Mildreds (Soho, London, UK)

A friend of ours has been long recommendingng the decadent vegan chocolate & raspberry truffle cake at Mrs Marengo's in Soho. Unfortunately, they aren't open on weekends (and are only open for breakfast and lunch on week days) which is the only time we can make it down to London. 

Luckily for us Mrs Marengo's is actually the sister cafe of Mildreds Vegetarian Restaurant which is only two doors up on the same street in Soho. And they also have the chocolate & raspberry truffle cake!















Mildreds is small, like all London restaurants, but very airy and light. The service is very good and the servers seem to know most of their customers quite well which is nice although it can get a little hard to get their attention when they are chatting.

The food was really yummy, very well presented and came out quite quickly. We really enjoyed our meal, especially since we'd run into the restaurant sheltering from a storm, but the bill was a bit on the high end. It was even more insult to injury when we looked at the menu from Mrs Marengo's and realised that much of the menu was the same but about half the price. Sure, the service in a cafe is very different to the service in a restaurant and it was the weekend, but it did make us feel a little cheated.

sri lankan sweet potato and cashew nut curry served with yellow basmati rice with peas and tomato sambal

mixed mushroom, porcini and ale pie served with fries and mushy peas

My recommendation would be to go on a weekday and go to the cafe instead but if you are looking for a nice vegetarian dinner or somewhere on the weekends it's worth a visit to Mildreds. Just be prepared for about £6+£10+£6 for starter, main and dessert.

Zilli Green (London, UK)

*Note from restaurant: Zilli Green is being relocated from Monday 25th July 2011 and will no longer be in Dean Street.  To make sure our vegetarian customers are not neglected whilst this transition happens we have a selection of Vegetarian Dishes from the menu available in Zilli Fish restaurant, this will be cooked by our Zilli Green Head Chef to ensure the quality of the meals.  Please call 0207734 8649 for more information or to make a reservation.*

Zilli Green is a very neat little vegetarian restaurant tucked away on Dean St, Soho. Like everything in London (and the UK) it is very small but the setting is very pleasant nonetheless.

We ate here on the weekend as a bit of a treat. I call it a treat because the service, menu planning, quality of food and ambiance all were absolutely fantastic. However, don't be confused when you see the prices which were quite reasonable for a Soho meal (£9-13 for a main) and well below what I would expect for the service we received.

I was desperate to try the vegan tiramisu so I skipped the starter to make sure I had room for it. For the main I ordered the tofu steak which was very well presented and quite tasty. I do regret not going for the soya burger but I will be sure to visit again.

Geoff ordered the Malasian Laksa which he said was really good. The vegan options were clearly labelled but seem to contradict the website (for example the laksa is vegan on the website but not on the inhouse menu and vice versa for the tiramisu). Our friend ordered the Tagliatelle, Porcini Mushrooms & White Truffle Oil (which can be made vegan) and she was also quite impressed with it. This was the more expensive of the mains on the menu but the portion size very very generous (a lot bigger than my tofu steak) so probably worth it if you are hungry (she was very full by the end of it).

The tiramisu ended up being a bit of a disappointment. As much as I appreciate the fact that they had a vegan tiramisu it seemed to lack the potency of a liqueur. I could taste too much of the cake and not enough of the creamy, chocolatey goodness.

Geoff, however, was lucky enough to order the vegan cheesecake which was absolutely delicious. So I ate my dessert and then ate some of Geoff's!

As you can see the food was beautifully presented and, for the most part, was quite tasty. The desserts were quite pricey (£7-9) but if you want a special, romantic or celebratory night out this would be a place to consider. Just be warned that you need to be double jointed to use the tiny, tiny bathroom and that it's a unisex toilet so there's no guarantee the last person put the toilet seat down!

Food For Thought (London, UK)

We went down to London yesterday to see Hamlet at the National Theatre. Of course I like to get as many London vegan meals in as possible so we booked a table at Zilli Green (review to come) for dinner and planned to go to WholeFoods to stock up on vegan cosmetics and have some lunch. Geoff, however, had a different plan and we ended up in Chinatown before I knew it so he could get some Pandan Mochi. Since we were short on time we decided to have lunch somewhere closer.

Geoff had actually been introduced to Food for Thought earlier that week by a friend of ours (who is also from Brisbane but is living in London for a little bit). He loved it so, with the help of my extremely unreliable GPS and GoogleMaps, we ended up there for a very fast lunch.

The restaurant is located in Covent Garden on Neal St so is easy to get to but it doesn't exactly stand out so you can walk past it without knowing it (which we kind of did). Once you are inside you head down some narrow stairs (take-away only is up the top) and are greeted with a small blackboard explaining the pricing and a very cheery server who explains today's options.

