A vegan in London

First night

On my first evening in London I didn’t plan to do much other that look around the area near the hotel. Walking around Chelsea/Kensington I was delighted to discover a vegetarian vegan restaurant a few minutes walk away! I wasn’t particularly hungry but knew I had to check the menu out and at least get a starter.

This was 222 veggie vegan cafe and I adored the menu as there wasn’t a fake meat dish in site! I was very impressed by the extra allergen/preference symbols of gluten free/raw/organic etc. My starter and desert as pictured above was roasted lentil stuffed tomatoes and pitta with dips (Including pimento) I couldn’t face a main but couldn’t resist the apricot and almond cake which was incredible. I need to find out what the decoration fruit was as the wings were so intricate and beautiful. (Help?)

Day 2: Camden 

I fell in love with Camden within seconds of stepping out of the train station with the alternative vibe apparent I couldn’t wait to explore. With InSpiral lounge in sights and Immediately purchasing several tee’s displaying the likes of Kurt Cobain, Harry Potter logo’s and the joker I knew this was going to be my favorite day. Originally planning on returning to Leicester square that evening I knew I would want to spend more time here so I decided to free the afternoon for the markets and spend the evening in InSpiral. After exploring the indoor markets full of art, clothes, jewelry, sugar skull candles, tea and much more I headed to the lock to walk over the bridge. On my way I discovered Rupert’s street van parked on the cobbles and purchased a sweet potato burger for lunch.

The chef pointed me back indoors for a place to sit out of the rain. When I went in the chairs happened to be located in front of Cookies and Scream: A punkish bakery and coffee stand, Oh my! I knew I would be having desert even if I was full. Peanut butter cookie and almond milk macchiato soon followed with zero regrets.

InSpiral lounge.

This restaurant was incredible! Lovely menu, Wonderful atmosphere, scenic location and of course CAKES. There were just too many mains to choose from so I opted for a platter like plate with curry, potato and salad. Despite having triple the recommended daily allowance of sugar after lunch  I just had to try the hazelnut cake partnered with another almond milk macchiato and yes, it was divine.

Day 3

Today I did the touristy thing of going on the London eye and wondering round Leicester square/London soho.

I went to Mildred’s for lunch which was, as expected, a wonderful little restaurant. You can probably see a pattern forming of me overindulging and treating myself to wonderful meals and desert. Today was no different selecting a chickpea curry and pecan pie slice which I still can’t believe the deliciousness of!

In conclusion I am very impressed at the amount of veggie friendly places in London and was not once disappointed at the quality of food and drink. If I returned I wouldn’t leave Camden to be honest and would spend a few days there drinking different flavored tea’s, here is a picture of me enjoying black chai and being impressed at the dispenser.

 

Manchester vegan guide

Restaurants/Cafés

Vegan/Vegetarian

Teatime collective

This cafe is just on the outskirts of town off oxford rd (Through Hulme park) and is incredible! They also will be taking evening reservations/group bookings from 10/09/14.

Eighth day

The basement of this shop is a café, I prefer the menu here as it is not fake meat heavy. You can also get sandwiches, salads and coffee’s etc to take away.

Earth

Located in the heart of manchester’s Northern Quarter below the buddhist centre, this is a lovely tranquil place to enjoy lunch. I always opt for the platter as the mains are frequently changed so you always get a varied meal. The cafe also offers an extensive range of smoothies, coffee’s and deserts.

V Revolution

Also located in Manchester’s Northern quarter, V revolution is for the junk food and punk music lovers! If you are craving grilled cheese, a burger bigger than your face or a milkshake then this is the place! At the shop you can purchase snacks, chilled fake meats and cheeses to cook at home!

Bistro 1847

A very experimental restaurant with a vast menu, Ideal for a swanky meal before continuing onto the theatres/art galleries around the area.

