Soup Kitchen Spear Street Manchester - 26th October 2015

I have been meaning to pop into Soup Kitchen for ages and wish I had done sooner, as I loved it on my first visit.   It is a really relaxed kind of place, with long bench type communal tables, loads of people coming and going, with blackboards explaining what dishes were available and plenty of vegan options.

You order food at the counter, so I opted for a roasted vegetable and houmous sandwich, with a mug of roasted butternut squash and sage soup, which at £6.50 was a bargain.   The lunch was delicious with loads of filling in the sandwich, which was probably one of the best sandwiches I have eaten recently.

I could not manage any cake for afters, but there were vegan peanut butter brownies and veggie fritterz available.

I will certainly be revisiting Soup Kitchen and will make sure I have room for whatever vegan cakes are on that day.

Wahaca Corn Exchange Manchester - 26th October 2015

I have wanted to try Wahaca, since it opened in the Corn Exchange and so visited with my husband on what was a busy Monday night.

I actually did not like the interior of the place at all and where we sat was so dark, you could hardly read the menus.   Our waitress Maddie was really helpful though, when I asked about vegan options and went through the menu with me, as to which dishes were suitable, so top marks on the service front, the same cannot be said for the food.

I ordered nibbles of guacamole and tomato salsa, both served with corn chips to share, which were quickly brought (the photos throughout this review are a little hazy, as the lighting was so low).   However before we had time to enjoy our nibbles with a nice glass of wine, our main courses arrived, which I found a little annoying.

Mains was supercharged salad which included roasted cauliflower, avocado, spelt and pumpkin seeds, served in a huge inedible deep-fried tortilla bowl, which was such a waste, as it was that hard, it would have been impossible to eat it, even if I wanted to.   It does say on the menu that for a lighter option you can ask for it without the tortilla bowl, why not just serve it like that all the time.   I also ordered sweet potato chunks as a side order.

I was so disappointed with the food, it was under-seasoned and bland, bland, bland even when I added some of the vegan friendly chipotle sauce.

Would I go back, I'm afraid not as it certainly did not meet my expectations.

Mowgli Corn Exchange Manchester - 29th October 2015

I have been dying to visit Mowgli Manchester, in the recently revamped Corn Exchange for ages and tonight was the night.   We were shown to a nice table for two and the menu explained, as this is not your normal Indian, it is street food served in small portions and tiffin boxes.

They have a dedicated vegan menu, with loads of choices, which made it difficult to choose.

Starters to share were Bombay chip butty and fenugreek kissed fries, I went a bit overboard on the potato front but they were both delicious, good sized portions and the chopped red chillies on the top were right up my street!

Mains was Mowgli slaw, tea steeped chickpeas and yet another potato dish (completely different to the first two) picnic potato curry, all served with rice.

I loved every single morsel and it was one of the best Indian meals I have eaten in a long while.   I loved the place, its decor, the music and the service from Nyeleni, who took our order and explained the menus and Elissia, who was also a vegan like myself, was excellent, really friendly and welcoming.   Will I go back to Mowgli....too right...I can't wait.

The Koffee Pot Oldham Street Manchester - 18th October 2015

I had heard about The Koffee Pot from Manchester Confidential so headed on down for Sunday breakfast.   It has an American diner vibe, in fact the place was buzzing with a diverse mix of customers, families, couples, groups of girls and boys, I loved soaking up the atmosphere.

I was starving after a night out in Manchester the previous evening and a full vegan breakfast was badly needed and a bargain at £6.50.

It did not disappoint and came with two rounds of toast and excellent coffee which was so good I had to have another for the caffeine fix!

This is a great place, service was friendly and spot on and being a Sunday morning, people were waiting to get a table, definitely one to revisit when next in need of a hangover cure!

1847 Vegetarian Bistro Mosley Street Manchester- 17th October 2015

I have been to 1847 Vegetarian Bistro several times and so visited for dinner once again.   The last visit I had the vegan tasting menu, but this time I opted for A La Carte.   The place was busy, it being a Saturday night, but not so much that it felt frenetic, it has a very chilled atmosphere.

There are good selections for vegans, though I think an improvement would be highlighting which wines are suitable for both vegetarians and vegans.   I chose an Emiliana Pinot Noir wine, which I know is vegan and organic.

I chose the roasted parsnip soup to start, served with some delicious bread, I really liked the black sesame seeds and quinoa which gave the dish texture.

Mains was the roasted mushroom and fennel dish with a side order of chips, as I was hungry from walking miles round Manchester during the day.   I really enjoyed this dish, the potato and mustard veloute was light and delicately flavoured and of course who doesn't love chips!

Pudding was strawberries with almond cream and sea salt streusel, which was a lovely end to a really enjoyable dinner.   I love the fact that it was almond cream, as an alternative to soya (which I am allergic to).

The service throughout the evening was friendly, efficient and any requests quickly dealt with, so a great evening and one which I hope to repeat sometime.

Banyan Bar & Kitchen Corn Exchange Manchester - 16th October 2015

Banyan Bar & Kitchen recently opened in the newly refurbished Corn Exchange, so contacted them to ask about vegan options.   I had very positive correspondence with Jarvis, Business Development Manager, whose attitude was top notch, as regards my vegan diet, so having decided what to have, I reserved a table and Jarvis pre-ordered my lunch for me.

On arrival, the reception staff knew about my pre-order, there was no confusion, no "oh so you're the vegan", it was all well organised.

