our way to Shakeaway. We'd had a good experience with them in Nottingham, so we were really looking forward to it. Mike got the coffee shake and I got a Bourbon biscuit shake (both of which we'd had last year). I have to say, neither of us was impressed. It tasted like they used Tofutti ice cream, which frankly isn't that great. (If you've ever had ice milk (not vegan), that gives you some idea of what Tofutti ice cream tastes like. It's nothing like it is in the Cuties.) After that we hit up Lush (we needed shampoo) and Waterstones (Mike had already finished all of his books), then went to dinner at Loving Hut after an insane taxi driver made me fear for my life. Mike had the veggie chow mein, and I had the stir-fry vermicelli. They were both really tasty, but I preferred mine. For dessert, I had a Tofutti Cutie and Mike had a Tofutti Rock 'n' Roll cone, and we bought a few Go Max candy bars (2 each of Twilight and Buccaneer).

Day 2 (Tuesday):

We had another mini-adventure on the second day. The plan was to do lunch at VBites, so we got on the bus to go most of the way and then walk the rest of the way. There was a march that held up the bus for about 15 minutes (we later guessed, from their "Psychiatry - an Industry of Death" banner, that they were Scientologists). We weren't sure where to get off the bus, so we ended up getting off way too early and had to walk about 20 minutes before we got there. Mike got a burger, chips and a mocha, and I got a bacon cheeseburger, chips and a chai latte. They screwed up 2 of the 3 elements of my order - no bacon on my burger and coffee with chai syrup for my chai latte. They fixed the chai, but I couldn't be bothered with the burger. Oh, and the chips were overcooked. Then, worst of all, the main reason I was there was for a soft-serve ice cream cone, and their machine was broken. Boo-urns. After that, we went to the Hove Gallery and Museum. It was a bit strange - there was no theme other than stuff that may have happened or is tangentially related to Hove. This part of the day was punctuated by a couple of pretty hefty thunderstorms that we just managed to miss the worst of - we saw some lightning at VBites and heard some thunder at the museum but were inside for most of the rain.

That evening, we were privileged to have dinner at Pho with a few PPKers - jojo and her mr, messyveggie and her mr, baps, and Ruby Rose. We had a great time, and the food was fantastic. I had some fried noodles (can't remember the Vietnamese name) and Mike had the tofu pho and veggie spring rolls. I really wish they'd open a location in Edinburgh. We then moved on to Terre a Terre for dessert, where most of us had the famed (and one of only 2 vegan options) churros with chocolate sauce and vodka cherries. They were delicious, though not really churros (not the way I remember churros) - they were thicker and doughier and not quite as crispy. I wouldn't say no to them if offered, though. Meeting everyone was really great - everyone was so nice and funny and just completely awesome, and I'm really looking forward to the PPKamping trip in August!

Day 3 (Wednesday):

This was a lazy day - we didn't even get up until about noon. We had lunch at Infinity. Mike had the sausage and puy lentil stew (special),



I had the hot sausage sandwich (which was cold by the time I ate it),



and we shared some garlic bread. The food was average at best - my sammich had a single piece of (probably Taifun) sausage, split down the middle, and Mike didn't eat most of his. We both had mocha cake for dessert, which tasted really good but was a bit dense.



We kinda had our early anniversary dinner on the Wednesday night at Terre a Terre. We started with the garlic foccacia and hoisin tofu, both of which were really nice. Mike had the Rosti Raj and I had the Rosti Revisited. Mike didn't seem super keen on his - I think he thought the mango was a bit weird. Mine, on the other hand, was one of the nicest things I've ever eaten. It was basically just a giant hash brown with spinach and a bit of tofu with some green sauce, but it was incredibly delicious. I wish I could've eaten it again, and the memory of it is making my mouth water. Nom. The choice of sorbets didn't strike our fancy, and we'd had the churros the night before, so we just had the boozy rum truffles for dessert. They were great - just enough rum to taste without having an overpowering feeling of alcohol, and the chocolate wasn't overwhelming (not too dense or bitter). Overall, it was a really good meal, and I didn't expect to be so full when it was finished considering the usual inverse correlation of price to amount of food (i.e., the more you pay, the less you get).

