Loving Hut (Camden, London)

You know you suck at blogging when places close before you post about them. At least I can cast some light on why it might have closed.....

Having visited other branches of Loving Hut in the UK and North America the Camden one was the worst by far. It wasn't terrible, but it wasn't good either - similar prices to Veggie World but with vastly inferior food.

I ordered a couple of dishes when I visited in September - 'Chicken' Satay Skewers and 'Steak' in black bean sauce with noodles. There wasn't a kitchen so to speak - behind the till was a small work surface and cooker.

The skewers looked good, but were cold inside and almost certainly the frozen ready to cook type available in Chinese supermarkets (similar to those we sometimes buy from Wing Yip in Birmingham). The sauce wasn't peanutty enough and had a texture as if it'd been made up from powder.

The 'Steak' in black bean sauce looked alright but tasted like a medium priced stirfry from Tesco. Tasty, but more student food than eating out food.

It's never good when v*gan places close and I know several people who loved the Camden branch of Loving Hut. Perhaps other menu items were better, I caught them on a bad day or Veggie World's given me an unrealistic expectations of the level that other Chinese(esque) restaurants should aspire to.

I'm not ready to give up on Loving Hut yet - their hotel in Austria looks very promising indeed. Will post a review if and when we make it over there :)

Vantra (Soho)

Vantra describes itself as being "Pioneering Organic Cuisine". Pretty exciting stuff - it'd be disappointing if it was basically just another grotty buffet.

I've walked past but not been in before. I had 10 minutes to grab takeaway in the area recently, so popped in to see what it was like.

£6 for a takeaway box is very reasonable; perhaps a little too reasonable, given the cost of their rent (just off Oxford Street). When the chain of chinese vegan buffets opened they were incredible value for money - you literally could eat £6 worth of ingredients (cashews, peppers, fresh veg etc) and not understand how they made any profit. As the years passed by the use of decent ingredients waned, until what we had today: lukewarm bland mush with an over reliance on fake meat.

First impression of Vanta? Very good. The staff seemed a bit confused and unprepared for the start of lunch service, but overall they've done a great job of the decor and creating a brand:

All their food is vegan; I got a takeaway box and a slice of good looking banana cake, which comes with soya cream.

The food itself? Meh.

No one thing was exceptional and there were a few flavours I really didn't like at all.

It also didn't smell that good - in fact I felt a little embarrassed getting on the tube with it. Quality wise: it is better than a Tai buffet, but not a lot better.

The cake survived about an hour of walking around London / tube journeys without going soggy in the soya cream. This is testament to quite how dry it was - but tasted good if you rationed out the cream effectively.

Vantra has nothing on Tibits, which is similarly priced and nearby. I will return however I hopefully try an evening meal there.

Veggie World Revisited (Bletchley)

Since my first visit and short review 2 years ago (complete with camera phone pics), I've returned to Veggie World many, many times.

It's odd location halfway between London and Birmingham has led to several days out that 'just happen to be nearby' so we can 'drop by in the evening afterwards'. Bletchley Park twice (well worth visit), Stowe Landscape Gardens, Waddesdon Manor, Clivedon, Claydon House, Upton House, Wrest Park etc. We're running out of National Trust properties within 40 miles now and are considering English Heritage membership next year instead.

Therefore, I figured it was worth an update, with better pictures and recommendations. The menu choice is extreme and value for money varies considerably. We've tried a large selection of it now and some things we keep going back to as they're so good.

Decor's improved slightly in the past couple of years, with better lighting. It's still a takeaway with a few tables though - you'd only ever visit because the food is amazing. They only seem to have one CD, that is played constantly in a loop.

We generally go for 3 savoury courses and skip dessert. We also purposely over-order, so we've a bigger choice and left overs to eat the following day! :)

Starter

"01 Appertiser Combination" is great on your first visit for trying a few things at once. We occasionally still order it, but tend to go with "27 - Crispy Aromatic Veggie Duck" to share, as it's both delicious and excellent value for money:

Other options include:

02 - Crispy Won Ton: Very good - included in appetiser combination
04 - Veggie Ji Skewers: Simply the best satay sauce I've tried:

07 - Crispy Seaweed: Comes with appetiser combination, wouldn't ever think to order alone

08 - Veggie Prawn Toast: Not a personal favourite, but the best I've tasted
10 - Veggie Peking Ribs: Part of the appetiser combination. They're OK, little strange
12 - Grill Veggie Dumplings: We sometimes order these as a side dish with mains
14 - Crispy Spring Rolls: They're OK, have had better.
18 - House Special Rolls: Or 'horse rolls' as we call them - neither of us liked them

Soup

Their soup tastes great and is cheap. "20 - Veggie Sweet Corn Soup" is my favourite, followed by "24 - Veggie Dumpling Soup".

