Tuesday, April 8, 2008

London Calling; the eats & the treats!

Please head over to my new blog at TheUrbanHousewife.com, where you'll find this post & more!

As a lover of London, I was excited to go back after two years away. I am lucky to have a close friend who lives there, so a place to stay as well as access to a kitchen was all sorted. When deciding on my dining, I made a point to sample both the local veg options in restaurants & cafes, as well as supermarket & health food store fare. It was quite a food adventure with lots of overeating, but many delicious dishes.

Something I noticed when perusing menus of vegan & vegetarian restaurants, was they were a bit uninspiring; salads, a veggie burger, & some sort of curry seemed to be standards. With the current state of the US dollar, I was not about to spend a ton on things I can easily make at home, so I set out to find exciting or interesting places to report on & only the best of the bunch is what you'll see here.

One of those places was Bonnington Café, a co-operatively run vegetarian & vegan restaurant in South London. This small café in a community centre tucked down a side street amidst community gardens, started in the 80's as squat, providing affordable meals to the community. It boasts a different chef & menu every night, plus always has a three course meal for £10 or the items can be ordered ala carte. Another unique feature is reservations are required via phone or email directly with each night's chef, so diners must plan ahead. We went on a Thursday night, as it's a vegan night, & instantly fell in love with the ambiance. Mismatched tables & chairs were scattered between two candlelit rooms with happy patrons laughing & browsing the night's menu written on the large hanging chalkboard. By the time we had arrived, one of the two entrees was out, but many options were still available. Some of us opted for the 3 course menu while others went ala carte, but we all enjoyed lentil soup & a delicious mix of Moroccan spiced vegetables & mung beans over wild rice. Of course, I had to have a dessert to review with my dessert rating system & I opted for the Spicy Cheesecake.

S
picy Cheesecake- a chocolate cheesecake with a biscuit crust & milk poured on top. I found it to be a bit bland, most likely due to the tofu cheesecake portion. The chocolate flavor was mild, with a spicy kick that was a bit too much for me. Overall, it was decent, but not amazing. 2 ½ stars.

Bonnington Café is located at 11 Vauxhall Grove SW8 1TD in South London.

It seems I enjoy a good co-operatively run space, as another place I enjoyed was Pogo Café, an all vegan, mainly organic café & art space in East London. A bit off the beaten path, but well worth the trek, the café has a menu of standard snacks & starters, burgers, daily main course specials, plus many dessert options & even food items for sale, such as Cheezly, soya drinks, & more. It's a cute little space with rotating art on the walls & free wi-fi where veg activists & local families come together.

Ryan had the Punk Burger, which was served with Cheezly, mayo, rashers (aka veg bacon), tomato & lettuce on a bun with a side of potato wedges & salad. I had one of the daily specials which was an Eggplant, Tomato, & Potato moussaka with veg meat crumbles & a creamy, delicious baked "cheesy" topping, plus two refreshing salads. While the food was lovely, I was anticipating dessert & found it quite hard to decide what to get. I opted to take a slice of Mango Cake home & have a "Knickerbocker Glory" on site, at the suggestion of the friendly staff.

Knickerbocker Glory- Let me start by saying WOW, I had never heard of a Knickerbocker Glory, but feel I am better off knowing of them now! This sundae had a blueberry jam base under three types of Swedish Glace ice cream, with dollops of custard topped with crumbled biscuits, date syrup, whipped cream, & nuts! YES, you read that right. This sundae set me on a wild goose chase for date syrup, as it was like gooey caramel! I also came home with vegan custard, so I can make my own version of this amazing sundae at home! 4 ½ stars

Triple Mango Cake- I had such high hopes for this mango flavored cake filled with mango mousse filling & topped mango glaze frosting. Sadly, the cake was a dense, bland mess with a flavorless mousse filling, but an amazingly tasty mango glaze on top. 1½ stars

Pogo Café is located at 76 Clarence Road E5 8HB in East London.