Fuel

This is my personal favourite place, I guess because it combines comedy (Including my good friend’s comedysportz troop) and music with amazing food….It also helps they have a bar. Mines a double bourbon please 🙂 

Go falafel 

Seriously the tastiest falafel ever! Just off piccadilly gardens or the curry mile. Compliment the food with one of their many freshly made fruit juices. 

Vegan Friendly

Oklahoma

An adorable quirky shop full of gadgets and novelty gifts, their latte’s are amazing! 

Nexus Art Café

This cafe have the comfiest chairs EVER. The Garden is also beautiful, with converted piano’s and other various flower decorations. However this is undergoing a new project from the 5th september and will be an alcohol free night out. Let’s hope the umbrella cafe also has soya milk, eh? Midnight cappuccinos guys….?!

Teahive

Across the road from unicorn, this cafe offers vegan lunch options, vegan cakes and tea’s coffee’s with soya milk…. just incase buying all that amazing food from unicorn was too tiring 😛 

Dough

VEGAN.PIZZA. I don’t think I need anymore words. 

Wagamamas

Admittedly I didn’t realise this restaurant had vegan options until I stumbled across this Blog post. 

Tampopo

Whether you’re visiting the centre of manchester or the lovely trafford centre, you can always indulge in a meal here… even if you have your meat eating friends with you! An impressive range of middle eastern dishes. 

Supermarkets

eighth day 

Everything from animal free cosmetics and toiletries to take away sandwiches and cakes. 

Unicorn

Eco friendly, fair trade and vegan this supermarket is the closest you’ll get to being completely cruelty free. 

Blogs and Social networking groups 

Manchester vegan society 

Work out Wednesday

So I kind of abandoned this blog…. again, I have been so busy with a new job and becoming a crossover skater in my league that I’m barely at home!

This is supposed to be a weekly post that states what exorcises/fitness I have been up too and the good food i’ve eaten.

So I’m feeling physically good at the moment considering the cold weather ‘I’ll just sit here , drink tea and eat soup and netflix all day’ binge. I have been accepted as a crossover skater with the A team after two years with my league (including being vice captain for 8 months for our wonderful furies) , this makes me very happy and has been a goal for a while now. We have also been doing some off skates sessions, both of which I surprisingly REALLY enjoyed. The sessions were quite high intensity, consisting of exorcises such as Burpee’s

Spider man push up’s

And my favourite (that I am going to try and do a few times a week)…. Skaters

I want to continue with my core work as before, which consisted of three exorcises using my exorcise ball – Jack knives, plank roll outs and sit ups. They made me so much more stable and take like 10-15 minutes.

As well as working on physical fitness I have also been working on my mentality and approach to the sport, I usually opt for a a zen and focused mindset for sessions as I feel I need to learn control. I often get overly excited when the adrenaline and endorphins kick in which is when I perform my best and feel most confident but often have trouble focusing the energy, which I am currently improving on.

The weather is getting better already and i’m so excited for this year already, in particular more outdoor running including more park runs! I also want to replace my bicycle that I used once before it was stolen as I find cycling a useful and joyful experience that makes getting from A to B quicker just a bonus.

FOOOOOOOOD!! I love food, it’s no secret that if I’m not eating then i’m probably thinking about food and recipes.

This week I discovered Clif bars, they are pretty much the tastiest protein bars ever and the best post practice reward so far I’ve had the peanut butter and macadamia ones and plan on bulk buying these beauties. Another favourite to take to practice is this little salad with any variation/addition: Spinach as base (Could be kale etc), sweetcorn, pomegranate, walnuts (Or any nuts) , avocado, lemon juice and cherry tomatoes: I feel this covers  essential oils, fats and protein.

I’ve been thinking about cravings a lot, Sometimes it’s good and i don’t mind such as when I fancy an entire tin of sweetcorn but sometimes I’ll really crave sugar, specifically full fat fizzy drinks. I spotted this chart  Unfortunately it isn’t vegan specific but the ‘what you need’ section is certainly a vital starting point.

