veganhackney

A Vegan Lunch at Temple Goods

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I jumped at the chance to revisit Temple Goods with Maxine after we had enjoyed breakfast there a few months ago.

It was a drizzly day and the café was very full. We managed to find a spot on the end of a sharing table which had another group of people dining.

I was hungry after having no breakfast so I had to go for the full English.

The beans were smoky the bacon was crisp but the star of the shoe has to be the fried “egg” I don’t know what it is made of but it so realistic tasting, the yolk pops and oozes gorgeously onto the sourdough toast.

Maxine went for a toasted sandwich of bacon and cheese with a coffee.

The Hackney Downs Vegan Market went from a one-off seasonal event, to monthly, then weekly and now demand has meant it is on both Saturday and Sunday each week!

The only disappointment came in the bathroom where the soap wasn’t vegan, I have contacted Temple Goods and will update when I receive a response.

Maxine picked up some vegan cheeses from New Roots as well as some pastries from Temple Goods and some spray cream from Vegan HQ.

If the weather had been nicer it would have been lovely to sit on the Downs with Maxine’s beautiful dogs, (who have featured on the blog previously) but we may have to wait for the spring to do that!

Have you eaten at Temple Goods? What did you think? Let me know in the comments below.

Plumes x

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A Vegan Lunch at Temple Goods

Love Shack August 2018

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I’ve been suffering from a cold all week and was really craving the comfort of cheese toastie but had been unable to get to a larger supermarket to buy some vegan cheese so on Friday when I had an hour or so to kill before taking part in the Earthlings Experience in Romford I hatched a plan.

I was thinking of places that weren’t too far out of my way home and I thought of Love Shack in Cambridge Heath, I had only walked past it previously but I had had one of their smoothies the previous evening at Vegan Nights (which I wrote about here).

The space is really cool with a large outside area with beanbags, deck chairs and hammocks, great to chill out with a book or a group of friends.

Taken from Love Shack website

I ordered my cheese toastie along with a juice of pineapple, pear, kiwi and ginger. The ginger helped my throat and the metal straw kept it extra cold.

The toastie was on a wholemeal bread and came with a lentil, tomato chutney as well as a side salad. The cheese was oozy and delicious and definitely what I needed!

I’ll definitely be heading back and bringing a few chums along with me next time!

Have you spent some time at Love Shack? What did you think let me know in the comments below.

Plumes x

Love Shack August 2018

Hackney Downs Vegan Market July 2018

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My friend Karen and her 6 year old son came up to visit me from Bournemouth so we decided to spend the day in East London.

Our first stop was The Museum of Childhood in Bethnal Green. If you haven’t been before I would definitely recommend it. They have toys from different eras and different countries and it will take you a trip down memory lane. There are also lots of interactive exhibits to keep youngsters entertained too. Like all the museums in London it is free to enter.

We then headed to Hackney Downs, we passed Love Shack just by Cambridge Heath station. I have been following their Instagram for a while and can’t wait to go there, it’s a chilled out space with hammocks, Miami vibes and of course vegan food!

We walked through the Downs to get to the vegan market which was lively but gladly none of the stalls had long queues. I opted for a herby seitan and mac wrap from Café So Vegan. The portion of seitan was very generous and the creamy mac and cheese was a great addition without it being too messy!

I had recently heard about Dope Soft Serve so on a day like Saturday with temperatures reaching 30°C ice cream was definitely needed! I chose the cinnamon crunch which came with cinnamon cereal flakes popcorn and miso caramel. The ice cream is actually quite thick for soft serve and very creamy.

I couldn’t go to Hackney Downs without picking up some cakes to take home from Vegan Delice. I got this gooey chocolate peanut delight for Husband which he really enjoyed.

And I had this brownie topped with a Baileys Almande cream. The Baileys flavour really came through, I was lucky to get one of the last ones!

I also stopped by Temple Goods to get an iced latte and I picked up a couple of croissants for breakfast as finding vegan croissants is so difficult!

I always enjoy my visits to Hackney Downs Vegan Market and my friends enjoyed it too!

Have you been? What did you try? Let me know in the comments below.

