Deptford High Street. 

A Poundland. 

A handful of Thai restaurants.

And The Waiting Room. 

A small, unassuming cafe the likes of which you'd find in Hoxton, is, it seems, paving the way for a 'new Deptford'...

It’s named “The Waiting Room”, with perhaps unintended irony, as that's exactly what you'll find yourself doing - waiting. Service is measured and slow. But that's the point. It's as though time stands still in this cute cafe.

And as time slows, you can take in the quirky decor of distressed wood, sarcastic scribbles on the wall and a menu written in fridge magnets. Sarcasm is, so we were told by the wonderful staff, a speciality, to be served daily with your decaf.

Substantial lunch choices of Brick Lane beigels, sandwiches and burgers. And milkshakes to die for. We indulged in the V.L.T. Which is not for the faint-hearted, as our friends at the Waiting Room are not afraid of dishing out generous dollops of their dairy free mayo...

Anywhere that gives us this many options (vegan, vegetarian, soya, decaf, cupcakes, flapjacks, brownies) can't be bad. And it's almost just as much fun watching the array of customers who congregate here.

Spotted: a chatty man waiting for his double shot espresso who systematically asked everyone in the queue how their day was (maybe the extra caffeine is a bad idea?) and a glamorous goth with her vegan lap dog (yes, really!)

Go, sit, wait, eat, enjoy.

PS While you're there, get yourself snapped with the Chippendale look-alikes!

There are not many things that will get us up before 11am on a Sunday morning, when we should be having a well-earned lie-in, catching up on repeats of Come Dine With Me or putting on Netflix for a Suits-athon. But this Sunday morning was special. So special in fact that, in another part of the country, Mike had earlier pulled himself off Canal Street at 4am, showered, slept briefly, and jumped on the 7am train from Manchester. It made our 30-minute trundle on a worse-for-wear Northern Line train pale into insignificance.

What could have us disrupting our weekend routines? Simple. A date with Melissa. She rocked up (literally rocking, in her 1950s attire) in her bunch skirt, polka dot headscarf and bright red lipstick, flanked by her tattooed and blacknailed sidekick Phoebe. Who were these mysterious women?

We were of course in the presence of the fabulous Ms Cupcake, and her general manager, and, while we could be forgiven for thinking we were to be extras on the remake of Grease III The Old Street Years, were in fact in the hallowed halls of the Central London Cookery School, about to start Ms Cupcake’s day-long vegan baking class.

Of course, you exclaim. That’s why we left the house so early. Very few things get between a sweet-toothed vegan and her treats.

Let’s face it: it is not beyond the realms of possibility for  6 chocolate and vanilla-iced cupcakes, 4 giant caramel sugar biscuits and an entire 9" double layer Victoria sponge cake to be devoured in under 24 hours by a cake-starved vegan.

As beginners to the vegan baking scene, we were slightly nervous about attending Ms Cupcake's full-day vegan baking class. Followers of our twitter feed (@ukextraveganza) may recall the coconut scone disaster, and previous attempts at vegan baking have often involved recipes that required a minimum of 25 exotic ingredients, half of which we could not pronounce and half of which were not available in Waitrose or Planet Organic!

However, after our day with Ms Cupcake, we were changed beings. Our experience showed us that vegan baking can be simple, fast, extremely delicious and even more fun than 'normal' baking (probably due to the fact that Melissa and Phoebe are amazing and there was so much edible glitter everywhere we felt that a unicorn might appear at any moment). If we had a criticism, it was that even we, lovers of indulgence, were surprised at quite how much sugar and fat went into a cupcake. However, so long as you don’t live on cake alone, you’re allowed the occasional blow-out.

We kicked off our day meeting the other vegan baking enthusiasts. A full array including a Slovenian vegan (a Slovegan!?), a vegetarian from Manchester (a Manchetarian?!), an owner of a London vegan restaurant, and a bakery-owning mother with a son with an egg allergy!  

Melissa and Phoebe demonstrated, step-by-step, each of three recipes (cupcakes, sponge and cookies) that we were to learn on the day, and also threw in some top tips on perfecting vegan baking, and some product substitutes that we could use to adapt the recipes to fit our free-from diet.

Our favourites tips of the day: (a) when you need tea and biscuits, go for Jammie Dodgers and Bourbon Creams (both APF)! (b) as an egg substitute, you can use apple cider vinegar to curdle soy milk (eww!) as well as mashed banana and fruit juice (c) when you’ve messed up on your icing creation (pretty likely, we think), take a handful of chopped nuts and roll your creation in those: voila, a nutty surprise that looks like you planned it that way!

