The Kings Arms Pub

61-63 Crouch Street

Colchester

CO3 3EY

01206 572 886

I emailed the Greene King chain regarding some of their vegetarian options that looked as though they may be vegan. The results were:

VEGAN: Vitality Salad- Broccoli, rocket & seasonal leaves, edamame beans, roasted butternut squash, peas, pico de gallo, lemon-infused oil £6.45-

-The Vitality Salad is a vegan dish, but prepared on site in a kitchen where animal products are present, but there are strict guidelines on preparing vegetarian dishes and so there should be no risk of cross contamination.

NOT VEGAN:Bulgar wheat, Quinoa & Pistachio Salad -

Bulgar wheat and Quinoa salad contains honey.

NOT VEGAN: Crushed Pea & Broad Bean Risotto 

Pan-fried courgettes, edamame beans, peas, lemon oil £8.45-

The Crushed pea and broad bean risotto contains butter.

NO RESPONSE: Rocket leaves, olives, fine beans, chickpeas, sun-blushed baby tomatoes, toasted flatbread £6.95-looks like it may be suitable! Check with staff!

Please note that unfortunately we cannot verify the accuracy of any findings provided by the eateries surveyed.

Vegan meal ideas for caterers!

[this post is not finished! Work in progress!]

Ask any vegan what they are offered when they request a suitable meal at a restaurant, and the response is usually the same! Fruit salad for starters, risotto or stuffed pepper for main, and the same fruit salad again for dessert! Whilst this is by no means the worst meal, there are sooo many more possibilities!!  Here are some dishes that vegans have said they would like to be offered (with links to the recipes where possible).

Easy Starters

• Soups- Tomato soup/ tomato and lentil soup/ tomato and red pepper soup. (Obviously use vegetable stock!  Other soup recipes could be veganised by using vegan margarine/oil in place of butter/omitting cream etc. )
• Sugar snap pea salad with lemon mint vinaigrette 
• Hummus and toasted pitta bread/crudités
• Spinach and apple salad
• Mushrooma and tomato bushetta

Fancier starters

• Green papaya salad (som tum) with salt and pepper fried tofu
• Warm aubergine tomato salad
• Mushroom Satay Skewers
• Stuffed mushrooms
• Tempura vegetables with dipping sauce
• Olive and herb stuffed tomatoes

(Directory of more vegan starters)

Easy Mains

• All day breakfast- Vegan sausages (such as Linda Mc Cartney), hash browns, baked beans, fried mushrooms, grilled tomato.

• Roast Dinner-roast potatoes (without lard/goosefat etc), steamed veggies/roast veggies (sweet potato/parsnip etc) with vegan sausages (such as Linda McCartney) or vegan nut roast (some love it some hate it!) and  vegan gravy (such as Bisto favourite or follow a recipe such as this one)

• Pie and Mash-Vegan pie (Example recipe here or buy Linda Mccartney Country Pies), with dairy free mash (use "Vitalite" or "Pure" in place of butter, and soya milk in place of dairy milk), veggies and gravy (such as Bisto Favourite)

• BIG Burgers! Either choose to make your own (20 recipes here!) or source vegan burgers from Frys or VBites!.  Stick in a bun (check that they are vegan too!-most are but some have milk in!), with lettuce, tomato, and add a side of chips, sauces and corn on the cob! (to really please your vegan customers, offer them some vegan mayo too!)

• Pizza- offer a plethora of veg toppings to add to a vegan base (most dough recipes are vegan, as are most sauces).  Toppings could include: Roasted vegetables such as peppers and courgettes, red onion,cherry tomatoes, artichoke

• Curry-23 recipes for vegan curry on the BBC Good Food website here including Spinach and sweet potato curryand Pumpkin chickpea curry (naan bread usually contains milk, so offer rice/chappatis instead).

• Chilli-Filling and full of flavour vegan chilli will please everyone! Jamie Oliver Chilli recipe here

• BIG Salads...vegans don't just eat salad, but we do like them sometimes! Add filling additions such as roast sweet potato/chickpeas/cashews/slices of avocado (and use a dairy free/honey free/egg free dressing) 

Fancier mains

[work in progress!]
Easy Desserts

• Keep to hand some cartons of soya cream (Alpro brand-from supermarkets), soya custard (Alpro brand-available in cartons or snap pots, from supermarket) or soya whipping cream (Soyatoo brand-available online or from Natural Foods in Colchester). The cream and custard are available as UHT so have a long shelf life and can be used as and when required. This can be added to fresh fruit, fruit crumbles or fruit pies to make an appetising vegan dessert!

• Crumbles and pies are easy to veganise! Just replace the butter in the recipe with vegan margarine such as "Vitalite" or "Pure" (and brush pastry with soya milk instead of dairy milk!)

• Or how about offering a vegan chocolate pudding cake!? Your vegan customers will love you for it! See recipe below!

• Vegan chocolate pudding cake-measurements in cups

Fancier desserts

• Chocolate and brandy truffle torte-UK measurements

Suggested websites for finding vegan recipes:

Some of my favourite recipe sites:

• Post Punk Kitchen (US) : Possibly the most reliable recipes ever, by one of the most popular vegan chefs, Isa Moskowitz  (author of “Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World”).
• Fat free vegan: Delicious reliable recipes, mostly with a reduced fat content
• Mouthwatering vegan: Gourmet style recipes, with tempting photos.
• Vegweb-over 15,000 recipes, for every kind of food you can imagine! Recipes are uploaded and rated by members.
• Maple Spice:Extensive directory of sweet and savoury recipes, by a Canadian blogger now living in Ireland.
• Parsley soup: User friendly recipes with UK measurements and ingredients

Tips for stocking your vegan kitchen can be found here:

• Vegetarian Times - How to stock a Veg Kitchen
• Peta-Vegan Kitchen Essentials.

Useful guides

• The animal free shopper (£1.00)-Fantastic guide  by The Vegan Society for new vegans, that lists which UK companies and Supermarkets sell vegan versions of foods, wines, toiletries etc.  Helpful glossary of animal ingredients.
• The L-Plate Vegan (£1.90): Pocket guide printed by Viva!  Tips for going vegan.  View online for free or download the PDF