Plumes x

Hackney Downs Vegan Market July 2018

Temple Goods and Dough Society June 2018

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When my friend Maxine was in hospital I brought her some vegan doughnuts, now while that had a restorative effect on her condition she has since transformed into a vegan doughnut demon, craving them and even dreaming about them! So we took the opportunity this weekend to head down to Hackney to go to Dough Society doughnut and coffee shop. I was also excited to see that Temple of Seitan had taken over the cafe at Hackney Downs Studios so we first headed there for some brunch.

Temple Goods has a brunch menu as well as selling vegan snacks and ice cream. My Husband had already asked me to bring him back a bacon and egg muffin! Maxine and I went for the avocado toast with scrambled egg and bacon and Maxine also bought a croissant to take home for her son.

I loved my sourdough toast, the egg tasted similar to follow your heart’s vegan egg and it went so well with avocado. My Husband enjoyed his muffing although he said it was more like a bap and would have benefitted from eating it fresh rather than 4 hours later when I got home!

We had a little look around the market afterwards. I picked up some Hungarian scones from Lucky Lek which were gorgeous and tasty!

I also picked up a synckers bar for my Husband from The Well-Bean Company which he hasn’t tried yet.

After that we headed the short distance to Dough Society which is off Mare Street.

I chose the Jam and Custard while Maxine had the Coffee Nut. These doughnuts are huge! These taste like proper doughnuts, none of this baked nonsense! Mine had Custard in one half and Jam in the other, but I think I would prefer it to have both layered together.

Maxinr took a Notella doughnut home for her son but the chocolate hazelnut filling tasted a bit off. She contacted Dough Society and said they would test the batch they had and offered a free doughnut and drink next time they visited. I think it is always worth notifying a company when something isn’t quite right so they have the opportunity to fix it.

We were well and truly spoilt on our vegan adventures in Hackney and I also got to spend some time with Ozzy and Bling the gorgeous doggies!

What are your favourite vegan hangouts in Hackney? Let me know in the comments below.

Plumes x

Temple Goods and Dough Society June 2018

Hackney Downs Festive Vegan Market

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This weekend Hackney Downs Studios hosted Fat Gay Vegan’s three day Christmas Vegan Market extravaganza so we certainly couldn’t miss out.

My Sister-in-law Gemma decided to drive so we missed the pushing and shoving on the bus, tube and Overground and parked near the downs.

We started off with a mulled wine to warm us up. I’m more of a mulled cider person but this went down in a treat in my travel cup.

We were hungry so we quickly headed over to Temple of Seitan. They had two Christmas subs on, I went for the beef wellington with bacon, mushroom duxelles and mustard and Gemma had the chicken with stuffing, cranberry sauce and crispy onions. Both were delicious and the hot English mustard really cleared my sinuses!

After that we needed something sweet and I had been looking forward to having Vegan Delice’s fresh hot doughnuts. We went with one lot with chocolate and nuts and the other with raspberry sauce and both were fabulous!

I also bought my Husband an Oreo cupcake and I enjoyed this gingerbread person with a cup of tea later at home.

I’m already a convert to bamboo toothbrushes but Gem had to pick some up for her and my Brother. This enterprise started as a uni project and is now a full blown ethical business that plants a tree for each toothbrush sold.

She also picked up some make up as a present and was gifted a little extra too! I won’t show the items in case the receipient sees this!

Viva La Vegan were selling Eden Perfume on their behalf so I brought my empty bottle to get a refill (and a discount!), I went for 78 which is similar to Paco Rabanne’s Lady Million.

I also picked up a candle from Vegan Bunny. I had seen these as Gemma had got some for her birthday in October. I love rose scents so I had to go for the rose blossom variety, I also loved the jasmine scent which I might go for next time.

I also grabbed one of Fat Gay Vegan’s tote bags which I love as the text can be read up-side-down as well. I also caught up with the man himself and congratulated him on his recent appearance on the Chickpeeps podcast which I would recommend you listen to straight away!

We finished up with some cheese fries from Club Mexicana. These are gooey and crunchy but don’t leave you feeling heavy and greasy like dairy cheese does.

We had a fab time and it was lovely speaking to all the vendors and being introduced to some new ones.

Did you go to the market this weekend? What did you think? Let me know in the comments below.

