The Caffeine Drip Melville Place Edinburgh - 24th July 2016

The Caffeine Drip is a cool South African cafe and bakery, with plenty of vegan options, an obvious choice for breakfast, with a hangover, after rocking the night away, at a Status Quo concert the evening before.

I have never seen chickpea scramble on a menu and along with spinach, avocado and a huge mug of Americano coffee, it soon revived me.

There are sandwich and cake options and apart from being fit to burst, the flapjacks on the counter would have been very tempting.

The Caffeine Drip was very busy and we were lucky to get a table, people were coming in and leaving, as there was no room.   Highly recommended and next time, it will have to be the vegan French toast.

Yeni Meze Bar Hanover Street Edinburgh - 23rd July 2016

Yeni Meze Bar is on busy Hanover Street and was an easy choice, with its clearly labelled menu, with so many vegan options.   It is a popular venue, judging by the number of customers inside and you relax, as soon as you walk through the door.

Our waiter Dimitris, was really friendly and helpful, explaining they had a special lunch menu at £9.95 per person for three dishes.

It was so easy to order wine, as the list was labelled with a selection of vegan wines, so I chose a delicious Picpoul de Pinet, one of my favourite white wines.

I chose five dishes, so I had plenty of choice and Steven chose one for himself, though he was more than happy to eat my vegan choices, being Imam Biyaldi, fattoush salad, falafels, houmous with pitta breads and patates.   The flavours and freshness of the food really shone through, I could not pick a favourite, so delicious was each one.

We finished our meal with a medium Turkish coffee and vegan Turkish Delight, again clearly labelled on the menu.

The whole meal was faultless, from beginning to end, the service, the food, the wine and Dimitris did a great job, always with a smile.   Whoever is responsible, for paying such attention to detail about dietary requirements, deserves a medal, it is wonderful to see such clearly labelled menus.   Would I go back to Yeni, too right I would.

Leo's Beanery Howe Street Edinburgh - 23rd July 2016

Leo's Beanery was a breakfast recommendation, by Scottish chef Tom Kitchin, in the Sunday Times, so I emailed them to ask about vegan options.   I had a fabulous reply from Marie, assuring me their breads were suitable and a number of options could be made vegan friendly, you cannot say fairer than that.

On a warm Saturday morning, we paid Leo's a visit, I really loved its frontage of duck egg blue, with seating outside on the small terrace, approached down some steps from pavement level.

Leo's is warm and welcoming inside and we bagged the last free table, as it was very busy. I mentioned to the waitress who brought menus, about my correspondence with Marie, who had briefed Manager Josie, who suggested a number of options, one being almond milk porridge with apple and cinnamon compote.   I was in Scotland, it would be rude not to sample its national dish and I was so glad I did, it was hearty and filling and with a large coffee, just the ticket for a morning of sightseeing.

As we went to pay, Josie came out of the kitchen, holding a tin containing a vegan fruit and nut loaf, so I had to have a takeaway slice, which came in very handy about two hours later, during a coffee rest stop.   The cake was delicious, moist, crumbly and energising.

I would definitely return to Leo's Beanery, when I come back to the beautiful city of Edinburgh and its all down to Tom Kitchin, so thank you Tom for your recommendation.

David Bann Restaurant St Mary's Street Edinburgh - 23rd July 2016

A trip to Edinburgh, had to include a visit to David Bann, a well known vegetarian and vegan restaurant in the city, which gets great reviews.

We arrived on a Sunday evening, expecting it to be quiet, it was packed to the rafters, just shows how popular vegan and vegetarian cuisine has become.

Whilst perusing the menus, we had a Mongozo organic buckwheat beer and a very nice vegan Rioja.

I ordered the vegan version of the salad of fennel, beetroot, raspberry and poached egg, not realising it would be replaced with fried smoked tofu, which Steven kindly devoured for me.   The salad was delicious, with broccoli and broad beans amongst the leaves and a delicious dressing.

Mains was aubergine and chickpeas koftas in a spicy coconut sauce, with sweet potato and toasted almonds.   What a beauty of a dish this was, especially as I love all the ingredients, perfectly executed and so good I nearly licked the plate.

I was way too full for dessert or coffee, although I was very tempted, but enjoyed the rest of the fantastic Rioja.

David Bann is not your everyday vegetarian restaurant, its fine dining, in a casual atmosphere, with service throughout friendly and professional.   We had a laugh with our Spanish waiter, who said he enjoyed the cooler Scottish weather, than the heat of his home city of Barcelona.   Would I go back, you bet I would.

