Vegan "Cheese" Roundup

Cheese: yeasty, salty fat; solid at room temperature that melts when heated. You'd have thought the perfect vegan version would have been created by now, but you'd be wrong.

The situation has definitely improved over the past 12 years but we're still not there yet.

I don't expect vegan cheese to taste identical to dairy cheese, but I do expect it to exhibit the following qualities:

Salty, yeasty, creamy (fatty) - in a balance that makes you want to eat the whole block

Solid at room temperature, smooth, easy to cut, grateable, edible

Melted with heat, smooth, stretchy, still edible

All that I've tried so far have failed at one or more of the above.

Here's the low down on vegan cheese that's currently on the market, in order of availability:

Redwoods

Original style has been around forever but is barely edible and doesn't melt. It's widely available (inc supermarkets) and frankly I don't understand why it still exists.

The super melting variety made a lot of people very excited when it was launched (2004?), because not only did it taste vaguely like cheese, but it melted too. It didn't go stretchy/stringy and it tastes nasty raw, but vaguely passable cheese on toast was possible for the first time.

For reasons unknown they stopped selling blocks of the cheddar (selling only slices instead, which cost twice as much by weight), but have in the past year or two bought out a soy free cheddar in block form.

I regularly buy the mozerella and soy free cheddar. Not so fussed on the Edam style or any of the new ones they launched last Christmas. @cherrivalentine likes the blue one.

A few years ago they released feta which tasted OK - I guess they never found a chain to carry it though as it disappeared as quickly as it came.

Mozerella is the default variety that we use when we need something that'll melt. We eat pizza at least once a week and typically use half a block per pizza. It can be crumbled but is better grated.



Scheese

I seem to remember trying scheese years ago, and not liking it at all. I don't know whether it changed or my taste buds did, but when I tried it again in 2008 I actually quite liked it.

I regularly buy their strong and smoked cheddar varieties and it is passable on crackers / eaten straight from the fridge. The texture's not perfect, but it's decent enough.

It doesn't melt though - if you put it on pizza it just stays whole. It will melt eventually in boiling soy milk, but its taste gets lost too easily (i.e. you need a whole block to make cheese sauce).

In the past month or two they've started producing 2 meltable versions for Tesco, who sell it under their Free From range:

The mild is too bland for my liking but the cheddar pretty good. It doesn't melt as well as Redwoods, nor does it go stretchy, but it is edible unmelted. It grates well and I've taken to mixing it with Redwoods mozerella for use on pizza:

The cream cheeses they sell are pretty good (I've been working on a carbonara recipe using the Tesco cheddar spread), but tofutti are better.

Tofutti

Their cream cheese has always been pretty good - it's the one to use if you ever want to make an unbaked cheesecake. There are several varieties that we eat ocassionally on crackers - garlic and olive are my favourites:

The sour cream is practically perfect - works very well with mexican food.

Their other cheese (slices, grated) have always sucked. Period. (we call it feet cheese). It kind of melts but certainly doesn't go stretchy.

It transpired a few years ago that the sugar they use in america isn't definitely vegan, but that the stuff sold in the UK is made in the EU and OK.

Pure

When i turned vegan in '00 there was no passable margerine available. Hard to believe i know, but i even tried stuff that was grainy! Vegan books of old suggest using tahini as margarine, which obviously isn't going to work.

Given how amazing Pure spread is, vegans got pretty excited when they started to promise cheese varieties - the hunt was on.

Eventually when they hit mass market we found how gross they are - both the slices and cream cheese are inedible. Make a cheesecake with it and you'll wish you didn't. It's an example of how what's in supermarkets isn't nessecarily the best you can get.

On a side note: they were originally promising Dairylea style cheese triangles, but they never materialized.

Nutritional Yeast

Gets a special mention here. Mostly because some nutjobs (mostly Americans who affectionately call it nooch) believe that nutritional yeast is like dried grated cheese. It's not. It really isn't.

