A Vegan Girl goes to London!

And by vegan girl, I don’t mean me.  I’ve traveled through Europe (including East Germany back before the wall fell), as well as South America and three trips to Haiti, all before I became vegan.  I’ve only traveled within the States since then, so I decided to enlist friends of the podcast and blog to report back on their vegan vacation experiences.  @inkbison (aka Gina) who came up with the brilliant title The Market Vegan for my very first cookbook and a resident of Guernsey (home of the “ebook enabler”) recently visited London.  As soon as I discovered her pending trip, I enlisted her as a roving vegan reporter for the blog! Gina kindly send the following regarding her experiences in London.  Let’s hope vegans off to see the Olympics this summer have as good an experience as she did! (Gina also uses the word “whilst” which is always a win in my book.)

Travelling away from home… time to Google Vegan eateries!

Guernsey does not have any specialist vegetarian restaurants let alone vegan diners. So with a trip to London comes 3 course vegan treats : )

Traveling and finding vegan snacks can be difficult.  With Marks & Spencer’s super food salads we were able to find a healthy, nutritious and convenient vegan lunch.  There is a wide range of salads that include lots of beans and lentils, vegetables, rice, couscous, nuts and more with tasty seasoning and not a lettuce leaf in sight! (I don’t have anything against lettuce but when looking for a substantial lunch its nice to see salads with more imagination).

Whilst at King’s Cross station, we found a new “natural” fast food place called Leon, offering wheat free, dairy free and vegetarian food. The side dishes are vegan and perfect for eating on the go.  They include Herb Slaw, Saucy beans, superfood salad (though note to state no cheese).  We opted for the lattice style paprika fries with hummus.

For our evening meal we booked a table at Labibela Ethiopian restaurant.  The menu has lots of vegetarian options (no dairy) and are delicious with the traditional injera flat bread.  A great choice as delicious vegetable stews and plenty of lentils for protein.

Couldn’t go to London without visiting a Veggie restaurant.  We decided upon Mildred’s in Soho (serving both vegan and vegetarian dishes).  It is wonderful to have lots of choice and though very filling we could not resist the desserts.  I had the roasted artichoke crostini with lemon aioli, a main course of aubergine and chickpea tagine followed by chocolate and raspberry torte with soya cream.  Hubby had hummus and baba ganoush with flat bread, mushroom and ale pie with peas and chips followed by fruit crumble and soya cream.  All washed down with vegan wine and cider.

Our hotel offered a filling vegetarian cooked breakfast of Portobello mushrooms, aubergine, courgette, grilled tomato – we replaced the free range egg with homemade baked beans.  They had soya milk for our tea and soya margerine for our toast.  They also had a selection of fruits and soya yogurts.

London is definitely one of the easier places to visit as a vegan… certainly not returned home any lighter!

Thanks Gina!  Look for more vegan vacation experiences in our series from roving vegan reporters this summer.