Vegan restaurants in London – a guide for every budget – Plant-Powered Nomad

London was my first city after Asia, and my return to Western Vegan food. I could have happily spent weeks exploring the vegan restaurants in London, and I’ll certainly be adding to this list in the future. For now, though, here’s my guide to vegan restaurants in London, for whatever budget you’re on and mood you’re in. Enjoy!

High End

Vegan fine dining isn’t something I’m that experienced in, but how could I not check out some of the most iconic vegetarian restaurants while I was here? A two course meal for two, plus a bottle of wine/a drink each will set you back around £60+, but it’s worth it for both the food and the experience.

MILDRED’S, SOHO – vegetarian

I heard there’s a second one opening up soon, which considering the queues at the one in Soho is no bad thing. They don’t take bookings so if you’re a person who gets hangry, make sure you arrive a good while before the murderous rage sets in. There’s a small bar area inside where you can drink a bottle of wine – vegan ones are clearly marked – and expected waiting time for a table is a little under an hour. Once you’re seated there’s a fast turn around so you should get your food pretty quickly. I had the mushroom Wellington, and my friend had the Sri Lankan curry. The menu was excellent, decently priced and filling, and had a lot of vegan options.

VANILLA BLACK, COVENT GARDEN – vegetarian

Most of the restaurants on this list go for the light, open, airy feel – Vanilla Black has heavier decor and once you enter the door, communication with the outside world stops. No phone signal, no wifi, no data. This is an excellent combat for anti-social dining companions who are obsessive phone checkers, but it’s not so great if you or the person you’re meeting is running late and could lead to ‘I’ve been stood up!’ panic.

We were provided with an all vegan menu, which was extremely gratifying. The food has so many components I think some must have been distilled or vaporised to fit them all into such tiny servings. It was a dining experience of the sort I haven’t had since becoming vegan – where every morsel matters. I had the cauliflower ‘Goats’ Cheese, Fennel Pollen and Pistachio with Apple Puree, Fennel and Rainbow Chard, and my companion had the Fried Mushrooms, Sweetcorn and Tarragon Sponge with Pickled Mooli and Crumbs. I still don’t quite know what Mooli is, but it tasted good. Mine tasted unnervingly like goats cheese, which I liked but probably isn’t for some people. Dessert was Roasted Apple Sorbet with Somerset Brandy Syrup and Cinnamon Hundreds ‘n’ Thousands with Toasted Oat Custard and Crumbs for me, and Peanut Butter Cheesecake and Cracked Cocoa Bean with Caramelised Banana Purée. The peanut butter cheesecake was delicious, the sorbet I wasn’t sold on. I would have liked a little more flavour and punch to some of the dishes, but overall Vanilla Black is worth the experience if you’re in London and want to try vegetarian haute cuisine at one of the most prestigious vegetarian restaurants.

THE GATE – ISLINGTON/HAMMERSMITH – vegetarian

If you’re meeting a friend at The Gate, don’t do what I did and go to the wrong one. There’s nothing like getting to Hammersmith half an hour late and flustered after train delays, getting confused but not questioning that your party doesn’t have a reservation, and being seated before realising there are two restaurants, and you should be in Islington. ‘You’re in the wrong one, because it’s a big room and I would be able to see you…’ is never a fun text to receive from the other side of London.

Once you find the right place and are seated, however, the menu is excellent and the service is friendly. The starters were, to my mind, a little more exciting and creative than the mains – not that the mains weren’t also wonderful. We shared the Carciofini – baby artichoke filled with wild mushroom duxelles and dolcelatte served with puy lentil salsa and garlic aioli, which is one of the best things I’ve eaten, ever, and the Plantain Fritters filled with carrot, sultanas, mint and pine nuts served with chipotle and blueberry sauce and crispy fennel and pomegranate salad.

WILD FOOD CAFE – COVENT GARDEN – vegetarian

Mostly vegan, Wild Food café has a menu that focuses heavily on raw and nutrient packed food. There are little delicacies here to try like homemade coconut ‘bacon’ and vegan coconut cheese. The ingredients are organic, locally sourced, and they try to include wild locally foraged food. I had the Wild Winter Burger, and the patty was one of the most delicious I’ve ever tried, made from shiitake, olive and quinoa.

