Vegancake

Wild and The Moon, Paris – Feb 2019

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We had spent the day walking around Paris and wanted a place to stop for a coffee and a cake. I had a look on Happy Cow and Wild and The Moon wasn’t too far from our meandering route. Wild and The Moon is a small chain of cafes offering healthy options including smoothies, Buddha bowls etc. We went to the St Honore branch.

I chose a banana bread slice which was primarily made up of coconut and nuts so was quite dense and filling, it had a lovely banana-y flavour and went down a treat.

My Husband wanted the chocolate tart but unfortunately the tart that day was lemon so he went for the nutty chocolate pudding.

Our drinks took a while to come out, so the pudding was finished and I’d almost finished my cake when they arrived which was a bit annoying. My Husband went for an iced coffee which could have been a bit sweeter for his tastes and I had a rose latte which I really enjoyed.

On Happy Cow there was one mediocre review and one of their complaints was the amount of plastic in the cafe so it was interesting to see that their tubs are made from a compostable material.

Have you visited any of Wild and The Moon’s branches? What did you have? Did you like it? Let me know in the comments below.

Plumes x

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Wild and The Moon, Paris – Feb 2019

VG Patisserie, Paris – Feb 2019

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Just a short post to show you the delights we enjoyed at VG Patisserie on my Birthday.

VG Patisserie is a small café/patisserie where you can eat in or takeaway. Luckily there was one small table left on our visit.

I chose the bloody cherry and a hot chocolate while my Husband had the 100% chocolate.

Look at the glaze on that!

Both were delicious, I would definitely have headed back if we were here a few more days or it was closer to where we were staying.

A must if you a visiting Paris as a vegan! Have you been? What did you have? Let me know in the comments below.

Plumes x

VG Patisserie, Paris – Feb 2019

A Vegan Lunch @ Pizza Express

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Pizza Express is a long-term fave of my monthly food partner Jo and since their vegan options have widened I also am a fan.

I have been having dough balls there with garlic oil for as long as I’ve been vegan (almost 7 years), they now have a vegan version which comes with a harissa pesto dip. The dip was nice but I still asked for some garlic oil on the side!

I tried a new dish for my main, the leggera peperonata pasta. It had a spicy pepper sauce but I did feel it was missing something, I know they were trying to keep it under 600 calories to be a “leggera” (light) option but I’m sure there could have added a bit more veg.

For dessert both Jo and I went for the carrot cake and a hot drink. The carrot cake was a decent size and Jo said she couldn’t tell it was vegan despite no dairy cream cheese in the frosting.

Have you been to Pizza Express recently? What did you think? Let me know in the comments below.

Plumes x

A Vegan Lunch @ Pizza Express

Vegan Delice @ Westfield Stratford

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I have loved Vegan Delice and its owner Chanel since I first tasted her delights at Hackney Downs market. Now Chanel and her team have a month long pop-up in the Great Eastern Market at Westfield Stratford City (the John Lewis end).

As Stratford is on the way home from work I had to go and pick up some treats on their first day trading there.

I picked up a brookie for my Husband as he loves anything chocolatey and this didn’t disappoint.

I bought a couple of Viennese whirls for my friend Maxine as she has bought some in the past to then have them munched by her son before she could get a look in! Maxine is away at the moment so I’ve put them in the freezer, hopefully they’ll be ok! (If not I’m sure she can get down there herself in the next month).

Chanel gifted me a red velvet Viennese whirl type thing which was really tasty and I had to take a break half way through, it was so big!

Lastly we picked up some baklava. I have always love baklava but as it traditionally contains honey I’m always pleased when I see a vegan version. Chanel’s take is perfectly sticky and syrupy and I’ll more than likely be popping back for some more before their month at Westfield is up!

So if you’re in the area (or even if you’re not!) head over to Westfield Stratford to get your fix of vegan treats!

Plumes x

Vegan Delice @ Westfield Stratford

Harvester – January 2019

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I haven’t been to a Harvester in a while but they have also jumped on the vegan menu bandwagon so we decided to have a Monday night meal there after a visit to the dentist.

If you download the app you’ll also get offers so we had 33% off our mains. The other thing that attracted us (and especially my Husband) was the vegan sundae dessert option.

As always in Harvester you have to head to the salad bar first.

I think this is one of the only chain restaurants that offers vegan spread as standard alongside the butter for your rolls.

I’ve had a lot of burgers recently so I went for the lentil and red pepper tagine with flat bread. It was tasty and nicely spiced.

