United Kingdom Archives - A Vegan Obsession

A Trip To The Coast Unearths An All Vegan Food Store

August 28, 2014 by India Leigh

A Trip To The Coast Unearths An All Vegan Food Store

I was house sitting a couple of months ago when Britain was awash with a welcome hot sun. I traveled to a little English village beside the ‘Butlins infamous’ town of Bognor Regis. A seaside town with pebble beach on the south coast of England. I was a bit concerned beforehand that it would be a jolly vista of lobster pink bodies, garish teeth chipping candy, and awash with bawdy ‘hens’ on a night out. Not so. Just 1/4 mile from Bognor promenade and you arrive in a calm and peaceful oasis where time has stood still. It’s all precision clipped lawns and friendly doffed caps. The most rowdy you’ll experience in this village of thatched cottages and dogs you can tuck under your armpit, is a swooping opportunist seagull nicking your cucumber sandwiches!

As usual when I am travelling around much research is carried out and the internet chugs out helpful lists of places of interest, and of course Happy Cow lets me know what is in my area in terms of vegan eats. The vegan eats drew a blank, the closest being Daisy Moo in Worthing. What I did find was Vegetaria. An all vegan food store (curiously combined with an estate agency - the veggie passionate owners wanted to make eating meat free easier for shoppers). It is small shop floor but well stocked with ready meals, gluten free products, veggie ‘meats’, vegan cheese, desserts, frozen good, condiments, snacks, drinks, household products and pet food! And, it is a not just a high street store. Vegetaria have an online store too! I’m so happy to see more and more vegan stores sprouting up in Europe.

Two of the three pugs that I had the pleasure to look after. Pugs are hilarious as I had the joy to discover!

Pubs with Vegan Options in the UK

April 9, 2014 by India Leigh

Pubs with Vegan Options in the UK.

Find yourself hungry and away from a sizeable city and it can be a wasteland for vegans, and slim pickings for those with gluten or other food sensitivities. Jacket potato anyone? Oh yes, I’ll just pop on my 80’s shoulder pads, white stilettos and step back in time to devour this culinary masterpiece!

Back here in the 21st century changes are afoot. A trickle of inventiveness is emerging and SOME pub and cafe chains are offering those who prefer to live off plants and don’t find a plate of raw carrots sticks and tomato sauce a dinner worthy of salivation, a meal with flavour and a bit of thought.

A few weeks back I was staying in a twee little English village. A friend was visiting and I didn’t want to cook. I heard something on the grapevine about a local Greene King pub that was serving a couple of vegan dishes on the menu. Hoorah! I called ahead and, hang out the bunting, ring the bells, they confirmed that they did.

I didn’t quite skip with glee all the way there as I was a bit wary, however, I was pleasantly surprised. The salad was tasty and filling. The beetroot glaze was lovely and the tiny chillies added a gentle kick.

Vitality (V)

Mixed leaves, rosemary-roasted squash, edamame beans,
roquito peppers, marinated olives, fine beans, chickpeas, broccoli, sun-blushed baby tomatoes, red onion, beetroot glaze £7.45

Friend ordered the gourd and tomato soup. It was not gluten free so I did not try it but he thought it was flavoursome and filling.

I contacted all the major pub chains in the UK in addition to Greene King, to enquire about their menus and if they cater for food allergies, etc. Not one responded. Charming. However, I visited Wetherspoons on a couple of occasions and they have a gluten free and vegan chickpea curry on offer in their Curry Club. The website has a useful interactive special diets menu which lists food items to your particular dietary needs.

Do you know of any other pubs or cafe chains in the UK that welcome vegans and dinners with food allergies? Please leave a comment below and I will add it to this post. Thanks.