I tried taking a picture, but it looks too gross to post ;)

Main Courses

The menu doesn't make it immediately obvious what is a good combination of dishes to order for mains. Some are just fake meat with sauce, whereas others come with lots of vegetables. Value for money varies considerably.

A few that I remember trying:

32 - Salt & Pepper To-Fu: Not to my taste - a little bland for my liking
34 - Crispy Sesame Veggie Ji: Delicious, but lacks veg - it's fake meat on a plate
35 - Stir Fried 3 Delicious: Unmemorable
36 - Veggie Chicken Macau: Or Parrot Curry, as we call it. This is one of our firm favourites:

37 - Lo Han Chai
39 - Golden Veggie Steak
47 - Crispy Veggie Ji Pineapple: Lovely, but lacks veg - fake meat on a plate
50 - Roasted Char Siu: Good, but lacks veg
61 - Sweet & Sour Veggie Chicken - Great sauce, but the ribs are better and have more texture
63 - Sweet & Sour Veggie Ribs:

65 - Veggie Chicken Balls
66 - Veggie Pork Balls

Their balls aren't so great. As one of my favourite things in non-vegetarian days I've perfected making them at home now - Veggie World's are unfortunately disappointing.

Sundries

I don't swear often on this blog, but Veggie World's chow mein is fucking amazing - there's simply no finer way of putting it than that.

The noodles are 100% identical to those I got from takeaways in my non-vegetarian days and have since failed to find in a supermarket (english or chinese). We generally go for 'duck' chow mein, normally because we've already got 'chicken' and 'pork' dishes.

There's lots of types of rice available, but we tend to order plain steamed rice - cheap and better at soaking up sauces etc.

The formula we work to is: duck for starter followed by a soup course, then 3 main dishes with chow mein and rice. We sometimes order items from the starter menu as side dishes to the main course (satay skewers, dumplings etc). If you order the right things then you can get very full and satisfied for £15-£20 a head

We've tried the set menus a couple of times when we've visited with friends, but tend to order from the normal menu when alone as neither of us like the fake fish dishes. I've tried a few of their desserts, but am usually uncomfortably full by that point.

Veggie World have gotten service down to a fine art - waiting times are extremely reasonable. I believe that they manufacture their own fake meat - I've not tried it elsewhere in the UK (I heard that Peking Palace used to buy from them, before coming a Loving Hut). You can order any meat with any sauce, increasing the choice even further.

Overall, I'll go as far as saying that Veggie World is the best vegan chinese I've tried in the UK/US. It's a good job it's not close enough to get takeaway from!

Loving Hut (Brighton)

This lunchtime @cherrivalentine and I decided to visit Loving Hut - The Supreme Master's cafe in Brighton. Unfortunately she wasn't in when we arrived, but luckily her devoted followers were cooking in her absence.

Loving Hut is an international chain of vegan cafes endorsed by Ching Hai; a nice lady who believes all sorts of nonsense, like the inner detail of life on Mars:

(whizz forward to 1:50 for the uber strange shit).

In her defense, she does give all this useless made-up info away for free - she doesn't charge for it like those money grabbing scientology folk.

Whilst not suggesting that people give up food and water altogether, she does sell reasonably tasty vegan food at reasonably good prices. They've a branch in Camden that I've not tried, but am led to believe has roughly the same menu - 60% thai/chinese, 40% western.

As it was a nice day we chose to sit outside, rather than indoors to the sound of Supreme Master TV. There's about 5 tables inside and 5 out. It's by a busy junction, but was still fairly pleasant.

We ordered a veggie platter (£4.80) that has a selection of things from the starter / light bite menu:

Service was quick and friendly. The balls were pretty tasteless, but wantons very good indeed. The rest was meh. I'd order wantons on their own next time.

