London Encore

I've been to London several times and every time, I find more and more veggie yumminess.  It's quickly becoming one of the most veg friendly cities in the world and delicious to boot!  Gone are the days of poking fun at bland English food and welcome to a veritable taste bud frenzy. In addition to the last London post, here are a few more spots that I couldn't leave out of the mix ; )

One of my favorite things about London is the amount of quick food spots all over town. And by quick food, I don't mean fast food. I mean eateries that have fresh sandwiches, soups, salads and other treats that are made daily. A lot of them have refrigerators packed with selections for a healthy to go treat as well as counters for an on the spot experience. Eat is just one of those places with convenient location all over town. I especially love their veggie meal or sandwich of the week and I fell in love with their veggie gyoza soup! Delish!!!  Quick, healthy & affordable - you can't beat that!

Itsu is yet another chain of quick food. Itsu's spin is sushi, noodles, soups and salads with a modern feel to each locale. Their motto is "Health & Happiness" which I believe they deliver on consistently ; ) For us non-sushi eating vegans, their miso soup and veggie dumplings are choice. Top it off with their organic dark chocolate rice cakes for an after lunch sweet tooth squasher!

Nothing is screams iconic London more then a red double decker bus.  But what would be cooler then dining on one? Dining on a vegan one! Here in London town there are 2 vegan bus-taurants, Rootmaster & Vegan Routes.  Each offers up killer vegan food and can be reserved for private events. Comfy, cute and tasty, these novelty restaurants are worth the ride ; )

If you're in need of some yoga and meditation after running around from tube to tube, check out Alchemy. A holistic sanctuary in the center of the city that also boasts a cef and juice bar. So after a relaxing session of Kundalini, treat yourself to a Hemp Mountain Magic Super Smoothie with hemp seed milk, maca, banana, agave syrup, mesquite and cacao nibs.  After all that sight seeing and eating you're way through jolly ol' London, you will need it!!

Next, I visit the English seaside & college towns - join me, won't you?

London Revisited

My last visit across the pond was a freezing one! The coldest, snowiest winter in the last 100 years and yes, it sure felt that way ; ) It was nice to see snow on the ground as well as on the countryside as we whizzed by in trains, but nothing felt as warm and cozy as a delicious meal! I was incredibly excited to go back to London and revisit some faves from my last trip but even more so for some new locations that had sprouted up since my last jaunt. There were so many places I hadn't gone that I made sure I squeezed them all in within the week we spent in jolly, frozen, England!

I must open with Saf Restaurant & Bar. Not only is it hip & chic, it is incredibly tasty, 100% vegan and offers lots of raw dishes.  I heard about it from Chef Tal Ronnen, and anyone who has tried his food knows that if he has anything to do with something, it's gotta be good!  I made a beeline toward Saf on my first free day. Ordering up a feats for lunch, I started with their phenomenal Pesto Au Poivre, a gourmet cheese made from cashews sure to knock the biggest carnivore's socks off. I followed that with a delicious TLT Ciabatinni (smoked tofu, lettuce, tomato, garlic mayo on yummy crusty bread). The menu changes with the seasons and makes it all the more fun and interesting. Their juices and cocktails are just as gorgeous as their dishes while their desserts, insane! See how beautiful the food is, salivate over the menu online at Saf!

If you're looking for a hipster, chill, artsy, music filled, vegan meal, then Inspiral Lounge is the spot for you! Streaming their own radio station and dishing out nothing but tasty treats, this lounge/cafe is located right by Camden Market. Lots of young, trendy, discount shops, Inspiral is a great place for a break and a bite. Their menu is great with your choice of entree, sides and salads, all for a nice price.  Beer, wine & desserts can be found here as well, perfect complements to the relaxed feeling of the riverfront locale. Stop in and be Inspiralled!

With locations all over the UK, Europe, and now the US, Wagamama is a fun choice for healthy, community style dining. With shareable, Japanese plates, diners have oodles of noodles to choose from. Something for everyone, Wagamama has a ton to offer veggies or any other special diet ; ) I went for the raw juice (cucs, carrots, tomato, orange, apple), yasai gzoyas & yasai yatzu curry. Yasai means veggie ; ) Suck it up & look for a location near you!

