vegan field report time! this one comes to us again from kris of veganscraps. she’s done us the favor of reviewing yet another awesome NYC vegan find, v-note. enjoy!

So, today I made my way over to 1st avenue on the Upper East Side to try a new vegan restaurant called “V-Note“, which is partly owned by the same owner as the Blossom restaurants (Cafe Blossom UWS/Blossom Chelsea). I love the Blossom restaurants so I had to try this one and review it.

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Back in the early 80s I lived in Camden Town, North London. It was a wonderful place to be. I could (and did) pop to the Camden Palais to see The Smiths perform. I nightclubbed there with Blondie, Ringo Starr and even Iggy Pop (but I don’t recall much of that evening…).

Camden is known mainly for its street market which, back then, was only open on Sundays. Unless you were visiting specifically for the market it was best to avoid the whole area, as thousands of Londoners and tourists would descend, rendering it impassable for everybody else. Nowadays, the laws of supply and demand have prevailed and Camden Market has expanded to about two square miles with hundreds of stalls and FIVE dedicated food areas. The market is also open seven days a week, and now sells everything from boots to boiled bagels.

Sometimes when we visit London, we stay in Camden – it’s convenient for getting around and the late night scene (although no longer at the now-defunct Camden Palais) means that there are plenty of bars and clubs open to the wee hours. One of our favorite places to chill is in the Hawley Arms, the world-famous watering hole oft-frequented by Amy Winehouse, Blur, Oasis (of course, never at the same time) and Alice Cooper, to name but a few.

Steps away from the Hawley Arms is the northern part of the market which is built under old railway arches and a train repair shop right by the canal. The place is beautiful, and really worth a trip when you go. We visited a few vegan places there last autumn, but none was more memorable (in the worst way possible) than Ha Ha Veggie Bar.

Ha Ha Veggie Bar is the stand on the right, with the menu written in green

We showed up mid-morning just as the market was getting going for the day and were greeted in a somewhat sullen manner by the lady serving at the counter. After establishing that nearly everything was vegan (other than the real cheese option), we ordered the Garlic Home Made Veggie Burger, which she prepared on a hot grill inside the stand right in front of us using fresh ingredients. After a wait of about 10 minutes we were handed a plump, juicy burger with grilled onions, crunchy lettuce and wonderful vegan garlic mayo. I’m glad we ordered only one to share, because it was way too big for one person to eat alone.

Vegan Burger with Garlic Mayo, Lettuce and Onion. ₤3

After we finished the burger, I returned to the stand to thank the server and take a couple of pictures (from a distance) ready to blog my guts out about how wonderful the experience had been…

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As a London-resident lacto-ovo vegetarian for decades, I’d always enjoy a trip to Pizza Express. The stone cold marble tables, tiled floor and dim halogen lighting set an urban chic vibe alongside some amazing pizza offerings, many of which are vegetarian. Re-visiting Pizza Express, though, as a vegan required some reorientation with both the the menu and ordering tradition.

Pizza Express uses a brick oven and hand creates all its dough from scratch daily, as well as preparing fresh ingredients for all the pizzas. The menu often changes, but there is a common core of excellent pizzas, and many of the famous stables (like my old favorite, the Fiorentina) are vegetarian. As any vegan knows, it’s MUCH easier to engineer vegan options from a strongly lacto-ovo menu than it is to try and eke out a vegan existence in a very meat-friendly establishment.

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the best indian pizza (vegan): Topped with Spinach, Egg Plant, Cauliflower, Ginger, Garlic, Green Onions, Cilantro. $23.99

i spent new years weekend in san francisco. if that wasn’t awesome to begin with, my group of friends’ new years eve plans involved dinner at zante pizza. the option of having dinner at zante’s was presented to me over IM:

“hey, how does vegan indian pizza and $5 pitchers of beer on nye sound?”
“UM, AMAZING”

and so it was decided.

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soy and sake is a great little vegetarian restaurant in nyc’s west village that specializes in asian cuisine. we visited the place last year and had a fantastic meal, so we made it a point to return on our recent trip to manhattan. this time we took along one of our favorite sushi buddies, and tore it up with loads of soy and several bottles of sake.

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it’s that time again…for a vegan field report! this is the third one to come to us from kris of veganscraps, and she blogs about an entirely vegan bakery called sweet freedom located in the uncharted (by quarrygirl) territory of philadelphia. damn, it looks good! i have added this to my list of places to hit up when i finally make it to philly for an epic weekend of eating and drinking with vegan brew. check it:

Alas, I got to visit a bakery I’ve been wanting to for a while now! Sweet Freedom Bakery is located in the artsy city of Philadelphia and it is the city’s first bakery to bring a vegan healthy take on our favorite goodies! The items they offer are 100% Vegan as well as Gluten, Corn, Wheat, Peanut, and Soy free as well, while never using any Unrefined Sugars. Naturally I had to check it out while in Philly (it was my first stop from the train station!)…

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i’ve said it before, and i will say it again: ike’s place makes the best sandwiches, vegan or otherwise. the small san francisco shop is nothing short of legendary (i mean come ON, it has almost THREE THOUSAND yelp reviews) and is loved by herbivores and omnivores alike. when we checked them out in fall of 2010, they were having some major dramz with neighbors and were in the midst of being forced to shut down. fortunately for us though, they’ve found a temporary home at lime nightclub just around the corner in the casto district, and are still serving their famous sandwiches for the time being until they move to a more permanent location. (huge thanks to our BFFs at vegansaurus who keep us updated with ike’s info!) we checked out ike’s new digs on our trip to SF over the holidays, and i am happy to say that they officially served me the best sandwich i’ve eaten, ever.

vegan sometimes i'm a vegan: grilled mushrooms, marinated artichoke hearts, soy cheese. $7.97

here’s how it went down…

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so…what happens when you combine an amazing location and vegetarian ethics with healthy/fresh/delicious cuisine? tibits in london, that’s what!

i first got turned on to tibits by rachel, who wrote a field report on them back in june. her review intrigued me because i couldn’t believe there was such an awesome vegetarian (mostly vegan) restaurant located in the west end that we hadn’t tried yet. after all…london is my favorite city on the planet and this is prime, centrally-located real estate we are talking about! of course we had to check it out…

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field report time! kris from veganscraps sent us another guest post, and this time she checked out chef brooke’s natural cafe in fort myer’s, florida. brittany has  covered chef brooke’s on this blog in the past, and this review is definitely making me wanna go there even more. from what i hear, florida’s vegan options aren’t as numerous as they are here in los angeles…so it’s great to know when good quality food is available.