Plumes x

Hackney Downs Festive Vegan Market

Vegan Chalk Bomb & Broadway Vegan Market

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Today I took part in the Worldwide Vegan Chalk Bomb with my Sister-in-law and our new friend Meredith from Vegans of East London. People took part in events all across the world to spread the vegan message. You can check out everyone’s work by searching the hashtags #veganchalkbomb and #veganchalkchallenge on Twitter and Instagram. We set up camp outside Shoreditch High Street Overground Station and got to work. A fellow vegan who was working so couldn’t join us brought us cupcakes from Vida Bakery to spur us on!

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After all that chalking we were getting hungry so we decided to head over to Broadway Vegan Market which was holding its first event. We decided to walk and had a lovely time nosing in the cute little shops along the way and even got chatting to another vegan lady who was working in one of the shops.

It’s seems like it’s another day another vegan market at the moment and I’m definitely not complaining! Every Saturday you can choose between Broadway Vegan Market and Hackney Downs Vegan Market (or go to both if you’re being greedy!) and tomorrow (1st October) sees the launch of Walthamstow Vegan Market.

Many of the traders were also at Vegan Nights a couple of days previously (which I wrote about here) so I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted to try.

I chose a noodle salad from Eat Chay which came with Korean barbecue pieces and chick’n and lemongrass pieces. It was really great and the vegetables made it really fresh tasting.

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My Sister-in-law chose to order from Spice Box (after much deliberation!) and got this box of tandoori cauliflower, jackfruit tikka masala and sweet potato curry. I tried a little bit of each (of course!) and it was damn tasty!

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I couldn’t go home without getting something for my Husband so I picked him up a pizza slice and a chocolate walnut brownie from Vegan Sweet Tooth.

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There were loads of other lovely looking stalls and I hope to make my way round a few of them at upcoming events!

Have you taken part in any vegan chalking? Or did you attend a delicious vegan food event this weekend? Let me know in the comments below.

Plumes x

Vegan Chalk Bomb & Broadway Vegan Market

Hot Dog Fundraiser at Black Cat Hackney

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Last night I attended a fundraiser for New Hope Animal Rescue at Black Cat Café in Hackney with my Sister-in-law and one of her friends.

New Hope is run by Niall and Vet Nurse Steph and they take in animals in need, often those who require medical treatment. They are currently looking to move in order to have more room so they can help more animals, check out all the details on their website.

Vegan café Black Cat in Hackney often host fundraiser nights for charities and this one was hot dog themed. We had to book in advance and I’m glad to say they completely sold out for the two sittings they had on the night. For £20 we had starters, mains and desserts and we were well and truly satisfied with the food we were served up.

To start we had these cute canapés of houmous on cucumber which were really tasty.

Next up we had sweet potatoes with vegan cheese and onions.

There were four hot dogs on offer and we all went for the Muttley Mac topped with onions vegan and Mac and Cheese. These hot dogs were giant! I added some ketchup (I can’t have a hot dog without ketchup!) and dived in! I am not the biggest fan of Mac and Cheese but this wasn’t overpowering or too saucy. 

And if that wasn’t already enough we had cupcakes for dessert. I went for the lemon and my Sister-in-law had the red velvet. The lemon was lovely and zingy and the red velvet had a cream cheese frosting on top.

Everyone had a wonderful night and all in all £1223 was raised for New Hope! Yay!

Plumes X

Hot Dog Fundraiser at Black Cat Hackney

Hackney Downs Vegan Market

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On the third Saturday of every month Hackney Downs Studios plays host to the Hackney Downs Vegan Market. I’ve been once before with my Sister-in-law and this weekend my Husband decided he wanted to come with me.

He was most looking forward to having a burger from Big V (which I’ve previously reviewed here) and some doughnuts from Dough Society.

When we first arrived we realised how many people were there by the length of the queues! Temple of Seitan were showcasing their bacon cones which lots of people were interested in.

We made our way through the market to where Big V were and although there was a long queue it went down quite quickly.

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There is some seating in the market but due to the numbers of visitors it was all taken so we went and sat on the downs next to the market while we ate our burgers.

When we returned we saw that Dough Society had unfortunately (for us!) sold out. It was only 1pm when we arrived at the market (which opened at 11 and closed at 5) but it just goes to show the popularity of events like these.