My Husband went for the Moving Mountains burger which he really enjoyed. We picked up a couple of sauces, smokey ketchup and bourbon and they both clearly stated they were vegan on the bottles.

Ollie obviously went for the sundae for dessert. It just looks like ice cream and sauce but he really enjoyed it.

I chose the chocolate orange slice, which has a brownie base with a chocolate and orange mousse topping. It was nice because it wasn’t too rich.

There were plenty of other options I’d like to try. What would you pick from the menu? Let me know in the comments below.

Plumes x

Harvester – January 2019

A Vegan Lunch @ Leon – Jan 2019

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Leon are great for vegan options and like so many places they have some new options for 2019.

The other great thing is that they list the vegan options first on their menu boards then the veggie options and lastly the meat options, encouraging customers to go for the plantbased meals first.

I chose the Love burger which had a massive poster whereas the two chicken burgers were hidden at the bottom board.

The love burger is a plantbased burger (I know it had beetroot in it) which tasted quite meaty, smoked Gouda vegan cheese, chipotle mayo and salad.

I really enjoyed this burger and was glad it has all the fixings like cheese and mayo not just a burger with all the non-vegan bits removed.

I also ordered the baked fries but they would take over 10 minutes so I got a refund for them which I was glad of as they are £2.45 and not amazing.

I had also seen they had a new vegan cake – the Jaffa cake. This little cake is a tasty little treat. I’m not a fan of marmalade as it’s a bit bitter for me but the sweet cake and chocolate helped balance that out.

There are also some other vegan treats I saw which I haven’t tried yet so I’ll have to make a return soon and with two branches within walking distance of my work it’s not difficult!

Have you been to Leon recently? What did you have? How was it? Let me know in the comments below.

Plumes x

A Vegan Lunch @ Leon – Jan 2019

Unity Diner – Guest Post

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I met John and Cathy when we started doing the Cube of Truth in Romford. Cathy had been vegetarian since the age of four (!) with John converting shortly after they got together and have now been vegan for a few years. John and Cathy take part in activism events ranging from the cubes, save vigils, protests at London Fashion Week and even braved the rain to attend the one year anniversary of Canada Goose opening in London so they could commemorate the animals who have died to make the garments purchased since it opened last year.

Unity Diner is the latest endeavour of Earthling Ed with all profits going to his campaign charity Surge. I haven’t made it to the diner yet but John and Cathy went on Friday and here’s what Cathy had to say about it…

“On Friday evening me and my husband John visited Unity Diner in Hoxton for the first time. The staff were extremely friendly and offered to go through the menu with us. We were seated in a very nice spot by the brilliant art work on the wall. We were pleased to see they had an alcohol licence so we ordered two glasses of sauvignon blanc which was very nice.

For starters we wanted to order the seitan chick’n wings and the cauliflower wings, but they had run out of the seitan so we went for tofish bites instead. Both were very nice and the cauliflower came with coleslaw and ranch mayo. The tofish came with tartare sauce, we both slightly preferred the cauliflower.

For mains John ordered the Surge burger with extra cheeze, bakon and chunky fries. I ordered the mixed leaf salad with potato wedges.

The burger was massive and very tasty and the fries were nice and crispy.

My salad was lovely and the dressing was very good, the wedges were full of flavour and came with a basil mayo. We also tried their hot sauce which is not for the faint hearted and comes with quite a kick!

For dessert John had the cheesecake which was absolutely delicious and I had an ice cream sundae with strawberry and yuzu and pistachio crunch with whipped cream.

We had a very nice evening, totally recommend it but make sure to book to be sure of gettinf a table. We will definitely be going back to try the rest of the menu as the loaded fries look amazing!!!

Cathy”

Well doesn’t that all sound fabulous? I’ve been eyeing up the weekend menu which includes chick’n and waffles as well as pancakes.

Have you been to Unity Diner? Or have you been somewhere else I haven’t featured on the blog yet and would like to do a guest blog like Cathy? Let me know in the comments below.

Plumes x

Unity Diner – Guest Post

Vegan eats in Shoreditch June 2018

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I spent yesterday with my Sister-in-law Gemma in and around Brick Lane as we wanted to spend the day vintage clothes shopping. (I’ll show my purchases in a separate post). First though we had to have lunch to fuel us for all that rummaging through racks!