Tempeh Reuben: Fresh Marinated Tempeh Served on Health Bread with a Reuben Sauce, Tomatoes, Lettuce, Sprouts, and Cucumbers. Served with Potato Salad and Coleslaw. $8.99

Normally when someone mentions Florida you begin to think of palm trees, the beach and the warm weather (which are all accurate descriptions)… but when I think of going to FL (specifically Fort Myers), one thing comes to mind “Chef Brooke’s Natural Cafe“. This Cafe is my favorite healthy cafe on the planet! The owner and chef, Brooke is extremely talented at cooking food as well as presenting it beautifully! Chef Brooke’s Natural Cafe offers a HUGE menu (not 100% vegan, but most items are or can be made vegan) with smoothies, baked goods, daily specials, raw and gluten free food, burritos, veggie burgers, hummus platters, soups, and a small grocery area to pick up little extras!

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… and I mean “SHIT”, rather than “THE SHIT”, which has a positive connotation.

My recollection from the first time I visited Cha-Ya Vegetarian, was of bland food in small portions, rude service, high prices and extremely bright fluorescent lighting. I have to admit, though, that I was a little (a lot) inebriated after spending a few hours beforehand in Monk’s Kettle, one of Mission’s best bars. I’ve heard the odd good review of Cha-Ya, so was determined to go back again one day while sober and see how things panned out.

Well, after a late afternoon flight to San Francisco on Christmas Day, I was delighted to discover that Cha-Ya was open at 5pm so after a quick hop and skip from the BART we were walking up to the restaurant within an hour of touching down…. and stone cold sober I might add!

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today’s quick bite comes to us from greg kanimian who recently visited fancy pants restaurant masa’s in san francisco. this isn’t a vegan restaurant by any means, but the chef accepted the challenge of making greg a 4 course animal-free dinner, and apparently it was awesome. here goes:

I don’t remember exactly what each course was since I didn’t have a menu to read off of. I was just told what I was eating as it was given to me.

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When flying back to America from mainland Europe, I rarely take the convenient direct flights. Usually, I find some excuse to stop off in my native London (even though the layover adds six or more hours to an 11 hour journey). Why put myself through such traveling torture? Because I can’t resist an opportunity to dine on my favourite of all cuisines: British Indian food, served in a local tandoori restaurant. That’s why!

Moments after touching down at Heathrow I’m usually in a black taxi heading east towards Central London and my favourite of all Indian restaurants: Victoria Tandoori. Yes, I really do like Indian food, the way we prepare it in Britain… it’s the best cuisine there is, and few places do it better than Victoria Tandoori. The travel time is more than worth it, and the smiling faces of the vegan-knowledgeable staff are a welcome respite from the rainy London streets.

Now, a word of warning: many Indian restaurants in the UK add ghee (a kind of thick butter), yogurt or cream liberally through the cooking process for most dishes – they say to satiate the Western taste buds. So, when dining in most restaurants I’ve become used to eating “healthy” style Indian food: Bhel Poori (a rice dish, requested without yoghurt), Chickpea curries, plain breads etc. The good news, though, is that most restaurants add in the dairy after they have cooked the base sauces, so can happily leave it or and substitute other oils (usually peanut) upon request.

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hey everyone! today’s field report comes to us from nyc where kris from veganscraps has reviewed one of the city’s best kept secrets, jivamuktea cafe. the all vegan spot looks like a haven for tasty yet healthy eats, and i can’t wait to hit it up. great find!

marinated beet salad: a blend of spring mix, marinated beets, walnuts (I subbed for cranberries), carrots, cucumbers and sliced granny smith apples. $12 plus rosemary seitan/spicy tempeh. $5

After discovering JivamukTea Cafe a couple of months ago, I find myself going in to eat at least 3 times a week! This cafe is one of the hidden gems of NYC. JivamukTea Cafe is part of the JivamukTea Yoga Studio in Union Square. You would have no way of knowing this fantastic cafe existed unless someone told you (this is me telling you!).

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hey everyone! this quick bite comes to us from quarrygirl reader anderson who is visiting southern california on vacation and recently hit up cheezy pizza in colton. i’ve never been to colton, but apparently it’s in the san bernadino valley and about an hour away from los angeles. after seeing these pictures, i think i NEED TO GO THERE SOON! OMG. check out the crazy pizza, jalapeno calzones and garlic bread below…along with mini reviews for each item!

vegan bbq chicken pizza with daiya

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i’ve been wanting visit the Vx (pronounced “v cross”) in london ever since rachel reviewed it back in june. the entirely vegan boutique is just around the corner from st. pancras station and has everything from cupcakes and sandwiches to shoes and shirts, and it’s a must visit if you are ever in town.

we checked out vx a couple months ago and while they had lots of cool clothes and other things for sale, of course our focus was the food. there was a well stocked fridge full of sandwiches, a case of pies and cupcakes, and an assortment of pastries…ALL VEGAN! i so wish we had a place like this in los angeles.

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