The Gallery Cafe (Bethnal Green, London)

A couple of central line stops further than I normally go, The Gallery Cafe's both not that far from The City and perfectly located for visiting along with the V&A Museum of Childhood (which is free and highly recommended).

I've been a couple of times in the past year - food, price, waiting time and service all reasonable.

As the name suggests the food and set up is cafe style. Everything's vegetarian and mostly vegan. They've a mixture of communal and individual tables, with a small outside space. On our most recent visit we had a couple of vegan pizzas, which including drinks came to about £20:

Liberal serving of Cheezley and sensible amount of toppings. Fresh dough and crispy base - not stunning but above average.

I'll both return and happily recommend it - whether you're in the area already or fancy a change from the usual Z1 dross.

Hummus Bros (Holborn, London)

I've been subconsciously avoiding Hummus Bros since it opened. Not because I don't like hummus (I do), but because I eat enough of it already - both at home with decent bread (ciabtta, focaccia, pitta etc) and as the staple "I'm desperate" option with a pack of long life pitta - two things I'm sure to find in the middle of nowhere's village shop.

I've eaten a lot of good hummus in 14 years of veganism, including some that I've made myself. Inevitably I've also had my equal share of bad (cheap supermarket) hummus too.

Hummus Bros is a hummus cafe - every dish revolves around a generous bowl of the stuff. You add the toppings of your choice and eat it with pitta bread. It's a simple formula but difficult to get excited about.

I like hummus however, so eventually I gave it a go. If anyone's going to serve good hummus it's a cafe that specializes in it, right?

It turned out that the most expensive hummus I've ever bought was also the least garlicy, salty, olive oily I've ever tasted. In fact I couldn't really taste anything, other than chickpea and tahini. Very disappointing!

Their toppings include omni items - though vegan options are listed on their website and staff pretty clued up it's a shame they're not marked on the menu in store. It's also a shame that their falafel isn't vegan (what's with that?)

I opted for mushrooms and sundried tomatoes as toppings - both of which were good.

No complaints about the fresh pitta either, other than that there wasn't enough of it to eat all of the hummus with!

All in all, it could have been better.

I'll try a different branch at some point (they're a chain) and hope their hummus has more flavour (assuming it's made in house that is).

Stereo (Glasgow)

I'm still not convinced that Glasgow is the most vegan friendly city in the UK. It doesn't take a statistician to realize that London has more v*gan cafes and restaurants than Glasgow, or for that matter Brighton too. Peta aren't known for being right about many things - perhaps they got it wrong this time too?

What I do like about Glasgow is several all vegan places*, as opposed to mostly vegetarian with vegan options (which may or may not bare any resemblance to the description). Edinburgh definitely fits more in this bracket.

Stereo's a good looking bar in the centre of Glasgow with an all vegan food menu, vegan drinks (Sam Smiths etc) and *the standard non-vegetarian ones (Guinness etc).

Service was friendly but chaotic - it wasn't clear whether it was table service or not. Still, it was good to see an all vegan eatery mostly full on a week night - other cities could do with something similar.

The food itself was alright but could have been better. The menu is focused more around tapas than the usual starter / main course, which is understandable given the type of venue. I chose a couple of tapas items to start then went for a pizza for main:

Vegetable Tempura - crispy battered seasonal veg with ponzu dip - £3.75
Garlic Bread - 2 pieces freshly made with our Stereo baked bread - £2.60
Haggis Pizza - with muhammara (spiced red pepper and walnut), tomato sauce & olives - £8.00

I took the liberty asking for vegan cheese on my pizza - a snip at 60p extra.

The tempura was rustic. A slice of sweet potato, mushroom, red pepper and half a carrot - deep fried in chip shop batter. The carrot was still quite crunchy and it wasn't that great. Rind in the ponzu gave an overpowering, slightly unpleasant aroma and taste. I wouldn't order this again.