Photos courtesy of Wild Food Cafe.

Mid-range

A meal here will set you back around £10 for a main, and have found ways to be more affordable – either by being buffet style or more of a cafe. However, they’re also places you can still go for a nice meal and a catch up wth friends or family. For a main, a dessert and a drink you’re looking at around £15-£20 a head.

VANTRA VITAO – OXFORD STREET – vegan

I love this restaurant. The ingredients are seasonal, organic, and locally sourced. The waste they produce is minimal. And it’s central: right on Oxford Street. For this location, you can’t argue with the price. They have a buffet, set meals, and raw sugar free desserts. If you like raw food, oily food, comfort food, curries, pasta… they’ve got it all. And after a year and a half of tired, endlessly reheated and greasy buffet vegan food in Asia Vantra reintroduced the glory and potential of buffets to me. Their food was fresh, full of flavour, comforting… I took a little bit of everything and there wasn’t a single thing I disliked.

222 VEGGIE VEGAN – WEST BROMPTON – vegan

Another warm and scrummy vegan buffet. Not as much choice as Vantra Vitao, but it’s also not as expensive (all you can eat) and you can get it to take away for a cheaper price. Even my non-veggie and rather picky teenage nieces and nephew found food they liked. I particularly liked the creamy pasta and the lasagne, my only grumble was that both two times I had the beetroot and carrot salad it was very over salted to the point of me not finishing it. Everything else was delicious.

And if you get nothing else, get a dessert. Don’t fall for the trap of the all you can eat buffet and fill your stomach up. The cake, and especially the chocolate cake, is some of the finest that I’ve tasted. Rich, gooey, moist, warm and optionally with a dollop of ice cream sitting on top and melting down the sides. Need I say more?

INSPIRAL LOUNGE – CAMDEN – vegan

CLOSED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE

When I arrived here for a reunion lunch with a friend I had with me my small backpack which I was living out of for three days, as well as my camera case. I was also kind of tired. And my boots were still wet from the night before (the F.a.B bus night, see description below). It was my first time in Camden – and I was completely unprepared for the Yummy Mummy lunchtime rush that hits the trendy cafes around this area. I was a little late for the lunch because I got lost in the market and a crowd of tourists. Sigh. When I had finished being flustered and crashing my bags into strollers worth more than everything I own, and having discussions with mums about their toddler’s development when waiting to order, I finally sat down with food.* It was surprisingly fast to arrive considering how busy the cafe was, and the staff seemed run off their feet. They’d run out of the raw burger which was what I really wanted, so I got a regular one instead which was good (especially the fries) but the bread was a little dry.

Unfortunately I’ve just seen that they’re closed, which is strange because they were heaving when I visited. Keep an eye out of their page as there’s a chance they’re reopening in new premises, and you can still order food from their website.

*disclaimer about these reviews: after a year and a half in Asia, adjusting to the London vegan scene has been a bit of a culture and budget shock.

Budget Fare

You can get out for under £10 in these places. Good for a lunch or light meal with friends. And they all have a certain… quirk.

BONNINGTON CAFÉ – VAUXHALL – vegetarian

Bonnington Café is an old school veggie restaurant opened in the 1980s, and it hasn’t changed much since then. A main costs £8 and the two options change everyday depending on the chef. This makes it a little hit and miss. The night I went with a friend was perhaps a little more miss – I’m not too sure the combination of raw zucchini noodles, roast potatoes and salad worked – but my friend was very happy with her curry. It’s BYOB which keeps it cheap, and the dessert was a raw chocolate torte which was delicious. Even though the mains were a little curious, I like the original idea behind Bonnington and would happily go back on a different night to see what else is produced. Although it says it’s vegetarian, everything was vegan on the night I went.

JUST F.a.B BUS – HACKNEY – vegan

It was tipping it down with rain the night we went here. Full scale pouring. The plan was a meal here then a night on Brick Lane, but by the time my feet were soaked, my ankles were soaked, and my calves were starting to get wet too… we called it a night and went back. Just F.a.B, however, was worth braving the rain. I left my camera at home, so if you want to see pictures you’ll have to click on the link. It’s a bus. An actual London bus, turned into a restaurant. The portions are a little small so if you’re hungry get a side too, but the prices are decent, the food is tasty (especially the lasagne) and the service is cheerful. Highly recommended, and then you can tell people at cocktail parties “this one time I ate vegan lasagne on the top deck of a London bus.” Because that’s always a conversation starter.

