Author: Clare

Cruelty free cook, crafty lady, obsessive reader, animal babysitter, and mistress of lego

Vegan Restaurant Review: Farmacy (London)

On By ClareIn london2 Comments

Farmacy has restaurants in London and New York but we don’t go to New York all that often (ever) so we went to the Notting Hill branch. It’s as fancy as its postcode with a very well designed interior. It’s the typical exposed wood, metal and cunningly placed plants, but perfectly done. The menu too is fairly typical but less well executed.

We split the Mac and Cheese (£11) for the starter. It’s got truffled cheese in it so I took the first bite just to check that Kate would like it. “It’s aggressively truffley” I said. And honestly that the only opinion either of us had about it. All you taste is that truffle. No cheese, none of the sage in the breadcrumbs, nothing but truffle. We ate about at third each. It was just too much.

For her main Kate ordered the Garden Green Pesto (£12) which comes on spelt pasta with almond ricotta on top. I was expecting the freshest, most basil-filled pesto. It basically tasted like a jar pesto. Far too ordinary for the price tag. When you stir the ricotta in it gets lovely and rich but it’s just a dollop on the top and not exactly easy to stir into spaghetti in a graceful manner at the table.

I had the Pad Thai (£14.50) which was was helped texturally by the large serving of peanuts, but tasted overwhelming of citrus.

And so we went on to dessert. Kate ordered the Sticky Toffee Pudding (£9) which she reported as having a very dry sponge, without much of a toffee taste.

I had the sundae (£11) which came with seasonal fruits. Like raspberries, blueberries and strawberries. The taste was good but the ice cream was mostly melted and it was more like eating whipped cream.

Was there anything I did like? Well the drinks were brilliant. I had a great herbal tea and we had a couple of good juices. And honestly I wouldn’t have even minded the food. It wasn’t that bad, just a little simple. Our bill came to £77 and I was thinking: okay, it is Notting Hill, I loved the drinks, the food was okay and the service was amazing. Fantastic host and server. Can’t fault them. So £77 was fine. Then, of course, the service charge is added on. And £86.50 is just too much.

Vegan Review: Noda’s Waffles (Exeter)

On By ClareIn closed down1 Comment

Edited 26/20/2020 Unfortunately Noda’s Waffles is now closed

Local social media has been blowing up with accounts of big, beautiful and entirely vegan bubble waffles. We first spotted them on Rooted Exeter and within 24 hours we were at Noda’s Waffles getting our own.

And we can recommend it! Vegans get their own menu and we can choose between at least three flavours of ice cream and a bunch of different toppings. All of it finished with whipped cream. I had chocolate with biscoff spread, nuts, pretzels, and chocolate sauce.

Kate had vanilla, biscoff spread, lotus biscuits, pecans, and toffee sauce. And she didn’t quite manage to finish. It was huge and it was glorious and we had a snack rather than a meal that night. You can of course get smaller snacks.

We recommend it. Go there now. Not only are the treats amazing but the staff are lovely too.

Recipe: Vegan Parkin

On By ClareIn recipeLeave a comment

Parkin is a traditional cake for this time of year: it’s a bonfire night special. It also requires a baking technique that’s a little out of favour: you don’t eat the cake straight away. Traditionally you wait several days, but I’ve never managed to wait longer than four days. The wait develops the flavour and makes it moist and delicious. So I’m writing up this recipe today so you can have one for bonfire night. It was originally on my old blog but I’ve made a few adjustments.

6 tablespoons of vegetable oil
100g golden syrup
100g treacle
75ml of non-dairy milk
125g of light brown sugar

225g plain flour
125g oats
2 tablespoons of cornflour
3 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
a pinch of salt

Preheat the oven to 175°C and line a square baking tin.

In a saucepan heat the oil, golden syrup, treacle, milk and sugar. Do this very gently, on a low heat, stirring fairly often until the mixture comes together, looking wonderfully glossy.

While that is happening mix the dry ingredients together.

Once the stuff in the saucepan is ready, pour it into the dry ingredients and mix until well combined.

Pour into your prepared tin, spreading evenly. Cover the tin with kitchen foil and bake for 35 minutes.

Remove the foil and return to the oven for 15 minutes, or until a skewer pushed in the middle comes out clean.

Cool in the tin and store in an airtight container for at least 3 days, until moist.

Reveiw: An Opinionated Guide to Vegan London

On By ClareIn books, london1 Comment

We go to London a couple of times a year and we’ve never been short of places to eat when we get there. I’ve been know to make detailed maps showing the best routes between eateries, shops and our other appointments. And by ‘known too’ I mean each time, even if our visit is four hours long. Point is that I’ve never felt the need for a guide book before. But two things sold this book to me, sight unseen: the first is its title and the second is the author. It’s written by Sara Kiyo Popowa who wrote the brilliant Bento Power.

I was really excited when it came. Hoxton Mini Press wrapped it in the cutest paper and sent a little thank you card for ordering them straight from them. I recommend it. It’s a stunning little book filled with 53 restaurant recommendations, each one with at least one stunning photo. It’s almost pornographic.

As for the recommendations: well, I’m looking forward to trying a bunch of them on our upcoming trip. Some of them I’ve had on my radar for a while – I’m still bitter that La Fauxmagerie opened two days after our last visit – and some completely new to me. I couldn’t resist a little sneaky visit to one place though. I had an hour and a half’s wait between two trains coming back from Paris and I took the opportunity to jump on the underground and pick up some Crosstown Doughnuts.

I recommend both the doughnuts and the book. You can order Vegan London directly from Hoxton Mini Press.