Wai Kika Moo Kau (Brighton)

Still stuffed from our cooked breakfast at Paskins and having turned our noses up at the limited vegan menu offered by Food For Friends, we gave Wai Kika Moo Kau a go for a light lunch.

Luckily, after waiting 35mins for our food to come I'd worked up an appetite! Service was pretty bad, considering there were 5 front of house staff. There didn't seem to be one person assigned to our table, so we had to flag them down as they walked past at each stage of the meal.

We skipped starters; I ordered a chilli burger and @cherrivalentine a thai sort of peanuty wrap thing with tofu:

Making up for the unattentive / slow service, the food itself was pretty good and reasonably well priced. Portion sizes are very generous, however in the case of the chilli burger - a little too much so. Really it was too meals (burger and a large spoon of bean chilli) in a bun, making it quite impossible to pick up and eat:

(even my mouth's not that big). Only complaint food wise is that their drinks are a little overpriced - our milkshakes were £4 each.

Later on, underwhelmed by Infinity's selection, we returned for cake. I'd spotted on our first visit that they have the same supplier, but a bigger selection.

Quality was up to scratch with when I last ate said cake - it's a real pitty that none of the 15 (or so) v*gan restaurants north of London that I've visited seem capable of producing cake so good.

I'd go back to Wai Kika Moo Kau again - pricing was reasonable, food relatively tasty and portion sizes good. Vegan choice is decent, but the overall range of food available puts it very much more in the cafe bracket, rather than something a bit special that you'd rush back for.

Aloka (Brighton)

Having had a very agreeable experience at Aloka's lunch buffet last year; I had high hopes for the restaurant. The fully raw menu looked stunning - what could possibly go wrong?

We booked a few days in advance for a Saturday night sitting. I was pleased to see that decor from downstairs continues up: same lighting, tulip tables and Vernor Panton S chairs (don't be put off by the plastic seating, as one reviewer said!)

It'd been a hot day, so we were pleased with our table by an open sash window. From my seat I could see along East Street towards Terre-a-Terre; which I tried to avoid looking at whilst we ate (I'll post about that meal shortly).

Having personally thoroughly enjoyed Saf, @cherrivalentine was in for a treat - she'd not had a fully raw meal in a restaurant before (other than the plain salads that confused omni places give you).

The dinner started with an amuse-bouche; a(n IKEA) shot glass filled with overly vinegary gazpacho. It was more an endurance than a pleasurable start to the evening, which didn't set a good tone:

We ordered a mezze platter for starter (£15.75), which promised a selection of items from the menu:

OK, so, the entire meal wasn't raw: we got a small cup of the day's soup, some bread and lentil pancake things.

The carrot humus I thought was rather good. The guacamole a bit bland (needed garlic) and olives over salty (I couldn't eat more than a couple). The crackers weren't good at all (no-where near as good as those from Saf, or those in overpriced boxes from Waitrose), neither was the lentil pancake (bland). The bread was bread and the soup again, a little over vinegary.

The main thing that baffled the hell out of us was just what the brown stuff in the white pot was meant to be. It looked like caramelized onions but tasted like, well, nothing. It was like eating gelatinous water. Apparently they were jasmine tea pearls - I wouldn't have guessed.

The whole dish was a bit pants, but nothing could prepare us for the main.

Stupidly, drawn in by the description, we broke the golden rule of shared dining and ordered the same thing: Botanical Living Special (£13.75):

First impressions good, but if I had to sum this dish up in one word? Bad. Really, really bad.

There were four things on the plate which didn't seem to have a purpose for existing together. A little ball of horseradish on a slice of courgette (wtf?), some chopped beetroot with a couple of olives, a mound of mushrooms in some kind of sauce and la piece de la resistance: a stuffed tomato on a stuck-together-seed-thing, ontop of sliced courgette.

The whole thing just didn't work. Half way through we got giggling fits because it was so bad - it's a good job too, otherwise we may have cried.

I don't know where to start, so I'll start with the seed thing. At first it seemed like something you'd give to the birds, but then it reminded me of those chew things you give to hamsters. It was impossible to elegantly cut with a knife and just didn't seem to have a reason for being on the plate.

The courgette seemed unseasoned - that which I had in Saf had been salted to tenderize, but this just seemed to be sliced. A forkful of tomato stuff with a slice of courgette and a bit of birdseed did taste alright, but it was awkward to eat and only just alright - not £13.75 alright.

The similarly priced raw food from Saf seemed to actually be recognisable dishes (pasta, lasagne etc), so you knew how to eat them. This just seemed to be a collection of mediocre stuff on a plate.