Cheese is yeasty and so is nutritional yeast - that's where the similarity ends.

It is useful for making white sauces taste slightly cheeselike - @cherrivalentine makes insanely good macaroni cheese with it.

Vegusto

We're now getting into the realm of hard to find. Vegusto sell their wares online, at festivals and previously (where i bought one of each) at Vx in London.

I can't remember how much they cost, but they weren't cheap.

Melty was creamy and did melt. It was OK, but not worth the effort in sourcing. It didn't go stretchy when melted but we did finish the whole pack....

Snack confused the hell out of us. I assumed that Vx had mistreated it in some way and that it wasn't in fact as gross as it was when we tried it. It improves when cooked (as per the picture), but wasn't worth the effort for us to finish the whole pack before it went mouldy at the back of the fridge.

Dezent was weird. The taste was unpleasant (almost spicy - what you'd expect human breastmilk cheese to taste like) but the texture was as close to dairy cheddar that I've ever tried. It's difficult to explain how or why, but both of us were a little creeped out by how good it was.

Still, it wasn't good enough for us to eat the while pack - like the snack variety it went mouldy in the fridge.

Vegourmet

Vegourmet is what Vx started selling when they claimed that Vegusto got too expensive.

The flavours are a little odd and it's just nasty eaten 'raw', but it does melt and tastes reasonably good on pizza.

It doesn't stretch though and it isn't worth sourcing.

Teese

We bought one of each variety (Cheddar and Mozerella) recently from Veganstore, because it's the only brand currently available in the UK that claims to stretch when melted.

It doesn't.

OK, it does, but not in a good way. If you melt it at 260 degrees then it does kind of go stretchy, but more in a snot way than a dairy mozerella way. I don't know the name of the stuff it reminded us of in texture when melted, but it's a type of flubber/slime/gunge that was sold in toy stores in the 80s.
We usually cook pizza at 200 degrees (fan), at which it goes dried out on the outside and melted in the middle. It doesn't taste very nice and honestly I can't imagine ever buying it again.
Incidentally, the wrapper recommends you use 10-14oz per pizza, which at veganstore proces costs £4.45 to £6.23 (exc P&P) !!!

Daiya

A couple of years ago there was a sudden influx of evangelical posts from the US about Daiya, which on all accounts was the holy grail of fake cheese. Not only does it melt, but stretches too!

Daiya made a lot of vegans in Europe very sad, because no one was importing it and Daiya themselves don't seem to have any interest in selling it over here. The reports of its amazingness continued to appear online, but we weren't getting any.

I did consider paying a high sum of money to import some myself, but never got round to it.

Therefore, I was more than excited to buy 7 packs in the states last year and bring them back to the UK with me.

Without wanting to sound too negative: Daiya is fucking horrible.

Yes, it does melt and yes, it does stretch. It only stretches about 5mm however - it doesn't create 20cm long strands when you cut a slice of pizza with it on. It also goes really oily - yuck!

Taste wise - gross. It's a reasonable attempt at creating highly processed cheese slices - i.e. not something any European would ever consider eating.

I persevered with it over several months, but the only thing i found it worked better than Cheezly with was enchiladas:

In all other cases it ruined rather than improved the taste.

Americans are lovely people (some of them anyway). I don't think they're all liers - I think some genuinely think this stuff tastes good. If this is the case however then it does explain why there are quite so many US recipes online that just frankly don't work, which when English people try them they feel like they've just wasted a load of ingredients / x hours of their life they'll never get back.

Conclusion

We're not there yet. There are different options that work in different circumstances, but no one 'cheese' that ticks all boxes.

I'm quite sure it's possible, but it'll probably involve someone who understands chemistry and can replicate the milk proteins required - rather than an amateur cook. We'll get there in the end.

In the meantime, if you're a vegetarian who's considered veganism but can't give up cheese; without wanting to beat about the bush, get a fucking grip. Cheese is not addictive. Fat and salt taste good, but there's more to life, surely?