Simply Good Vegetarian Food In London. Dished Up With The Warmest Of Welcomes

November 27, 2013 by India Leigh

Much as I try not to be judgemental in life, (or should I call it discerning?), I do sometimes make false assumptions. Like ‘Bradley Cooper always makes a good movie’, and ‘a classy looking vegetarian restaurant a mere hop skip and jump from the sweeping curve of the legendary Regents Street, is going to have an atmosphere spawned from a transient crowd of diners and not be a place I’d want to linger. My assumptions tripped me up once again, when I visited tibits vegetarian restaurant in London recently. Not only did I find the food tasty, imaginative and comforting, on a cool November day but also the atmosphere was more redolent of a cozy, welcoming cafe in Devon!. The staff are exceptionally helpful, and friendly. The seating, soft mood lighting, chandeleirs and layout make it for such a sweet space to relax and dine with friends.

tibits was established in London in 2003 by three vegetarian brothers – Christian, Daniel and Reto Frei, together with Rolf Hitl. Rolf Hiltl is the owner of Hiltl restaurant in Zurich, that is according to Guinness World Records, the oldest and longest running vegetarian restaurant in the world.

They are now regularly scheduling Vegan Days, when all of the hot dishes are vegan.
A self serve ‘pay by weight’ restaurant, bar and (for the busy City worker) take away. All the food is cooked fresh each day (and throughout the day) with a huge array of hot entrees and salad dishes. Most being created with seasonal ingredients.

Children are welcome and downstairs they have a great little area where the kids can play happily. I spotted lots of cute wooden toys and trikes for them to entertain themselves with.

Being a buffet type affair, there is a method to employ to get you to the eating stage. First, bagsey a table. Plant a hat or something from your person to say ‘hey, walk on by, that’s my table’. Then..

Grab a plate from the warmer,
check out the comprehensive product info if you have special dietary requirements.
do a drive-by recce of what is on offer
decide what you are going to have
load up
take your plate to the bar and put it on the scales. The meal will be charged by weight (bread is complementary).
Take it to your table and eat. Simple.

There is a HUGE variety to choose from. Even for the gluten intolerant, coeliac among us. Dhal’s, pumpkin lasagne, a couple of curry dishes, roasted aubergines, risottos and lots of fresh veg and quinoa salads, lentil salads, tofu based dishes, crunchy falafels, tempura (boo! currently not gf)…and soup! A good selection of sauces, chutneys and condiments to drizzle, dollop and ooze. I did try and exercise restraint and just eat what would actually just fit comfortably in my stomach!

they serve a large selection of vegetarian/vegan wine and cocktails.

I was a bit disappointed with the selection of desserts for vegans with gluten sensitivities. Although I love fresh figs and other fruits, once my eyes have spotted apple crumble, cheesecake and sticky toffee pudding, I want to be able to place genourously heaped spoons of the like into my mouth! Knowing as I do how easy it is to create gluten free vegan puds I would have thought that they would have had at least one indulgent dessert on offer. Alas no. But the silver lining was I left feeling comfortably satiated instead of filled up to the brim, as so easily can be done.

Typical entree costs £10-12

They published a cookbook on their 10th anniversary. tibits At Home, it’s seasonally compartmentalised, and is full of beautiful photographs with simple recipes to try. One of the staff told me that all the photos in the book were taken in the homes of regular diners in Switzerland.

It was ironic that the recipe I wanted to try first had ‘dried green beans’ I am sure I have an inbuilt tuner that alerts me to unusual ingredients. A brief surf online failed to turn up with a supplier. Luckily, I had been sent the cookbook to review before I went to eat at the restaurant, so I enquired about the recipe and asked where I could buy the dried beans. ‘Right here’ was the reply. So I grabbed a bag and took them home to recreate one of their iconic recipes.

It was so simple to make. Yes, you could make it with fresh green beans but I so enjoyed the chewy texture of the dried beans after they’d been cooked in water and mixed with the other ingredients.

This is the recipe from the book that intrigued me so much. It’s a tangle of flavoursome lusciousness.

