Vegan Restaurant Experiences..

[Blueshark]

Since I have moved up to Yorkshire I have been making an effort to try out vegan friendly restaurants.

My favourite two so far are:

1. The Veggie Café , Ilkely (http://www.theveggiecafe.co.uk/)

I have been here twice, but the most memorable experience was when I visited it early one Saturday morning. I treated myself to :

Full Veggie Breakfast V £6.95
2 sausages, grilled vine tomato, portabella mushroom,
Vegetarian black pudding, sautéed potatoes, baked beans
Eggs - fried, poached or scrambled, toast Tea or coffee

Instead of eggs I had an extra sausage.

The food was really delicious, and the staff were very friendly. I was chatting with the owner, and he let me know that they were having poetry readings that day. I like that...if I am in a chilled mellow mood. The other waitress was lovely and we chatted about meditation and yoga. I was using the ol' Blueshark charm ;).

The other restaurant which was beautiful was:
2. El Piano, York. (http://www.el-piano.com/)

I was wondering around York...and I kinda arrived at the Piano...as if guided by the vegan gods :rock:

I had the Granada Chai coffee ...which was amazing. It was kinda of a milky, spicy, sweet coffee - I ordered two!

To eat I had the Kofta - spicy soya meatballs with a coconut sauce - with rice. DELICIOUS!!! :nanakiss:

I had some tea and juices...great place.:cheer:

[Blueshark]

Doesn't the menu (http://www.el-piano.com/IMAGES-PDF/UK-June%202010.pdf)make your mouth water..:cloud9:

[ChenLi]

I'm gonna copy and paste the reviews I did on my own forum:

http://www.thegarden-oxford.co.uk/

We went there on Saturday. A nice little pub located in a housing area. I had Wild Mushroom Pie and veg and it was lovely, as did one of the omnivores I was with. They really liked it. And my dad had the vegetarian mexican platter which he said was lovely.

Overall the place is fully vegetarian kitchen food wise as the actual restaurant part is called "The Garden". The pub bit isn't guaranteed veg*n though (the ales, nuts etc). Things that are vegan have a (v) beside on the menu or (vo) for vegan option.

Overall, really enjoyed it. I recommend.

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Food For Thought

A small, and I do mean small, probably could only cater for 30 people max, restaurant near covent garden is a good restaurant for veg*ns who want a quick meal. It also has a take away menu. When I was there I had a very lovely stir fried noodles dish (also finished everyone elses), and for dessert I had apple and pear crumble - YUM. It was so nice my mum, and my friend (both omni's) loved it. Mum loved it so much that she bought the recipe book from Food For Thought for the crumble recipe. The recipe book consists of veg*n recipes, and is split up into vegetarian and vegan sections, and costs £10. It has all the recipes used in the restaurant.

31 Neal Street, London, WC2H 9PR Map
Nearest Tube: Covent Garden
Cuisine: Vegetarian
Telephone: 0871 3328808

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This, although very expensive and very omni-orientated restaurant, serves vegan food aswell. And the head chef takes special care in providing for any vegan customers. For example, my dessert, which is originally vegetarian as it has ice cream and honey on it, but can be made vegan was made by one of the chef's with honey on it, so the head chef made them make it again. The soya ice cream with the vegan version is also made there, fresh. As is the evil ice cream (cows milk). They ran out of soya milk making the soya ice cream for my dessert, so they offered me rice milk for my tea, instead. He also gave me a vinegar and black olive oil dip for my bread and he made sure that the bread was vegan too.

The food at craggan mill is very "posh" (well, it is to me), and sometimes a bit on the rich side. We had brocolli fried in batter with a sauce dip au'derves, red onion soup for starter, spinach risotto for main and I had a hot mixed fruit dish with soya ice cream for dessert.

Address: Grantown-on-Spey
Moray
Scotland
PH26 3NT
Tel: 01479 872288 Fax: 01479 873200

Website: Craggan Mill

Be warned though, with Craggan Mill, you have to book in advance as it isn't a particularly big restaurant.

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"Mountain Cafe" in Aviemore, which certainly is very good for vegans. They have "vg" sign next to choices on the menu that can be vegan. They have soya milk and butter, soya milkshakes, and even some vegan home-made cakes!...Yum Yum. They do the most wonderful Vegan Breakfasts, aswell. Also, the cafe uses fairtrade goods. Definately worth a visit if you're ever in the Inverness region of Scotland. Said cafe also caters for gluten-free diets and various other food allergies. Also, Mountain Cafe tends to be busy all the time, so you may have to wait a while for a table.

Address: Mountain Café
111 Grampian Road
Aviemore
PH22 1RH
tel - 01479 812 473

Website: Mountain Cafe (http://www.mountaincafe-aviemore.co.uk/)

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Still need to write a review for veggieworld.

[Ayashi Foxtail]

My local is the Rainbow Cafe, Cambridge UK. It's a little difficult to find if you don't know where it is because you have to walk down an alley to get to it so you could easily walk past, and it is a little expensive, but food is nice :) stuff labelled vegetarian, vegan and gluten free.

[ChenLi]

Rainbow Cafe does lovely food. Only been there once though.

[Gliondrach]

If you know of any vegan restaurants that might want to be included in a directory, or any restaurant that offer vegan dishes, please pass this on to them so they can be included on a high traffic site:

http://www.bestveganguide.com/vegan-restaurants-guide.html