I LOVED the concept behind Tossed. A fast growing chain in the UK, Tossed is not only healthy, it's fun!  With a new location popping up somewhere all the time, each is quite different from the next. But the food offerings are awesome at any of them.  At Tossed, you get to choose your fiber base of pasta, brown rice or salad. Then you add your ingredients from all sorts of veggies and proteins. You choose you dressing and it all gets tossed! They also offer soups, sandwiches, juices, coffees and some pre-packaged meals if you're on the go but their you build it, we make it meals are the best! Keeping an eye on calories, low GI grains and keeping fat at bay, you really can't feel guilty going overboard at Tossed!

I've got some more updates on London as well as some more spots across England so come back for more!

1 More Shout Out for London!

I have only scratched the surface here in the city across the pond and I hope to come back soon so that I can cover some more ground. I could be here for quite some time and never eat at the same place twice, although I would love to ; ) From veggie burgers to veggie sushi, London has been quite the friend to this healthy voyager!

Having to take the tube and trains to many of my destinations, I had to pass through some of the major stations such as St. Pancras. In all of these major stations, it feels as though you are waking through a mall and it it you find a veritable gourmet food court. From Le Pain Quotidien (one of my favorite LA haunts),the Chop'd cafe and the local Mark & Spencer markets, there is no shortage of healthy choices to make before a long trip into or out of town. See a list or eateries and retailers on the St. Pancras Int'l Station website as well as info on the national rail stations.

Another health minded fast food locale is the ever growing Pret a Manger. Having now landed in New York, my first taste of the convenience based grubbery was in good old London. We were in a rush so this place was just the ticket with fresh, pre-packed sandwiches (like my yummalicious falafel, spinach and tomato sandwich on wheat) and alternatives to the regular empty calorie sides. I grabbed a fresh juice and parsnip crisps to go with my portable lunch. They print health tips and their healthy mission statement on all of their packaging, pretty cool; ) Hit Pret up in the UK and now in NYC!

Yo! Sushi was hands down one of the most conceptually fun places I have ever eaten. It's part sushi bar, part Jetsons and all lip smackingly good. There is a conveyor belt that goes around the entire perimeter of the sushi bar where they make their fresh food and set it on for you to grab as you wish. The colors of the bowls tell you the price point so you can eat as much or as little as you want and keep score ; ) They have an extensive menu with even more tantalizing treats and with that, they have calculated every possible bit of information on each of their dishes from calories to gluten content. This way the pickiest of eaters can eat without dealing with that new server that doesn't know which way is up let alone the ingredients in a a given dish. I hope to see one of these sprout up in LA soon but until then, check them out at Yo! Sushi.

On my last evening in town, my pals were in search of a Thai place that once we found it, the location was no longer there. So after quite some time of walking around aimlessly I was distracted by a cute character in neon. It was Topo Gigio, my favorite childhood European mouse! I then realized it was an Italian restaurant of the same name and despite my friends' protests, we got a table inside. I was tickled that the whole place was full of Topo Gigio dolls and drawings. And the menu surprised as well as my veggie counterpart and I each had a healthy serving of gnocchi and shared a pretty darn good artichoke appetizer. Needless to say, Topo Giggio pleased the kid and the grown up in me all at once ; )

Sadly, I had to head back home but I am more then stoked to get back to see good friends, perhaps catch a race or 2 and eat my way through the island once again!

Yummy UK

On this particular trip I made some incredible friends and they were kind enough to show me around their hometown. In and outside of the city, my new group of peeps made my stay extra fun and extra yum by taking me to some great local gems.

Karin, a veggie colleague and founder of the UK web phenom,Veggievision.com, met up with me one evening so we could chat and stuff our veggie faces! We strolled over to Eat and Two Veg, a chic veggie joint with some uber tasty vegan treats. I had a delicious soy mocha shake and we shared a killer chicken satay with peanut sauce. She had a juicy veggie burger while I tried to behave myself with a bowl of steaming tomato bisque. I could have ordered heaps more and will next time. If you're in London, Eat and Two Veg is a must!!