As one of the worst things I've eaten in a v*gan restaurant this decade, it was a poor attempt and a really bad advert for raw food.

Our experience at Aloka was partially resuscitated by dessert, which was actually very good.

Confusingly they don't have a printed dessert menu - the waiter/waitress reads it out (minus prices). We ordered a raw chocolate cheesecake and a raw chocolate banana & macadamia torte:

Other than that the smaller one cost a pound more and tasted slightly of banana; it's difficult to tell them appart.

They were however very good indeed - both the best raw desserts I've eaten and for that matter, amongst the best I've had in any restaurant (either raw or unraw). According to the bill they were 5.50 and 6.50, which is most reasonable.

On balance; I wouldn't go back for an evening meal at Aloka. I thought their lunchtime buffet was excellent when I visited last year and I'd certainly return for that side of things. Their savoury raw food however is .... crap

What I would do though, is eat starter & main at Terre-a-Terre, then nip across the road for dessert.

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!

Tibits (London)

Having had a good whinge about a nearby v*gan restaurant recently, I've nothing but good things to say about Tibits.

Though I know Soho well; the other side of Regents Street is unknown territory. Therefore, whilst I've known of Tibits existence for a number of years, I've never randomly walked past and eaten there before.

I'd planned to visit October Cafe, but it was 9am and I didn't fancy waiting around for it to open at 10. I wanted to try somewhere else new, so found Tibits' location via google.

The format is similar to Aloka in Brighton - fill a plate then get charged by weight. Everything is vegetarian and the majority marked as vegan.

I'd been up for several hours by this point, so had an early brunch, costing a reasonable £6.40:

I've a feeling that they've more hot things available at lunchtime, but I was pretty happy with what I got.

I can't remember what everything was; I had a spoonful of each thing that looked vaguely good. There was definitely a black quinoa thing, some dhal, a fig and tofu salad, cucumber and tofu, a bean thing and some pasta. It tasted pretty decent and was all very fresh.

They've put a bit more effort into decor than most places, but whilst flock damask is totally my thing, I'm not 100% sure that the overall effect is to my taste:

I didn't have room for dessert, so got an apple turnover to take away - again reasonably priced at £1.70.

I took a photo, but I was on a train by this point and the dodgy lighting makes it look a lot less appetizing than it was!

The pastry was as close to perfect as I've ever had. They could have been slightly more generous with the filling and for absolute perfection; included some custard too, but now I'm really picking!

So, Tibits hasn't wowed me enough to be in my top 10, but I'll certainly return and would suggest it to others.

The food is above average value for money - you just won't find yourself laying awake at night longing to eat there again, that's all.

Mildred's & Mrs Marengo's

When I first went to Mildred's in 2004 I was thoroughly underwhelmed by the experience. The food was so-so and service truely absymal.

I had a better experience in 2008 (including a mushroom pie which inspired me to make my own, much better version), but it's not been on my list of places to rush back too.

In all honesty, it's not a bad restaurant. The food's alright and if it were the only choice in the town I lived then I'd probably go a few times a year. London's got too much choice though, including far better value for money options.

I decided to give it another try recently, simply for dessert after visiting Beatroot for mains.

Service this time round was quite friendly. I sat at the front by the bar and despite the uncomfortable metal seating the experience was quite pleasant.

As my eyes are bigger than my tummy I ordered myself a couple of things and a soya latte.

The raspberry truffle torte was pretty good. It'd got the right balance of creamy / chocolatey / sweet:

As a big wedge on a plate with no accompaniment though the overall effect was lacking something - at £6.40 I'd expect a bit more in the way of specialness - homemade iceream, a biscuit etc.

The banana tofu cheesecake really did taste like it contained tofu (e.g. not in a good way). It was like I'd been transported back to the 80s (infact I'm pretty sure it's an adapted cheesecake recipe from Baskerville's 1986 "The Vegan Cookbook"):

The sliced banana tasted good though and appart from that unmistakable taste of silken tofu; the overall dessert was alright.

On their website they have listed "banana tofu cheesecake with coconut brittle and pina colada icecream". If it'd included the brittle and icecream it'd have been a pretty decent dessert, worth the money. Without it though it just lacked.

The bill came to £16.95 including their "optional" 12.5% service charge (which the first time I refused to pay as the service was so appalling).

£17 for 2 desserts and a coffee is understandable in a premium restaurant like Terre-a-Terre, but Mildred's isn't in the same league as far as I'm concerned. Whilst it's above average, it's still very much in the average camp.

In short: their food isn't worth the prices they charge.