Oh, and next time you pass Carluccio’s and automatically start salivating at their meringues as big as your head, buy some Orgran’s No Egg (http://www.orgran.com/products/174/) and get whipping and folding. It works just as well and makes gluten-free vegan meringues to rival old Antonio’s! These girls really know it all when it comes to free-from!

What really surprised our cold London hearts was how willing Melissa was, and is, to offer business advice and support to blossoming bakers and entrepreneurs. Ms Cupcake's mission is to spread veganism, and so for her, the more the merrier.

And being schooled by such cool-looking chicks who looked more like they belonged to a rock or punk band than arguably the most successful vegan bakery in London confirmed what we knew: sexy, cool veganism is on the rise. And it’s much easier than it looks. Like we say: free from, it’s simple!"

We recently hightailed it (well, in so far as you can 'hightail' it in London, meaning we battled the crowds on two tubes and an overground train!) to Olympia for this year's Allergy and Free From Show. Thanks we should say to those kind folks at the Vegan Society and VDelicious

What a great show it was. There are some amazing options out there - milks, magazines, marshmallows and much in between, from a new generation of merchants who are innovative and more in-tune with the demands of the modern vegan. A quick survey among returning exhibitors confirmed what our instincts told us as we surveyed the queues at each stand: numbers of visitors were definitely up on last year. So, extraveganzans, we are slowly growing in numbers and strength...

This show was a great treat for both of us - options and alternatives that are Extra and Vegan friendly, and a testament to the exciting, new things happening in the UK.

Now for our top picks of the show ...

Good Health Box (www.goodhealthbox.com)

We are so glad this trend has come to the UK. Make your own box of treats or opt for an in-house creation, with a rolling subscription or buy-as-you-go. What set this company apart from competitors are the larger goody boxes you get (= more treats) and a range of products that we genuinely have never seen before in shops (and you know we’ve seen a lot!) If you find yourself always resorting to syrupy snacks at your desk, then just order in the Vegan Box, or for your dairy-allergic child there’s the Youth Box too.

Part-time Carnivore ( http://www.parttimecarnivore.org )

Extra loved this non-profit and found a kindred spirit in Pete, co-Founder of Part-Time Carnivore. This movement starts with an online pledge to have meatless days in your week, and connects you with other Part-Time Carnivore teams. You can create your own group, or join with others, all around the world. Currently, there are 2656 members who have pledged in 37 teams worldwide, making efforts to reduce meat consumption not only better for the environment, but also a friendly competition. It’s a fun accessible website that you should shove in the face of all your meat-eating non-vegan-believers!

Mozzarisella on Venice Bakery pizza base ( www.venicebakery.co.uk )

Now we think pizza is just about the hardest AFP food item to get right. Where is the cheese that doesn’t taste like styrofoam? And we often crave a hot slice of margherita pizza, dripping in cheese. So when we stumbled on this stall, with not only that but also a base that is gluten free too, well, let’s just say there weren’t many samples left when we finally walked away from the table! We love these people, and the only problem we see is the pounds we'll be putting on. All the team were super-friendly and passionate about their product so it was a nice place to hide when the crowds got to us. Didn’t hurt that their product was quite so fantastic.

Trina’s Delicacies ( trinasdelicacies.com )

There's a new baker on the block! Fun and sweet, and that’s just Trina! Her cupcakes and cakes (including gluten-free options) are made-to-order in her kitchen in Brixton (you can track her and her cakes down every Saturday morning in Brixton market). These cakes have lots of delicate flavours and delicious jam-filled centres. Totally yummy for your tummy. We still love you Ms Cupcake, but wow is there some Brixton competition!

Amy's Kitchen ( www.amyskitchen.co.uk )

Thank you for cooking, Amy! And thank you for now selling your products in the UK (available online, or in Wholefoods, Planet Organic and Tesco from September)!

Ready meals for a lazy night in: get in your pjs and scoff down our favourite, Chinese noodles & veggies in a creamy cashew sauce. Although, don't think that the others weren't a close second. These ready meals have all the naughty comfort food feeling you want, and they're vegan. We're sure you'll be popping down to Planet Organic to try the vegan burger and Spanish stew. 

Since our mantra is 'Free from. It's simple.' We really enjoyed the opportunity to meet and eat with people who want the same thing for themselves and their lives.

