Pizza Express High Street Skipton - 18th March 2015

I am a big fan of Pizza Express and whenever I visit anywhere, I always check to see if there is one in town.   This means I have eaten at Pizza Express all the way up in Edinburgh, right down to London, Falmouth and even Gibraltar.   What I love about the chain is not only the quality of their pizzas but also the consistency across the board.   On our visit to Gibraltar I was a little apprehensive as to what to expect, but once again it was fantastic.

So on a day trip to Skipton, we were pleased to see that a branch opened up last year, so we went in for lunch today.   The place is light and airy and we were quickly shown to our table, given menus and drinks orders taken.   The other reason I love Pizza Express is of course you can veganise the pizzas available, my usual being the Veneziana until Pizza Express introduced the Pianta vegan pizza.   The Pianta pizza was as good as any I have had, lovely base, great toppings being rocket, mushrooms, artichokes, pine nuts and spinach, so really its a healthy pizza too.

Even better is that after my pizza I was able to sample the Dolcetti, where you can order a coffee and have a small portion of dessert, in my case a really tasty raspberry vegan sorbet.

 I would highly recommend this branch, as service was friendly and helpful and even better they had a Wednesday two for one offer on all mains courses, so my pizza was free.

1847 Vegetarian Bistro Mosley Street Manchester - 13th March 2015

This was our second visit to 1847 as we were meeting up with friends who had not been before and were not even vegetarians.   We were shown to our table by Scott who explained the menus, as there is A La Carte and tasting menus, with the five course tasting menu being our choice.   They cater for vegans too so I had my own five course tasting menu as well.

We ordered some wine and enjoyed the meal course by course, sadly I was so enjoying myself I forgot to take photos of the puddings, but trust me they were fantastic.   My starter was garlic mushrooms with polenta and tomato relish which was really tasty.

Second course was celeriac, dates, kale and coconut, which is an unusual  combination, but it really did work for me.

Next course was battered tofu, mushy pea emulsion and sea herb, as you can see from the photo, I had demolished one piece before I remembered to take my photo, it was that good.   I had this as a main course on our last visit and it was just as good as I remembered it.

I really like the portion sizes, might not suit diners who want huge portions, which I hate, so I think I could even manage the seven course tasting menu.   Our friends thoroughly enjoyed their first vegetarian dining experience and said they would love to return when next back in Manchester.   This place is another great place to dine as a vegan in Manchester.

Abel Heywood Turner Street Manchester - 14th March 2015

We had been following Abel Heywood on Twitter prior to their opening late last year and called in for drinks in January, were shown around the rooms which are lovely and booked for last night the 13th March.   Based on our first visit, it will be our place of choice to stay in Manchester in future.  Its in a great location in the Northern Quarter with all its bars and restaurants but very close to the city centre for shopping.   There is also an NCP carpark so very handy if you are arriving by car and although we arrived by train it is also close to Victoria Station.   We got a very warm welcome from Alex on reception, to find we had been upgraded to one of their loft rooms, which was most welcome and appreciated.   The room had a very big comfy bed, flat screen TV, modern bathroom, tea and coffee facilities and plenty of towels, what more could you want.   The bar is a buzzing place and they serve great cocktails and I am slowly working my way through the list, but I can highly recommend the Bramble.

I enquired prior to our visit about what vegan option I could have for breakfast and was emailed a copy of their brunch menu, which had plenty of dishes which could be amended for my vegan diet, so my choice was a spicy vegetable and bean burrito with red pepper ragu.  It was delicious, in fact I could probably have eaten another, but that would have been greedy!!

I was initially a little concerned it would be noisy later on in the night, from the bar below or people outside, it being in a busy area, especially as neither I or my husband normally sleep well in hotels, but we had a great nights sleep at Abel Heywood, maybe it was the big comfy bed.   On check out we met Olivia who we met in January and took our booking and happens to be Alex's sister, they make a really good front of house team, much nicer than many hotels where its a bit of a frosty reception, at Abel Heywood it feels more homely and hence why we will stay here on future visits.

The Parkers Arms Hall Gate Hill Newton - 7th March 2015

This was my second visit to The Parkers Arms and based on this visit there will soon be a third.   I made a booking online and requested a vegan menu in the comments box, but I'm not sure this is necessary as there always seems to be vegan options on the menu anyway.   From my point of view I love it because there is no fuss, nothing worse than being asked "whose the vegan" but I do not like to presume and prefer to always give plenty of notice to chef.   We arrived on Saturday night and sat in the bar having drinks whilst perusing the menu,  I was in vegan heaven because the vegan dishes were right up my street.

We were brought some nibbles which were crispy potato skins and salsa, really delicious and well seasoned with sea salt, fantastic with pre-dinner drinks and a great way to use what would otherwise be thrown away, more places should make them.