Dried Bean Salad with Walnuts

Ingredients:

100g dried string beans (1 bag from the restaurant)

½ onion, chopped
8 tbsp rapeseed oil (I used 1 2tbs walnut oil)
25g vegetable bouillon (1 1/2 vegan stock cubes)
1 garlic clove, crushed
70g walnuts pieces
4 tbsp red balsamic vinegar (red?!..not seen this before..I used ‘normal’ balsamic)
5g Fresh coriander leaves

cook the dried beans in boiling water until soft, drain well and allow to cool.

sauté the onions and garlic in the oil and set aside.

once the beans have cooled mix all the ingredients together to complete the recipe.

spoon into a serving dish. Enjoy! (and we did!!)

Other recipes in my (backlogged) catalogue of ones to try from tibits At Home, are the passionfruit lemonade (just because I’m dreaming of days of sunshine, warm breezes and chinking ice cubes), the exotic Goan curry, the light and intriguing coconut and pineapple tiramisu, and the white asparagus with orange sauce. 80% of the dishes are vegan, so some I will have to adapt. But I love a challenge.

There are currently five tibits’ restaurants in Europe. So, for me, that’s one down and four left to try! Any excuse to travel (and eat).

tibits

12-14 Heddon St, London W1B 4DA

Photography Course In London

July 5, 2013 by India Leigh

Want a perfect way to really see London, or just the space around you? Learn to capture it perfectly? Loose yourself for three & a half hours? I did. So I went on a (beginners) photography course.

A perfect rhythm of show & tell, then ‘go practice’. The tutor, animated and talented photographer Lucie Goodayle, simplified everything and made you feel like a rockstar. Really! She was encouraging, inspiring. Fun.

When we were set free to scatter ourselves around the Southbank it felt like embarking on a childhood adventure. You get so thoroughly absorbed in what you are doing. Like a meditation. You forget everything else. My camera gave me super powered courage to approach the motley and marvellous characters that caught my eye. Most people said yes, without question to my gentle requests of personal space invasion. I thought it was like stopping to smell the blossoming roses in the park. But with humans, not flowers.

There were the ‘ones that got away’ too. Like the girl with the full cotton skirt of imprinted sunflowers who ran past me giggling. Her arm held above her head, clutching a bobbing, bright orange balloon, the size of a giant tortoise. And the young Lithuanian transvestite who stood beside me at the Indian Street Food stand. His face dotted with fluorescent balls. The piercings where what caught my eye first. Then I noticed the whites of his eyes, weren’t! Fascinated, I struck up a conversation. I tried not to recoil as I imagined the pain, when he explained his eyeballs were tattooed black. ‘Oh my gosh’, I said. ‘They look stunning (and a bit scary, I thought to myself), especially against your ice blue eyes’. But he was so young, I worried for him. What if he changed his mind? What about when he got older and exchanged his goth boots for comfy slippers (or pink velvet mules)? He assured me, he’d never regret it. Perhaps it is me, I am too risk adverse when it comes to appearance. I’ve had the same hairstyle for years, and stood down from the stiletto long ago in favour of comfy flats (perhaps that is why I am single!?). He wouldn’t let me photograph him, unless I too was in the picture. So I bowed out. Left him as an uncaptured memory. Most people were only too happy be under the scrutiny of my lens. I came away with the reminder that people are wonderful lone islands of wonder and story. I loved the chance of getting so close.

Frui run creative holidays, courses and events. Their team appear to be bursting with knowledge, delivered with spirit. I wish I could experience all of their offerings. Now that would be a nice job!

Here are a bunch of pics I took on the day. I am now decidedly less scared of my camera’s bells and whistles!

Fun & learning. A nice combo.

This blog post was taken from my other blog Single Girl In The City. I usually keep life and food separate. It isn’t. The two are so entwined. Help me to decide whether I should combine the two. Do you like knowing what else I get up to? I’d love to hear your opinion. Leave a comment in the post a comment box below.

Of course I did try and get some good snaps of food. I hung around this street food stall, from Horn Ok Please for ages. I just could not get a shot I was happy with. Their food however, was a different story. Vegan AND gluten free. Lentil dosa.

