Vegan

Café Van Gogh

~ eatinbrixton ~ Leave a comment

cvg01

Address: 88 Brixton Road, SW9 6BE

Phone: Tel: 07546 966554

Website: https://www.cafevangogh.co.uk/

Opening hours: usually 9.00 pm on website but on the door it says it opens later

We are not usually drawn to Vegan restaurants – except in Veganuary for a change of habit and a contribution to the post Christmas diet. But we were pleasantly surprised by Cafe van Gogh.

It was a bleak weekday evening and we dropped by at about 6.30pm. Although there were not many diners downstairs, the upstairs had several groups and by the time we left, the place was full but not heaving. Downstairs it looks like a cafe but climb the spiral stairs and you are in a room under a dome of stars – dark blue and definitely atmospheric but bright enough to see your food.

Continue reading →

Bean and Bun – Vegan Burgers

~ eatinbrixton ~ 1 Comment

bean_and_bun01

Website: www.beanandbun.co.uk

Brixton Station Road Market – Saturdays

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Bean-and-Bun

As reported before, Brixton Station Road is now a food court with a range of different outlets and have slowly been working our way through them. Coming back from the gym (first time in four years) we stopped to pick up lunch. There are many different foods on offer, but when you have decided on the stall, the choice is generally limited. Although we had given up on Vegan eating at the end of January, this place caught our eye. Continue reading →

Vegbar

~ eatinbrixton ~ Leave a comment

vegbar01

Address: 45 Tulse Hill, Brixton, London,  SW2 2TJ

Telephone: 020 8678 0697

email: info@vegbar.co.uk

http://www.vegbar.co.uk

So who knew that Vegan January was a thing. For those hoping to cleanse their system after a hearty meat eating festive season, a January of vegetarian food might be a good idea. But it seems rather unfair to dump vegan food on the unsuspecting, so we have gone out of our way to investigate potential restaurants. Vegbar serves only Vegan food, so the choice was easy. We reviewed this restaurant before so look for our positive review here. It is out of the way on the road to Tulse Hill but if you know where Brixton Social is ,then just keep on walking. The unprepossessing exterior is not at all inviting and the decor is also aiming for minimal going on Spartan. Gone are the small but inviting dashes of colour. Wrap up warm if you are going early as the temperature inside early in the evening is definitely cool even though we sat next to the radiator. Continue reading →

Kata Kata

~ eatinbrixton ~ 1 Comment

kk02address: 134 Brixton Hill, Brixton, London SW2

Opening times – 10am to 10pm everyday

You may have overeaten during the Christmas break and/or are now suffering from a lack of cash so we thought that we would help with a few recommendations that will not break the bank. This one resulted from a lack of planning after seeing the early Saturday showing of Fantastic Beasts in Streatham. We headed back to Brixton with one thing on our mind – food. Our original destination, Negril, was full to bursting but next door there is this restaurant/cafe. At any other time we might have ignored it – now very glad we didn’t. This cafe serves coffee and pancakes (savoury galettes and sweet crepes) and was totally empty when we visited. We assume this is fare for lunch or a late afternoon snack but now we know it hits the spot for dinner too.

There are a few tables and chairs on two levels and it is all very Zen. In the back there is a library of worthy philosophy and self help books and in addition to the welcome fan heater there is a perfumed mist pumped into the air. Galettes can be cooked in front of your eyes but we preferred the locality of the fan heater.

The food is all worthily vegetarian or vegan. Their galette is a buckwheat pancake and we think cheese is essential so opted for vegetarian options. We chose a Farmer which has free range egg, cheese and spinach and a Red Goat (spinach, beetroot, goat cheese and sweet potato. Both came with an interesting salad (carrot, bean shoots, beetroot and more spinach). Flavours were subtle but interesting and both were slightly sweet with dressing and herbs. They were also huge and definitely hit that empty spot leaving us no room for more. As they cool the galette does become a little tough so we gave up with the knife and fork, got rid of some crusty bits and picked them up.kk01

We washed them down with jasmine tea and an apple and ginger juice.

This is definitely comfort food and we will not be rushing back just yet although great to know it is likely to have an empty seat on a cold, damp night. It is also relatively cheap with the total bill being only £16.20 and it could be cheaper if we had chosen differently.

 

CLOSED – Vegbar

~ eatinbrixton ~ Leave a comment

vegbar01

Address: 45 Tulse Hill, Brixton, London,  SW2 2TJ
Telephone: 020 8678 0697

email: info@vegbar.co.uk

http://www.vegbar.co.uk

After returning from meat eating Colorado, where it was impossible to find even a tomato that wasn’t a garnish, it was a pleasure to go to a restaurant with nothing but vegetables. Vegbar has taken over the premises of the Portuguese restaurant Brazas on Tulse Hill. This corner is seeing an upswing in the types of cuisine offered with two new restaurants opening here in the last couple of weeks. It now offers Caribbean, Indian (Khan’s of Brixton), takeaway pizza and two new wine bar/restaurants as well as this Veggie-Vegan restaurant.

Vegbar has updated the interior by painting the inside all white and covering up the rather austere wood panelled walls. The light-heartedness stretches to tiny colour changing LEDs and multi-coloured light shades. The tables and comfortable chairs remain as does the open grill area. Vegbar opened its doors on March 26th and they were still finding their feet with an empty salt cellar and the soux chef occasionally forgetting a vital ingredient on the plate. But we enjoyed it. We hope it does well as it is not in Brixton Village but up the hill nearly opposite the large Sainsbury’s.

They offer small plates, which are all vegetarian and marked with vegan and/or gluten free as an occasional dish does contain cheese. All the descriptions make the plate inviting and we ordered four. The first a Junkyard Dog (a vegan hot dog topped with pickled chilli and fennel salad) was tasty because of the accompaniments. We thought it wasn’t fennel salad but some sort of cabbage or beetroot but we didn’t ask so we can’t be sure. Next we had an Arepa’s Delight which was cornbread topped with a scramble of tofu and black beans. We only noticed that the accompanying guacamole had not been added when we had eaten half but they were happy to bring us a bowl. Both were really interesting and the cornbread had just enough chili to warm the mouth but allow you to taste the more subtle flavours on the plate. The guacamole had little tomato (a plus for some) and lots of coriander. It needed a little more salt and that is when we discovered the empty pot.vegbar08

Next was Kumara Kings (sweet potato and spinach jerk bites with pineapple salsa). We were not so keen on these, as they were a bit dry and there was not enough of the pineapple salsa to go with them. The pineapple salsa was delicious – sweet and pickled and a little warm we could have eaten much more.

The star of the show was the last dish – Don’t know Jack? – spicy jackfruit and mushroom tacos with almond and plantain sauce (on the menu) but we thought it included tomato. There were three on the plate and we could have eaten them for the whole dinner. Who knew that jackfruit could taste so good. vegbar07

vegbar06We also ordered a side of sea salt and black pepper fries which were great after we added more salt and pepper.

They also have desserts but we were full. They did look interesting and again were vegan (pies and brownies with ice cream and alcohol). We will certainly try them next time.

We washed all this down with a couple of halves of Heineken. They did have wine but we didn’t see a drinks menu. The meal cost about £29.00 for two people including the drinks. A good value meal and we will certainly be visiting again with more people so we can try more of the small dishes.