On another evening, I made my way up to Kettering to see a good friend. On our Kenyan trip, he kept raving about his friend's place, The Raj, and that when we got back to London I had to try it. And so I did!! After a short train ride and a beer at a cute pub in Market Harborough, we drove over to his friend's Indian feastery. It was really slick looking and the service was great. So much so that I didn't even order off of their scrumptious menu! I was made a special vegan dish that was chock full o' veggies and mushrooms in a special red sauce. I devoured the garlic nan that was on the table along with my mushroom rice ; ) The Raj is a definite thumbs up and I look forward to visiting them again to try the rest of their veggie delicacies!

Later that week, we were treated to a boat ride down the Thames and a fun evening at O2 in Greenwich. O2 is a huge venue with a concert hall, restaurants and clubs all under what looks like a super modern circus tent. My fellow veggie pal took us to Nando's, a Portugese restaurant with a great vibe. I went with his favorite dishes,the veggie pita with lemon and herb sauce. I'm a wimp so I didn't got with their famous peri-peri sauce but apparently it rocks. For a chicken joint, they had a hefty selection of veggie burgers and pitas as well as some killer sangrias. Nando's has locations all over the UK and you can get more info online.

On one of my last days there, a group of us took a ride on the London Eye. We were in the mood for drinks and snacks so we popped into the nearby All Bar One. It was a cool bar and grill with a nice selection of appetizers and meals. I noshed on some guac and plantain chips as well as some pretty kickin' hummus from their world tapas menu. Since we were planning on dinner a little later on, I didn't order a meal but their sandwiches looked very good and everything is homemade and as organic as possible. All Bar One is also a chain and a pretty good choice for a fun time out with friends ; )

Look out for some more on London town soon!!

London Calling

I recently read in a veggie magazine that London was in the top 10 least veggie friendly cities in the world. I couldn't disagree more!!!! Everywhere I went there was an AWESOME veggie option and I was there for a good while with a bunch of non-veggies so I should know. London, in it of itself is the bomb diggity, but the variety of veggie deliciousness made it one of the coolest veggie cities ever in my book!! So much so that it will take 3 posts and even more after future visits ; )

On my first night, we were so exhausted that we ordered in from Red Planet Pizza. I was staying in Kensington and they came highly recommended by our concierge. They weren't kidding ; ) They already offered a cheeseless veggie pizza and I added a bunch of extras. They had a ton of yummy options from Mexican pizzas to traditional and they were super accommodating, quick and yummy! With locations all over the UK, Red Planet delivers!

Dinner the following night was a combo of some veggies and some not so we sauntered into our neighborhood dim sum joint called Ping Pong. It was super cool and trendy inside and apparently a chain in the greater London area. Serving up all dim summy, shareable dishes, Ping Pong was a great place where carnies and veggies alike could dine in harmony. I got a ton of stuff like the plaintain chips, veggie wontons, spinach and mushroom dumplings and the spring rolls. There were at least 10 more things I could have ordered but I felt like a stuffed dumpling myself so I saved those items for my next visit. Check out all the veggie goodness on the Ping Pong website.

Ok, so traveling with other Americans, you can imagine they would eventually have a hankering for a juicy burger. The Gourmet Burger Kitchen was just the place! Again, another eatery with locations all over town, GBK was burger heaven, even for me! They had 5 different veggie burger options and with a name like Gourmet Burger Kitchen, you'd better hope these options would be out of the ordinary. And they were! All of the options could be veganized and I had the stacked portabella burger with thick chips (that's fries to us yankees!) and the best homemade bbq sauce i have ever tasted! They also offered a lentil burger, a falafel burger and many more heavenly and healthy choices. Look them up online at GBK!

As I mentioned, no matter where I went there was a vegan option. Every coffee shop had soy, every market had pre-packaged veggie meals and I never got a cross eyed look anywhere I dined when I mentioned I was vegan as there was always something for me. Walking by Charlotte cafe I decided to look at their menu for kicks and to prove my theory that Londoners know how to take care of their leaf eating friends. Within seconds I was in there ordering their soy beef sandwich to eat later that afternoon. The place was the cutest and the staff was incredibly sweet but the sandwich blew me away!! It was super tasty and mega filling as it was served on a hearty sunflower bun and filled with yummy coriander and herbs as well. I'm craving one right now!! Get one fedexed to you after you look Charlotte cafe up!

I have lots more on old blighty so stay tuned for more!!!