We weren’t disappointed in the sweet side though as we headed to Vegan Delice‘s stall to pick up some goodies. My Husband chose a couple of these chocolate hazelnut biscuits. I took a cheeky bite and I must say it was delicious!

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I was visiting a friend later in the afternoon so I chose a lotus caramel cupcake and a bakewell slice to share. I really enjoyed both these cakes especially the cupcake with lotus spread running through the middle.

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The popularity of events like these go to show how many people there are interested in vegan food and Sean of Fat Gay Vegan has said he’s planning on opening another market in another part of London.

I also wanted to highlight Sean’s policy regarding the traders who are at the market.

In the spirit of inclusion and for the promotion of people often overlooked/sidelined at mainstream vegan events, I have earmarked my percentage of stalls for those traders who identify as BME, LGBTQ, people with disabilities and/or as women.

To clarify, this policy ensures that at least nine out of the twelve stalls each month will be owned or co-owned by someone who identifies as BME, LGBTQ, a person with a disability and/or a woman.

Have you been to Hackney Downs Vegan Market? What did you think?L Let me know in the comments below.

Plumes x

Hackney Downs Vegan Market

Review – Temple of Seitan

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I first tried Temple of Seitan’s fried vegan chicken at the Just V Show last July so when I heard they were opening a permanent shop in Hackney I knew I had to go and get my fill!

They opened in January to massive queues as reported in the mainstream press and quickly had to recruit more staff and upscale their production.

I met up with my Sister-in-law and my Husband so we could share in this junk food feast!

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We each went for the burger which came with vegan bacon, lettuce and mayo. They also have various sauces you can add yourself. The seitan is really crispy and chewy and the bun was lovely and soft.

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I went for some coleslaw with mine, which was a huge pot. I think it could have done with been smaller and having more mayo in it!

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My Sister-in-law went for some mac and cheese. I had a little nibble and really like it. I wasn’t too saucey which is my kind of mac and cheese.

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My Husband got a “two piece” as well although there were three pieces in the container – bonus! I really liked the taste of the strips on their own as well.

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They were also selling peanut butter, chocolate mud pies so we had to get some to take home. These were soft gooey and delicious.

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I will definitely be going back to Temple of Seitan hopefully in the not too distant future.

Have you been? What did you think? Let me know in the comments.

Plumes x

Review – Temple of Seitan

Review – Vegan Peasant Supperclub

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On Thursday my Husband and I attended Vegan Peasant Catering supperclub at The Grand Howl vegetarian cafe in Hackney.

The cafe’s windows were steamed up and they had their shutter half down so we walked past it before we realised that was the place.

When we arrived we were offered a glass of Prosecco which went down very well and soon the canapés were coming out.

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The aubergine was definitely my favourite which wasn’t a surprise and I am a huge fan of ghanoush. I hate grapefruit with a passion but the it was only a sliver and added a nice citrus burst which cut through the rich cream cheese. The ricotta was pleasant but I don’t remember tasting any fennel.

The dishes were placed on the counter and it felt like a bun fight to get in a grab one, not always being successful and having to wait for the next tray.

Next to come out were the bowls.

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The gnocchi was divine with gorgeous tomatoes and mushrooms. I had big leaves of basil which just added to the gorgeousness.

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The other bowl was my fave dish of the evening. Roasted veg with a sinus clearing horseradish sauce, what’s not to like!

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The desserts were bite size like the canapés and I think I could have done with a bowl size portion! The buttery biscuit with cream and fruit was lovely although I think the cream could have had a bit more flavour. The fudgey brownie squares were rich and intense.

This event was like a reception I would say, in that it was standing. This was the aspect of the evening that I found least enjoyable. We were there about 2 and a half hours and my Husband and I ended up leaning against the wall. It was also very warm and I had to step outside for a bit to cool down.

The meal was good value for money at £25 including the Prosecco and I left feeling satisfied without overly full.

We also got chatting to another who works close to me so we’re going explore our working area for vegan lunch options.

Vegan Peasant said they are starting monthly events with the next one at the end of March. I think this standing style isn’t for me and I would only go to a sit down event.

Have you been to a Vegan Peasant event? What did you think? Let me know in the comments.

Plumes x

Review – Vegan Peasant Supperclub