As I walked back to the tube I noticed Mrs Merango's on the same street, which I'd heard about but not visited (nor realised it was located so close). I decided to get a couple of cakes to take home for @cherrivalentine.

I immediately realised that it was the same stuff as Mildreds, but at less than half the price!

I got another slice of the raspberry truffle thing and a carrot cake, both of which made it the 100 mile journey home in more or less one piece:

(at first I thought it was a slice of tomato, but was pleased when it turned out to be orange).

I really enjoyed the carrot cake and would buy it again. Both tasted better with a scoop of icecream.

My advice? Skip Mildred's and go to Mrs Marengo's for dessert. It's the same stuff, at much more realistic prices.

Beatroot (London)

I've been going to Beatroot for more than 10 years. In this time the format's remained the same....I'm not even convinced they've changed their menu.

I like it though - it works for me: wide choice of things to eat, all piled together in the same box. By the time you're half way through they're all mashed in with one another, but that's part of the fun.

Value's good, currently about £6.50 for a large box (I didn't bother looking at price of smaller options!). They don't mark the vegan items but if you ask they'll point out those that are unsuitable. There's limited seating, but several parks near by.

I probably wouldn't go there too regularly if I spent more time in London, as I expect it'd get a bit boring after a while. It's good for occassional lunch if you're in a hurry though (or shitfaced on rum, wearing a santa suit - don't ask).

Top tip: If you want more than a couple of sausage rolls; ask for some first, then again at the end. They seem to scrimp on them otherwise.

I always go with some shepherds pie and a bit of pasta, then try other things each time.

I've had cake from there in the past, but it wasn't amazing. I'd recommend visiting Mrs Marengos for dessert after.

Madeira Guide

There's not a lot of info online about availability of vegan food in Madeira, so I'm posting here in the hope it'll find its way into Google and be useful to someone in the future.

@cherrivalentine and I visited last week and had a fabulous time.

Having spoken to various people who've been before & following a trip to portugal a couple of years ago; I felt it prudent to pack some essentials with me. The general consensus seems to be that there's nowhere to eat out. We went self catering so this didn't overly bother us.

I took non-liquid/paste/jel things to eat on the plane (such as nakd bars), then tofu, cheezly/scheese, fake meat and other things in my hold luggage that I assumed I wouldn't find when I arrived. In hindsight I'd also have taken some packets of ready made sauce/curry paste (indian, chinese etc), just to make meals easier. I'm lazy like that!

I'd recommend also taking pepper/salt/herbs/oil/ketchup etc in suitable portioned containers. Not because you won't find them on the island but because you'll end up buying full jars and not be able to take it home with you at the end.

In terms of things you can buy, I suggest you visit Funchal on the first day and stock up at Bio Locos. You'll probably want to go to Funchal at some point anyway for the cable car/toboggan (both worth doing). It's not a big town - you can walk from one side of the shopping district to the other in 10-15min.

Here's the hawl we got, costing about €85:

It included a couple of loaves of sourdough bread (the sesame seed was nicer than the plain) and this rather bizarre turd shaped thing:

(which thankfully tasted better than it looked). We ate it on bread, but you can probably cook it somehow.

They had fresh ravioli too, which was nicer than the stuff sold in the UK. We got a few things which I wouldn't recommend, like a big bag of chocolate biscuits that tasted like bourbons without the cream.

They've a mix of UK / Portuguese / other origin products, including quite a few I've not seen before. The person working there (owner?) spoke fluent english and was happy to translate ingredients lists.

Pricing is reasonable. There's obviously a premium (reflecting the fact it's been imported), but it's not outrageously so.

You can expect to find egg free dried pasta, rice, jars of tomato sauce, long life soya milk, soya desserts etc in larger supermarkets. There's a pretty big Continente half way along the on the south coast. I wasn't at all impressed by the quality of their fruit and veg though - you may be better off with markets. Also, there was a complete lack of asian foods - no indian, thai, chinese ingredients etc (other than soya sauce and rice!). I'm still not sure what 100% vegetal means, so don't assume it's 100% vegan.

There's an English supermarket in Funchal called Goodies with a reasonable amount of "accidently vegan" products (like Blue Dragon sauces), but expect to pay UK prices x3. If you're desperate for a tin of heinz spaggetti then give it a go! Otherwise I'd try to avoid.

Zeffirellis (Ambleside)

Zeffirellis is one of the largest vegetarian restaurants I've been to and it's pretty much always packed, so they must be doing something right. They've opened another vegetarian restaurant in Ambleside since I was there last it seems, though vegan choice there appears to suck.