The garlic bread's bread was lovely. You could tell it'd been made with love rather than by a machine. That said though it was basically toast with vegan margarine and the very slightest hint of garlic. It could easily be improved with a bit more garlic and seasoning - it's possible I just got unlucky.

I've got to be honest - the pizza could have looked more appetizing. Their pizzas are served 'flat bread' style - i.e. not traditional dough but tasty all the same. The real star of the pizza though was the muhammara, which was simply stunning. Really good flavour with a sensible amount of spice.

It could be improved however (both aesthetically and in terms of flavour) by adding cheese, which ironically I had ordered and paid for but didn't get. If I order this again I'll make sure it comes with cheese.

There was a choice of 3 desserts - 2 cheesecakes and a sticky toffee pudding. I went with a chocolate raspberry cheesecake & icecream for £3.50:

This I also liked. It wasn't on the same level as cheesecake from Dandelion & Burdock, but then vegan cheesecake generally isn't. Personally I'd happily pay a pound extra for a taller slice.

I like Stereo as a venue but wasn't blown away by its food. I may have caught them on a bad day, as it it could be pretty good with not a lot of tweaking. Next time I'm up in Glasgow I'll try someplace different, but would give Stereo another go if staying nearby.

V Revolution (Manchester)

V Revolution is like what V Bites would be, if it were good.

Products you can buy from any healthfood store and cook yourself at home for a fraction of the price - why pay someone else to do something you can effortlessly do yourself?

It's a reasonable question, but if done right in a place with friendly staff and good atmosphere then I'm all for it. It's good to leave the house (from time to time), meet people etc. Not everyone who goes there will be vegan or for that matter inclined / able cook themselves (they could be at work or out shopping).

The problem I have with V Bites is that it isn't done right. So how's V Revolution any better?

V Revolution's a cafe to the north of Manchester City Centre. Parking's easy (although expensive) and the area not unpleasant. They've pitched it as a record store, deli and cafe, though in reality it's a cafe with some chillers, shelves and a few records at the back. They've concentrated their deli selection on hard to find, high ticket value items rather than replicate H&B. It's like Vx but less cramped and with more cheerful, friendly, northern speaking staff.

The menu's similar to Red Veg (what's with the whole revolution / red thing?), but without the fries, onion rings and full on fast food experience (burgers wrapped in paper, fries in cardboard, plastic tray etc). Unlike Red Veg however there's place to sit (without elbowing the person next to you), 50s diner inspired decor, sofas and decent lighting. It's also still trading, which is always good.

I think they could be missing a trick by not going for the full Red Veg menu / experience, but they were busy enough when I visited and perhaps this is planned in time.

The food I had was good - no complaints. I had a chocolate milkshake (rich and icecreamy) for £3.50 and a (Frys) burger for £4 (which I ordered with extra cheese (Violife?), bacon (Redwoods) & a 2nd patty (I'm greedy like that)).

I've eaten the same a million times before (we've a section of our freezer affectionately known as the Fry's drawer), but I don't think £4's unreasonable (I've eaten many crap burgers at other cafes costing way more).

The only slight disappointment was that they were out of their special of the day (double chicken burger), which is confusing considering that they had plenty of packs of Frys chicken burgers in the chiller. They also had 4 of their 6 milkshakes unavailable and even more tragically - no cake. Fellow bloggers & locals report this as being a regular occurrence, which is kind of sucky. I hope teething problems more than an underlying issue.

I Like V Revolution - I'd definitely go again and wholeheartedly it to others (especially as Bistro 1847 was so shonky). I hope they sort out their stock issues and sell more things with time (fries, rings, breaded mushrooms etc) - there's no reason why they couldn't become the chain that Red Veg intended (but sadly never managed) to be. Next branch in Birmingham please!

Scoop (Soho, London)

Scoop is a chain of 3 "gelato parlours" (that's icecream shop to you or I) in Covent Garden, South Kensington and Soho. Having been to the Covent Garden branch previously I was tempted in through the door of Soho on the promise of vegan churros.