VEGAN HIPPO – SOHO – vegan

CLOSED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE*

I just found out Vegan Hippo are closed at the time of writing this, which is a shame. They do good food and excellent cake, but they need to get their service a little more organised. Is it table service? Do we order at the counter? What’s happening? Hello, eye contact…? A friendly welcome and being told how the place works would be nice. The decor is fun and quirky, and the hot dog I had was good although a little heavy on the mustard. If they open again, let me know.

*I can’t quite believe that TWO places on this list are closed now!

Dessert

COOKIES AND SCREAM – CAMDEN – vegan

If you go to London and don’t visit Cookies and Scream, a completely vegan and gluten free bakery, you’ve missed out. The brownies in particular are amazing. On my first trip I had the sticky date and almond brownie, which was incredible, and on my second I had their award winning chocolate brownie. Oh my. There are no words to describe it. You just have to go there. Now.

Takeaway vegan food

THE VILLAGE PIZZA – SOUTH LONDON (SURBITON) – vegan options

If it’s cold, wet, windy and you want to stay at home and order a pizza with vegan cheese and mock meats (the full unhealthy option, if you know what I mean) then look no further. They have a special vegan menu with quite a few options, and it reminded me of pre-vegan hungover university days spent on the couch with a Dominoes. In other words, it filled a comfort food pizza home delivery shaped hole that I never realised was in my life. We got a 2 for 1 when we ordered that made it super affordable, but I’m not sure of the details.

Where have you eaten vegan food in London? Anywhere else that needs to be on here?

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Wear them with pride – 8 of the most awesome vegan t-shirts

It took me a long time to pluck up enough courage to buy and then wear a vegan t-shirt. I don’t know what I was scared of, people hurling steaks and abuse at me in the street, perhaps. And now I want more. They’re a great conversation starter, they’re a good way to show your vegan colours often in a humorous way, and they’re supporting hardworking vegan crafty types. And if you’re a long-term travelling like myself, they’re super versatile and tiny to pack. I use them when I do Yoga/hike/just go out with shorts and want to look more casual. So here, in no particular order, are my favourite vegan shirts – a mixture of the cute, the loving, the radical, and the artistic. As a bonus, a lot of the t-shirts in here are made from organic, sustainable cotton or bamboo and donate part of the profits to an animal charity. There’s no excuse not to be wearing them, really.

Vegan T-Shirts – Love Peace Vegan

I couldn’t choose which of these I like most, so I’ve just linked to the whole shop. There are so many different styles here that, unlike most of the tops in this list, aren’t just a generic tank or tee. Off the shoulder, button up, crop, baggy, tight – these have to be the most stylish range of vegan t-shirts I’ve seen. Awesome.

This Little Piggy – VeganeseTees

I love the cute graphic on this one, plus the subtle but clearly vegan message that doesn’t scream aggression. It’s organic cotton and printed with non-toxic ink.

Captivity is Cruel – Vegan Veins

Want to made a statement about animals not being used for our entertainment? This pretty nifty design says just that and makes a cute vegan t-shirt while it’s at it. Vegan Veins also donates $1 from every shirt sold to animal charities.

Someone Not Something – The Littlest Herbivore

For every t-shirt sold, The Littlest Herbivore will donate $1 to an NGO animal charity. This one’s for adults, but make sure you go onto her Etsy page and check out her range of t-shirts and onesies for toddlers and babies, they’ll make you want to raise a whole brood of little vegans… or start dressing your cat, whatever floats your boat.

Love Moos Not Milk – WinkinBitsyClothing

I love the graphic on this one. Again, it’s a little different and more stylish. I could easily pair this with heeled boots and skinny jeans to go to a bar.

Ferocious Vegan – The Vegan Police

I own three tanks by The Vegan Police, and I love them. This is my favourite of all, but ‘I don’t eat pals’ gets a lot of compliments, and I love the colour. If this design isn’t for you go and check out the Etsy shop – you’ll be hard-pressed not to buy everything. Actually, you’ll make a massive saving on postage this way, so you should. They’re also super light and barely make a dent in my suitcase, perfect for travel.