I’ll be back next week (I promise) Hopefuly still as positive and with news of my first A team game against the Hellfire Harlots !! This is pretty much the best month ever as MRD’s female B team will also be bouting on the 29th against North wales roller derby, Come along if you can!

Skatanico.

Sharing saturday and Food Friday

I forgot to publish my food Friday post again! So I am including it in my sharing Saturday (A general blog about discoveries I have made and things I have learnt this past week)
Let’s start with my favourite… food. Here are some of the meals and deserts I have had this past month!

Home made lentil soup with crusty bread, pitta and home made hummus with olives. That cake was peanut butter! OMG. I can’t tell you how much coffee and cake can turn a day around ❤ I am currently eating vegan black forest gateau bakewell as I write this. I also really love fruit with yoghurt or coconut milk 🙂 You’ll also see my hummus trio (roasted red pepper, roasted parsnip and plain) Japanese tofu filet wrap with spinach and sweet potato fries with tofu sausages from unicorn and chestnut mushrooms ( I love sweet potato I either make it into mash, fries or a jacket potato).

So other than teaching myself Spanish with the intention of doing a course soon and planning to re-join jujitsu – Most of my discoveries this week are food related, the first one being that I seriously love oat milk to the point where I not only prefer it in coffee but will drink 200ml glasses of the stuff. I was searching for a soya replacement as I was informed it messes with your hormone levels and causes all sorts of environmental issues (Such as deforestation) so I am very happy (I do hope it’s a little healthy also).

I would like to share my list of vegan shops and places to eat for other vegans that live in Manchester:

shops:
Unicorn grocery (Where I purchased the Dijon salad below), Eighth day, V revolution

Cafes:
Eighth day, V revolution, Earth. (Where I ordered the AMAZING vegan tiramisu below)

There are also some vegan friendly places such as Oklahoma, kukoo’s (Where I always get a falafel wrap or street food salad below) and there’s always options in the Arndale food market (Where I often order my favourite mexican dish, tostada’s, pictured with a passion fruit smoothie)

I have also discovered the benefits of smoothies (They are ideal for a training protein and slow releasing energy boost without making you feel bloated or full) and have been working my way through the healthy happy life list, I will leave you with my green tea smoothie that tasted and made me feel amazing.

Hummus

I LOVE hummus and I always aim to make my own, I usually follow the basic recipe of tinned chick pea’s, garlic and lemon juice and have never purchased Tahini and it’s turned out amazing and really chunky.  

Yesterday I spotted Tahini whilst purchasing pitta breads for supper so I figured I could give it a try and hopefully improve the recipe.

I really don’t think the tahini adds to the flavor or texture and I would go as far as to say it made the hummus less nice? This is disappointing and I want to know if anyone else agree’s or did I just choose a mediocre Tahini? 

A day of rest and better food

Today I had a lovely falafel pitta for lunch, I bought it from a Greek stall and it is probably the nicest falafel I’ve tried. I then dropped my groceries at home in preparation for tomorrow and went to media city for a little skate!
My friend and I took lots of pictures of the pretty scenery which I will also make a blog post about.
When I got home I opened 3 cans of chick pea’s to make hummus and a channa masala biryani (just made it up with onion, chick peas, lentils, potatoes and various spices. It was a good day, I can’t seam to put the pictures in order on my iPod so will edit later, hopefully it still makes sense.

Comfort food is not comforting :(

I am sooooo disappointed in myself. I am not a fan of junk or ‘comfort’ food and yet today I found myself feeling mentally and psychically low, low on cash, low on energy, low on motivation 😦 so I rummaged through the freezer and found some Linda Mcartny pies and thought it would make me feel better and I had been good so why not?

Food, glorious food!

This gallery contains 4 photos.

Hello! I realise I haven’t introduced myself yet, My name is Rachel…. The rest you’ll find out. The first think you’ll realise is that I love animals, am vegan and I’m obsessed with food. This is miso soup, I chucked in kale, mushrooms, pumpkin seeds, rice noodles and these delicious Japanese tofu filets I keep […]