I ended up going a few times last year - a short walk from wfm / Picadilly tube it's convenient for grabbing something cool in hot weather (which does happen occasionally in London). It's also an alternative dessert destination after visiting somewhere like Beatroot around the corner that doesn't really do pudding.

As is often the case at such places it's the sorbets that are vegan rather than icecream. It is good quality sorbet though, so you won't feel too hard done by. Cross contamination's a definite possibility so it's worth staying vigilant whilst they're serving your order - I've heard from other vegans that they've messed up in the past.

Their churros are good, but like most places I was told the chocolate sauce isn't vegan. Thus I've opted for chocolate sorbet instead when I've had them:

I like Scoop. It's one of Soho's better places. Vegan icecream, toppings and better separation would be very much welcomed in the future, unless someone opens the London branch of Lula's Sweet Apothecary here in the meantime!

Wild Food Cafe (Covent Garden, London)

Wild Food Cafe's a half raw, half vegan cafe up a set of stairs in Neal's Yard, Covent Garden. Having visited shortly after they opened in 2011 and had the most revolting raw soup ever, I decided not to blog about them until I'd given them a chance to redeem themselves.

I wasn't overly excited about returning though, so it took about 2 years before I gave them another go. Pushed for time I ordered:

Olive & Shiitake Burger - 10.5
shiitake, olive & jeruselem artichoke burger with dairy free pumpkin seed cheese, superfood ketchup, tomatillo salsa verde, baba ganush, Dijon mustard, lettuce in a sourdough focaccia burger bun served with baby leaf salad

The kitchen's open plan and seating cramped, with tables set up canteen style. The people sitting next me spent forever talking about crystals, which nicely sums up the (aging) hippy vibe of the place.

I couldn't see the point of eating cooked bread with raw filling, so paid £1 extra for a raw cracker instead:

Instantly I wished that I hadn't - whilst it was well presented it meant you couldn't pick it up and eat it like those dining around me. Also, I love sourdough focaccia - what was I thinking?!

I would go back and try different things, particularly if I was with someone who wanted raw food. London's better food for less however in walking distance of Covent Garden, so it might take a while before I'm in the mood again.

Down to Earth (Kensington, London)

Down to Earth's an organic cafe & restaurant, roughly half way between Kensington High Street tube and Olympia (walkable from each). All vegetarian; about half the menu is raw.

I had lunch there a couple of months back - a welcomed alternative to Saf or Wagamama where I normally end up. As you'd expect (given the area it's in); Down to Earth is as posh as vegetarian cafes come - sandstone exterior, chandeliers and marble tables inside. Prices are sensible though and inline with most other raw cafes / restaurants. Staff were friendly and waiting times low - it was about 1/3 full when I went.

Raw meals are pre-prepared and displayed behind the counter. Whilst it's good to see what you're getting, you could taste the fact that they'd not been made to order (or at least properly chilled prior to service). They are definitely fresh, but not quite fresh enough. I opted for their lasagne, described as "marinated courgette pasta strips layered with portobello meat, rich tomato sauce, herbed cashew and yellow pepper cheese and pesto served with a side salad":

I really enjoyed the lasagna part. Not as much as 42Raw's, but it was by far the best thing I ate whilst there. Not so keen on the salad, but I'm generally not that keen on salad in general (unless it's covered in oil / sauce or in a bun with a burger).

I love carrot cake, which is probably why I was disappointed (to the point of leaving half) with the dessert:

Raw cheesecake can be fantastic but fruit/vegetables mushed together with agave and spice in the guise of sponge cake doesn't really work for me. I did my best to eat the frosting from the centre and ditched the rest.

I don't love Down to Earth (yet), but will try it again. They do an evening menu (no prices on the website) so I might give it a go and opt for a cooked dessert next time.

The Quay Arts Cafe (Isle of Wight)

I don't often review non-vegetarian places, but then the Isle of Wight's not exactly awash with vegan choice. It's worth ringing The Quay Arts Cafe if you're staying there for any length of time, their menu changes regularly and you could come up trumps.