I love therefore I am vegan – Little Atoms

Speaking of love – I love the message of this shirt. If you’re feeling a little too caught up in activist slogans in your wardrobe, go for this t-shirt to bring more warm fuzzy feelings to your day. You’re welcome.

Ninja Vegan – My Uni T

How cute is this t-shirt! I’m a bit of a sucker for pink, although whenever I try to wear it with my blonde hair I look far too Barbie. Something I try to avoid at all costs to maintain the illusion of dangerous badass traveller (hahaha). Not a strictly vegan t-shirt, this is still an adorable addition to any wardrobe.

Vegan for the Animals – Drama Patrol

What more need be said? Vegan for the Animals, with a good graphic.

What have I missed off the list? Do you have any t-shirts already? Let me know in the comments below, and get some Comment loving.

Trotting around Japan in ‘I don’t eat Pals’ from Vegan Police.

Disclaimer: I own some of these and wouldn’t recommend them unless I thought they were awesome. If you click on the links and buy something I’ll make a tiny commission that’s free for you, which allows me to travel for a little longer and keep my shirts from having too many holes in them.

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Hitchhiking in Hokkaido, Japan – a solitary excursion to the lakes – Plant-Powered Nomad

It was early afternoon, and I was sitting on the train going from Tokyo to Hakodate, the first of three trains to Sapporo where I was planning on spending the night. Relatively well organised for once, I already had a couchsurfing host organised for this part of my trip round Japan. I sat back in my extremely cosy seat on the Japanese Shinko high speed train, and Google mapped how to get from Sapporo train station to my host’s apartment. The answer: an 8 hour train to the far North of the island. Shit.

Maybe it’s just me, but I have an unfortunate traveller’s habit of looking at a country on a map and vastly underestimating the size of the country and the time it will take to cross from one end to the other. I’ve done this countless times, and it’s resulted in some rather frantic and exhausting situations – from a 36 hour bus journey from Bogota to Quito to attempting to hitchhike Berlin to Munich when I didn’t start out until early afternoon, and having to spend a night in a tent by a gas station somewhere in rural Saxony.

Good morning from my tent in a field in Saxony.

On this occasion, I was lucky enough to have reliable data on my phone and I spent the next half hour sending out a frantic copy and paste couchsurfing request to around 12 hosts in Sapporo – which pretty much exhausted the remote city’s supply of active users with references. It certainly didn’t help that I was travelling during Golden Week, a holiday in Japan where Japanese head back to spend time with their families, and foreigners living and working in Japan use their rare time off to go travelling themselves.

Sure enough, the replies soon started coming in: “Sorry, but no…” “Sorry, I’m not here…” “Sorry, I’m going camping in the North…” until, about an hour after I sent the request, I received a “Yes! You’re welcome!” Just in time, too, I was Googling fields around Sapporo that were suitable for camping in, and the local laws on the legalities of doing so.

Lake Shikotsu as the sun started to set.

A shy, sweet, quiet girl who barely came up to chest height on me (she was so tiny that when I weighed myself on her electronic scales, they had her height programmed and so told me bluntly that I’m obese) my host met me at the station that evening. When I explained that I had been thinking of nothing but food for the past 5 hours, she kindly drove me to a supermarket where I bought tofu, noodles, some vegetables and a few things to take with me when hitch hiking and camping that weekend. We got back, I cooked, we talked a little and then slept.

The next morning I set off a little later than planned, and found myself waiting extreme amounts of time for the trains. I was heading for two lakes, lake Toya and lake Shikotsu. After taking the train (free using my Japan rail pass) to a more remote area a little out of Sapporo, I found a likely looking piece of road where plenty of cars going in the right direction and a spot where they would be able to pull over. Then I stood with large smile on my face, and my thumb held jauntily out.

After barely 5 minutes, a jovial middle-aged American lady with a large car full of Japanese children pulled over and asked where I was going. “Lake Toya,” I replied. “Oh, we can go that route,” she replied, and rearranged the children to make room for me. She introduced them as her foster children, adopted children, and children of her foster daughter from twenty years ago. Now a widow after her Japanese husband of 20+ years died suddenly from a heart attack five years previously, she clearly had no shortage of love in her life and was happily integrated into the sleepy North island of Hokkaido.

Lake Shikotsu, this time without people.