My trip to Pogo also yielded some Cheezly, a vegan cheese substitute that has created much buzz due to it's tangy taste & melting capabilities. Sadly, it's not available in the US, unless mail ordered & even then it's over twice the price you'd pay in the UK. With all the hype, I had to try it for myself & opted for the Mature Cheddar slices to utilize in a grilled Cheezly sandwich. Between two pieces of freshly baked bread from Marks & Spencer coated with Pure soya margarine & pressed into a sandwich maker, the Cheezly had no problem melting in to a perfectly gooey & delicious treat! The flavor was nice & reminded myself & Ryan of Mac & Cheese, that's right, the "mac" as well! While I'm not much of a cheese substitute person normally, I would be more than happy to have Cheezly around the States for a nice melty sandwich from time to time.

There were many other delicious products I tried; Alpro or Provamel caramel dessert puddings are a tasty treat, Swedish Glace soft caramel ice cream is what dreams are made of & I'm always down for Heinz beans on toast, especially when there's variants like Curry with mango chutney & sultanas to be had! Ultimately, the one item I fell in love with & can't stop talking about is Alpro soya Smooth peach & pear yogurt! Creamy, smooth, & sweet with peach & pear pieces throughout, it's everything you want in a soy yogurt! I ate the little cups of joy as often as possible & marveled at how they were so much better than anything in the States AND have half the calories. I wish they could be shipped, as I'd love to start every morning with one; I suppose I have yet another reason to go back!

London is a lovely veg friendly city & although it's expensive, I'd recommend a trip there to anyone who has the means to do so. Next up, Rebecca the Vegan Cake Girl's sweet treats will be reviewed, plus she'll share her recipe for Jaffa Orange Drizzle Cake!

31 comments:

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

AHHH!!! Look at all the vegan-friendly London eats!! That Knickerbocker Glory is definitely my favorite, but EVERYTHING looks sensational. Makes up for your airline meals, for sure!!

We dress alike :0)

Anonymous said...

You're so luck to have visited London! One of my best friends lives there and has been asking me to come back for ages. Thanks for all this info--I will bookmark this entry so I have some ideas when I next visit her. (Mango cake=YUM!)

Vegan_Noodle said...

Oh, this post makes me long to go back to London!! Isn't it fun exploring veg restaurants? That's great to hear that London has a blossoming veg scene.
So wish I could try that yogurt!! Wonder why American companies can't duplicate that?
And haha, I was right about the mango cake, just couldn't see any crumb in it, so figured it was pretty heavy. Too bad, but at least the knicker thing was awesome!!
More More More! Can't wait to hear about the rest of your trip :-)

Cakespy said...

Knickerbocker. Glory. I could almost stop reading after that. I could almost just turn off the computer and hop on the next plane. Damn. Bummer about the mango cake--it looks wonderful, if it didn't match up in taste! Have I mentioned I'm jealous of your trip!?

jess (of Get Sconed!) said...

I think I'm mostly excited about the cheezly!

Anonymous said...

As always reading your post made me hungry! I wish I had a trip to London in the near future :) I did make a trip to the European market recently and had some beans on toast last night for dinner though. Too bad they don't carry Cheezly.

ChocolateCoveredVegan said...

Lucky lucky lucky!!!! I was born in London, but have never been as a vegan. MUST. GO. SOON!

DJ said...

You're right, alpro is delish - it's a big hit in our household - and I always keep a tub of swedish glace ice cream in the freezer for those sweet tooth emmergencies - London is such a cool city, but I've not visited in years - your post makes me want to go again!

Steffi said...

London is my favourite place on this planet :) Pogo rocks!

Anonymous said...

if you get a chance, in london, i highly reccomend this place. http://www.222veggievegan.com/ it's amazing!!!!

Jess said...

I can't wait to hear more! Everything looks so yummy, and that sounds like a really exciting trip!