I'll leave this for now and do the last two days in another post, since we did a bit more in those two days. I apologise for the lack of pictures - I kept forgetting and didn't take very many.

Starbucks (or, I feel kinda dirty)

I'm not a big coffee drinker. I go back and forth with it - sometimes I love it, sometimes I can't stand it. When I do drink it, it has to have almost as much sugar (or syrup of some flavour) and milk as it has coffee. I do like tea, but I'm pretty particular about it. I either have something like rooibos or chai with (again) loads of sugar and milk, or I drink Celestial Seasonings Bengal Spice or Cinnamon Apple straight up. I rarely drink herbal or fruit teas, and I never buy them at a coffee shop. This is why, when people suggest going out for coffee, I'm usually not best pleased.

I've had my ups and downs with coffee shops in Edinburgh. I do have a favourite - Kilimanjaro on Nicholson Street - that very rarely lets me down in the chai department, and another - Artisan Roast on Broughton Street - that has quite a few amazing vegan hot chocolates (they make them with flaked chocolate and soy milk). On the whole, though, people tend to want to go to places with which I'm unfamiliar, or they want to go to Starbucks.

Ah, yes, Starbucks - the evil empire. There are probably more Starbucks coffee shops in Edinburgh (and most cities, I would imagine) than all the independent coffee shops combined. Well, rather than argue the merits of their existence, I'll just help out those UK vegans who have friends who don't know any better and insist they go there.

Out of curiosity, I decided to email Starbucks to find out what they had on offer for my people. I received the following email today:

Thank you for taking the time to contact Starbucks Coffee Company regarding the nutritional details of our current product range. The products which are suitable for Vegans are as follows.

Drinks:
Tazo Tea
Filter Coffee
Café Misto with Soy
Steamed Soy with or without syrups
Espresso
Espresso Macchiato with Soy
Café Americano black or with Soy
Soy Lattes with or without syrups
Soy Cappuccinos with or without syrups
Mocha with Soy
Classic Hot chocolate with Soy
Tea based Frappuccinos

Food:
Perfect Porridge with Soy Milk and Dried Fruit
Fresh Fruit Salad
Fruit Salad
Seasonal Apple
Fairtrade Banana
Falafel Panini
Hoummous with Vegetable sticks
Roasted Almonds
Nut Mix
Fairtrade Chocolate bar - dark
Sea Salt Potato Chips
Sea Salt and Cider Vinegar Potato Chips

We appreciate you contacting us and look forward to welcoming you back to your local Starbucks soon.

Seasonal apple! Fairtrade banana! I had no idea those were vegan! /sarcasm

It's a pretty decent list, to be fair, though I feel the need to point out that when they refer to Tazo tea, they're talking bags, not the chai mix (which contains honey). But we can get hot chocolate at Starbucks! Yes! So next time you're forced into a Starbucks (or go of your own free will - I'm not judging), you know that you'll have something to drink other than the bagged tea that you could make at home yourself for a fraction of the cost.

Catch-up post to kill time - the UK Vegan 100

Just read this over on efcliz's blog, Cooking the Vegan Books, and decided that I'll give it a shot. There are surely loads of things I haven't tried, but I'll probably get a little closer than the US-based version that has things like 'a bagel from [some bakery in NYC]'. Anyway, here we go:

Your mission, should you choose to accept it:
1) Copy this list into your own blog, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
4) Post a comment here once you’ve finished and link your post back to this one.
5) Pass it on!