Located in a former industrial building its interior's large with plenty of tables. From the outside you could certainly miss it if you didn't know it's there. Parking's free onroad outside - we had no problem finding a space at lunchtime in summer.

On the day we went there was only one vegan main - salad. They seemed accommodating though and offered to veganize vegetarian things on the menu. We both went for Mushroom & Thyme Pasta:

Presentation was nice and flavours good. It lacked the creaminess of it's vegetarian counterpart however and wasn't quite balanced as a result. I can see how dishes designed to be vegan by them could be good though, which is why we'll give them another go when in the area next.

Dessert was some kind of iced tray bake. It was coffee flavoured, sweet and chewy - unlike anything I've had before.

Service was friendly and prices reasonable - 2 mains, 2 cakes and drinks came to about £20.

Aroma (Lyme Regis, Dorset)

Having been somewhat of a vegan wasteland previously, Lyme Regis has gained not only a vegetarian restaurant (more on this in another post) but coffee shop serving vegan food too. With vegan sorbet available in the seafront at Rinky Tinks (they don't label it - it's a case of requesting to see ingredients, but generally they've 3 flavours available); Lyme's actually not a bad choice to visit for the afternoon.

Aroma's at the bottom of the high street, opposite the town museum. They've a few tables and play space for toddlers at the back. Selection of vegan items isn't vast and there are non-vegetarian options too, but you can tell from the menu that they're aiming towards the allergy free market and have a good understanding of what's what. Food is very much cafe style - expect good coffee accompanied by a cooked breakfast, sandwich, wrap etc. There's no pretension of being a restaurant when it's not, which isn't a bad thing.

We enjoyed our iced soya lattes and falafel pittas:

Pricing's sensible and service friendly. They're welcoming of kids and have menu options to suit. There wasn't any vegan cake on the day we went, but apparently there sometimes is.

We'll certainly return in the future - if they have one or two more vegan options and always stock at least one vegan cake it could become a firm favourite.

The Orrery (Ryde, Isle of Wight)

The Orrery is without a doubt The Isle of Wight's finest vegetarian cafe.

As The Isle of Wight's only vegetarian cafe however this isn't overly surprising - it's also the worst.

If weirdness were a metric used for rating eateries, The Orrery's off to a good start. I've not taken acid before, but if I ever do I expect The Orrery's decor to feature heavily. With highly patterned walls, ceiling, mirrored tables, working planetarium and 'God Slot' (their word's not mine!) it's Alice In Wonderland meets wtf.

At the back is what can best be described as being a smutty postcard museum. The only punters visitors we saw for it were more than a little scary looking (we tried not to make eye contact and pretended we hadn't seen them).

Talking of visitors, despite being the only people dining the guy behind the counter was turning other customers away. I've never seen anything like it - everyone who came through the door was talked into leaving, with excuses including a lack of strawberries available to use for cream teas. Behind the counter is also the kitchen, and whilst the word vegan appeared on the specials board against three curries, it was absent from the (sticky) printed menu. Ordering falafel pittas involved reading ingredient labels ourselves, followed by an extortionately long wait.

What finally came was alright. The falafels had been mushed up inside which was a little odd, and no overly useful as we'd planned on giving some of them to our toddler. Taste was good though and the sweet chilli sauce worked well.

Unfortunately none of the cakes / biscuits seemed to be vegan so we didn't stay for coffee.

I get the impression that the The Orrery could be made good with not a lot of work - better service, cleanliness and choice of vegan options (properly marked on the menu). A browse through TripAdvisor reviews describe much the same experience that we had.

Would I recommend The Orrery? I guess that depends on how long you're staying on The Isle of Wight and how hungry you get. We went self catering and cooked most our meals ourselves. In the space of a week we ate at Pizza Express no less than 3 times (sad I know) and having done our big shop in Tesco found a Waitrose by accident towards the end of the week (which the Internet said didn't exist).