Our first stop was Boxpark. There are many fully vegan eateries and more with vegan options. We went for CookDaily as Gemma hadn’t eaten there before. I had the Adobo (a Filipino dish) and Gemma had the Pad Thai, each dish comes with the choice of tofu or vegan chicken. We both chose the tofu.

Our food was flavourful and filling!

Afterwards we went to Nosteagia to try their bubble waffles.

The waffles were light and fluffy and my coffee ice cream and hazelnuts were great sandwiched between it.

My Husband couldn’t go without so I picked up a kebab from What the Pitta! for him.

We then made the short walk to Brick Lane. Gemma picked up a couple of doughnuts from Crosstown for her and my Brother.

We then stopped by Vida Bakery in their brand new shop at 139 Brick Lane. Long time readers of my blog will know how much I love their cakes! I picked up a peanut brownie for my Husband and Gemma bought a kitchen sink brownie which has every kind of topping (hence the name). Vane gave us a sample of their new soft serve to try and I will definitely be heading back to have some with a cake.

Vegans are so spoilt for choice on this area and I am lucky it is so close to my office!

Have you visited Shoreditch? What are you favourite vegan offerings? Let me know in the comments below.

Plumes x

Vegan eats in Shoreditch June 2018

Govinda’s Pure Vegetarian

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My Mum and I were going to see a matinee show this weekend so we decided to go for lunch beforehand. I’ve walked past Govinda’s so many times but never been in so I thought I’d suggest it to Mum, who gladly agreed.

The restaurant is part of the Krishna temple and is a cafeteria style where you queue up choose your food and then pay at the till.

We both went for the Unlimited Thali which came with two curries, rice, lentil soup, salad and I added a Punjabi samosa on the side.

This meal was an absolute delight. I especially liked the kidney bean curry and Mum was a big fan of the lentil soup. Nothing was overly spicy which was good for a spice wimp like me! This huge plate was £9.95 with £1 for the samosa, they also do a smaller plate for £6.95. I think this was great value and had a lovely casual vibe. I would definitely recommend if you are in the Soho area.

After our lunch we still had a bit of time so we went to Tap Coffee on Wardour Street, part of a small chain of coffee shops with a stripped back aesthetic. We both had an oat milk latte and Mum went for a vegan rose and pistachio cake which tasted lovely!

As we were on Wardour Street we had to pay a visit to Yorica! I went for vanilla and matcha frozen yogurt with raspberry sauce which was lush!

Where are your favourite vegan places to visit in Soho? Let me know in the comments below.

Plumes x

Govinda’s Pure Vegetarian

Vegan Life Live 2018

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My friend Maxine visited the Vegan Life Live event organised by Vegan Life Magazine in London this weekend and agreed to share her experience in this guest post, so I’ll hand over to her…

“Yesterday I went to the Vegan life live event at Alexandra Palace. The venue is conveniently located not far from the station and there is street parking as well as a car park. The location is beautiful inside and out.

On arrival we were greeted with a massive goody bag which included magazines, lots of samples, a bottle of water, protein and energy balls, a large pot of mayo and a packet of black Jasmine rice pasta which I’m eager to try out.

The stall holders were all on one levels, although some of the talks were held on the lower ground. There was plenty of seating area and of course most importantly “the food court”. I arrived early so to avoid the queues as it did get really busy just before lunch time. I had BBQ Tempeh ribs for lunch and a maple syrup waffle for dessert but the decision was a hard one to make as there was so many delicious options from Ethiopian food, Caribbean, Greek, Pizza, raw dishes, Mac n cheese, seitan steak sandwiches, wraps n burritos, pittas etc.. etc…

So many free samples were being given out. Lots of protein stalls, clothing, shoes, make up, jewellery, cakes, sweets n chocolate. We sampled raw cheesecakes, raw chocolate, gluten free peanut butter and jello cream cake, soups and much more.

Vida Bakery
Ms. Cupcake

The only disappointment was the lack of cheese and coffee stalls. Only one small stall selling a small selection of cheeses you can purchase in most supermarkets or Holland & Barrett and we only came across two stores selling coffee.

There was a tent where people were getting back, neck n head massages right next to the main stage where we saw some really great performers. Shout out to #JoshTom for his song “I don’t eat animals”.

We stayed a total of 6 hours but we did end up going around 3 times because there’s always something you’ve missed!”

Thanks Maxine, sounds like a great event, I’ll definitely have to try to go next year.

Did you go to Vegan Life Live? What did you think/buy/see? Let me know in the comments below.

Plumes x

Vegan Life Live 2018