When she dropped me off at my first lake, I felt much happier about my decision to hitchhike. I arrived at golden hour, and it was beautiful. I wandered around for a while, although my large bag stopped me wandering as much as I would have liked. Do hikers who are on the go for months at a time get used to these things?? I ate a late lunch. Then I decided it was time to hitchhike out before it got too dark.

Apparently, the route I wanted to go was the opposite of the one drivers go in. Eventually, after a lot of cars stopped and were sent on their ways without me, I decided it would be best to be taken to a train station, any train station, from where I could catch a train to the next place. I had wasted a lot of time at this point, and it was really beginning to be dark. Unperturbed, I cheerfully answered the curious questions that the Japanese couple asked me using their translation app. The questions started out simple: “where are you from?” “How long are you here?” But soon got more complex: “You are how many years without people?” “Why you climb mountain don’t catch squirrel?” (I may have made that last one up, but you get the idea – the questions got weird).

By the time I had been dropped off at the station and then waited for a while for a train, it really was getting dark. I cheerfully forged ahead and arrived at the other end, in the town closest to Lake Toya. Using my phone I navigated my way out of the city and onto a road leading out towards the lake. It was a very dark road – it was now around 9pm. Occasionally a car would pass and I would turn around and stick out my thumb hopefully. A man stopped and indicated he’d take me to the campsite I pointed out to him. I told the voice inside my head saying I was silly to get in the car with a man at night in rural Japan to be quiet, and I hopped in the car. It was fine. And he gave me a map when he dropped me off at the other end (a map that I carried for longer than I wanted to before guiltily throwing it out a week or so later).

Beautiful Lake Toya.

A man with no English (I was getting used to this) checked me in took and my 400yen for the night. As he walked me to my spot he pointed out the bathroom (toilets and sinks with freezing water, no showers) and I sidestepped round the Japanese children running around everywhere with sparklers. Much like the campsites of my childhood that we went to in Wales where everyone else was British, everyone else here was Japanese. I pitched my tent (I have a little one like this) and climbed into my sleeping bag with my kindle and my head torch. The wonderful thing about really tiny tents is they warm up fast.

After breakfast of soy milk I’d brought in a bottle and cereal (about all I could find in a Japanese supermarket that was vegan, but you can read about being vegan in Japan here) I packed up and went on my way. I could not. Get. Into. The. Lake. There were bushes, fences, and private land signs everywhere. So much for my idea of waking up and just wandering down to the water. I stuck my thumb out again and a family picked me up ten minutes later, and drove me for fifteen minutes to another campsite where I could finally get access to the lake. It was beautiful, and peaceful, and tranquil.

Swans by Lake Toya.

I hitched back in the early afternoon, managing to get a ride with a man who took me most of the way and even bought me tea at a convenience store. We couldn’t communicate with anything other than okay, and after a while he gave up trying to speak Japanese to me, but it was a pleasant enough ride. He put me out at a lay-by by the side of a mountain pass when it was time for him to go a different way, and ten seconds later two students pulled up and took me right into the city. They had been driving up for the past two days, something I didn’t envy, but I had come across them at the right moment. They took me back to my host in time for dinner.

If I went back did it again…

This weekend was one of my favourite parts of my three weeks in Japan, but here are the things I would change:

I’d plan my route better. I’m not the most organised person at the best of times, but waiting for an hour between trains, getting lifts in the wrong direction because I’d become stranded, not knowing where the entrance to the lake was… it all added to the adventure, but wasted a lot of time.

I’d give myself more time. Maybe this is a bit of a no brainer considering what I said above.

I’d use that time to hitchhike over the whole island. Because Hokkaido is really, truly, beautiful. And peaceful. And friendly. Actually… I just want to go back and hitchhike all of Japan.

I’d carry less. If possible. But that’s a general life goal of my travel. Still, I was carrying a ridiculously heavy bag for a lot of it.

If you want to be really organised and book places in advance, you can do so through booking.com, which has a good selection for Hokkaido.

Disclosure. Clicking on the links will take you to buy/book things. If you do so I’ll get a small percentage at no extra cost to you, whatever it is. This is massively helpful to me and will help pay for my next latte as I compile more hopefully helpful and amusing posts for you to read. I only ever recommend products I use or at some point want to buy.