I guess what I'm trying to say is: The Orrery's alright, but not great. Don't go expecting too much, or a short wait. Take a book, kindle or something to do. Take something to wipe the table with too.

Cakes 'n' Treats (Camden, London)

I like cakes & I like treats. London's lacked a good vegan coffee shop for years now, so what's not to like?

I visited Cakes'n'Treats back in September, during its opening week. My experience was hopefully that of teething problems and not a reflection on normal trading. That said, it was dreadful enough to deter me from returning since.

Exhibit number #1:

Cake shouldn't look like that! It's not unreasonable to expect a vegan cake shop to be able to cook vegan cake properly, surely? The flavours were OK, but either the mixture was wrong or it was undercooked - if I'd make cake looking like that I'd have been too embarrassed to serve it. The person who owns the shop seems to make good looking cakes to order (if Facebook photos are anything to go by) - I hope they don't look like mine did when cut into!

Exhibit number #2:

At £3.90 their "Hazelnut Crunch Macchiato" is more expensive than the largest equivalent at airport/motorway service branches of Costa/Starbucks/Nero, independents (which tend to be cheaper) or any restaurant I remember visiting. It was terrible.

I couldn't taste hazelnut (syrup or otherwise). Assuming it was meant to be a latte macchiato (it bore no resemblence to caffè macchiato); there was no attempt at layering, other than beany tasting macrofoam floating on top of beany tasting coffee. What really 'topped it off' though was the sprinkling of chopped hazelnuts. WTF? Why would you want hazelnuts in your mouth whilst drinking coffee? It makes no sense and for me it totally didn't work.

I want to like Cakes'n'Treats - I hope their products have improved since my visit in September. I want them to succeed, which is partly why I waited several months before creating this post or writing on TripAdvisor / Facebook. Please, someone tell me things have gotten better since?

Metrodeco (Brighton)

We've walked past & peered through Metrodeco's windows several times before - admiring it's charm, decor and comfy looking furniture; quietly jealous of contented omni customers sipping drinks and enjoying cake inside.

Why don't we get afternoon tea at the seaside too? Actually it seems we do :)

Metrodeco's an eclectic/eccentric looking tea room in Kemp Town, a 10 minute walk from the centre of Brighton and short stroll from the beach. Not only have we walked past previously but stayed twice at Paskins on the same road. Thanks to a tip off from the Interweb & prior notice instructions on their site we phoned at booked the evening before (whilst gorging ourselves on what the waiter at Terre-a-terre described as "quite a lot of food"!).

4pm on a Saturday in November and the place was almost full, so we were pleased to see that they'd reserved some of the comfiest looking armchairs for us. Tea selection's impressively large and those that we tried were good (high praise for a tea hater like me) - @cherrivalentine regrets not buying some for home.

I'm never quite sure how much food to expect for afternoon tea, but advice for Metrodeco is to go hungry! Portion size is generous and more than just a snack - have a light lunch and book dinner for later in the evening, or else you may be forced into the same travesty / crime against veganism by not being able to eat all the cake!

How cool is that? Far from being the weirdos in the corner with our weirdo food, our's looked as good or better than anything other people were eating.

We started with the sandwiches - pesto & artichoke were my favourite. The bread was fresh and flavours good. Hummous made its obligatory appearance but it there's nothing wrong with that if there's variety too.

The scones looked the part and cut easily. They could have done with being over so slightly moister, but it was a good effort all the same.

We were pleased to see that they've vegan spread - if in the future they had rice whip too it'd be scone perfection.

And onto the cake - which was nothing short of stunning. Moist, crumbly texture, not too sweet and oodles of flavour. If you don't go for a full afternoon tea I highly recommend going for a slice of cake and cup of tea (though ring to check they've vegan cake in).

Supposedly our vegan version was smaller than their standard afternoon tea, so they dropped the standard price of £18 a head to £15 for the vegan version, which we think's very reasonable indeed!

