Tuesday, 31 July 2012

Cafe Nero


6 Culver Street West Colchester, CO1 1JG and Caffe Nero at Williams and Griffin Colchester, CO1 1PN

Going by Cafe Nero's "Dietry Products Summary" their vegan options are:
 

Sea Salt crisps 
Fruit salad 
Porridge made with Soya milk
Red Pepper Penne Pasta 
Bear yo yo (for the kids..)
and..
popcorn.

Come on cafes.....Give us some interesting food!

Saturday, 28 July 2012

Naka Thai


35East Hill
Colchester
Essex CO1 2QX
Tel: 01206 864086, 01206 866489
restaurant@nakathai.com 

http://www.nakathai.com

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

As ever, all information on this site is intended as a guide. Menus and ingredients may change, so always mention that you are vegan at time of ordering.
If you spot any out of date information/broken links on this site, please email me to let me know!

Last Mon (23rd July 2012) I went to "Naka Thai" on East Hill, with vegan friends.
I emailed a couple of thai places to ask if they could provide a suitable vegan meal (no meat, fish, eggs, milk,cream etc etc!)
Naka Thai was the only one to reply (hence they got our custom!) Here was their response:

"We would like to confirm that most of our vegetable dishes have no animal products. And we can also prepare many other dishes free from animal products as well, usually the meat will be substituted with beancurd. Just let our staff know, and we will prepare the food to suit your diet".

So I phoned to book (again mentioning we were vegan-just to make sure they were aware!)
I printed off the menu, and marked dishes that looked suitable, and took it along with me. When we ordered we asked the waitress to double check with the chef that the dishes we had chosen definitely contained no animal products (milk, egg,cream etc).She didn't come back to say any of it wasn't suitable, so fingers crossed that it was!

Here's what we had:

For starters:

Vegetable Tempuras with dipping sauce
Thai style sweetcorn cakes with dipping sauce

Then we ordered 4 mains to share, which were:

Thai Green curry with mixed vegetables and coconut milk
Thai red curry with mixed vegetables and coconut milk
Sweet and sour tofu
Spicy basil tofu

And a couple of sides of rice.
I then ordered mango sorbet for dessert :)

Overall the food was very nice; personally I wasn’t keen on the texture of the basil tofu, but other people I was with did like it.
The service was friendly, and it was nice to try some different cuisine, and to be able to order three courses.



Update:
Went to Naka Thai again on Monday 13th May 2013.
Ordered the same courses as before, but also added a side of Vegetable "khao pad Naka"-which is fried rice with grilled pineapple and veg (and cashews).
However when the rice dish came it had egg in it! (despite us mentioning we were vegan many times, and the chef confirming that all of our choices were vegan). The waitress apologised and our rice dish was replaced with a non eggy one!
Be aware to check if you order this dish!

Update 2:I was also told by another local vegan that they ordered the fried rice for take away, and requested no egg using the online order form, but it still contained egg when it was delivered.


Update 3:
Local vegan Bethany wrote on our accompanying facebook page:
"Went to Naka Thai tonight and was really surprised at how lovely it was there. Delicious food, extremely nice staff who were really accommodating. The menu says to mention if you are vegan and they can adapt pretty much anything. I had a coconut based soup which was amazing, and then coconut rice and mixed very stir fry with cashews and peanut sauce. Make sure you tell them you are vegan and no fish sauce and they are more than happy to make or adapt anything for you. Very impressed. Also taste card registered at 50% off so a real bargain. Will definitely be going back."


The eggy rice!



Our bill. (50% off food with Taste Card)

Sunday, 22 July 2012

The Slug And Lettuce

 The Slug and Lettuce
The Slug and Lettuce – Colchester
111 High Street
ColchesterCO1 1TB
Tel: 01206 367320

Tuesday, 26 June 2012

La Tasca, Spanish Tapas Bar and Kitchen

COLCHESTER LA TASCA HAS NOW CLOSED DOWN!
(Will keep this up though for reference when visiting other towns)
La Tasca
Colchester
La Tasca Kitchen
14-15 North Hill
Colchester, CO1 1DZ Tel: 01206 768060
 http://www.latascakitchen.co.uk/


The allergy info for La Tasca can be viewed here-

Visited La Tasca this week with vegan friends. This is what we ordered:
  • Berenjenas Gratinadas, (ordered without cheese) which was basically aubergine baked in a tomato  sauce.
  • Superfood salad, made up of  wheat, red quinoa and lentils, with avocado and rustica tomatoes, marinated in infused lemon oil. 
  • Three bean and mint salad, which was kidney, borlotti and cannellini beans, with chickpeas, in a mint dressing.
  •  Almonds- Lightly salted Marcona almonds
We also chose to order a big Paella to share for our "main".
The veggie one was marked as vegan on the online form (yay) .....but being the un-trusting vegans we are we insisted on questioning the waiter on the vegan-ness of the white wine used (it was marked vegan on the ingredients list, but you know you can never be sure!)  The waiter kindly offered to retrieve the bottle from the kitchen for our perusal.  Upon his return he said that the chef doesn't actually use the wine in the veggie Paella, just veg bouillon, so with our minds at ease we ordered.

The waiter told us the  Paella was going to take 20 mins to cook, so in the meantime he brought us out our other tapas, which were all very nice. There was just enough in each little dish for us all to have a taster.  I particularly liked the superfood salad and the Berenjenas Gratinadas.