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6 vegan meals you need to eat in 2016, and where to find them – Plant-Powered Nomad

I asked 5 vegan other travellers to tell me where the vegan meals we need to eat in 2016 are – from Brighton to vegan food in Africa, the results might surprise you.

A VEGAN BUFFET AT THE FOOT OF MOUNT KILIMANJARO, AFRICA

Some of the best vegan food we’ve ever had has been at Ol Tukai Lodge in Amboseli Park, at the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro, in Kenya, Africa. The chef prided himself on the vegetarian cornucopia in his kitchen. As a matter of fact, when we arrived for our first meal at Ol Tukai, and asked the dining room host about vegetarian food, he introduced us to the chef who, he was excited to tell us, always prepared a bounty of dishes without animal products.

As it turned out, a good 70% of the food at the Ol Tukai buffet was vegetarian or vegan. Vegetable dishes outnumbered meat dishes three to one! The chef was more than please to pose for some photos with me at his extraordinary colorful buffet.

Pictured are pasta with marinara, sweet pea sauce, ugali and traditional dark greens, dal and rice. And that doesn’t count the salad bar, out of frame in this picture.

We have been to Africa on safari twice for two weeks at a time and the situation at every lodge has been similar. Plenty of vegan fare, and high quality at that. More Africa safari lodge food photos here.

Lani can be found on her website: http://www.lanimuelrath.com, and is author of The Plant-Based Journey.

VEGAN TAPAS IN BRIGHTON, UK

In 2016, you need to eat vegan tapas! There is so much delicious vegan food all over the world nowadays that it’s actually quite difficult to pin down the best. However, I personally love sampling lots of different foods, and as many in one meal as possible. So, I’m naturally drawn to tapas, but they’re rarely all vegan. On a trip to one of my most beloved cities, Brighton, England, I heard about Rootcandi, the UK’s first 100% vegan tapas restaurant, and I had to check it out.

Six small plates of vegan delicacies on a three-tiered display stand is nothing short of a delight for all your senses. The world-inspired cuisine, like the Pan-Asain tapas platter I had, which is delicious, nutritious, and beautiful, really makes this place stand out. I’m sure this spot will mature nicely, so I definitely recommend a visit here in 2016.

Amanda is a vegan solo full-time traveler who puts the burger in Burger Abroad.

BBQ SAUCE ROASTED CAULIFLOWER AND NOODLE SOUP IN HANOI, VIETNAM

Luckily, on this particular mission to find vegan food I had a companion. I say luckily because it was hidden down a tiny alley, off a totally different section of street than the one to which Google Maps had directed me. We eventually wandered past the sign we were looking for “Com Chay” and the word “vegetarian”. A scruffy kitten let itself be picked up and cuddled as we ordered and were told that they didn’t have half the things on the menu.

Fortunately, they did have this ‘beef’ vermicelli soup and BBQ sauce (or something similar and Vietnamese) roasted cauliflower. Despite the scruffy surroundings it stands out as one of the best meals I ate in 2015. There are many little places like this down alleys in Vietnam, just keep your eyes open and see what you find. Read more about my vegan in Hanoi discoveries here.

Amelia (that’s me) from Plant-Powered Nomad wanders the world alone teaching English and Yoga, and eating awesome vegan food along the way.

VEGAN JAPANESE CURRY IN LUODONG TOWNSHIP, TAIWAN

Whenever I think back to the time I spent living in the small township of LuoDong in Taiwan, where I taught English for a year, I always think of this small vegetarian restaurant where we used to go to eat vegan Japanese curry, a sweet, yellow apple-based curry. It was full of fresh, seasonal vegetables and served with stream wu-gu fan (five grain rice, or purple rice).

It’s a small, local but exquisitely designed vegetarian restaurant hidden amongst sprawling apartments near to the rice paddies at the edge of town and is run by a local family who grow all their own food on their organic farm, including growing their own rice, seasonal vegetables and even making their own cheese (very rare in Taiwan).

We used to wander down on a summer’s evening after work and went by scooter in the cold and torrential rain, pleased to be welcomed in by the friendly family and ready to fill out bellies with hot curry. Even after going there every week for over 6 months, we never found out the name of the restaurant but it’s located at 54 Jingye Road opposite the Beicheng Elementary School.

