Ta Da! More from London.
I was staying in a hotel with only a kettle, so I bought myself a bowl and spork and tried to enjoy my picnics on the floor. I got these things from the WholeFoods/Fresh'n'Wild in Soho.
My breakfasts - coffee and a Laura's muesli/tofu/strawberries pot - it was delish.
I loved this place - Ha Ha Veggie Bar in Camden Lock Market. Everything was vegan except the cheese, and it had some rocking vegan mayo. My friends Jess and Lachie ate too - we had felafels and burgers (with seedy handmade veggie pattie on a wholemeal roll) which were made when we ordered them by a lovely guy.
Ha Ha Veggie Bar: Camden Lock Market, Chalk Farm Road, Camden, London NW1.
From Planet Organic - a forgettable Laura's Sunball (sticky icky sweetness) and a really godawful sandwich - dry crumbly bread, dry beetroot, a swish of hummus and a real waste. Boo!
Some real junk (but good junk) ... RedVeg Burgers in Soho. Most things - burgers, fried, felafels, hot dogs - can be made vegan. The best thing about it is that it is a real fast-food style burger (if that's what you're after) - soft bun, textured dark brown pattie sans lentils or tofu, a bit o' lettuce, tangy mayo - but with coriander. The fried look like Macca's (good or bad - you decide!) and come in an open top cardboard cone.
Two things annoyed me about RedVeg. As the name implies, the shop is festooned with images of Che Guevara and Lenin, which I found a bit disturbing. I was uncomfortable with the conflation of veganism with controversial far-left figure, even if in a wry, trendy Soho way. It seemed like a) a blunt marketing tool, and b) a good way to continue the "veggie eating commie hippie" stereotype.
The second thing that got my goat was that the vegwursts and hotdogs were listed as vegetarian on the instore flyer, but vegan on the board above the counters. In a vegetarian shop this is not on.
You might note that the packaging changes from red to blue to red - ahh, EagleEyes, it is indeed form two different meals, carefully selected by your guide to demonstrate the wrapped, closed and open versions. The red versions had hickory sauce - sweet, smokey, real Down South ma'am.
RedVeg: 95 Dean Street, London, W1D 3TB.
Sheese from World Vegan Day. Meh. (Actually, the smoked cheddar was good enough for me to cart all the way home, so that was preemptive. The rest of it still didn't ring my bell though).
2 comments:
Ahh, your photos of London make me miss it so much! I lived there in 2003 and then 2005-2007. God, I'd forgotten about those vegan calzones from Fresh & Wild... I was kind of in love with them!
Anyway, I found your blog the other day (when I was trying to find out about the organic shop on Flinders St it popped up in Google) - it's been great for me to look through and get ideas of places to buy vegan produce in Melbourne, as I only recently moved here from Sydney. I'll definitely continue reading!
Oh cool! I love London and have been visiting since 2000, but wish I could live there. My favourtie was the little muesli pots with tofu.
I'm really glad you've found the blog useful; I'm not really much of a cook so a lot of my blogging relates to my best talent - shopping!
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