Category: Reviews

A serving of Squid & Whale

15/12/2014

After a rather laborious hunt around Glasgow for good APF Mexican food, we feel rather pleased with our latest discovery...

On Glasgow's Great Western Road, Squid & Whale is completely unassuming from the outside (it looks more like a dimly lit cafe) but when you make it inside, you see people littered around the bar, wooden tables and dj decks! As with many of Glasgow's venues, music is the anchor. As a bonus, it looks like Frida Kahlo did the decorating, and when you come to choose your tipple you'll have a serious case of choice anxiety: there are more than 50 beers and ciders on offer, and a particular specialisation in American craft lagers. If you are going for dinner, make sure you book!

There are clearly marked vegan options - go for the massive bowl of guacamole and tortilla chips, but share these, (and we never encourage sharing, but trust us, you'll need room for the main course!)

The vegan meals use a gorgeously flavoured seitan base (the Japanese term for what is essentially 'wheat meat' or 'gluten meat'). Seitan is made by washing the starch from wheat flour and then flavouring, and cooking, the mass that is left. For tofu-overexposed vegans, seitan makes a welcome break from soybean-based products, it really fills you up and it has that chewy, moreish texture that vegans crave but have generally chosen to sacrifice when going 'APF'.

There's a big 'grill plate' that could be shared between two people easily or tacos and fries. However, it's the burrito here that has got us, hook, line and sinker! It is bulging with guacamole, rice, salad and that all important seitan.

Wash it down with something strong from their extensive (and vegan-approved by the Gods at Barnivore) list and you've got yourself an amazing time - you'll be so happy with your meal, it won't matter if your date sucks!

Buen provecho!

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A real flyer: vegan fair at the Flying Duck

1/12/2014

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Funny what you can find in basements.

Tucked down a garbage alley and down some pink, painted stairs is the Flying Duck, part of the growing vegan empire of Stephen McRobbie. The Flying Duck has a speakeasy feel, and is certainly the most grungy of the four venues (Mono, Stereo, 78 and Flying Duck).

We visited as they were holding their quarterly vegan fair: small but perfectly formed, held in the back room which is a nightclub and music venue by night. As is the trend these days at any vegan fair, there were four cake stalls competing for our vegan pounds, together with a beauty stand and stalls from two local vegan collectives. All of course illuminated by disco lights! This lair was the perfect hideaway from the rainy, windy Glasgow outside.

Highlights for us were vegan beauty products where there is a real gap in the UK market, delicious cupcakes (always a weakness), a new Scottish handmade chocolate business and a Glasgow-based company selling fresh bottled vegetable juices.

Oh, and a delicious sweet chilli jam from Heathen Hawt Sauce, who are just starting to market products online.

1. New juice business Juice Warrior with fresh vegetable juices and almond milk in little bottles that remind us of milk bottles of the nurseries of yesteryear.

2. ConsiderIt is a new venture from Scottish entrepreneur Claire Baker. Delicious handmade chocolates and now a shop and cafe in Dunfermline. More on this next issue.

3. Vegan Beauty Box from The Vegan Kind.
This is a new line from the team behind the monthly Vegan treat box It comes every three months and costs £18. Favourite in this month’s box was the lip and cheek tint from B is for Beautiful.

4. The treats from Smashing Tarts were so popular that the champagne cake (Tipsy Vicky) had sold out by the time we were ready for our daily sugar hit. Fortunately for our sweet teeth there were some perky caramel cupcakes to keep us quiet after an afternoon of browsing.

We love seeing so many new vegan initiatives . It's not hard to see why Glasgow claims to be the most vegan- friendly city in the United Kingdom. Go Glasgow!

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Tapa in Glasgow

5/11/2014

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We couldn’t wait to check out Tapa Organic in Dennistoun, after all the rave reviews. It’s primarily an organic bakery, but it has a little cafe section and a sideline in vegan cakes and treats.

Dennistoun is very close to Glasgow city centre, but equally a world away. The high street is bursting with pawn shops and hairdressers, and the graceful golden tenements that dominate Glasgow are struggling to cope with years of under-investment in this eastern part of the city. It’s a characterful area that sits right on the fence between charming/bohemian and run-down.

We came for cakes and that may explain our mild disappointment at Tapa. The breads have garnered gold stars and gushing recommendations. We wanted cake and coffee.

The vegan offering was better than most cafes though slightly smaller than expected, and our choices were ginger cake, chocolate cake and cupcakes.

Let’s wax lyrical about the ginger cake first. The lady studiously attempting to focus on her Daily Record at the table next door couldn’t help but be distracted by our oohs and aahs as we savoured the delicious, super-gingery and fluffy slice of cake. We picked it wrapped from a fridge near the counter, so don't be hunting in the display cabinet!

We have to admit, we are suckers for chocolate cake - and when Tapa went above and beyond and turned it in to a vegan chocolate Victoria sandwich cake - we couldn't say no! Although a little on the dry side, the combination of chocolate, jam and sweet icing really ticked our boxes. But be warned, the sugar crash from the overly sweet icing might have you crying on your way to the gym! We would have preferred some vegan cream in this sandwich.

Next up was a pistachio-iced cupcake. This was a more standard offering, and we expect more from the humble cupcake. There is a tendency to over-compensate for a bland sponge centre by glooping on a layer of thick, sweet icing. You’ll be rushing and crashing after scoffing one of these cupcakes. But you may still have a cake craving.