Hendersons Vegan Restaurant Thistle Street Edinburgh - 22nd July 2016

A trip to Edinburgh, had to include a visit to Hendersons Vegan, after reading great reviews, as Hendersons is an institution in the city, with four locations to choose from.

Hendersons vegan restaurant, is just round the corner from their shop and deli and looks very attractive and inviting.

We were shown to our table and perused the menu, with numerous choices for each course, which all sounded excellent.

I chose an Emiliana Organic Vineyards Adobe Sauvignon Blanc,  I love Emilana wines and always look out for them on wine lists.

I chose grilled polenta wedges with sweet chilli dip and my husband ordered fig and olive tapenade with pine nuts, apple chutney and oatcakes, both were very tasty dishes and we left clean plates.

Mains were spiralised squash and courgette zoodles, with dukkah and curried coconut sauce and tofu teriyaki, with coconut brown rice, greens beans and pineapple salsa.   The dishes were well presented, using fresh ingredients and very tasty.

We shared dessert, a lemon and thyme cheesecake, with coconut whipped cream, a perfect, light tasty finish to our dinner.

We had a chat with our young waiter Connor, who had been vegan for four months, was very friendly and helpful, recommending the excellent Whistle Binkies bar, for an after dinner drink.   I would recommend Hendersons Vegan and look forward to returning sometime in the future.

Cucina Seventy Three King Street Whalley - 15th July 2016

Cucina Seventy Three is a family run restaurant, in the beautiful village of Whalley, in the Ribble Valley, established in 2013 by brother and sister, Raffaella and Fabbio Fiocca.

This is not your average Italian restaurant, this is authentic Italian food, using quality, fresh produce, sourced locally if possible, but many from Italy.    They pride themselves on making as much as possible on site, like their bread, sorbets, pickles and of course pasta.

I contacted Raffaella, enquiring about vegan options and received an excellent response, offering me off menu options and choices, so on the dietary requirement front, they score highly.

On arrival I was immediately impressed, being told which wines on their menu were vegan, this is excellent attention to detail and much appreciated, so I chose a delicious Villa del Fiori Fiano from Puglia.

 

My photos do no justice to the food, the restaurant has perfect romantic low lighting, nothing worse than feeling you are sitting under a spotlight, so hence not ideal for taking photos, but the food was spot on.

I kicked off with a traditional Tuscan dish, Panzanella salad, simply bread, tomatoes, basil and olive oil and other ingredients, dependent on chef's preference, in this case golden beetroot, but that's the beauty, the ingredients speak for themselves.   This dish could be dreadful, dull and boring, but I loved Fabbio's version, very much like I have eaten in Italy.

Their pasta is made with egg, so they made special egg free orecchiette pasta, known as little ears, originating from Apulia and traditionally served with broccoli, chilli and garlic.   

I loved its simplicity, all my favourite ingredients in one dish and like my starter, this is the kind of Italian food I adore, my plate was clean.   I was too full for pudding, maybe next time, as sgroppino, a sorbet of choice, blended with vodka and Prosecco sounded rather tempting.

Cucina Seventy Three was full on our visit, which is understandable, an intimate atmosphere, quality food, excellent service and dietary requirements handled really well.   I will definitely return.

Bernard Darnault 2015 Viognier from Naked Wines

Naked Wines is exclusively online and I ordered their twelve bottle vegan wine case, which can be delivered to your local Majestic Wines , which acquired Naked in April 2015.

I kicked off sampling the Bernard Darnault 2015 Viognier and below is a little information about the winemaker himself.

My name is Benjamin Darnault, I live in a small hamlet called Calamiac, which is situated just outside the village of La Liviniere, in the Languedock region of southern France.   I have the strong belief, that this little pocket of the Languedoc, is a real heaven for producing interesting, exciting and different wines.  

This is one of the oldest and largest vineyards in the world, where people have been cultivating grapes for wine since the Roman times.   Exploring the area, you feel like you have stepped back in time and that things have almost been left untouched.

As a winemarker it is an exciting environment, as the old bush vines are capable of producing great and authentic old terrior wines and all this can be enjoyed at a very reasonable price.

The wine is a pale yellow straw colour, with a smooth well rounded full flavour, with lots of cirtrus fruit and I drank it with my husband and next door neighbours, who all gave it the thumbs up.   I would definitely buy this again.