Hampshire watercress
Haggis (I've actually had vegan and regular haggis. I love haggis!)
Montezumas chocolate (at least, I'm pretty sure)
Melting mozarella Cheezly
Tartex
Granose Mock Duck
Sosmix
Churros at Terre a Terre
Yorkshire pudding
Beans on toast (I need to have this more often)
Crumpets (with margarine, hummus, maple cream, golden syrup, White Bean Boursin from Ultimate Uncheese - they're the perfect conveyance for most toppings)
Mushy peas (unfortunately)
Aldi croissants (I didn't know you could get vegan croissants! Must go to Aldi.)
Bourbon biscuits
Holland and Barrett fruit flapjacks (no, only because I don't care for flapjacks)
Linda McCartney sausages and chips
Marmite on toast
Kent black cherries
Marmite breadsticks (not these, but I've had the Marmite rice cakes)
Beanfeast
Sunday roast at The George
Anything at Birmingham’s curry mile
Rhubarb crumble with Swedish Glace
Paskin’s full breakfast
Jersey Royal potatoes swimming in butter
Evesham asparagus
Potato farls
Bubble and Squeak
Sticky toffee pudding
Irn Bru
Bacon buttie with tomato sauce
Marigold bouillon powder
Booja Booja truffles
Scones and jam
Bird’s custard (I honestly can't remember)
Anything at Dandelion and Burdock
White chocolate
A bought pizza with cheese in the UK
Hot cross buns (bought them for Mike, but I didn't eat them - I'm not keen on raisins/sultanas)
Staffordshire oatcakes
Bread and butter pudding
Summer pudding
Pickled onions
Potato from the Baked Potato Shop in Edinburgh (Almost without fail with margarine, salt, and baked beans)
Wetherspoons curry
Irish stew with dumplings
Mashed carrot and swede
Pease pudding
Christmas pudding
Cranachan
Blue Sheese
Faggots
English muffins
Pringles
Scotch broth
Walker’s prawn cocktail crisps
Mildred’s mushroom and ale pie (on my honeymoon!)
Masala dosa
Realeat fishcakes
Worcestershire sauce
Mushroom ketchup
Pickled walnuts (I'm allergic to walnuts!)
Ribena
Anything at Vbites
Co-op donuts (far too often!)
Picalilli
Ryvita
Anything at Saf
Chip shop curry sauce and chips
Parmezano
Warehouse Café bangers and mash
Innocent Smoothie
Vimto
Eccles cake
Semolina pudding with jam
Linda McCartney country pie
Scallop (potato fritter)
Elderflower cordial (homemade, actually, though not by me)
Spotted dick
Victoria plum
Marigold braised tofu (This is great sauteed with avocado and made into a sammich.)
Clive’s pie
Wagamama Yasai Chilli Men
Sarsaparilla (nothing like root beer!)
Spring cabbage
Holland and Barrett Porkless Pie
Henderson’s relish
Scottish raspberries
Scouse
Colcannon
Fry’s Peppermint Cream
Hobnobs
Roast parsnips
Booja Booja ice cream (no, but only because it's cashew-based)
Champ
Pimms (most unfortunately)
Rice pudding
Nuttolene
Beef and Tomato Pot Noodle
Sesame Snaps

38 - not bad! There are a couple of things that are nut-based, so I can't try those. And then there are the regional things, like food at places in Brighton or London, etc., though I at least am privileged enough to have easy access to the Baked Potato Shop. (So good!) I had some of this stuff pregan, so that doesn't count (the non-vegan stuff, obviously). I think the Vegan 100 could be changed to fit any region (for instance, the original doesn't have anything about eating at, say, Spiral Diner, probably because it was written by someone from either Portland or NYC rather than someone from TX). Anyway, just a little time-waster to catch up on my posts. If I continue to post daily, and maybe do one or two more catch-ups, I'll have a post for every day of October!

Bonsai!

Mike and I went to Bonsai for lunch today. It's probably our favourite Edinburgh restaurant, so we go there as often as we can afford. They have a large enough selection of vegan items that we can get a few different things every time we go in, but since I'm the type of person who finds a favourite and sticks with it, I tend to always get the same thing.