VEGAN STREET FOOD - LONDON’S East End

November 2, 2011 by India Leigh

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

August 26, 2011 by India Leigh

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.

Sunny London and Sagar - an unexpected South Indian find, a stones throw from Covent Garden

August 1, 2011 by India Leigh

As readers of my blog will know..I am currently obsessed with London. It is so ALIVE right now and the sun is joyfully playing ball. I think there must be something in the water as now TWO of my friends, who previously shunned the capital like the plague, have turned around and said..as easy as they’d been coming up there with me for years..’yes, lets have a day out in London! Yay! Just goes to show…you’ve gotta give people room to change (though in a more speedier manner would be helpful!).

There was a VINTAGE festival on at the South Bank Centre, which overlooks the Thames. Reams of loral retro dresses and spike vintage heels clicking around the place. The girls looked so gorgeous and the men all sharp, www.brylcreemed.com and fine, wearing winkle-pickers so pointed I’m surprised Health & Safety have not clapped a ban on them as ‘unsafe sharp objects’. I have no idea why (didn’t want to get caught) but I’ve no pictures of any of them in their finery. Not even the girl in the black basque and satin pencil skirt with an incredibly small waist..couldn’t have been more than 20′, seriously…she obviously hadn’t just eaten a huge meal like I had and now was having to carry around like a growing foetus in my belly. I looked marsupial! Not a good look…for a very celibate and unpregnant girl.

What had filled me up? An off the charts Indian restuarant steps away from Covent Garden. Before catching the train, I had done my usual (and far too involved) planning for the outing. Where to meet, what time, where to go, what to see and VERY importantly…where to dine. I had mapped the whole day around the food stops (oh dear, is that sad?..hmm, but true). An optomistic planner, I usually have to cross off at least three items from my list. Of course I allow it all to go to pot when reality kicks in. It seems my mind does things a lot quicker than actuality. We did get to go to one place I wanted and I stumbled across a new street van I want to check out in the future..but whilst dragging my friend around, filling up his head with all my excitement and chatter, I spotted Sagar..three blocks from all the doings at Covent Garden. Upon entry I was greeted with a friendly smile and a VEGAN MENU. Sagar is a South Indian, vegetarian joint, and they have a whole menu just for vegans. Nice. My friend and I (he had no choice really but to give in to me) ditched our (my) plans and took a table by the window so we could people watch. After agonising between the marsala dosa and the pizza (Indian pizza? i know, this is London..this is fusion..this is progress). I chose the pizza, (Uthapam) out of curiosity (my, this girl is a reckless risk taker!).

The pizza came, along with my friends dosa and idli (steamed rice sponge) (not vegan…how selfish of him..or wise as I would have nabbed half!). The ‘pizza’ was a rice and lentil flour base (on my list to recreate) topped with delicious potatoes, onions & coriander (ciltrano) with gun powder chili. Amazing flavours. The sambal and coconut chutneys were..in a word..PERFECT. My friend allowed me to nick a very small (God! I told him it was for research purposes!) tearing of his dosa and man oh man, it was good, with a whiff of heat. I was stuffed. No room for (or energy after my marathon sightseeing programme) to go hunt down a cupcake or slice of something sweet. Sagar are excellent and the service and attention exceptional. The 2 entrees, 1 starter and a round of poppadoms under £19, right by the West End..this is incredible. If you know better..hey, tell me. At time of writing their www.gosagar.com was undergoing a rejig.

Other than eating we also went to the Glamour of the Gods photography exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery which has excellent portraits of Hollywood legends from the 1920’s to the 1960. I swooned unashamedly at a shot of Clark Gabel…’oh Ashley’, embracing some wilting starlet. I took a chance of a second viewing (I’d been week before) of the BP portrait awards..incredible talent..honestly, I’d love to watch one of the artists at work. Our outing also spotted a rave on the beach (thank God for low tide). London was dancing in the sun. Now you don’t get to read THAT very often.

street car I desired!

a retro roving cinema…there is a projector in the bulbous glass front deck

raving on the banks of the Thames river

Borough Market London Part 1 of a vegan’s detective work.