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 :)

Itadaki-Zen (King's Cross, London)

Chinese has for a long time been my favourite type of foreign food. There are elements of Japanese that I enjoy - udon noodles, miso, mirin, tamari, pickled ginger, shiitake, nori rolls etc but overall the cuisine's just never held the same appeal for me.

I'm fully open to the possibility that I've just not tried enough of the right things yet or that I've an underdeveloped western palate. Certainly there are a lot of Japanese ingredients that aren't widely available in the UK, which is why the prospect of trying Itadaki-Zen when it opened seemed like a great opportunity.

I obviously wasn't that excited though - instead of rushing down with my camera I randomly ended up there with a cameraphone one evening after work, approximately 3 years later! :)

The restaurant is a 5-10 min walk from Kings Cross station. I pleased to find it about half full, including Japanese diners (always a good sign).

Overwhelmed by the long list of options that frankly I have very little clue over I opted for a four course set meal:

02 Itadaki Course 2 £21.00
いただきコース２　麺セット
(Noodles Set)
Starter
3 Vegetable dishes with delicate dressing or special salt seasoning

Sushi
6 Pieces of sushi (includes oriental herbs, seaweed, and wild plants)

Main
・Harumaki (deep-fried or grilled on request) or Kakiage Tempura
・Seaweed salad
・Noodles with original soup

Dessert
Itadaki Zen muffin
A light, soft and sugar free cake, made with Kabocha (Japanese pumpkin), jujube and chestnusts; top with tofu-vanilla cream.

What the menu makes sound like an awful lot of food actually isn't - it's about the right amount:

The first course was like eating canapes - each one a mouthful in size. Flavours were good; it was a nice start to the meal.

The sushi course looked good but sadly wasn't that great:

Mostly because each piece was practically the same - there wasn't enough variance between them. They didn't taste bad, but I have had better tasting sushi from supermarkets.

Even though I had no idea what a Harumaki is I required that it be deep fried anyway. After all, deep frying makes all things good. As it turns out they're just spring rolls:

Main course was OK. Again each of the dishes were tiny and I wasn't sure whether I was meant to be drinking the soup or pouring it over the noodles!

Dessert was weird but tasty:

No amount of airbrushing and filters are enough to make this shot look any more appealing!

All in all, the meal was OK. It was good to try some new things and the food certainly can't be described as bland. Overall I just wasn't particularly wowed by anything I tried though.

I will return however - there's a vast menu that I've yet to try before passing further judgement. I'll try to take a proper camera with me next time ;)

The Red Lion (Gt Bricett, Suffolk)

Why does every village not have a v*gan pub?

The Red Lion's not the first that I've visited, but I'm pleased to say that it is the best. It's just a shame that it's not down the road or in a nearby village, instead of 140 miles away. Still, if you ever find yourself on the A14 to Ipswich (or live in the area) then it's definitely worth a visit.

I couldn't have picked a better day - it's been unseasonably warm this week. Sitting in the beer garden felt like the middle of August.

The pub itself looks a lot like any other - rural location, reasonably sized, traditional interior, large beer garden and kids play area. It had quite a few other diners there as well, which is impressive considering it was a weekday lunch time.

Most of the savory dishes are VO, but disappointingly only 2 of the desserts are suitable. At least 2 of the specials could have been made vegan without anyone noticing (chocolate fudge cake and sticky toffee pudding), so it'd be good to see more choice in the future.

Pricing is reasonable and portion sizes very generous. Quality is above average - food is obviously a key part of the business rather than a token gesture to sell more drinks.

