VBites.

Ok so I can't really review this place. Even mini review it. So maybe this is more of a comment!?

Mr T and I swung by Heather Mills' restaurant, VBites, to give the Mr Swirly a try! After seeing her eating one of these bad boys in her interview with Observer Food Monthly, I had been dreaming of luscious vanillary creamy goodness in a cone. I was a little disappointed, but I'll get to that after listing a few positives.

The setting is perfect; it was a baking hot summer afternoon, and surrounded by families fresh from the beach, children racing around in excitement, and everyone generally smiling and enjoying the weekend sunshine, VBites certainly lucks out with family day trips. Dozens of picnic benches leave you with a view of the lake, and a decent sized children's playground sits next to the cute cottage-esque cafe. I took a peek inside, and the sushi style cupcake conveyor was everything I dreamed of, and more!! Super cute, and sat on top of the belt were stands of large cakes, waiting to be sliced up. The staff were friendly and smily, even though I'm sure they are exhausted after explaining to the 100th customer, that everything is vegan. That the beefy burgers have no actual beef in them... I'm sure a large portion of their business is coincidental convenience; children who have seen ice cream and don't understand the notion of vegan and non vegan; rather chocolate or strawberry. It's a beautiful setting, and an inviting menu sits minutes next to it. I hope that VBites can survive when the weather is not so enjoyable, as it sits a fair drive from the centre of Brighton, and although I didn't eat anything from the menu- it wasn't altogether that tempting. Rather meals that I would rustle up at home.

The Mr Swirly looked impressive enough; it came straight from a soft serve machine, wound into a tasty cone. The texture of the ice cream was good. It just lacked the creamy flavour which I had been anticipating. No vanilla. It tasted more like very cold soya milk. Or frozen water. Which is a shame, because I think that this recipe could have been really worked on and made to taste just like Mr Whippy. They also offer flavoured ice cream scoops, which are Swedish Glace. I really would like to pop back and try their cakes though, they looked fantastic!

C R O I S S A N T S.

Look at them. Just look at them.

Delicious little bundles of love. Oh my, they were worth the wait.

Thanks to Rach (http://www.vanillasugarblog.blogspot.com/) for the tip off, I went in search of vegan croissants. After a brief, blind panic Mr T found them in the chillers; tubes and tubes of croissanty goodness!

This is what you need to be looking out for, and you can find them in your nearest Aldi:

They come as a rolled up tube of pastry, slice along the edges which are partially cut, roll them up and pop them in the oven for 15 minutes. Brilliant. They aren't exactly how I remember fresh croissants, but the insides are buttery, warm croissant dough and the outsides are golden flaky goodness. So no complaints, I could eat ten tubes in one go.

89p a tube.

www.aldi.co.uk

Cute Vegan Things.

Ok so it's late and I'm feeling in a cute mood, so here's a collection of cute/ funny vegan related things:

thelondonpaper

Yesterday I was very pleased to open thelondonpaper (a free paper given out all over London all afternoon, brilliant for the journey home, and usually pretty interesting!) and see a double page article on the vegan options in London! It championed the delights of some of my favourite restaurants, and reminded me that I really do need to pop down to Inspiral in Camden and indulge in vegan ice cream and amazing cake flavours.
It also got me super excited about the London Vegan Festival! I literally can't wait. It's on Sunday 6th September in Kensington Town Hall. It starts at 11am (and yes I will be there waiting!) and is just two pounds entry. It's my first visit to the festival, and if it's anything like the Brighton Vegan Fayre then I will be more than impressed! Mostly I'm looking forward to stuffing my face with tasters, and bringing more cash with me so I can stock up on lots of lovely products!
Here's what I'm very excited about!

Links:

Article in thelondonpaper:
http://www.thelondonpaper.com/going-out/bars-and-restaurants/restaurants/best-vegetarian-restaurants-in-london

Information on the London Vegan Festival:
www.vegancampaigns.org.uk/festival

Artichoke Zine: FINISHED!

Yesss! It's all printed and stuck together and finished and on sale TODAY!
If you're in the area you can buy it at this show in Brighton:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/event.php?eid=99797213425&ref=share
If not message me and we can work out postage/ zine swapping/ cake swaps.
I can't make it today, I'm going to see the Get Up Kids in Kingston (!!!) but wave and say hi to my friend Steve who is doing merch for Spraynard and will be selling my zine!