June 14, 2011 by India Leigh

‘Come on luv, get yer luverly apples… a bag for a paand’. ‘Aye lads, treat yer missis to a luuvlee bag a strawbs’…. Those Cockney barrow boys can ‘arf showt. Gordon Bennett, ones turned into a Londoner, fetch the butler and have him request the presence of ones elocution teacher..and don’t spare the horses!

As I was dashing through London the other day terribly late for an appointment and very keen to get there on time, I managed to somehow stretch time and uncover a little pocket of darling minutes and I utilized them to peek in on a few stalls at www.boroughmarket.org.uk. It’s famous for it’s artisan foods and crowds packed in like tofu mock sardines. I didn’t get to see all of the stalls but I spotted a few little gems.

One said gem was the The Honest Carrot….doff your cap…lovely girl baking up a storm for the love of veggie grub. To be perfectly honest I didn’t have the spare change to purchase as I’d used my piggy bank money for something else, but it all looked lovingly crafted.

Remember Mr Magoo, the vertically challenged teeny weeny fella with the bulbous nose and the tendency to bump into furniture? Wasn’t he fab?! well, this has nothing to do with him apart from the sharing of a surname. Sorry. BUT I can tell you about Mini Magoo (no relation! BECAUSE HE WAS A CARTOON) who is obsessed with museli. I tried her gluten free, oat free granuseli (see what she did there?…) and it was crunchy, sweet, chewy, running amok with flavour and I danced the can can in joy as I ate it. Nice.

Last but by no means least, I loitered for rather too long at this stall, scooping up more than my fair share of the MOLE POBLANO PASTE made by Cool Chile (bravo, what a lovely use of words!). It was thick, spicy…gonna kick your ass…just a tiny bit’… chocolatly greatness. I wanted me some but, but…right next to it was, rarer in the UK than leftovers at a vegan dinner party, TAMALE FLOUR. God I was TORN! After a little angst party thrown in the honor of the dilemma, the flour won. I love tamales more than life (please note use of vast exaggeration to replace the authors poor library of descriptive words and lazy attitude to source one via www.dictionary.com) and want to dedicate a basket in my freezer and a temporary home in my belly to them. I will definitely be dashing back, braving the crowds and the customary bruised ribs to return to the market with many ‘use again..love your planet’ bags to fill up. ‘Roll awt the barra….g

Part 2 will follow sometime or other, be patient, it is apparently a virtue.

VEGAN LONDON

May 30, 2011 by India Leigh

What a day! More fun than you can shake a stick at! LONDON DAY OUT!

Chosen Mission - FUN. CAKE. VEGAN.

First stop October Cafe, London’s 1st VEGAN tea shop. YES, a vegan tea shop. My beating heart! I had heard about the opening of this place whilst in California and I hot footed it here as soon as I had chance. Peter, the owner, a Dubliner nestled in London since 2001, was there in his waistcoated finery. Impressive! Suited and booted, as they say in London land.

Our sweet toothed, dapper host makes all his own cakes and pastries. He’d had a busy run and few cakes remained so I didn’t have chance to try his legendary, retro classic, Black Forest Gateau. It was lounging in the kitchen, waiting to be dressed and the baked cheesecake was cooling off, still in it’s tin. My mouth watered at the thought of the cheesecake so I pretended I wasn’t gluten intolerant and opted for that, over the Cream Tea, Parisian jammy dodger and Cup cakes. I sipped green tea out of my china tea cup, and soon dug into the towering (ok, slight exaggeration) blueberry cheesecake. It was sweetened to perfection, cloying, thick (in the way that good baked cheese cake is) and I rode widly on a sugar high that took me shore at my next stop….