I ordered:

Mixed olive platter £5.90
Black and green olives, sun dried tomatoes and red peppers, served with a balsamic dressing and a basket of freshly baked bread v*

Artichoke linguine £10.90
Freshly cooked pasta, tossed with artichoke hearts, cherry tomatoes, vodka, red chilli and oregano, finished with cream and parmesan and served with garlic ciabatta vo

Summer Pudding £4.90
Filled with soft fruits and cassis, drizzled with raspberry coulis vo*

Good to see the use of baskets in pubs is still alive :)

I'm not convinced that this was meant to be for one person! I've been known to eat bread + oil + balsamic as an entire meal before, so this choice suited me fine. The bread they'd used was warm and decent quality.

The main was pretty decent too:

It'd got quite a lot of oil in it - I wasn't sure whether the sauce had split or it was just from the veg that had been fried separately. It tasted good though, so I didn't really mind :)

Having already eaten a load of bread I got more with the main:

Couldn't really taste the garlic in it, but possibly because the flavours in the linguine were so strong.

Dessert again was generously portioned and excellent value for money:

As far as summer puddings go; this was a good one. Whole berries inside and a sensible amount of icecream.

Everything I ordered I'd be happy to eat again (which happens at less than half of the places I visit). The choice of vegan food's not as imaginative as some places, but if it were local I'd definitely visit on a regular basis. If not only for the novelty of being able to eat a vegan meal outside in the countryside :-)

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 :-)

Fellinis (Ambleside)

Having visited Zeffirellis in Ambleside many times over the years; I was initially excited by the prospect of trying their latest venture - Fellinis, a supposedly higher end vegetarian restaurant.

Their website describes it as a "modern 'Vegeterranean' restaurant catering for the most discerning vegetarian palette with a distinct Mediterranean twist", before going on to promise that "You can indulge in fine dining vegetarian cuisine with us at Fellinis."

Sound good?

My excitment waned somewhat however, on finding quite how unvegan-friendly the menu is. When we were up in the area last year they had a vegan starter and dessert option with no main! This time round there was 1 starter and 2 mains, which was enough for us to try it out.

Fellini's is a short walk from Zeffirellis and clearly styled by the same person (the interior is almost identical). Prices are above average for vegan options that sound uninspiring to say the least.

We ordered the one starter, a couple of sides and both the mains:

Spiced baba ganoush with green tahini dressed crudites, pickled cucumber and toasted pitta (V) £5.95

Basket of homemade bread with virgin olive oil and balsamic reduction (V) £3.50

Bowl of marinated olives (V) £3.50

Butternut squash, with a tomato, walnut and puy lentil filling served on fresh spinach and saute potato (V) £11.95

Spanish roasted vegetables and chickpea cassoulet topped with crostinis and basil oil (V) £11.95

Paprika roasted potatoes (V/GF) £3.50

It's the kind of menu which whilst boring; if perfectly executed is worth a go.

It's a good job that we had a big basket of bread; half a pitta isn't enough to eat an entire pot of baba ganoush with!

The pickled cucumbers and baba ganoush were actually pretty good. It tasted a lot like hummus though and we chose to avoid the creamy looking dressing on the veg. The bread was OK but not stunning (focaccia or ciabatta would have tasted a lot better) and olives fairly average. I'm not convinced the balsamic had been reduced, at least it was still at the thin and runny stage rather than sweet and sticky.

In contrast the mains were probably the most boring things we ate whilst away:They were pretty much as advertised - half a butternut squash filled with lentils and some sauted potatoes on the side, a thick chickpea and vegetable soup with teeth breakingly hard crostini.

The roast potatoes (recommended by the waitress for my main) were above average, but didn't really fit with the dish.

We skipped the £5.95 sorbet option for dessert and opted for ice-cream sundaes at the hotel instead :)

(crappy looking picture taken on an iPad3)

Overall, at £20 for 2 courses of uninspiring food each it's difficult to recommend Fellinis to other vegans. It's a real shame too - irconically it's un-fine dining sister restaurant serves better food for less money.

Dandelion & Burdock (Sowerby Bridge)

I travel a lot. In the past year I've visited the US twice (San Francisco & DC), Belgium twice, France, Holland and Estonia. Having also blogged 35 vegetarian cafes & restaurants across England in this period (and eaten at many more over the past decade); I can with great pleasure confirm that Dandelion & Burdock is amongst the best.

