Fast Food Archives - A Vegan Obsession

Healthy Vegan Fast Food In San Francisco

August 26, 2015 by India Leigh

Healthy Vegan Fast Food In San Francisco.

Where to Eat Now

I was on a road trip recently with my new husband. Yes, for those of you that follow my blog.I got married in July to a wonderful American man!! We had a blissful wedding day in Ojai, California. Magical!

We were road tripping up to Oregon to my first nerve wracking meeting with some of his siblings and their children, and for my husband to enter a 13 mile uphill race. (Swoon). We stopped off in my much loved city, San Francisco in order to track down some healthy vegan fast food in San Francisco. Time pushed and road weary (7 hours driving…just to here) I was pulling him around the Mission excitedly showing him cafes where I had spent many hours writing..dragging him up Bernal Heights for a night view of the city and picking up morsels of vegan food along the way.

Project Juice has been raved about by me in the past. Situated midway up Valencia Street it is a filling and stop for healthy fast food and the antithesis of our unregulated in car crunchy snacking! We ordered the Macro Bowl, with ginger, sesame kale and roasted butternut squash, and the Spiced Lentil Wrap with a cashew-turmeric aioli which honestly was so incredible I could have eaten a bowl of the stuff with a spoon! Our food was incredible. Happy making. I like it when my intense love of food is shared! We washed it all down (so incredibly full now) with an Espresso smoothie, with super foods and fresh young coconut. It was good. Husband enjoyed it. But not being a coffee girl I must say my heart is still true to the Chocoholic smoothie! Project juice are in several Northern and SoCal locations. Recommended.

790 Valencia Street

San Francisco, CA 94110

Though I’ve spent many months of my life in San Francisco in recent years..I felt like a tourist with my husband by my side! We had to take photo’s with murals..it just wouldn’t be right not to!

It was not easy to pick only two vegan restaurants to feast in San Francisco. We only had a few hours and I had to narrow it down. My second pick was Seed & Salt. A personal favourite. I had attended their opening in winter 2014. Their menu is original, organic, vegan and totally gluten free and even processed sugar free. A dream!

We deliberated a while then settled for the chopped cobb salad with chickpea frittata and the beet burger. ONE of the wonderful benefits to having a husband is that you do not have to decide on one item from the menu. You can order two and SHARE. I know. Such a bonus. So we also plumped for the beet burger, made with beets, walnuts and mushrooms. Both came with a cashew ranch dressing. Both were good and filling.

2240 Chestnut Street

San Francisco, 94123

Despite our stomachs feeling fit to burst after our eating spree, and to sort of balance out all the healthy (though very delicious) food. We also devoured a bag of Wholesome Bakery spiced oat, cream filled whoopee pies. They are soft, chewy, cinnamony, creamy and jump and and down good. I once walked past their little catering kitchen in the Mission and stood at the closed door just inhaling. Yes, I did that.

Sorry. No pics!

I am hoping another trip up to San Francisco will not be too far away. I have many, many more restaurants for my new (and oh so lovely) husband to try with me.

Which is your favourite vegan place to eat in San Francisco?

M.O.B In Brooklyn. Avant-garde Pizza. A Tale Of Two Cities.

May 6, 2014 by India Leigh

MOB Brooklyn. Avant-garde pizza. A tale of two cites

I flew to New York last year. It was a long held dream of mine to visit the Big Apple. The iconic city definitely did not disappoint. I wrote about all my food adventures in NYC, but I left out this one. I wanted to visit Paris and see the other MOB and bring you both of them. This is the tale of MOB Brooklyn Avant-garde pizza. A tale of two cities.

M.O.B. was born in the mind of Cyril Aouizerate, over a 20 year period, while he was studying the works of Maimonides, a Spanish born Jewish philosopher, on the health benefits of various combinations of vegetables, fruits and spices. At that time he tells himself that someday he will try to make this philosophical text an ambitious project in bringing men together, regardless of their beliefs. And for their desire to, and belief of eating together. After finding the appropriate place for him to build his restaurant, Cyril founded M.O.B (Maimonides of Brooklyn).

It is set away from the hipster areas of Williamsburg and up and coming Bushwick. It gave me a good excuse to further explore Brooklyn. The neighbourhood circles a huge greenspace. Prospect Park may not have the fame of Central Park in Manhattan, but I actually preferred it as a place to get away from the craziness of the city.

I visited in the afternoon. Hungry from sightseeing and map reading. A cute Irish guy offered me a warm welcome, sat me down and brought me a tray of oven baked kale chips whilst I read the menu. Whilst it was a bit quiet inside, the lunch rush not yet taken hold, I thought the atmosphere was easy. I chose an MOB. Well, I couldn’t visit and not imbibe their namesake. The Iron Man. A generous topping of kale, shiitake mushrooms and a gorgeous horseradish aioli. All vegan. All gluten free. The base is made mostly of chickpea flour.

The MOB is baked in ovenware formed to the shape of the Brooklyn Bridge (nice touch). It was delicious. Generously topped and the base, though not like pizza, it had an almost cakey texture but it was good and it soaked up the aioli and the juices from the sauté perfectly. Filling too! I would definitely recommend eating at MOB when you visit Brooklyn. If you come to NYC, Brooklyn is a must. It has a totally different feel. Less frenetic than its island neighbour. I felt I could breathe here.

MOB Brooklyn

525 Atlantic Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11217, United States

Paris!! I was lucky enough to be in Paris a few weeks ago. I found MOB located in a great little spot right beside the Seine, in a building dedicated to design. However, not all things are created equal and when I asked for a gluten free MOB I was told, ‘this is Paris’, we do not do the same as Brooklyn. Disappointing.