Prices are reasonable (very good value if you go for a meal+cinema deal) and food quality generally quite good. I'm not convinced that they've majorly changed their menu since I first visited in '06 though, which could get a bit boring.

The decor is pretty garish - they've obviously spent quite a lot of money on it but for me it's only just on the right side of tasteful. Furniture is of good quality as is their cutlery (Robert Welch), but a design that feels like children's meets steakhouse (very bizarre).

Service is alright and food is mostly Italian (style). None of their pizzas are marked vegan on the menu, but all can be made vegan if you ask them to remove the cheese.

The photos in this review kind of suck - my new 3D camera takes lowsy 2D pictures at the best of times, let alone in low light.

We ordered a couple of starters, one of which was great, the other not so. A mixture of sweet and standard potato wedges with salad and tomato sauce:

was pretty good. Not the best wedges of all time, but above average. Tomato sauce was a bit boring and tasted like it was from a jar (they've a choice of other things but most are non-vegan). The salad was well dressed.

Never have I had focaccia that's tasted so like Tesco value white sliced bread. Both of us agreed that it was terribly underwhelming. Olives were alright.

I had a puy lentil rissole thing, because I remember it being really good in the past:

This time round though it was less so. It was too dry and the dish just really lacked something.

I didn't think their pizza was up to scratch compared to previous visits either, but Cherry loved it and I didn't get to eat much of it!

We shared a dessert of summer pudding and hummous:

Only kidding - it's "cashew cream". It tasted OK and it's nice that they've made an effort to have a vegan cream, but it could have done with being smoother as it was very hummous like in consistency. The summer pudding itself was very good indeed - one of the best I've had.

The bill came to £33 exc drinks. Slightly higher than average, but not painfully so.

It's a shame that they've only one vegan dessert (exc sorbet - groan) and the menu doesn't change much, but if you're in the area it's well worth a visit. If it's raining outside then the cinema deal is totally worth taking advantage of. As the weather was stunningly gorgeous during our visit however it'd have been a crime to have been sitting in the dark watching a film.

The Lakeland Pedlar (Keswick)

Less of a review, more of an endorsement for a sensibly priced vegetarian cafe I'd totally recommend.

Unfortunately it's far, far away.

Despite having once lived in Scotland, when I first travelled up to Cumbria from The Midlands in '06 it felt like I'd passed the edge of the earth and kept going. I quickly got used to the journey after a few visits however and it's since become one of my favourite parts of the country.

The Lakeland Pedlar is a no frills type cafe in Keswick; a short stroll from Derwent Water and some rather stunning views. I've probably been about 8 times over the years and it's pretty much a given that I'll end up there each time I visit.

Service is fast! Not suspiciously fast, but they've obviously got a pot of chilli on the go etc and plate up to order. Pricing is reasonable and portion sizes decent. It's located underneath a bike shop so probably picks up trade from cyclists as well as vegetarians (there's a large carpark next door for us unfit people).

It seems we arrived at just the right time for a choice of tables for Saturday lunch; people were queuing by the time we left. We ordered their nachos:

which could possibly be improved to the standards of Chesters with the inclusion of sour cream/guacamole/melty cheese, but is pretty decent all the same. We also had a 3 bean chilli wrap, which comes with a variety of salads:

Not being the world's greatest fan of salad, it's always refreshing to see a mixture of different types (pasta/couscous etc) rather than a few leaves.

Their garlic bread (ciabatta) is possibly the best in the UK (better than Terre-a-Terre - cheaper too):

Their chocolate cake IS the best I've tasted from a shop (better than Infinity) and the inclusion of icecream is welcome too (no prizes for guesses of which brand). The icing could be improved with use of this fudge icing, but again I'm picking now.

I generally find it difficult to get excited by flapjack, but I'm informed that it was very good.

Total bill was less than £25.

A welcomed difference from many vegetarian places is that they've generally a choice of desserts. They'd several cakes available when we were there. From memory their crumble isn't so great though (not to my taste).

I'm not used to this overly positive reviewing malarky - I'll write a scathing one about somewhere else soon, I promise.

Demuths (Bath)

Demuths' existance has been at the back of my mind for a while now. In a minority of vegetarian restaurants that don't seem to cater too well for vegans however; I've not made an effort to check it out before.

That said, when I asked twitter for a list of restaurant suggestions a few weeks ago I realised that it's one of the few "good" vegetarian places I've not been to yet. We were planning to drive down the M5 on Easter Saturday (for a few days in Dorset) anyway, so a detour via Bath made for a welcome break to the journey (as opposed to Welcome Break, which is quite the opposite for vegans!).