The room is not that big but there are bathrooms and there was plenty of spare seating (although it was Easter Saturday so London was very quiet). The tables have bowls of raw sugar, sea salt and pepper and you get glasses with your meal and there is water on each table that is regularly filled.

For £8 you can get a bowl of a "main" (I had a Mediterranean stew and Geoff had a Japanese stew but there was also a vegetarian lasagne and a vegan sweet potato and rice bake available) with your choice of salads. The salad helpings were very generous and the stews were really delicious so we felt it was very good value for money. There are cheaper options (just salad or main by itself or soup for around £4) and there looked like lots of desserts but I'm not sure if any were vegan.

Geoff was so impressed with the food he bought their recipe book so look forward to some recipes from it. And in general we were quite impressed with the place so will go back regularly and I highly recommend it for a hearty lunch or dinner.

EDIT: Something I forgot to mention was their "food philosophy". Every day the menu is different and made fresh and the day's menu is determined by what fresh, seasonal ingredients they can get their hands on. This means that the vegetables were fresh and delicious and their carbon footprint is a little less.

EDIT: We recently returned here but this time for dinner. Unfortunately, most of the food was sold out by then so we didn't get the yummy stew we were expecting. We also noticed a lot of people walked out when they realised there was no butternut squash soup. The chef obviously only makes a certain amount each day so if you want access to the full range I would recommend lunch or an early dinner.

inSpiral, London

When I go to London I like to make the most of the variety of vegan restaurants available. We had decided to meet some friends for brunch last Sunday and I thought finding a vegan restaurant serving brunch would be easy. It wasn't. Most places don't open until 12pm and the only ones with actual brunchy food on the menu were pricey.

The last time I was in London I met some friends in Camden Town. I'm not Camden's biggest fan but I did spot a cafe that advertised vegan food so I decided to give it a try.

The cafe is inSpiral and it's just a few hundred metres up from the Camden Town tube stop. They have a huge range of vegan meals, drinks and desserts and the cafe is a bit of a tight squeeze (especially when it is as busy as it was on Sunday!) but has a wonderful view of the river and opposite markets.

The food was spectacular. I had a toasted focaccia which was only £3.95. The meals that the others had were £7.95 which I would consider a bit pricey but taking into account the fact that this is the UK and that my friends said the meals were delicious I'm happy to let it slide.

The coffee was really good. In fact, I'd almost go back just for the coffee since no where else in the UK seems to be able to make reasonable coffee. And, of course, I had to try the desserts. Geoff ordered a Key Lime Pie which was tasty but my Peanut Butter Chocolate Cheesecake knocked its socks off.

This is definitely going to be a cafe I will visit often.

Olive Bread Focaccia with Almond Pesto, Sundried Tomatoes & Rocket Salad

Spelt Crusted Chunky Vegetable Ratatouilli

Nut Loaf

Key Lime Pie

Peanut Butter Chocolate Cheesecake

Camden Town

No post yesterday. Sorry. I was buggered (note: the English have another meaing for that word!) from our trip down to London to catch up with my Trek friends. More on that later.

Camden Town is host of the famous Camden Market and seems to be buzzing with "alternative" things. The streets are lined with stores selling Doc Martens, New Rocks and "vintage" clothing. Every second store seemed to sell cheap Chinese-made clothing or was host to a tattoo and piercing parlour. There were a few cool shops here and there but most of it was goddamn tacky and the people there weren't far from the same.

See what the Cambridge Bubble does to you? Pretentious twat indeed.

I did find a delicious little stall in the Stables part of the Camden Market. I can't remember the name of it (I was hoping I could find it on the internet but alas not) but it was a vegetarian Ethiopian stall and everything was vegan. I like it when vegan places don't advertise that they are vegan as to not scare people away. Because veganism is a scary, scary disease.

I didn't take any photos of the food which I am now very sorry about. But some of my friends had the same as me and said there is a much better Ethiopian restaurant in Kentish Town. I shall have to track it down.

I also spotted inSpiral and noted that the next time I venture into the Camden Market I shall pay a visit. It looked very promising.

I went down to London to meet up with some friends I met back in 2005 when I was travelling solo around the USA. For some strange reason, despite our rather different backgrounds and political views, whenever we get together we have an amazing time. Perhaps it's because we only see each other every year or so or because we all shared somewhat of a memorable experience and add to that each time we meet up. Whatever it is it works.

We spent the afternoon and then the early evening at The Lock Tavern drinking many, many pints. My throat was hoarse from yelling over the noise and my cheeks hurt from laughing so much. I drank some Fruli, which is a Belgian Strawberry beer. I have no idea if it is vegan or not and could not find any information about it. If someone finds it is not I promise never to drink it again.