We'll definitely return when next in the area and in the meantime suggest that you do too! Metrodeco's an example of omnis doing vegan food right. Looking forward to trying it in summer whilst it's still light outside.

42Raw (Mayfair, London)

I sometimes wonder whether I'm being a bit harsh on restaurants/cafes where I have bad experiences. Afterall, shouldn't we (vegans) be encouraging all businesses that cater for us and helping them succeed?

I read various blogs however where authors have amazing experiences every where they go and everything they taste is simply amazing. It just becomes a bit sickly and unbelievable after a while - either they're lying, mental or have incredibly low expectations as to what constitutes good food and good service.

On the whole though the majority of places do get it right - I've had some very positive experiences recently and discovered many new places that I'll certainly return.

42Raw is the latest (mostly) raw vegan cafe to open in central London. Its existing sister cafe in Denmark gives it an obvious advantage over start-ups, bringing an established brand, well tested menu and a slicker than average execution. Its decor looks almost identical to the Copenhagen branch - even the food looks as if it was made by the same person.

It definitely shows - combined with good service 42 have done a good job of hitting the ground running.

Its location in Mayfair (close to Tibits / Regents Street) is both impressive and a hindrance - time will tell as to how well it does in its current building. Despite knowing its address I walked up and down Burlington Gardens a couple of times before I eventually found it. At first I assumed that it must be hidden in Burlington Arcade or above a shop - it was only when I'd given up looking that I saw a lone sandwich board pointing into The Royal Academy of Arts.

The building itself is beautiful, with extremely high ceilings and extensive architectural detailing. You have to pass the Academy's security however to enter and they've obviously imposed strict restrictions on the amount of signage/advertising that can be seen from the outside. Success will depend heavily on word of mouth and other media.

The set up is takeaway, with a few small tables outside the main room in the reception area of The Academy. The food itself however is restaurant standard - both in terms of quality or ingredients and presentation. Everything's vegan (except dairy milk in drinks), but there's currently too much slant on (boring) salads rather than complex dishes (for my liking).

Like Urban Eats (which also opened recently & I visited last week); there's more on the menu than there is available - hopefully the selection will improve with time as they get more trade. Unlike Urban I found the staff at 42Raw much easier to interact with.

I could lie and claim that I did it for research purposes, but through gluttony alone I ordered the same things that I had at Urban Eats last week:

Lasagna £7
Squash, tomato sauce, walnuts, parsley pesto, cashews creme and baby spinach

Chocolate Cake £2.50
Cashews, dates, cacao butter and cacao powder

Mint Cake £3
Coconut, dates, cacao powder and a mint cream topping

Prices were a little higher but still very reasonable - I maintain my stance that Urban Eats are undercharging. In context, Wholefoods Market is a short walk away and charges over £1 more than 42 for raw cheesecake.

The lasagne was very good indeed:

Though creamy it didn't really have a well developed cheese flavour, but the whole dish tasted fresh and well balanced. Visually it looked stunning, with well defined layers and variety of colour. I'll certainly order this again.

The cake was a mixed bag:

Good base, not so good top (the exact opposite of Urban's attempt). Just a bit too bitter for my liking and not quite smooth enough. The mint cake survived the 100 mile train journey home, which meant that we got to eat it with cream:

On first taste I didn't like it. Not because it didn't taste good but because it tasted like nothing I've had before. Usually minty things have a minty taste - either from mint oil or synthetic. This however actually tastes like fresh garden mint, captured in its entirety.

It definitely benefited from being eaten with cream (Soyatoo Rice Whip, which I realise isn't raw) and I'm not sure I'll order it again. It is good to experience new things like this though - vegan cooking certainly isn't dead! I look forward to having more surprises from 42Raw in the future.