Today I had the yakisoba, agedashi tofu, and inari nigiri sushi. I'm starting to really like getting the yakisoba, especially since they stopped doing the lunch specials and no longer serve the miso ramen bowl. The agedashi tofu is really tasty - fried tofu in a ginger and soy sauce - but I rarely get it because it's a pain to eat with chopsticks (the sauce makes the coating on the tofu mushy, and the tofu isn't really firm enough to hold up on its own). And I always, always, always get inari. I kinda treat it like dessert, not just because it's a little sweet, but also because I know I'm gonna love it, so I like to end my meal on a high note. Mike got the miso soup (as he does almost every time), teriyaki tofu, rice, and wasabi peas. I'm pretty sure he liked everything because he finished all of it (then ate the rest of my yakisoba), which is unusual. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures because I forgot my camera.

Mike had Gamers tonight, so I had savoury oatmeal for dinner. It was actually really good. I added 1/2 of a chopped up Vegan Brunch Italian feast sausage, about a tablespoon of nooch, about 1/8 tsp each garlic powder, onion powder, and salt, and a few grinds of the pepper mill. I only did half a bowl because I wasn't really sure how it would turn out, but I really liked it. But since I'd only done 1/2, I decided to make some chai latte oatmeal for dessert - cooked the oatmeal in about a cup of brewed rooibos chai and maybe 1/4-1/2 c soymilk, then added cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, and clove. It's quite nice.

My movie for Movie Monday is gonna be the John Hughes classic, The Breakfast Club, with which I will be serving brunch (and possibly sushi, since Claire has sushi for lunch). We'll see. I have a really busy day tomorrow, so I might only be able to do the breakfasty things. I still haven't even decided on what to make. I should get crackalackin' on that.

Stereo - Best Vegan Restaurant in Scotland

Not that it really has much competition.

Mike and I occasionally go to Glasgow because Edinburgh has no specifically vegan restaurants and few vegetarian restaurants, and the latter are either Indian (Mike doesn't really like it) or ridiculously expensive (and tend to have few vegan options, surprisingly). Glasgow has quite a few options for vegans and vegetarians, most of which I haven't been to. A few years ago, I quite liked Mono, but Mike and I went there for my birthday last year, and the experience was so bad that he refuses to go back. Same with the 13th Note (which is pretty much across the street). Anyway, when my sister was here for my wedding and graduation, we went on a day trip to Glasgow and had lunch at Stereo. We had really good service and excellent food. So when Mike got a gift voucher to Borders, which has a location in Glasgow but now Edinburgh, we decided to do lunch at Stereo.

Stereo is a bit out of the way, in that it's down an alley that doesn't look like you'd want to go down it. But it's a cute place, and it's got a pretty decent menu. We both actually had a hard time deciding what we wanted, which is unusual in that it was because we had so much rather than so little choice. It was a late lunch (we went to the cinema first), so the place was fairly busy, and there was only one person waiting on everyone. But we still got prompt service, and the food came out pretty quickly.

Mike had the roasted red pepper hummus with fresh-baked flat bread as his starter


and the Calzone with artichokes, tapenade, and [something I can't remember] for his main


I had the Patatas Bravas for a starter


and the Puttanesca Gnocchi for a main


The hummus was a bit thick, but the bread was good. Mike didn't like his calzone, but he'd never had artichokes before, and I kinda figured he wouldn't like the tapenade. I thought it was alright, but I didn't want to eat his food because I had my own, and mine was delicious. OK, the potatoes were a bit spicy, but the gnocchi was so good that I didn't want to stop eating even when I was full. But it worked out, because Mike ate all the potatoes (I had a couple) and most of his bread (with the sauce for the potatoes), and I ate most of my gnocchi.

My only complaint about Stereo is that they only have dessert specials (nothing set on the menu), and the only thing that appealed today was the brownie with ice cream, which I couldn't have because it contained nuts. Boo-urns! But at least now we have a place we know we can go back to, though I might actually try to remember some of the other places we've never been to for our next trip out there.