Eat and Two Veg.

I've been flat hunting all week, which has led to lots of eating out, yes!
Monday was Franco Manca (see blog a few weeks ago!) which was incredible as ever. And yesterday was Eat and Two Veg. I finally got to cross it off my list! I was so impressed; beautiful surroundings with cute booths and vinyl seats, the menu offers a fair few vegan options. Nothing too amazing in terms of vegan alternatives, i.e. if they normally use mayo, don't expect to see a vegan mayo replacement. Which is a shame, but the vegan options that they do offer are really great. A little pricey but this is to be expected in the ultra sleek Marylebone High Street, nestled in between the cutest Cath Kidston store I've visited, and plenty of unique independent shops.

I chose the EatV Burger, which was brilliant. Really meaty texture and lovely smoked flavour. It came in a bun with caramelised onions, salsa and salad, piled with chips and small salad. My friend ordered the Squash Salad which had such a lovely marinade. Tofu is the vegan option, which had a smoked flavour. Salad leaves, cherry tomatoes, olives and butternut squash, the salad is tossed with handfuls of toasted seeds and finished with a fantastic house dressing. Both main meals came in at just under ten pounds.
They also offer fresh juices, a labelled wine list, a breakfast menu and dessert menu. However both the breakfast and dessert menus offer a limited and fairly uninspiring choice- unless you enjoy fruit salad for pudding.
I'll definitely be making a return trip for lunch; I really want to try the Crispy Luck, or Butternut Crumble.

www.eatandtwoveg.com

Zine Update!

Wow I've had such a busy weekend! I've got one week left to finish the printed Special Edition Zine, and it's all go here! I've been getting everything together, in the right format, adding pictures and sending emails, plus working and trying to have a life at some point! It's all going really well though and I can't wait to see the end result! Hopefully it will all be worth it.
The zine will be on sale on Sunday 16th August, at this show:

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/event.php?eid=99797213425&ref=share

It's for the Bangers/ Break The Habit split 12" record release show, and many other exciting people will be selling their wares, you can listen to some awesome bands, wish Chris W a very happy birthday and rejoice in the reunion of Circus Act!
The show is at Hectors House, Brighton, and it's FREE!
So come and say hi!

If there are any copies left then they will be touring around with Spraynard, being sold by my lovely friend Steve. Message me or leave a comment if you would like to buy a copy. I haven't figured out a price yet, when they're all printed I need to work all that out!

Well I better get on with things, hope you're all enjoying the lovely hot weekend!

No eggs, see!

I am completely in love. With Vegan Brunch. Isa Chandra Moskowitz is a GENIUS!

Yesterday for Brunch Thursday (regular occurrence? yes please) I made her omelette. I slow fried some potatoes, onions, mushrooms and tomatoes, and was more than a little nervous as I began the omelette. I never liked egg omelettes, but decided that I had to give it a try. Plus since turning vegan, it seems that you can put pretty much anything in front of me, and as long as it's vegan I'll like it. Maybe I even like things purely because they are vegan!?

Anyway, I have no photographs as we were too excited/ hungry and had to just tuck into the omelette- but I assure you, it was brilliant and delicious, especially with a blog of ketchup and a glass of fresh orange juice.

Continuing the theme of egg-less egg dishes, I made broccoli quiche for lunch, also from Vegan Brunch. You need a couple of hours free for this dish, but it's totally worth it. Plus I'm pretty sure that the base is shortcrust pastry, so if you're short on time then buy it from the shops. But really, the longest part was waiting for it to chill, which is time I spent preparing the filling. It's a really amazing recipe, and the chopped cashews give it so much texture.

Vegan Brunch

Now that my body has slowly digested the mountain of food that we ate while in Berlin, I can start planning the next things that I want to bake! I haven't had any time since I bought Vegan Brunch, to try out any of her fantastic recipes; but the date is set: tomorrow will be Brunch Thursday! I'm flipping through the book and can't decide what to make, so will probably end up making everything!
I never liked egg-omelette but am so inspired by others creations of v-eggy things like quiche and pancakes that I kind of want to give them a try.

Cranberry Orange Nut Muffins.
Banana Rabanada.
Pumpkin French Toast.
Scrambled Tofu.

Ok I'm dribbling now...
What are your favourite brunch recipes?

Berlin Diaries: Photographs.

Berlin Diaries: Day Three.