It's difficult not to compare Urban to 42, but on the whole I like them both. Competition is good and the market's certainly big enough to support many more raw cafes/restaurants in London. If the joined forces it'd be awesome - Urban's 'cheese' on 42's lasagne, 42's base on Urban's cheesecake. If not then hopefully they'll visit each other at some point and perform some espionage :)

Urban Eats (Holborn, London)

I'm still slightly mourning the loss of Saf. Yes, it was expensive. No, not every dish they made worked. On the whole though they created flavours and textures I've not experienced either before or since.

I've tried Aloka's raw restaurant and Cafe Gratitude in Cupertino, as well as various attempts at raw dishes by places like Manna V. Some sweet things have worked (Aloka's cheesecake is to die for) but none have come close at creating savoury food that actually tastes like its cooked - or at least processed to the point where it's not obviously a bunch of raw ingredients mashed together. In November last year I met up with Sash and Mits to try a new raw place in London - Wild Foods Cafe in Covent Garden. See Mits' review here for pictures of what can only be described as sliced raw vegetables in orange juice - yuck!

I didn't have high hopes for Urban Eats, but was pleasantly surprised.

Location's good - a nice looking street with plenty of other cafes, 5 minute walk from Holborn tube. When I visited on Wednesday lunch time I was pleased to see a stream of other customers both eating in and getting takeaway.

Everything on the menu is vegetarian, many vegan. Confusingly though items containing honey are marked as vegan. Whilst I realise that some "vegans" eat honey, almost all I've met don't, including the Vegan Society's definition. It'd be good if the menu could be made clearer.

Not all menu items are always available - those that are are in a small chiller next to the counter. It's not obvious which are which or what a plate of food looks like. The front of house staff were friendly, but I had some difficulty trying to figure out what it was I was ordering. The one lady who did seem to know about the items (who I assume is the owner/chef) disappeared into the back before I got a chance to ask.

Hopefully everything I ate contained agave not actual honey.....

Eventually I settled for raw lasagne and a smoothie, followed by a couple of desserts (I'm greedy like that):

Raw Vegetable Lasagne £4.80
served with salad and bread
This is a delicious raw vegan lasagne bursting with flavour from the sundried tomato and macadamia cheese. (R)(G)(W)(D)(S)(V)

Minty Fresh £3
Bananas, Cucumber, Basil, Fresh Mint, Peaches and Apple. Great smoothie with soothing qualities which protect and heal the stomach lining. (G)(V)(R)

Marbled Chocolate & Orange Tavoletta (R)(V)(G) £2

Unbaked Mint Avocado Layer Chocolate Cake (R)(V)(G) £2
This cake is full of omegas, potassium and fibre.

Cheap prices! I can't remember the last time a dessert cost less than £4. I'm not complaining, but given the location I think they could afford to up the prices slightly without scaring away any custom.

First impressions very good - the £4.80 lasagne tasted as good as Saf's £15 attempt! The cheese part was moist and had the flavour / texture of grainy cottage cheese (or at least what I remember it as, it's been a while). The other ingredients were all tasty and worked together. Seriously delicious.

The salad size was extremely generous (but again well dressed), it also came with a couple of slices of "bread":

which I really didn't like at all (I love real bread too much).

I'll definitely order the lasagne again - I look forward to trying other options. The smoothie was good too (I know I use the word good too often and should learn to use a thesaurus).

Dessert a mixed bag. The upper part of the torte/cheesecake was as good as Aloka's:

Really smooth and no sign that it was raw whatsoever. Raw or cooked; a steal at £2!

The base however is what gave it away as being raw - it had that unmistakable texture and taste of raw ingredients mashed together.

The chocolate mint cake looked and sounded good: (there's that word again)
Unfortunately it didn't taste good, at all. I'm not afraid of avocado in sweet dishes - I know it works perfectly well in chocolate mousse. I couldn't eat more than a few mouthfuls of this cake though. It seemed to have been partially defrosted, with big ice crystals still in it. Not to my taste at all :/

Though I ended on a low note, my overall impression of Urban Eats is very positive.

Three out of the four things I had I'd order again, two were exceptionally good and far too underpriced!

I'm really looking forward to revisiting and trying other things :-)