Vx (pronounced V Cross). Also known as SSOV The Secret Society of Vegans. Vx is a great little shop with a tiny cafe downstairs. It had reclined on my ‘to visit’ list for ages. When I found out super Vegan STARLETT Sarah Kramer of ‘How it all Vegan’ & Vegan A Go Go was going to be there…I was on it. Quarry Girl & VEGAN BACKPACKER had stepped over the threshold before and I wanted in on the action. Now… lets talk chocolate eclairs VEGAN..Hello! I honestly didn’t hold out much hope for this stale looking creamy thing..But, BUT… it was GORGEOUS, the pastry was just like my mum used to make but VEGAN and the vanilla cream was totally DIVINE. I apologise for eating half of it before taking the piccy but I was impatient to gorge on it. A local vegan patissier makes the cakes ACCIDENTALLY VEGAN (genius!). They had a plate of chocolate Rolo’s, for us to sample, that AV had made and they were beyond superlatives!

After topping up the sugar load I went to the Vx Cafe to see Mrs Kramer. I thought I’d just say hi (not wanting to fall into the putting of a celebrity on pedestal trap) but Sarah and all the other people that gathered were so NICE and fun, I rooted myself in for a comfortable hour of happy chit-chat. Sarah is LOVELY, fun and vivacious. I adored her. She is full of the joys and it was nice to meet lots of fellow vegan foodie obsessives.

So passionate is this chica that she had this tattoo done to help her to remember her baking conversions. Way to go Sarah.

http://www.tattoozoo.net/ Copyright.

Melisser aka The Urban Housewife turned up to say hi too. What a love! It all became a bit of a tattoo fest and I felt quite naked with my body still the same as God made. Her tattooed sleeve below is the story of some of her travelling life….which has now taken her over to the VEGAN friendly Berlin. Hope to see her there one day soon. What a lovely way to pass the day…I just wish I could have whisked us all to a huge designer kitchen to hang out and make busy with some food.

Tattoo. The Urban Housewife .Copyright.

Iydea Brighton

February 10, 2011 by India Leigh

Sorry to be a typical English person and put the weather at the top of the agenda….. but with only one glorious day to be plucked from the sodden depths of a seaside winter I have been seeking comfort food. Nourishing, warm and tasty, that’s the Iydea.

Tucked away at the Northern end of the Laines in Brighton is a small vegetarian cafe called Iydea . It’s not huge, seating for about 30. The windows steam up from all the hot enticing dishes laying side by side in a hot cabinet. I’ve gone there nearly every day for their ‘To Go’ soups. Only £1.90. Filled to the brim in a recycled cardboard cup. I’ve been rendered a contented and full bunny by their daily soups. Roasted Jerusalem artichoke, parsnip, spinach and basil (my favourite)…topped with roasted seeds, carrot and ginger with a sprinkle of roasted carrot shavings and tomato and red lentil with a spoon of vinegared, grated beetroot on the top. Taking advantage of each lunch time that has kindly held back the flow of precipitation, I’ve sat on a bench nearby and people watched as I sipped these thick heart warming lovelies.

Speaking of lovelies…it fits the description of the staff to a T. All smiling sweeties…as diverse as their daily specials and guaranteed to leave you happy.

I also had a meal of their..’choose your own mains and salads’. Rasam…a curried lentil stew type thing..perfectly cooked and spooned over tummy loving brown rice, greens, and pumpkin and parsnip smash….v.v.good. Simple and good. Alas, no picture of this but below is the garlic roasted green beans, butter bean & carrot salad, Indian potato salad, carrot & parsnip mash and hummus…..They know their comfort food at Iydea.

Its a cafe and not a candle and waiter service type place but for the wallet/purse conscious, those in a hurry or those needing to be warmed by nourishing food when the Sun is playing hide and seek….it is a winner…and that’s without even telling you that at 4:30pm they put anything left in eco-friendly containers and sell it at a very pleasing price.

A Trip To The Coast Unearths An All Vegan Food Store

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