For starters I had blood orange, red onion and sweet roast beetroot salad with watercress and homemade breadstick, none of those thin grissini sticks these were chunkier but light and moreish and perfect for mopping up all the juices.   The starter was light, full of flavour and a combination which I have never seen before but which worked perfectly and as you can see from the photo so colourful.

I had a choice of mains hand raised caramelised onion, celeriac and beetroot pie in honour of the fact it was British Pie week or roasted cauliflower with nutty jewelled rice which was the dish I decided on.   I love roast cauliflower far nicer than plain boiled and the rice was full of pine nuts, caramelised onions and pomegranate, my husband said he would be more than happy to have my main course it was that good.

The vegan pudding really was to die for, the name said it all "Chocolate Decadence" made with 70% Valrhona chocolate, a chocolate type ganache with chocolate crisps and oat crunch, who said vegans cannot eat pudding!   We shared the pudding which was a revelation because normally I would be to full to manage one and I cannot share my husbands as he is not vegan, but chef Stosie can certainly tickle the tastebuds on the vegan dessert front!

We had a very nice bottle of Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon and peppermint tea finished the meal.   Service was very warm and friendly from Kathy and AJ and the young folks serving on especially the young lad.   A couple of things I would comment on, one being portion control which is spot on, I hate being overfaced and usually struggle to eat more than a starter and mains and for us the seasoning is spot on too.  All in all a fabulous night and this morning writing this review I am already looking forward to returning.

Turners Cafe And Bistro Gisburn Road Barrowford - 6th March 2015

I visited Turners Cafe & Bistro for lunch with my friend as she lives nearby and I had emailed to ask if they could cater for my vegan diet by veganising the veggie board they had on the menu.   I received a really speedy response from owner Steven to say no problem, its always a good sign I think when you do not have to chase to get a reply and places have such a positive attitude to dietary requirements.   So I met my friend for lunch today and thank goodness I had booked a table, this place gets busy.   Turners is family run and has expanded over time and I am dying to try their new venture The White Swan at Fence which has just had a rave review by The Guardian restaurant critic Jay Rayner.   Its on the bucket list if chef Tom Parker caters for vegans!

I ordered a vegan version of the veggie board after our very helpful waitress had a word with chef and it was just my kind of lunch dish.   The presentation was great for starters and the board consisted of pickled chillis, roasted red peppers, houmous, tomato salsa, olives, two kinds of salad and flatbread.   It was so tasty and I demolished the lot bar a bit of flatbread which was a good sized portion.

They also serve Turners pizza and saw one being delivered to one of the other tables, so guess what I will be ordering next time and there will definitely be a next time, because I like what they are doing at Turners, a nice relaxed chilled atmosphere, good food and wine and great coffee too which I ended my meal with.

Salvis Cucina John Dalton Street Manchester - 4th March 2015

I had contacted Salvis Cucina via Twitter to ask if their pasta was vegan friendly ie no egg and had a speedy response to say it was suitable.  My husband had been keen to visit Salvis Cucina for ages so I booked a table and had another great response from owner Maurizio as regards my diet, who assured me that I did not need to prebook my meal but there would be plenty for me to eat on the day, so I felt sure I would be well looked after.   We arrived for lunch at 12.30 and whilst perusing the menu I received another tweet showing a photo of the freshly made vegan pasta, how fantastic is that.  We got a warm welcome off Maurizio and Pasquale who both looked after us with a smile and brought us drinks to start a Peroni for my other half and a Negroni which contains Campari.   In the past I have always avoided drinks with Campari, as the red colour was derived from cochineal (crushed beetles) however I only recently found out that the company who make Campari changed their colouring to a synthetic one around 2009 so Campari is back on the drinks list.   The Negroni is a lovely refreshing drink and its my favourite pre-dinner drink of the moment.

I ordered bruschetta pomodoro which was fresh and delicious and a good sized portion with lovely homemade bread, simple ingredients but well executed.

Mains was pasta primavera comprising of artichokes, mushrooms, olives and sundried tomatoes in red sauce, the pasta was made to order in the kitchen and its the first time ever I have had fresh vegan pasta anywhere, it was delicious.

I have always been told in various Italian restaurants that all pasta is made with egg, but Salvis proves this is nonsense, as Maurizio said not only had they made fresh pasta suitable for me but also had dried pasta if I wanted.   We had a very nice bottle of Gavi di Gavi to accompany the meal and finished with an excellent espresso.

Salvis is a lovely cosy restaurant and seeing some of the pizzas being taken to other tables, I know exactly what I am having on our next visit, which will definitely be sooner rather than later.   Service throughout was very friendly and we even met Maurizio's wife Clare who replies so quickly on Twitter.   You can tell this is a family owned and run restaurant and I cannot wait to return.