I had chosen a dish already on the menu, a Mediterranean vegetable rosemary focaccia sandwich, with houmous to replace the cheese, served with house fries.

The sandwich was perfect in every respect, tasty and delicious, plenty of filling and great house fries.

The service from our waitress Rose was excellent, friendly, professional and any requests quickly addressed, in fact the attitude of all the staff we came into contact with was excellent.   I will definitely be returning to Banyan Bar & Kitchen, as they obviously care about customers with dietary requirements.

Atul Kochhar's Sindhu Restaurant on-board P&O Cruises Arcadia

I contacted Atul Kochhar via Twitter way back in June, when I asked if I could dine in his Sindhu restaurant, which was launching on Arcadia during our September cruise.   Fair play to Atul, he replied back to every one of my tweets and confirmed that vegan would be no problem and told me the dates he would be on-board, which when I booked the cruise were unavailable.

On embarkation day I made sure I booked a table for the first night, as Atul was hosting the venue and would be speaking to diners, as well as heading up the galley.

I had a chat with Sindhu's Head Chef Razel, as to what vegan options I could have, bearing in mind I am allergic to most beans and lentils, a real challenge especially when it comes to Indian food, where pulses are a main component.   Razel was happy to accommodate though, tweaking both a starter and main course to suit and I went away happy with my vegan menu choices.

The venue itself is modern, but warm and welcoming and we got a great table by the window, with views over the ocean, a great start to the evening.   We were given poppadums and chutneys to start, whilst perusing the menu.

My starter was Karari Gobhi - tandoori cauliflower parcel with piccalilli and smoked tomato chutney, this was a light and tasty dish beautifully presented.

Main course was Khumb Khichidi - stir fried wild mushrooms with chickpeas, seasonal truffle and rice kedgeree, this was a delicately spiced dish and miles away from the spicy food I usually like, but was thoroughly delicious and enjoyable.

Accompaniments were various breads, additional rice, lentils (which hubby tried to demolish) and the best okra dish I have every eaten in my life.

I was so full I could only manage some fruit salad for dessert and even then I failed to finish it all.

The highlight of the evening was Atul visiting each table, but he is not how I expected a celebrity chef to be, he is down to earth, a real gentleman and happy to chat and said that if Indian Restaurants cannot make vegan or vegetarian food then shame on them.

The following day we went to see him being interviewed about his life and passion for food, inspired by his grandparents and parents as a young lad and interestingly one of his passions is vegetables and how to cook them.   I would love to visit Benares, his London Mayfair restaurant and hope to visit there some day.

Cruise J514 Arcadia 20th September - 7th October 2015

I have sailed with P&O many times and reviewed my dining experiences on Adonia in May this year.   Arcadia is a much bigger ship and on-boarding I received an informative letter from Senior Restaurant Manager Edrich Correia, explaining in detail about dietary requirements, which is a new procedure and most welcome especially so for new cruisers.

I had been in touch with shore-side diet reservations and Karen had kindly arranged for almond milk to be on board, as I can no longer tolerate soya milk and this was available for me on the first sea-day after embarkation.

Sometimes first night dinner can be difficult, as I would normally pre-order the night before and of course you are ordering off a menu with no specific vegan options.   I was impressed by our waiters Dinesh and Shriram, who took it upon themselves to speak with diet chef Sandeep, as to a suitable main course, as Head Waiter Loyola, who would normally organise my menus, was looking after other passengers.   From that night onwards, I cannot fault the service by the four of them, nothing was too much trouble, any requests I made were accommodated, which as a vegan with a number of allergies, is a challenge in itself.

I met Sandeep, who was catering for 150 covers over two sittings, with only an assistant to help him, so you can imagine how busy his section of the galley is.   I had no complaints, his food was delicious, well presented and perfect portion control and his curries, spiced up for my tastes were fantastic.   I had so many different dishes, it would be impossible to post them all here, but here is a selection.

Warm tomato confit and avocado bruschetta

Smokey chickpea goulash

 Mushroom and pimento salad with balsamic syrup

Spicy potato and spinach curry 

Wild mushroom filo parcel with Colcannon

Courgettes stuffed with ratatouille

Wild mushroom timbale with asparagus

Chickpea and vegetable tagine with harissa couscous

Warm vegetable salad

Spicy cannellini bean stew

I had a different soup every night, including celery, sweet potato, vegetable with chickpea croutons, roasted red pepper, vegetable consomme, tomato and many more.   I am not a huge dessert fan, in fact by the time I had eaten starter, soup and main course, all I could manage was whatever the sorbet of the day was, which were all delicious.   Loyola, Dinesh and Shriram were concerned I was not eating enough and I had to decline their offers of other dessert options.

Our wine steward Ammy, a very professional young lady, was a vegetarian and asked me how I managed as regards vegan friendly wines.   I explained I had done some research prior to our cruise, to find out which wines by the glass were vegan (to read my review click here).   So I happily worked my way through the list and some of my favourites were the Kung Fu Girl Riesling and the Gavoty Cotes de Provence Rose, but they were all delicious.

I always say after each cruise, that the restaurant team cannot be bettered, but Loyola, Dinesh, Shriram, Sandeep and Ammy have set the bar high, they were exceptional, professional but so friendly.   I was quite sad to say goodbye and hope they realise, if they happen to read this review at some point, that I really appreciated all they did and hope to meet them again sometime.

 Waiters Dinesh and Shriram

Wine Steward Ammy