Then the main event came out-the huge Paella! A huge steaming dish of rice with char-grilled aubergine and peppers, and mushrooms.

It was very delicious!  It was bit pricier than we expected (our big Paella cost £35! -although it was to feed four..!) but I'd definitely still go again.

A quick breakdown of the items marked vegan on the allergy list:
  • Paella Verduras
  • Superfood Salad
  • Three bean salad
  • Mixed olives
  • Almonds

Items that could be veganised with some alterations:

  • Baby leaf salad, if ordered without dressing
  • Berenjenas Gratinadas, if ordered without cheese
  • Note: The Patatas Bravas (deep fried potatoes) look like they'd be ok if ordered without cheese, but closer inspection of the chart reveals they aren't even classed as veggie because they are deep fried in the same fryer as the meat. (although this might not bother some people...)



Wednesday, 23 May 2012

Alishan Tandoori

Questionnaire results for

Alishan Tandoori, 19 Osborne Street, Colchester, CO2 7DP

http://www.alishantandoori.com/index.htm

Please note that unfortunately we cannot verify the accuracy of any findings provided by the eateries surveyed.
RESULTS: Provided 14/05/12
 
I gave one of my questionnaires to the staff at Alishan to fill in regarding vegan options.

The results were:

- Bombay potatoes
-garlic mushrooms
- tarka dall
-aloo Gobi


Tuesday, 17 April 2012

Supermarket lunch options and vegan lists

Possible supermarket  lunch grabs...[Updated Nov 2012]

 These are a few things that I found on the vegan lists of Tesco, Sainsburys and M&S, that could be grabbed for lunch on the go.  (obviously most places also sell lots of fruit/salad and other snacks like nuts/crisps etc too!)

Links to the vegan lists of Tesco, Co-op, M&S, and Sainsburys are at the bottom of this page.

Tesco: 
-Houmous & Carrot Chutney Sandwich
 

Sainsburys: 


Snack salads:
1.    Taste the difference Tabbouleh 250gram
2
SALAD POTS:
1.    Tomato & basil pasta 550gram
2.    by sainsburys chargrilled vegetable pasta 280gram
3.    by Sainsburys tomato and jalapeño pepper pasta 400gram
4.    by sainsburys chargrilled vegetable pasta 400gram
5.    by Sainsburys tomato & basil pasta (C) 400gram
6.    by Sainsburys tomato and jalapeño pepper pasta (C) 400gram

COLESLAW AND
SALADS:
1.    bgty less than 3% fat Beetroot salad 250gram
2.    Tomato & basil pasta 300gram
3.    3 Bean salad 270gram



Marks and Spencer



“Food on the move”:

1.      Asian Slaw & Mango Rice Salad
With Edamame Bean Dip
2.      Count on us Orzo Pasta Dual Tray Size
3.      Count on us Orzo Pasta With Slow Roasted
4.      Count on us Roasted Butternut Squash,
Red Pepper Houmas Wrap
5.      Count on us Sweet Chilli Veg Sushi Wrap
6.      Food on the move - Vietnamese Style Vegetable Noodle Soup
7.      Super WholefoodWith
Blueberries & Mango

From the Salad section:

1.      Superwholefood Shaker Salad
2.      Fresh Superfood Salad Meal
3.      Large Deli Side - Roasted Veg Cous
4.      Rice, Lentil & Roast Aubergine
With A Garlic Dressing

From the Delicatessen:

1.      Vegetable Spring Roll
2.      Vegetable Spring Roll Selection

 


Co-op List January 2012


Tesco September 2012

Sainsburys November 2012

Sainsburys 'Non-Food' Vegan Product List

Marks and spencer,  5 November 2012

Waitrose 'Wine List' JANUARY 2012
Food List - Waitrose will post out their vegan list if you contact them:
email: customersupport@waitrose.co.uk
phone: 0800 188884
(apparently you can ask in store for one too))

Morrisons - do not provide a vegan list

Wednesday, 11 April 2012

Jardine Cafe and Bistro


Questionnaire results for:

Jardine Cafe and Bistro,

Westcott House 
140 High Street
Wivenhoe
CO7 9AF
Please note that unfortunately we cannot verify the accuracy of any findings provided by the eateries surveyed.
RESULTS: Provided 11/04/12

The following options could be made vegan (please state changes that would need to be made at time of ordering)
-From the lunch menu

Sandwich
Hummous, Artichoke, Pickled Beetroot and spinach

Light Bites
Tempura Vegetables with Coriander and Chilli Dipping Sauce
Nicoise Salad (without the Mackerel and Eggs)

Light Lunch
Penne Arrabbiata (without Cheese)
Veggie Board (without Cheese)

Side orders/starters that are suitable for vegans
-- Rocket Salad (without Cheese)
- New Potatoes (without Herb Butter)
- Chips
- Broccoli (without Blue Cheese)

 Would you/your chef be prepared to make a vegan meal especially, if given enough advance notice?
-Yes , we’d be happy to! 
 Amount of notice required
-One day notice.

All our food is cooked from raw ingredients and if we have them in stock, we try to accomodate a walk in/last moment request for a vegan meal

Vegan dessert options
-Mango, Passion Fruit, Raspberry and Lemon Sorbet
-Last month we had an Orange Pannacotta which was entirely vegan