My main was satay with noodles:

Which was fairly tasty. The fake meat wasn't very nice; I wasn't sure if it was tofu or wheat based. The sauce was good thou and it was decent value at less than five pounds.

Still a little disturbed by last night's meal at Aloka; Cherry opted for a good old faishoned burger.

which despite coming with feet cheese (tofutti slices) seemed pretty good. It wasn't frys, which is always a good sign (if you're happy paying someone to heat something up from a packet for you you should try VBites). Cherry concluded that as far as cults go, she definitely prefers this one.

Compared to the cake available in other Brighton eating establishments, Loving Hut's selection was a bit pants:

The first was a basic sponge topped with what I expect is Soyatoo whipping cream. The latter a lemon sponge with half a bottle of yellow colouring. They were OK for the price (about £2 a slice), but could have been better.

Summary? I'd certainly go again if I was in the area and fancied something quick and easy. I suggest that if you get a chance that you try it too. It's sensibly priced for what it is - just don't expect Veggie World quality. For once the Midlands may actually be better than the South vegan food wise!

Veggie World (Bletchley)

A short deviation from recipes for a restaurant review. One of the benefits of being a vegan who refuses to pay to eat in restaurants that don't explicitly cater for vegans (I'll eat if work are paying and I'm reasonably confident that they understand) is that unless you live in London or Brighton you don't get to do it very often. When you do you're more inclined to make an effort and go somewhere good.

I heard about Veggie World a while back, but was put off slightly by the name and proximity to anywhere else. Last night however we decided to brave the 75 minute drive and give it a go.

We had high expectations having read the menu, so were more than a little bit worried when TomTom announced that we'd reached our destination on what appeared to be an industrial utility road at the edge of a housing estate. Thankfully Google Maps led us onto the parallel running road, which turned out to be the reasonably pleasant looking high street. We drove past it once and eventually found it on foot.

The restaurant is essentially a take away with 8 tables. They've not gone to a lot of effort to make it restaurant like, but it was clean and welcoming enough. There were people already eating there, which is always a good sign.

I really can't fault the service at all; the waitresses were friendly, attentive and fluent in English (unlike many places I've eaten). Food is cooked to order, the amount of choice is phenomenal and waiting times short. Rather than marking items that are vegan it instead marks the few items that are not, which is always good to see. The menu has pictures for each dish, but is a little difficult to read (too many pages, with the title for the page in a similar colour to the background - A4 would have been better):

Please excuse the terrible quality of my iPhone 3G's camera. For starter we ordered a appetiser plate for 2 (ribs, wontons, satay skewer, spring rolls and crispy seaweed), sweetcorn soup and prawn toast:

The satay and wontons were awesome. The ribs a little strange but quite pleasant. Spring rolls were crispy but small and a bit boring. The seaweed is not something I'd ever order on its own, but as a garnish it did a good job and tasted pleasant enough. The soup was very good. Prawn toast would never be my choice (I didn't like fish when i was an omni), but it didn't taste fishy and tasted a lot more fresh than other that I've tried.

Next time I'd definitely go for a full portion of the satay skewers, a soup and possibly the wontons.

We were pretty full by the time the main course came! - Chicken fried rice, duck chow mein, pork balls and sesame chicken. I did take a photo, but it's too terrible to show and doesn't make the food look at all good.

The chow mein is 100% how I remember non-vegetarian takeaway chow mein. It was fabulously good. The sesame chicken (with accompanying sauce) was very tasty. The rice was nice enough, but the pork balls a bit disappointing - my chicken balls are a lot better. Luckily they let you takeaway what you can't eat and for the first time ever in a restaurant I took them up on the offer. We ordered some rabbit buns to eat in the car on the way home which were pretty much how I expected them to be - sweet bean paste in squidgy bread.

They don't serve alcohol but seem to allow people to bring their own (or buy it from the off license opposite). They do the whole endless cups of jasmine tea for £1.20 thing, which as I was driving was good enough for me.

Despite my moaning it was undoubtedly the best vegan Chinese meal I've ever had. The staff were lovely and price (considering we took away enough for Sunday lunch) very reasonable (£43 for 2 including drinks and 15% tip). The quality of food is quite considerably better than the London buffets (which are in themselves to new vegans very impressive). We'll certainly go back again and would recommend it to others.