Inconveniently for us; it's neither nearby, near to the area I work or close to where we holiday. Having heard positive reviews from people in Manchester though we detoured on the way back south from The Lake District, adding about an hour extra onto the journey. I'm a great fan of breaking up otherwise long laborious journeys with meals out and National Trust properties (this time Lyme Park). Sowerby Bridge isn't the best looking town I've ever driven through, but it is well located for trade from Manchester, Bradford, Halifax, Leeds and Sheffield.

There are 2 key ingredients for a good cafe/restaurant: good food and good service. You can't have one or the other and expect repeat business (hence why despite regularly passing Mildreds I rarely go). Everything else is a bonus - my favourite restaurant has dreadful decor. Food doesn't have to be fancy or complicated, provided that it's flavoursome, well seasoned and priced accordingly (e.g. not fine dining price if it's not fine dining).

Dandelion & Burdoch scores well on all points. With the exception of the terrible music that was playing when we were there; decor is above average (well chosen furniture and a decent number of tables), service efficient, polite and friendly. I don't know the area well enough to comment on pricing, other than that it's at the lower end of the national scale for restaurant quality food. It isn't fine dining, but doesn't profess to be.

Not everyone's definition of the phrase "Pure Vegetarian" is the same; it's not obvious looking at the website, menu or restaurant frontage that everything is vegan. I guess that this is a tactical decision so as not to scare off non-vegans. I can genuinely believe that some people dine there without realizing it's vegan.

What it does mean is that there are no "Vegan Options" or compromises on the menu, where you're never sure quite how disappointed you'll be by what is served vs the vegetarian version that's advertised.

We were pleased to see Fentiman's Cherry Cola for the first time, which like their standard cola tastes a lot like sweets (I realise that my manliness is in jeopardy by shunning bitter drinks):

On the Sunday lunchtime that we visited the food menu wasn't extensive: 3 starters, 3 mains, 3 desserts. Still stuffed from a 3 course breakfast at the hotel (which in our restraint we only took 2 courses of) we shared a starter, then broke the golden rule of new restaurant visits by ordering the same thing (you'd think we'd have learnt from the £30 bird seed Aloka fail by now):

Mediterranean Tart £4.50
Spinach, sundried tomato, basil, green olives, mixed baby leaf salad, olive oil & balsamic syrup

Sausage & Mash £9.50
Sun dried tomato sausage roll, spinach mash, tender stem brocolli, mushroom sauce

The tart was exceptionally good. It was closer to quiche than any dish claiming to be quiche that I've had. It tasted like Taifun Olive Tofu (which @cherrivalentine has taken to eating straight out of the pack), but creamier; with good pastry, whole olives and sundried tomatoes:

Main course was confusing, but very good. Confusing because what is normally served as sausages without pastry or some kind of fancy looking roulade was in fact a sausage roll! Probably the best vegan sausage roll I've eaten though, with well above average mash and a creamy mushroom sauce. The whole dish worked really well:

For dessert we ordered a couple of cheesecakes:

Chocolate Brownie Cheesecake £4.50
Vanilla Ice Cream

Strawberry Cheesecake £4.50
Vanilla Ice Cream

I didn't get a chance to photograph mine - I was too busy salivating over (and trying to pinch spoonfuls of) @cherrivalentine's:

I considered ordering a 2nd but was too full. If it wasn't so warm I'd have requested some for take away.

It was by far and away the best vegan cheesecake I've eaten in a restaurant. It reminded us both of Turtle Mountain ice cream in the states. Consistency was perfect, height perfect and visually stunning.

If the restaurant owners ever read this review: if you ever have difficulty trading in Yorkshire then please do consider re-opening in West London. Now that Saf has closed there really is only Manna V to get a decent vegan meal, and your dessert is better!

Now to find reasons to return....