Eating Out - The Basement

I've been eating at The Basement in Edinburgh for years, so I was really happy to see a dish marked vegan added to their menu. The restaurant does serve a lot of vegetarian food, so it's never been that difficult to alter dishes in the past, but it is good they are finally recognise veganism properly.

This is the three bean chilli served in a roasted butternut squash bowl with rice, and it was delicious especially when you have a mojito along with it. If you're there then I would also recommend getting some guacamole to start with because the lovely staff make it fresh at your table and what's not to love about that.

So if you're looking for a Mexican to try with some good vegan food on the menu then The Basement is the definitely worth a try. Hopefully we'll see some vegan starters and desserts added to the menu soon too.

Eating Out - Treacle

Sometimes you have the best intention of going to the gym at lunch until your friend suggests going to Treacle for food instead. I've been going to Treacle for the past few years, but lately it seems like they've been adding more vegan options to the menu including a banana, salted caramel and coconut cream pie!!!

I opted for this delicious vegan sandwich for lunch.

The banh mai was filled with roast cauliflower, radish, cashews, zucchini and red chili glaze. It also came with a mug of hand cut chips. It really was delicious, although I did struggle to bite into it without the filling going everywhere.

The only downside in Treacle's menu is that a lot of their vegan options contain honey. I know there's some vegans who don't have a problem eating honey, but most of us don't eat it. We're not being picky about it. It's just not something we would eat. However Treacle will serve dishes without honey, so we can't hold it against them too much. I ordered crispy bean curd with spiced red pepper guac and no honey a few weeks ago, and it was really good.

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Eating Out - The Wheelhouse

The Wheelhouse in Falkirk was probably one of my favourite restaurants when I lived through there, and I even went for a graduation meal all those years ago. I've not been back since going vegan, so I wasn't sure how many options would be available. I emailed the restaurant during the week, and got a nice email back outlining what they could offer me. When I arrived today, the waitress went through all the dishes which could be altered so they were vegan, and the kitchen even offered to make me tempura veg for a starter which wasn't on the menu.

I decided to go with the vegetable and black bean enchilada with tomato sauce, jambalaya rice and salad. The original dish comes with cheese on the top, but it's vegan if you order it without any.

So if you're looking for vegan food in Falkirk, then The Wheelhouse is a great place to go.

Eating Out - Steak, Cattle & Roll

Is this not just the most epic vegan burger you have ever seen?

It's all down to Steak, Cattle & Roll who are really starting to make their mark on vegans in Glasgow, and those willing to travel to Glasgow to taste the burger that everyone is talking about right now. I really like to go to restaurants where all the food is vegan, but it's great to have places like this that my meat eating friends can enjoy too. 

The vegan burger comes with mayo, slaw and the best vegan mozzarella I've ever tasted. I'd also heard great things about their milkshakes, so I figured it was only right to try one.

I opted for the maple mocha shake with kraken rum. Not only was it delicious, but it was also the first milkshake I've ever had. I've only been vegan for two years but I've never liked milk, so always assumed I wouldn't like milkshakes. After trying this one though, I'm going to be ordering vegan milkshakes whenever I find them from now on.

The thing I really liked about Steak, Cattle & Roll is that the staff were great. I wish I could remember the name of the man that served us, but he went through all the vegan options with me and kept coming over to check if everything was okay. Just as we were about to leave, a woman who I think was the manager came over and we had a chat about how great the vegan burger is going down with people.

If you're in Glasgow, then you definitely check out Steak, Cattle & Roll for a vegan burger like you've never had before. 

Eating Out - Las Iguanas

Okay, so technically Las Iguanas isn't a vegan or even vegetarian restaurant, but they do a specific menu for those of us who don't eat meat. There's nine vegetarian main courses on the menu, and five of them can be adapted so they are suitable for vegans. There's also a wide range of starters and side dishes, and there's puddings on the menu too.

I chose the Chilli Con Verduras which was made with sweet potato, butternut squash and chickpeas with spiced tomatoes, spring onion rice, and pink pickled onion. It's usually served with sourced crème and tortillas, but the dish becomes vegan if they miss them out.

Since they had desserts on the menu that I could eat which is practically unheard of at a restaurant that's not primarily vegan, I had to have one. I went for the Tembleque which was a creamy coconut pudding with mixed berries and mango puree. I think I managed to finish it within about 10 seconds because it was that good.

The restaurant also had some great cocktails, some of which were only £3.90. So if you're vegan and going out for food with non-vegan friends, then Las Iguanas is definitely a good shout for somewhere to eat.

Eating Out Vegan Style: Wholefoods Food Haul

I'm still working on some other posts about life, but I wanted to try and get back into the swing of posting every Sunday, so I have a little food haul post below.

I went to Wholefoods on Saturday to see if I could find some nice vegan food. It's a bit of a trek from Edinburgh, but it was worth it to get hold of some good things to eat that I can't always find in Edinburgh.

I found a few things I'd eaten before like the Tofurky slices and the Fry Family nuggets, but most of the things I bought were new. I got a little too excited about finding frozen acai for my smoothies, and I also found my favourite nut butter too. The only thing I couldn't find was purple sweet potatoes which I thought I might have been able to find.

I stupidly forgot to take a picture of my lunch which was a roasted vegetable Turkish flatbread and Ms Cupcake cupcakes. The food counters alone are worth a trip to Wholefoods, and there's some many vegan options on offer.

So yeah, that's my little food haul while I focus on some other writing which I'll be posting soon.

Eating Out - Nova Pizza Vegetarian Kitchen

One of the things I want to do more this year is post reviews of vegan food, so I thought I would start with my birthday lunch last weekend.

Nova Pizza Vegetarian Kitchen is a great little vegetarian café in Edinburgh which has a separate vegan menu filled with great choices of Italian food including pizza, pasta and calzones which are all made with vegan cheeses and meat.

I didn't have a starter, but choose the lasagne which was made with vegan béchamel, vegan mozzarella and soya mince. I haven't eat lasagne for about two years, so it was great to finally have some, especially since it was really delicious.

For desert, I went for a slice of the chocolate cheesecake which I ended up sharing with my mum because we were way too full from our main course to eat a slice for each.

If you're looking for some vegan Italian food in Edinburgh, then it's definitely worth checking out especially since they use vegan meat substitutes rather than you just having vegetables on our pizza or pasta.