Please send some of that soya yogurt my way if you ever get your hands on some over here... I used to LOVE yogurt, but am not a fan of any soy varieties I've tried yet.

And that Knickerbocker?! It sounds absolutely, unbelievably delicious. Whoa.

mel said...

I'm jealous of that cheesly sandwich! I'm hoping Japan has a lot of fun food adventures for us, too!

Anonymous said...

Sounds like a seriously delicious trip to me! I've never been to England, but now I really want to go check it out- I didn't know it was so vegan friendly!

TB said...

Cheezly! I must get my paws on some of that stuff! Man, it sounds like you had such a fantastic time. I love London and like you, my husband and I have a good friend who recently moved there, so now there's a great reason to visit (and try all these recommendations!).

aTxVegn said...

Those little cafes where you had dinner sound like great food and atmosphere. The mango cake looks outstanding!

Rural Vegan said...

I think the Knickerbocker Glory would be worth the airfare to London alone! I'm crossing my fingers that Cheezly will become available in the US sometime soon, I've heard nothing but good things about it.

Bianca said...

I need the Knickbocker. Not only does it look delicious, but it has a cutesy British name....and the beans on toast have got me craving that for breakfast. I love beans on toast for breakfast.

I'm the most jealous, though, of the Cheezly!

Penny said...

I'd like to have one of those knickerbocker glorys..the photo is downright scandalous!!

geisha_me said...

is le husband a veggie/veg also? or does he just like the food cos you do? each time i've eaten meat lately, i'm more & more convinced i need to be eating veg, even if it means gobbling handfuls of calcium supplements. sadly however, a lot of the instead-of products are packed with gluten. :(

Momoko Plush Tattooed Mom | Beauty and craft! said...

love you

Anonymous said...

Glad you're having fun in my home city!

Seitan Wörshipper said...

Oh Hell! I love London too! That soho-area is surrounded by wery good vegan friendly/veggie restaurants. There is like tasties falafel place on earth: MAotz and some nice TAI-chinese vegan all you can eat-style places(wery cheap and GOOD!) and also some deli style places which are serving some vegan rolls,salads and take away-meals. And there is also small Red veg which is selling vegan burgers etc. "healthier(or not) fast foods. But I really love that London, but because it`s so expensive I`m just dreaming about some people who could offer me some place to sleep when visiting there.. But I`m absolutely ready to go back there when it`s possible ;)

We have also Alpro`s soy products here in Finland. I think that naturel-plain (organic) soy youghurt is the best of those youghurts but that blueberry flavour also rocks! And Alpro`s Light-soy milk is the most best soy milk which I have ever tasted.

Lovlie said...

Oh! How I miss London...

Meghan said...

oh my! what a delicious trip you had.

that ice cream sunday thing looked like something i would give my left arm for.

mmm....

Amey said...

What a FUN post! Aren't exotic vegan products just one of the best things about travelling?? I want some of that soy yogurt!

I haven't been to London since I was 14 years old - the year I became a vegetarian! It would be fun to go back, but now I have this crazy bloodthirst for exotic and third world destinations. Not so vegan friendly, but otherwise very exciting.

Can't wait to hear more!!

Lori- the Pleasantly Plump Vegan said...

FUN!!! i wanna go!
that punk burger plate looks AMAZING!
i am dying to try Cheezly. grilled cheese was a staple in our house pre-vegan days.

Anonymous said...

Reading this post made me very very hungry! Not only for the scrumptious treats, but also for some European travel. It's been a bit too long since I was over on that side of the pond, and I'm longing to go back now.

Anonymous said...

God, it seems like you had loads of fun. If I had any money to travel, I'd hop on a damn plane this second. London would be my first stop.

I'm glad you had such a good time. Unfortunate about the mango cake though because it looks beyond beautiful. Then again, I probably wouldn't much like it - not a mango fan for anything but its natural state.

bazu said...

I look forward to trying all these things in a few months! Thank you for your detailed reviews, M!

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