VEGAN STREET FOOD - LONDON'S East End

Last weekend I tagged along with the  London Vegan Meet Up group for a VEGAN FOOD walk from Spitalfields to Brick Lane.  Both just a short walk from Liverpool Street Station.  One of the Meet UP members, Jagtar, has been working for a charity in this area at weekends and he had ranked up quite a portfolio of tried and tested food on offer. He wanted us to come and enjoy it too.




Jagtar (ur friendly guide) sampling vegan Tibetan dumplings stuffed with cabbage



Brick Lane was heaving.  The clocks falling back making nightfall all too early but it ramped up the atmosphere and the colours, sounds and sights were kalidescopic.  The streets were heavily scented with the aromas from ethnic eateries and the street market.

I opted for the Ethiopian lentil & spinach stew and chickpea stew from the Ethiopian lady who has a stall both here and a Greenwich.  Sadly, the picture failed to save and I forgot the name of the stall (sorry!) but her food is totally comforting and full of flavour.


This was a vegan cake stall within another market at Brick Lane.  Lots of gluten free and a sugar free carrot cake.  I applaud her efforts and perhaps she is just starting out so hopefully they will improve.  Fair play to her, there is a lot of competition in London now and some excellent vegan bakers.

We sampled sweet rice dumplings dusted with sesame seeds and falafel in Spitalfields Market.  The market, dating back to Victorian era is fused with more contemporary architecture and glossy upmarket shops.  It is a great Sunday hang-out.

Rain Forest Creations (above) had a beautiful display of colourful, tropical raw food.  Most of the group tucked in to some of their dishes.  I had a slice of their raw almond cheesecake which was nice.

It was a great day and I totally recomend a stroll the East London markets.  Not just for the falafel, curries, raw food, pad Thai, African stews or Roti tofu wraps but the noisy, colourful, multiculture and artistic, creative atmosphere.  It is totally alive, splendidly overwhelming and just being there makes you part of it.

Vitao - London VEGAN restaurant review

I was hopping into London for a Bloggers Meetup so, of course, preplanning where I was to eat(food research...a glorious chore).  The meetup was in Soho so I Googled the area and abracadabra...Vitao flashed its vegan credentials at me.  I had been before but it has altered its style of service to a buffet (to budge over and create some room for it's sister VANTRA - which is more restaurant style).

How it works is this - you get a choice of 3 plates that you have to juggle for 5mins whilst rapping about vegan food, in order to get served..no, I lied. That would be silly.  3 plates of differing sizes; baby plate = £5.50, mommy plate = £6.50, Big daddy plate = £8.90 for as much as you can eat.  The Big Daddy would be like a red rag to a bull and I would have gone mental eating it all so I opted for the middle one (ooh, it's like Goldilocks..except I'm brunette and it ain't porridge). 

If you are vegan/vegetarian, macrobiotic, gluten-free, celiac or coeliac (seems there are two ways to spell it in US or UK), sugar-free, low-fat or just plan HUNGRY, Vitao promise to be your go-to restaurant in the heart of Soho.  So I grabbed a plate and set about discovering if it is true.  If you have a food intolerance then please do check with them.  The noodles, seitan & soy sauce are not gluten-free.

I pretty much filled up my plate.  Unfortunately the waiter could tell me the names for any of the dishes, and I cannot remember all of the 10 or so I filled my plate with, but there were lots of colourful raw salads with tasty dressings, steamed broccoli, curries, stews, veggie rices and potato & cauliflower bakes.  ALL of them were bursting with flavour and each dish highly individual. Only one dish didn't really float my ship and that was the Chinese mushroom stew, purely because the texture of the mushrooms was a bit weird/slimy....IMHO. The tofu and spinach stew and the carrot salads were my current favourites.

Dessert was not on the cards for me this time, as I have been baking at home so much I thought I'd better reign it in for a while.  They had a range of vegan desserts and cakes on the counter that looked very comely!  I devoured a raw apple pie here last year and it was sensational (though not as good as my homemade raw apple pie - I know, not very British of me to boast but someone has got to blow my trumpet in the vast orchestra of online vegan foodies).





They also serve a huge range of vegan milked based drinks, juices & smoothies, herbal teas and just plain, honest to goodness, water.  I noticed, they used to use all organic eco-friendly toiletries in the loos and I was a little disappointed that this was not the case on this visit.

I think Vitao would be equally great for a bunch of friends or just comfy by yourself watching the world go by.