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.

David Bann (Edinburgh, Scotland)

David Bann's an upmarket vegetarian restaurant in Edinburgh city centre, a 10 minute walk down the hill from the castle.

Its menu's squarely vegetarian with only a single vegan dessert option. I was looking forward to trying their "Chilli Pancakes with Sweet Potato, Courgette & Chocolate Sauce" main but it was sold out. Instead I opted for:

Salad of walnut gnocchi, beetroot and smoked cheese - 7.65
Gnocchi with roasted walnut, beetroot, sorrel, watercress, salad leaf and Ardrahan smoked cheese. With maple, lemon and mustard dressing. [V]

Aubergine, chickpea and cashew koftas - 11.90
Spicy koftas of roasted aubergine, chick pea and toasted cashews in a spicy aromatic coconut, courgette and tomato sauce. Served with coriander rice, pineapple chutney and mint yoghurt raita. [V]

Orange jelly on lemon cake with coconut rum sorbet - 5.60
Orange segment jelly sitting on lemon cake and topped with homemade coconut sorbet. Served with lemon dressing and Amaretto soaked figs. V

([V] is vegan option)

A particular bug bear of mine is vegan options which in no way represent the description of the dish I ordered. Like for like replacements are perfectly acceptable (though it's preferable for them to be marked on the menu), substitutions disappointing (especially considering that the price is never lowered or portion size increased), but totally different is just misleading:

So I'm not entirely sure what I had for starter. Some kind of fritters I think - definitely not gnocchi (which ironically is easy to make vegan).

Faced with a choice of stir fry, risotto or curry for main I went with the latter. It was alright (on a par with a local curry house), but not what I'd expected to eat at a restaurant in Edinburgh:

Figs creep me out, so I left them. The rest was alright - jelly and icecream made to look fancy:

My meal at David Bann was perfectly pleasant and I would go back. The staff were friendly and prices not unreasonable (assuming they're inline with omni places in Edinburgh).

The food was fairly uninspiring - not terrible like some reviewers claim but not sensational either. In Brighton speak it was more "Food for Friends" than "Terre a Terre". More (adventurous) vegan menu items would be appreciated when I return.