However I was made to feel a little better by their eye catching ‘plastic animals in nightshade’. Yes, I am at times, easily pleased.

I had to go elsewhere to find vegan AND gluten-free food.

MOB Cite De La Mode

34 Quai d’Austerlitz

Paris, France

The Best Kebab in Berlin? Voner. A MeatFree Institution!

August 30, 2013 by India Leigh

Yes. Looks are not deceiving (not in this case anyhow) that is a kebab spit. And yes, this is a vegan blog. And yes, that is a vegan doner kebab.

Vöner (pronounced vooner…but then their V’s sound a bit like an English language F..so it might be more like ..fooner?! yes, I’m still confused too), is another vegan joint in Friedrichshain, Berlin.

I’d read so much about this place on Happy Cow, I had to try it out. The staff were quite friendly and the menu is in both German and English.

After a little ingredient checking I was to discover that, sadly, I couldn’t have the doner kebab as it is not gluten free but it looked so good. The burger, however, is gluten free, so I ordered that, along with fries and salad. They also had gluten free goulash which I sampled and was delicious, and standard fast food fair such as nuggets in addition to the doner and burgers. For afters they had squares of fudgey brownies.

A steady stream flowed in an out as I waited. It smelled so good in there. A lot of people were getting their orders to go. Watching all this food in front of me, I has so hungry when mine arrived. It was a generous portion. The burger was moist and quite ‘meaty’ (whatever that means..I guess I’d say it had the presence of umami). The salad was made up of crispy iceberg lettuce, toms, cucumber wedges and a little sprinkling of pumpkin seeds. The fries were dusted with chilli and were delicious. I also had fried onions as an extra. They had a peanut sauce,, a vegan cheese sauce, and a tahini sauce. All had gluten in from the soya sauce (please, start using wheat free tamari!), so I had lashings of chilli tomato sauce. I enjoyed it for what it was. Good, fast food. Great for when a junk food craving strikes.

Good for vegans, vegetarians, AND sure to be an eye opener for meat eaters.

I guess I liked it then!

Voner

Boxhagener Straße 56, 10245 Berlin

closest S-Bahn is Ostkreuz

closest U-Bahn is Frankfurter Allee

Best Burger In Berlin?

Totally Vegan Collective

Visiting Berlin

Veganz Sunday Brunch

Cafe Mortenrot - not just a good brunch!
Ohlala V Tartes Shop

Sun Day Burger - Markthalle 9 - Vegan Fast Food

August 18, 2013 by India Leigh

do i need to say anything or are these pictures enough?!

I’m here in Berlin to discover why vegans are sprouting up all over the city. Let the reviews and eating commence!
I grabbed my trusty bike, plotted a route and rode over the Spree river to taste a vegan burger from Sun Day Burgers. Everywhere seems to be hip in Berlin. I’m actually spoilt for choice. In truth a little overwhelmed. How am I going to experience it all. True Gemini style, I want to sit in every uber cool cafe, nibble every vegan cake. Argh, too much!! You really can’t go wrong in Berlin. It was certainly true of Martkhalle Neun where I found Sun Day Burgers. I felt the usual heart flutters of anticipation of trying something new. Ready to be disappointed, hoping to be met with ..

One generous bite into the crusty bun the flavours began to pop. I actually let out a satisfied moan as the trio of homemade sauces connected with my tastebuds.

Lilith Rudhart - Sun Day Burgers

Sun Day Burgers is owned by Lilith Rudhart, a vegan convert of only three years (2010). She gave up her acting career to run a food truck and weekly spot in the Market Hall. It makes her happy to be selling fresh, healthy, organic (and local) where possible, vegan, mostly gluten free and (breathe!) delicious vegan delights. Her (huge)burger rolls are from a local bakery (Bäckerei) Vollkern Backerei and are gluten free. She has a trio of homemade sauces. I couldn’t decide on one so I asked for all three. Chilli chipotle; mango chutney; and peanut-coconut. Holy Lord, of The Hand-held Dinner. It was worth the half hour ride and umpteen consulting of my already worn map, to get to Markthalle Neun!
The tofu is thinly sliced with a golden crust. It is nestled among a host of fresh, crisp salad, slices of beet, iceberg, alfa alfa sprouts, toms and thin cool cucumber. Is this possibly the best gluten free vegan burger ever?! That I can’t say but it’s certainly strutting it’s stuff on my ‘vegan besties’ list.

I was so full. So FULL! You may wonder how I had room for dessert. I wonder too. I caught the eye of one of the girls and pointed to the dessert cabinet at a slice of the Avocado Limentten Torte (Lemon). It was raw, made with, yep, you guessed it, avocado and fermented cashews. They’d prettied it with a dusting of pink, coconut sprinkles. The naughty raw almond cacao slice fluttered it’s eyelashes at me from the glass cabinet, too. I almost asked them to wrap it up ‘to go’ but I admonished it for flirting with me and went on my way. I’ve a LOT of vegan food to try in the next few weeks. I’ve got to keep my head (just)!

The girls at Sun Day Burgers were lovely too. Despite a hungry crowd and a long list of orders, they prepped with the zen calm of a orange-robed buddhist monk.

Hats off to all.

The place was packed. If I’d had a Euro for every bike locked up 4 deep in places, around the perimeter of the market..well, I would be very rich! It has a great atmosphere. Definitely a good place to hang out.

You can find Sun Day Burgers on Thursdays @ Markthalle9 Eisenbahnstrasse 42, in Kreuzberg,
& on Sunday in the Flohmarkt (flea market) am Mauerpark, 10997 Berlin

Makthalle 9 - Street Food Thursday 17:00-22:00pm

Visiting Berlin + Photos

Where to Eat Now

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