Given that we were still in bed in Warwickshire at 10am, it's a miracle we made it there at all. What was meant to be getting on the road at 10.30 somehow warped into 11.30. We weren't the only people who thought of going to Bath that day either: once we hit the outskirts we sat in a 20 minute queue. Parking was a bit of a challenge too, the best onstreet I could find was 2 hours.

We eventually found Demuths at 2pm, fully expecting there to be no tables free. As they don't allow you to book for Saturday lunchtimes and it was over Easter we didn't fancy our chances at all.

First impressions? It's really small. Quite a lot smaller than I imagined, with only about 10 tables in total. It was also half empty!

The weather on Saturday was unseasonably warm and sunny. I've not been to Bath before and the experience was reminiscent of the French summer holidays I had in the 80s. The restaurant too had similar proportions to ones I've visited in France, with small rooms, high ceilings, wood panelling and large sash windows. We negotiated a table by an open window and with a small breeze and bottle of chilled water; bliss was achieved for a few moments at least.

The lunchtime menu seems to consist mainly of the evening menu's starters, re-branded as "light bites". Luckily the majority of these were vegan, compared to the main courses where the only choice was a curry. Given that it was the hottest day of the year so far (that I've not been stuck in work anyway), this really didn't appeal.

We ordered 3 "light bites" and 2 sides, which seemed to be a reasonable amount of food for 2 people:

Roast Red Pepper Bruschetta (vg) £6.95
roasted red pepper & creamy cannellini beans with toasted sourdough bread.

Coconut & Lentil Kebba (vg/gf) £6.95
with date puree, coriander & salad.

Purple Sprouting Tempura (vg) £6.75
with rhubarb ketchup & tamari reduction.

Balsamic Red Onion Bread (vg) £3.95
with garlic & herb oil.

Roasted Potatoes with Rosemary & Garlic (vg/gf) £2.95

Service was friendly and waiting time reasonable. As usual we ordered things we both liked the looks of and shared them out between us:

Being the brocolli hater I am, it was with extreme pleasure to find they'd run out and had substituted it with asparagus instead:

Where as the asparagus tempura from Terre a Terre (review and photo here) was exceptional, this attempt was more in the OK bracket. The batter was heavier than usual and asparagus not yet in season. I'm not sure what the rhubarb ketchup bought to the dish, but it looked pretty overall.

We both agreed that the Kebba was by far the best thing we experienced there. We weren't entirely sure what it was when we ordered it and the best description I can really give is large bhaji meets curry kiev. We ate it far too quickly to take a photo, but the inside was potato based with coconut curry in the centre. I'd certainly order this again and will probably have a go at making it sometime soon.

I wasn't really looking forward to the bruschetta. It didn't look overly appetizing either (I shalln't say what it reminded me of):

It was pleasantly nice however. The beans were really creamy and overall taste good.

The red onion bread appeared to be flatbread with caramelised onions on top. It tasted pretty good. Not outstanding, and there wasn't enough of it (maybe I'm just greedy though? :)

The big bowl of roast potatoes were just that: a big bowl of roast potatoes.

I'd have paid a pound more for them to be crispier and have sea salt, rosemary and cloves of roasted garlic included, to make them a bit more interesting. I think they may have missed a trick here.

In the name of research, we ordered the 2 vegan desserts they currently offer:

Cashew Cream & Coconut Praline (vg/gf/n) £6.75
with toffee almonds & berry compote.

Rich Chocolate Mousse (vg/n) £6.75
on a chocolate sponge with a bitter orange sauce & a coriander & pink peppercorn tuille.

It's really difficult to gauge this one, as it's quite unlike anything I've had before. I was expecting panna cotta, but it was more like coconut ice. It was pleasant but odd - we ate it all but I'm not sure I'd order it again.

I normally groan when I see vegan option of mousse on restaurant menus, but this one was a lot more decent than a pot of tofu tasting cocoa sludge.

The layer of sponge and puree on the side complimented it well and it was overall a good dessert. Whilst the tuille had novelty appeal, I'm not sure it added anything beyond aesthetics.

I've read several reviews that complain the food's overpriced. Our bill was 50% higher than we normally pay for a similarly sized meal at other vegetarian places.

Was it 50% better? Probably yea. It wasn't outstanding like Saf or Terre a Terre, but it's pretty decent food and the overall experience was an enjoyable one. I can see how they came up with their pricing and I think it's reasonable for what you get.

If they increase their choice of vegan options and/or change their menu then I certainly expect that we'll return.

I noticed on Google that there are 2 for 1 vouchers available on mains, so if they have more than 1 vegan main in the future then it'll be pretty good value.