EATING VEGAN IN LONDON

It's been a quite a while since I've posted on this blog but I'm not going to waste time explaining why; there's no point, it's simply just boring life stuff. Instead, I'm going to begin posting everything I've started working on in the last 8 months but never got around to pushing live. Last summer, I went to London with my best friend and since London is one of my favourite cities, I've created quite a bit of content from our trip. I'm starting with the most important thing: food. I'm sure I've mentioned this before, but I've been eating mostly vegan for a while now, meaning I eat vegan as much as I possibly can but I'm not 100% strict about it. I was prepared to have to eat less vegan than I usually do while I was in London but it ended up being quite easy. I did a bit of research before we went and we had a list of restaurants that had veggie options that I wanted to try; that was all we needed. None of the places we went to were all vegan, but I loved the vegan options they offered.

The Diner (Strand)

The Diner is a chain restaurant that has multiple locations in London, with The Strand, Dalston, Spitalfields and Islington spots offering a separate vegetarian and vegan menu. I was planning on getting some pancakes, but when we got there I was swayed by the Vegan Philly Cheese Steak. It had seitan steak, roasted peppers, slaw and Diner "cheese" sauce on a hotdog bun, and of course I had to get fries. I really enjoyed the sandwich, although I will say the seitan was VERY burnt in places (and I like burnt things). I still really liked it though and would definitely love to go back and try more of their menu!

The Real Greek

My parents are a big fan of the Real Greek and since they have vegan options, we stopped by there before heading to a concert. We got a bunch of different dishes to share, including the falafel and hummus. We weren't super hungry so this worked out perfectly. They actually have a TON of vegan options you can share, with a separate menu so it's easy to know what you're options are.

Bokit'la

This one was suggested by the YouTuber Estlee Lalonde. In so many vlogs, she raved about the Bokit, and having never heard of them, I was intrigued. On Saturday, we headed to the Oval Farmer’s market to try it out (you can find details on their locations on their website ).I was nervous that the bokit (a type of Caribbean fried sandwich) wasn't going to live up to the hype but I was not disappointed. I got the vegan option (which contains aubergine), with medium spice sauce and avocado. Their website details the different options they have available. While the aubergine one is the only vegan option (they also have chicken and fish), you can choose from multiple spice levels for the sauce (which are all vegan) and add extra topping, avocado, salad or more aubergines. They are also available in small, medium and large. We got medium, but I kinda wish I'd gone for the large one because it was so delicious.

Roxy Rara Cakes

While we were wondering around we stumbled upon a vegan cupcake stand in Camden Market. We weren't particularly hungry but they looked so good, I had to try one. We split the Lotus Biscoff cupcake and it was SO GOOD. They have a bunch of different options and I'd love to work my way through all of them lol.

Dishoom

I've heard about Dishoom from a few Youtubers and when I found out they have vegan options, I definitely wanted to check it. They don't take reservations and I was a bit nervous about the queue, but we didn't have to wait long. When we got there, they asked how many people were in our party. After that, they came along the queue and gave everyone free lemonade. We were only waiting for 10 minutes, then they took us down to the bar area. It took us a while to decide what we wanted so our table was actually ready before we got them. A staff member came to get us and organised that our drinks were taken to our table. You have to ask for it, but they actually have a separate vegan menu. I absolutely loved the food, it was amazing, full of fresh and rich flavours. The only thing I'm not sure about was the dessert; it's called Kala Khatta Gola Ice and it's described as "fluffy ice flakes steeped in kokum fruit syrup, blueberries, chilli, lime, white and black salt. The first spoonful tastes bizarre. The second is captivating". I didn't hate it, but the taste was very confusing. It was interesting but I don't think I would order it again. I would definitely go back to Dishoom though, I'd love to try some of their other vegan dishes, particularly from their breakfast menu.

Pret

God do I wish we had Pret in Ireland. We have Cafe Nero and Starbucks and Costo, but none of them as as good as Pret. They have so many vegetarian and vegan options, it's a great place to pop into if you're stuck and need a snack (we grabbed their apple slices with almond butter at one point and it was so nice). We actually saw a Veggie Pret at one point, which was exclusively vegetarian. However, the best thing about Pret is the double chocolate cookies. They are AMAZING, regardless of whether you're vegan or not. Whenever I'm in the UK, I buy multiples. They're just so good. If you haven't tried them and you're near a Pret, go try them as soon as possible.And that's it! I really enjoyed all the food we tried and like I said, I really didn't find it that difficult to be vegan in London. If you do a bit of research, there's quite a few places that have vegan options. I suggest making a list and being vaguely familiar with the names of places, then it's easy to look at google maps and see what's near you when you get hungry!

Jane x