Charlie is a long-term traveller from the UK who writes about simple ways to travel sustainably, including house sitting, slow travel and eating local. Check out her slow travel blog Charlie on Travel and follow her travels on Facebook.

VEGAN BRUNCH IN TOULOUSE, FRANCE

South-western France, the home of foie gras, is not exactly the most vegan-friendly travel destination. While the staff in local restaurants were eager to help once I explained what vegans do and don’t eat, sadly, they sometimes had trouble scrounging up enough vegetables from the kitchen to make even a decent salad. But none of that mattered, because it made the experience of dining at La Belle Verte in Toulouse all the more memorable. While La Belle Verte does serve meat, the cuisine offered here could best be described as “plant-strong”. The owners give priority to using organic, local and seasonal ingredients, and they are knowledgeable about veganism and happy to cater for vegan diners.

On Sundays, they offer a brunch that is out of this world. The menu changes each week depending on what’s available at the nearby farmers’ market, but any non-vegan items can always be substituted with vegan ones. I was presented with a plate stacked so high that a piece of toast had to be balanced on top of my pumpkin soup! It was way too much food for one person, but that didn’t stop me from eating every last morsel.

Wendy Werneth is an intrepid traveller, vegan foodie and polyglot who is on a mission to show the world how fun and fulfilling vegan travel can be. You can follow her adventures at The Nomadic Vegan and download her free ebook, 8 Steps for Fun and Easy Vegan Travel.

VEGAN CHURROS IN BRIGHTON, ENGLAND

All the food at vegetarian restaurant Terre a Terre is brilliant and inventive. They are famed for their unusual descriptions and wacky names – to the extent that sometimes reading their menu doesn’t even help you understand what a dish is. But it’s well worth the confusion…even on occasions when I haven’t been able to deduce from the menu what my dish might be, it’s still been delicious. Case in point, a description from the menu of the dish Soubise Soubise: “Blasted buckwheat basted Roscoff onion bunged to the brim with hazel herb onion caramel nut mince served with cranberry juice kraut, radicchio pear pickle, toasted cream swede pie, roast parsnip and potato pave.”

However, Terre a Terre’s dish that set me over the edge into rapture (including noises that should not be made in a restaurant with polite company!) was their churros, or as they call the dish, Churrisimo. The cinnamon sugar dusted doughnut sticks come with traditional thick chocolate sauce but also a few of Terre a Terre’s own unique additions: vodka soaked cherries and sea salt caramel dipping sauce.

Caitlin can be found at The Vegan Word. Caitlin is a vegan food and travel writer who has travelled to 30 countries (and counting) and just published her first book, The Essential Vegan Travel Guide.

Have you eaten anywhere that you think should be on this list? Tell me about it in the comments below.

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My tastebuds were homesick – UK vegan food I pined for. – Plant-Powered Nomad

I returned to Europe a few weeks ago after a year and a half in Asia. When the one month countdown until my flight back started there was only one thing on my mind: food. Sorry family and friends, UK vegan food like English muffins with scrambled tofu has you beaten. Although Asia has some amazing vegan food… I’ve eaten raw vegan sushi in Hong Kong, vegan pizza in Japan, the best noodles of my life in Taiwan and enough vegan cake to fill a small house, incredible Pho in Vietnam, and waffles of dreams in Thailand… there are still some things Asia doesn’t provide. Here’s my list of what I miss. Warning: it’s incredibly self-indulgent, laced unsubtly with nostalgia, and I was drooling as I wrote it.

Did someone say waffles? @veganerie in Bangkok.

1. Warburtons crumpets. Light, fluffy, toasted, coated in Pure vegan butter. They were my comfort, my Sunday morning lazy breakfast, and they’re a weird bond I have with my childhood friend who would come to my house on Fridays when we were kids and eat a whole packet. We kept some in the freezer just for her.

2. Warburtons English Muffins. With scrambled tofu full of red onions, smoked paprika and mushrooms, then some vegan cheese grated on top. Which brings me to number 3…

3. Violife vegan cheese. Damn this stuff is incredible. I remember the day it was recommended to me by a health food shop in Glasgow, and I grated it onto a pizza that very night. It was creamy, stringy, cheesy… exactly what a pizza cheese should be, but without being pumped out of some poor cow’s mammary glands.