The cafe area in Tapa is certainly small and, dare we say it, an add-on. This is a bakery, with some cafe tables, rather than a cafe bakery. Get your Tapa products at one of many stockists, but we would not make Tapa a destination in itself.

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Lunch at 78

21/10/2014

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Head out from the centre of Glasgow towards the wheeze-inducing hills of Kelvingrove Park, turn right down a nondescript street of Wimpey-style student apartments that could double as retirement flats and there you will stumble upon 78, the former home of Stereo and part of the music-themed vegan empire that is Mono, Stereo and 78.

This Scottish empire certainly has a student feel, and we wonder whether 78 will fail our pot plant test - fortunately it doesn’t, as the loos are very much 1950s public house!

78 is in fact a cross between your favourite village pub complete with fireplace, tall pine benches, and long bar, your great aunt's house pre-clearout with worn down paisley pattern velvet sofas and tapestry Queen Anne armchairs, and a student union with gig posters and sticky tables. 78 even has a corner bookshelf stacked with LPs and a wall frieze of old 78s.

Our mission was to test the claim that 78 does the best vegan lunch in town. Verdict: seriously yummy. Seriously. There was a list of tasty specials, and the bartender had such enthusiasm for the vegan quesadillas (with cheese that actually melted) that we wondered whether she would explode with glee.

The special burger was indeed special, although we had a nagging feeling we should have gone for the quesadillas. Who cares, though. We'll certainly be back. Our burger was deliciously creamy and combined sweet potato and chick pea with a hint of curry powder and cinnamon. It was juicy, and a far cry from the standard dry vegan patty of chickpea and carrot. Top marks. It was excellent.

If we had a tip for improvement it would be to drop the hummus. The chef clearly had such anxiety about the burger being dry that our already juicy and flavoursome burger had a thick layer of hummus on top. Not necessary.

After lunch, and unable to move mid-food-induced-coma, we settled in for coffee and cake. What a treat! This was just about the best vegan chocolate cake we've tasted. Fluffy and cake-like rather than the usual dense slab of carob, which tastes of self-raising flour as someone has vainly tried to conquer the laws of vegan cakery with baking soda. This proper cake was light and heavy with the taste of chocolate, laid on a bed of vegan cream.

Your teatimes and your waistlines will never be so full, and all for £4. If anything, the hot chocolate was too sweet, but we were less concerned. We were smothered in chocolate.

It was the perfect accompaniment for the curious teatime scene that followed, as a pigeon flew into bar, no doubt trying to get in on the scrumptious food action, and a curly-haired student tried to chase it out. You're slap bang in the middle of student central here, and presentation and service could certainly have been a little more tip-top. This is grunge rather than fine dining, and there was a whiff of 70s pine. However, the shabby chic won through, even with the bonus pigeon, and this can rightly claim to be modern vegan/trendy rather than outdated 70s ratatouille and watery stodge. Of all the places in this burgeoning vegan empire, this is the one to watch.

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Voted best UK vegetarian restaurant

16/10/2014

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In a slightly off-the-beaten-track part of Glasgow city centre, in an 80s yellowish brick and light blue steel enclave that could have been lifted straight from a Milton Keynes superstore, lies Mono. Welcome to the UK’s Best Vegetarian Restaurant for the 2nd year running.

Given the accolades, we thought it was time we checked it out.

On the plus side, Mono is 100% vegan, so you can genuinely order every item on the full menu without having to beg that cheese is left off (and then send the dish back when the well-meaning waiter forgets). Four brewing vats welcome you as you enter. Another plus: a vegan microbrewery producing its own ginger beer. It would be even better with vegan craft beer, but perhaps licensing doesn’t permit that.

The biggest plus though: pizza. How many times have you wanted pizza, and had to restrain yourself for fear of being served desiccated flatbread with a thin layer of tomato paste, some limp basil and a burnt crust? For, as you experienced vegans know, that is your destiny when you order a Margherita without mozzarella.

Fear no longer. The pizzas we had were plump, doughy comfort food with tasty fresh vegetables, a thick layer of tomato sauce and garlic cream cheese. The purist might complain that they were not pizzas, as the base was more doughy loaf than thin crust, but these tick the craving boxes for vegans. As it was a Monday, we had two for a tenner, which eased the pressure on the Extraveganza coffers. The falafel sandwich was more standard, and could easily have been less interesting, but was in fact excellent. A staple it may have been, but it was made to perfection and wowed us.

The vibe of Mono is definitely sixth-form-cum-community-centre. It has a second-hand record store to one side, a book shop on the other, a central, raised seating area with beaten-up sofas, and a restaurant area with pine tables and benches. The serving area has a rollup shutter that screams university bar.

The university resonance doesn’t stop there either. There’s a disco on occasional Sundays, and a full gig calendar throughout the year. You’ll be transported back to Freshers’ week, and wonder whether you’re going to end up in a strange room after a night of vodka shots. The Sunday gigs may challenge your eardrums, so don’t think this a place to take the family for Sunday lunch as you introduce them to veganism.

We do like Mono, and we’ll definitely be back (in fact we’ve already visited twice). It has a clear Bohemian charm. However, the fact that this restaurant has beaten off all competition to be voted best vegetarian restaurant of the year shows that we still have a long way to go if vegans and non-vegans alike are to get the same dining-out experience.

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A serving of Squid & Whale

A real flyer: vegan fair at the Flying Duck

Tapa in Glasgow

Lunch at 78

Voted best UK vegetarian restaurant

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