Sunday is a day for decadence, and what better way to be decadent than indulging your sweet tooth. Off we went to Manna in Primrose Hill with the sole intention of eating as many sweet things on the menu as we could find.

Manna is an interesting place: like the other small chic restaurants in Primrose Hill, you know it's going to be elegant and a treat. And chic at a price. Go with your parents or a rich aunt, so that you can overlook the £8 pricetag for desserts.

Having ordered the top half of the dessert menu, we settled in for a lazy graze. The table behind us noisily complained that they wanted more light, so we were left in our own little backwater (note to visitors to Manna - if you want light, ensure you are not seated in the rear alcove where you will have wood and William Morris-esque floral wall prints for company) to savour the flavours.

Whereas the usual complaint at vegan restaurants is that the main dishes are acceptable, but the desserts are the nadir, at Manna the converse is true. Mains can be slightly too earthy and 1970s in their presentation, but the desserts were tip-top, in the Gate restaurant league.

The semifreddo was perfect for that summer's day - the cold and soft of the creamy vanilla ice-cream with the hard chocolate biscuit chunks. We could have eaten another three right then and there.

The raw mojito tart is creamy, indulgent and feels like snuggling into your warm comfy clean bed after a hard day.

Of the four that we tried, the sticky toffee pudding was the most disappointing. The sponge was dry, and suffered from the disease of all vegan cake, namely a lack of plump fluffiness. It was dense and no amount of coconut ice cream (which was, we admit, pretty scrumptious) could compensate for the dry and dense sponge.

Our final assault on the senses was a cheesecake. It had a slightly familiar, soy vegan aftertaste but it had a delicious texture and was topped with a berry compote. 8 out 10 from us.

No doubt egged on by the delicious puddings (three out of four ain't bad), we rounded the meal off with a takeaway portion of petits four. They are advertised on the menu as being available for sale, so we were a little surprised to get them packaged in a disposable burger carton.

The contents were, sadly, as bland and disappointing as their packaging. The small biscuits were brittle and under-sugared, having a texture of french toast and a taste somewhere between rusk and Rich Tea.

Among the dessicated cargo of biscuits were four delicious coconut truffles, but by that stage we were wallowing in despair at the toothcracker biscuits. Guess that will teach us for being greedy!

In spite of our mild gripes, this is a definite favourite for pudding. It's a shame they don't have afternoon tea, as the puddings eclipse the main courses. Get there when that sugar and cream craving needs a good beating.

Tucked away next to Central St Martins, amidst the cranes and rising concrete of the revamped Kings Cross, is the Grain Store, a beautiful restaurant in a converted warehouse. Ravers who used to congregate here at Bagleys and the Cross would be struck at the change.

You might struggle to find this restaurant, but once inside you'll be glad you persevered. It is spacious, light and well-decorated, blending the industrial charm of the building with eclectic modern touches. It feels like somewhere for elaborate cocktails in expensive outfits, and there's a bar area at the front for just that.

We applaud the fact that their menu has at least one APF (Animal Product Free) starter, main course and dessert, which frankly is a rarity in London. If you're anything like us, and get swamped in indecision and want to order absolutely everything on the menu, then a barrier to choice anxiety is far from a bad thing.

Our criticism is that if you're going to try and appeal to vegans who are bored with bland, vegetarian mush, then you need to ensure that your dishes are carefully thought out and not simply vegetarian options with the dairy on the side. The main course of chilli with vegetables and wild rice was neither spicy nor that satisfying, for our £11.50. Its presentation was cute and the wild rice crunchy and salty but as it was the only APF option on the menu and advertised with sour cream, we expected something specifically APF rather than being told that the vegetarian parts came as side dishes, and so we could simply leave them on the side. Chill with rice and sour cream became vegetables and rice.

We hoped things might improve for dessert. The APF dessert option sounded innovative and tempting: kaffir lime and coconut tapioca. We could see kaffir lime being zingy and refreshing on a hot summer day, but perhaps it was the lack of London heatwave that left us feeling slightly let down.

We are however ever optimistic. The staff were helpful and happy, and the decor is a delightful change from the usual dour surroundings of a vegan cafe. Our veggie dining friends did have, so we were told, delicious main courses. So we just seemed like 'difficult, hard to please vegans' once again. *Sigh* Not our intention!

We'd love to come back, and will when there are some more APF options on offer which are specifically created as APF dishes rather than being afterthoughts.