4. Vego chocolate bar. This was just voted the best vegan chocolate bar, and you just have to taste it to know why. It’s not like a regular vegan milk chocolate bar which tastes a bit weird and frankly not at all like milk chocolate. This one is rich, creamy, and chocolaty with a generous lash of hazelnuts spread out through the bar.

5. Vegan yoghurt that is easily available. If I wanted yoghurt with my granola or my apple strudel, I just had to pop down to the local shop and pick some up. In Asia I’ve seen the occasional homemade vegan yoghurt for sale in restaurants, but by and large it’s scarce and not readily available.

Crumpets, raspberries, tea – heaven <3

6. A good soy latte. That’s big, and rich, and has a proper flavour, and is made with good coffee. And I hate to admit this, but I’m also looking forwards to a bit of cold so that I can properly appreciate the warmth of a hot drink as I wander down the street wrapped in woolies. In my entire year and a half in Asia, the only soy latte I can genuinely say stood up to my local coffee shops in Glasgow was the extortionately expensive one I had in Tokyo. It was worth every penny. You can read about my struggle in Taiwan to find a soy latte here, it became quite the mission.

7. Linda McCartney vegetarian sausages and sausage rolls… with ketchup on bread I baked myself. If you’ve lived in Asia you’ll know that 99% of apartments don’t have a proper over . Maybe a toaster oven here and there, but nothing you can bake a proper loaf in even if you could get hold of the rye and spelt flours I used to mix together to make my loaves. Linda McCartney’s sausages were like my guilty pleasure when I wanted something more substantial for breakfast or lunch. I would take 3, pop them in the microwave for 3 minutes, and boom. Vegan sausage sandwich.

8. Mashed potato. With vegan butter, and black pepper, and a bit of vegan cheese, some onion gravy and veggie sausages. Enough said.

Maybe not the prettiest picture but…

9. Frys burgers. I used to buy these from Holland and Barrett, and I remember the first time I ate the chicken one I had to go and check the box to make sure they were really vegan. One week I found them in the penny sale (buy one get one for a penny) and just stocked up, then couldn’t resist and ate burgers every day for lunch and dinner for four days straight. In my defence, it was essay writing time and I needed something to keep me powering through all the deadlines.

10. Veggie Deli. Pretty much all the range. Sometimes I’d just go in and buy the ready to eat veggie sausages as a snack if I was in town and wanted something cheap and tasty. Goodness their food is good.

11. Swedish Glace. Only once in Asia have I found vegan ice cream (semi) readily available to buy in the shops, and that was in Hong Kong and carried a bit of a price tag. I miss being able to wander down and buy a tub of cheap, creamy and delicious ice cream when I want to have a film night with a friend, or one of those ‘why am I single’ evenings where I eat ice cream and watch romcoms. In fairness, I more do those nights for the pure joy of eating a tub of ice cream and watching a cheesy film than any actual sense of being alone, before you start signing me up to speed dating nights.

12. Kale, and a good salad with herby tofu. In case you think this list has got too comfort foody, this was one of my favourite quick midweek meals with croutons I made from bread I toasted in the oven in a little oil and sundried tomatoes. Asia has amazing fruit, but the vegetables definitely could be cheaper and of a better quality, unless they’re the local ones. I also miss nestling into a sofa with a big bowl of steamed broccoli. It’s the little things.

Kale and buckwheat bowl. Delicious.

13. Veggie Haggis. Can you tell I’ve lived in Scotland? I love veggie haggis. It’s all peppery and herby and moist and full of goodness. And it’s so much better than the real thing. So much. I made a pizza with it one year for new year, and it was delicious.

14. Romano sweet peppers. Because they taste really good and I haven’t seen them for sale here at all.

15. Birds eye potato waffles and vegetable fingers. If you’re not British you’ll probably not know what I’m talking about here. They’re good: trust me.

16. A good cup of tea. With almond milk. Mornings just aren’t the same without it.

And on that note, I’m out. It’s all too much. Too many emotions about food. It’s been a glorious reunion this past month, but I really need to get back on the Yoga mat and burn off some of those crumpets…

A good soy latte, but almond milk is becoming a fast favourite.

Have you lived in another country or travelled for a while? What foods did you miss? Let me know in the comments.

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