Day Three

Another stop at the breakfast buffet and then we were off to visit Checkpoint Charlie. Quite a surreal tourist stop, it stands within a regular neighbourhood, scattered with disturbing stalls selling gas masks and fur hats. Quite bizarre. You can pay €1 to have your photograph taken with a man in uniform (using your own camera...). The highlight of the trip was seeing a nearby cafe, called Snackpoint Charlie. Brilliant. I would have liked to have visited the museum, but funds and the need to pursue new and exciting vegan treats became too overwhelming.

We hopped back to Kreuzburg and found Tanna B. This amazing ice cream shop has around 6-8 vegan (soja) options, including hazelnut, chocolate and cherry. They have cones which are vegan, which seriously impressed me! Very very cheap too- two ice creams came to €2.20. Brilliant! I had chocolate, and it was amazing- real ice cream, as opposed to sorbet or frozen ice. Mr T had cherry, which was a little less creamy, but still really good. Round the corner we popped into a great little shop called Veni Vidi Vegi. Completely vegan, this store sells fruit and veg, fresh bread, tons of sweet treats, pasta, sauces and shoes. Literally everything you need if you're staying in Berlin and can cook for yourself. I stocked up on gummy bears, lollies and those amazing cookies that me and my sister would gorge ourselves on when we were in Greece, chased with Fanta and playing cards in the warm evening sun.

Next stop on the food tour was Voner. This place is literally a dream; essentially, it is a vegan doner kebab shop. Quite, quite brilliant! A hunk of soya rotates on a spit, dished up in the most amazing bread... pitta... thing...! Served with chilli sauce and salad, this is so much fun. The cafe is cute and political, with literature and books, flyers and posters scattering the room, and picnic benches outside to enjoy your kebab in the sun.

As we headed back to the hotel to collect our luggage, we had to have one last stop at Dolores! This time we went for a Burrito Bowl; much lighter, this is a bowl of the ingredients that go into a burrito (fajita veggies, black beans, rice, lettuce) and topped with a handful of corn chips (tortilla chips). We both had lemonade, and it was a great ending to a wonderful trip. Back at the

airport we had one last Mr Tom bar and a bottle of (NON CARBONATED) water.

Voner:

Dolores:

Burrito Bowl


http://www.tanneb.de/

http://www.veganladen.de/

Happycow entry for Voner: http://www.happycow.net/reviews.php?id=15157

Few extra notes:

The tubes are really easy to follow; the system is almost identical to London, but the travelcards include tubes, trams and buses- aswell as the coach to and from the airport. It costs €6.50 for all zones, all day. At the airport there are buses which take you to various parts of the city.

The people were so friendly, and more than prepared to speak English.

Berlin Diaries: Day Two.

Day Two.

Wednesday morning we started the day off with a breakfast buffet at the hotel (pretty much what you would expect, plus a few little treats; fresh fruit, bread rolls, jam and orange juice. Mr T enjoyed some new potatoes and mushrooms on toast!) and we had a nice swim in the hotels' pool, before starting day two of the holiday; which shall now be known as Food Fest 2009. Honestly I've never felt so full in my life! Or eaten so well!

We walked from our hotel in Alexanderplatz to the Berlin Wall and through to Friedrichstein; my favourite district of Berlin. The wall was amazing; we walked along the longest standing section, and even though the artwork is pretty new, it was an awesome sight.

Friedrichstein was lovely; lots of nice shops, with people relaxing outside cafes in the sunshine, and YoYo was the perfect stop for lunch. Completely vegan, and run by some of the same people who started Yellow Sunshine, the cafe offers a pretty similar menu; fast food, and lots of it! I went for the bacon burger this time, along with fries and Afro-Kola, an independently produced cola from Hamburg. So good! Mr T had a currywurst which was pretty darn dog good! Two main meals with fries and kola came to around €15. We had sweet chilli dips, and amazing avocado mayonnaise, thousand island sauce and regular mayonnaise. Yum!

For dessert we popped over to the best cupcake shop I have ever been to; so inspiring! Cupcake serves vegan options including cupcakes, banana bread and cherry pie, as well as Almdudler (!!!) and other home comfort foods (including beans on toast...!) We both went for a raspberry swirl cupcake, and with a bottle of Almdudler it came to around €5, pretty much the same as the Hummingbird Bakery, except we can actually eat something here! Such a cute cute cute place, and the cupcakes were delicious. We began the walk back, and I nearly had to be rolled home I was so full. We stopped at a corner shop for some water and I made the rooky mistake (AGAIN!) of purchasing carbonated water. Y U C K. So we tucked into a couple of bottles of Fritz- Kola, awesome!

In the evening we went to a lovely neighbourhood, and tried La Mano Verde. A beautiful gourmet restaurant which is 100% vegan, with plenty of raw and gluten free options. We were lucky that the weather allowed us to enjoy our meal outside, and in such a peaceful neighbourhood. To start I had beautiful summer rolls filled to bursting with finely sliced veggies, and with sweet chilli and hoi sin sauce to dip in. Mr T had satay skewers and peanut sauce, which did nothing to impress me (especially after eating this same starter at the Routemaster, and it being brilliant). Soggy cardboard on skewers dipped in a watery sauce. No thanks! However his main course totally made up for this, and in such contrast each flavour seemed to have been hand picked specially. The spinach and mushroom ravioli (something I'm not usually keen on) really was fantastic. I, however, chose something a little dull; Pasta Valentino. Pretty much pasta with salad. It came with a cute small dish of 'parmesan' which turned out to be crushed pine nuts.

The owner came and chatted to us for a while, and it turned out that he was one of the group who opened Saf, in Shoreditch. He plans to open another restaurant in the centre of Berlin by the end of the year. This man was a gem to chat to; he knew so much about food, chefs and restaurants from all over the world- including my absolute favourite, Terre a Terre. He suggested the Mixed Dessert Platter- which was a lovely way of tasting more dessert for your money!- and brought us complimentary liquors. For such a small glass it really packed in flavour; strong ginger with a hint of chilli, and plenty of alcohol. He has one almost every day. Including a bottle of wine and tip, this meal came to almost €100. It was worth it to have such a wonderful conversation with the owner.


YoYo:
Bacon Burger with fries.



Currywurst with fries:


Cupcake:
Raspberry Swirl

Almdudler:

Almdudler is an Austrian soft drink which tastes of energy drink, without the energy kick. It's sugary and sweet and pretty yum.

La Mano Verde:
(Apologies for the poor photos; moonlight and all that.)
Satay skewers and peanut sauce:

Summer rolls:

http://www.yoyo-foodworld.com/
http://www.cupcakeberlin.de/
http://www.lamanoverde.de/english/Vegan_menu.html

Berlin Diaries: Day One.

Day One

We landed in Berlin (not before almost missing our flight; we woke up at 5am, when we should have been checked in!) and immediately purchased two Mr Tom bars- we're in Mr Tom Land after all! A coach journey takes us to Alexanderplatz, the road which our beautiful hotel is on (complete with an aquarium which reaches from the reception to the 5th floor- wow!) and immediately start prioritising which food places we want to try first. Literally a couple of hours after we land we're eating amazing burritos, from Dolores. This burrito cafe serves meat and veggie, with vegan options clearly labelled with a cute green heart. We both chose the Dolores Vegan, which was stuffed with lime chilli tofu, black beans, fajita veggies, salsa, rice and guacamole. The burritos were huge!! I recommend the awesome lemon, mint and brown sugar lemonade- large! It's fantastic. Two burritos, lemonade and a beer came to €15.60. Not too shabby. The cafe itself is super cute, filled with the finest Berlin folk and playing cool tunes. What a lovely start to our holiday!

We had a walk around to try and digest the awesome first meal of the day, and walked around the Reichstag building, sat by the river and fell asleep in a park. The cathedral was beautiful, with patches dotted around the building where bullet holes had dented it. Amazing.

For dinner we visited the lovely district of Kreuzberg, and ate burgers at Yellow Sunshine. A totally vegetarian fast food cafe, they serve burgers and weiners and other deliciously indulgent junk food choices. I had the Mac Wheaty Burger with fries, and the best mayonnaise I've ever had- really brilliant. The vegan options are clearly marked on the menu (roughly half is vegan). A lovely burger, in the same style as Red Veg. For two burgers with fries, a beer and a fizzy orange it came to around €15. We sat outside in the warm evening sun.

Most of Berlin's bars offer cocktail happy hours; so many offer cocktails for around €4, so make sure that you don't pay more! But watch out, they're pretty strong...

Dolores:

Yellow Sunshine:

http://www.dolores-online.de/1000.html

http://www.yellow-sunshine.com/speisekarte.html