Spring Menu at Morgan M

Patrick French, Restaurants, UK, Vegetarian

During the Easter weekend, I managed to get a small part of the vegetarian crew back together again to enjoy the delights of the very reasonable Morgan M. This place is amazing value and I have no idea how they do tasting menus for so cheap.

We went for the spring “From the Garden” tasting menu. Five courses for only £48. Yes, you still have to pay service, and yes the drinks are extra on top of that. For the quality of the food though, it’s still great value.

Here’s our menu details but I won’t bother trying to write about each dish beacuse each was really great, and was focused on chatting and catching up with everyone that I didn’t really have a chance to take any notes.

Mojette Bean Soup, Carrot, Basil Leaf, Parsley Oil

Early spring salad of artichoke soubise, broad bean and confit tomato, pine nuts and lambs lettuce

Canneloni of “Paris” mushroom julienne, Parsley root Purêe and Broth

Beetroot Glazed with balsamic vinegar, goat’s cheese and pine nuts biscuit

Rhubarb Confit, Pain de Genoa, Rhubarb and Jurançon Ice-cream strawberry coulis

I’m glad to see that they were very busy on a Saturday evening. Much busier than when I went here last time on a Monday evening.

Loving Hut in Hamburg

Patrick Hamburg, Restaurants, Vegetarian

Although some believe vegetarian food is hard to find in Germany, the wonderful website, The Happy Cow makes it easy to find places where you don’t really need to think about what you choose.

Loving Hut Menu

On starting a new project in Hamburg, I was delighted to find a fully vegan place quite close to the office. When I’m tired, not really wanting to venture very far or think very hard about what I’m going to eat, The Loving Hut is a place I’ll probably end up. The style of this one is all pan-asian foods with inspiration from Thailand, Vietnam, and Chinese cuisines but all done with seitan, tofu or just vegetables.

Vietnamese Pancake

I really enjoyed this vietnamese pancake. Super crisp, well filled and surprisingly moreish.

Mixed Grill

I had the “mixed grill” for a main, which arrived with some fried rice. The “meat” was pretty hearty, surprisingly close to the vietnamese style of grilled pork, but done with mock meat or something similar.

Vegetarian Curry

Others reported the curry pretty good (although not particularly spicy since they’re catering for German tastes) as was the grilled pork “bun” (vietnamese style) dish below.

Grill with Noodles

Name: Loving Hut
Website: http://www.lovinghut.de/hamburg/
Found at: Markusstraße 2 20355 Hamburg, Germany

Mildreds of Soho

Patrick Restaurants, UK, Vegetarian

Mildreds is one of these vegetarian institutions running since 1998 (unbelievably long!). It draws a crowd and they don’t often take bookings unless you want to reserve an entire floor upstairs. Turning up anytime after 6pm is an almost guaranteed wait. Fortunately when we went, our group of six turned up and they had a table large enough for us to be seated immediately. It felt a bit like cheating stepping through all the couples and friends already waiting, but hey, who are we to complain. I guess the secret to this special visit was that larger table sit upstairs (the more quiet space) and more suitable for large groups.

The menu is all vegetarian (with vegan options) and all the offerings looked tempting. Things appeared quite plain and simple but well focused. Fortunately they all proved to be really flavourful as well. I started with the pita bread and hummous and smoky red pepper babaganoush – not really one to turn down any sort of dipping type mix. Great flavours and a nice way to start the meal.

The burger called out to me on the mains but I settled in for the mushroom pie with mushy peas and homemade fries. A number of people also ordered the fries (we over did it as a table) and although I liked the crisp outside and the chunkiness, I think a number of people preferred the slimmer, smaller french fry style that these chunks of potato did not represent. To be fair, they seemed a bit more like potato wedges but they were pretty good. The pie was absolutely divine. Umami-rich, flaky pastry and generous amounts of lots of different types of mushrooms. I’m a big fan. The tomato sauce in the picture is also a chipotle one. Yum!

Although getting full, I could not resist ordering an orange chocolate brownie dessert. I got it to come with a scoop of ice cream instead of cream. I’m pleased that the brownie was more of a cake – the serving size itself would have defeated me if it had been any more dense. Instead, light flaky (okay, not that brownie like) but rich and chocolately with plenty of orange flavours definitely won me over.

If not for the crowds, I think I would find myself returning here all the time. The food was great. The service was a bit meh, but hey, they had character and it is in the middle of soho!

Name: Mildreds
Website: http://www.mildreds.co.uk/
Found at: 45 Lexington Street, London , W1F 9AN

Cafe Gratitude

Patrick American, Restaurants, San Francisco, Vegetarian

Our cousin and her partner told us to go and try Cafe Gratitude for the proper west coast experience. It’s a vegan restaurant that offers all the dishes that make you feel powerful and homely. Their names are cleverly named to try to give you a boost to your esteem through positive reinforcement such as “I am Dazzling” or “I am Fulfilled”. It continues with pretty much any positive saying you could talk about. Beverages continue the theme with “I am Renewed”, “I am Healthy” and “I am Luscious” (one of their richer drinks).

The restaurant offers dining on communal tables and offer plenty of shelf ingredients to buy including a vegan cookbook to help you get started.

There’s also a bar area where you can sit at.

Goodness in a glass.

Here’s the “BLT” or the “I am Extraordinary” dish. The waitress puts it down stating, “You are extraordinary” and making sure that we have everything we need before leaving. Of course there is no bacon or mayonnaise in a dish like this. I’m not even sure if they used a tofu or mushroom substitute as I didn’t have that.

I opted for a warming chipotle squash soup. Our waitress gave us a bit to try and the kick in it made me want a full bowl. It was a very generous serving. Almost too much because I ordered the side of garlic bread for some texture.

A nice cafe and a restaurant and quite the West Coast experience. Probably not somewhere you want to take someone craving a steak.

Name: Cafe Gratitude
Found at: 2400 Harrison Street (@20th Street), San Francisco, CA 94110, United States
Website: http://cafegratitude.com/

Prinz Myshkin Vegetarian Haven in Munich

Patrick Munich, Restaurants, Vegetarian

A haven from all the other restaurants in Munich that serve heavier, meatier cuisines, Prinz Myshkin is a welcome find suggested to me by a former colleague, Gregor Hohpe, who I caught up with at dinner. He happens to be German, and vegetarian and so I was happy to go with his first recommendation of this place.

It’s a surprisingly large restaurant made up of two great rooms easily catering to probably about one hundred people. On a Monday night it was reasonably busy though nowhere near full capacity yet. Impressive. On first impressions it wouldn’t be what you’d imagine as a vegetarian restaurant with a long bar stretching almost the entire length of the dining room, showcasing a decadent array of desserts and cakes at one end.

My dining companion was running a little late so I had plenty of time to peruse the menu. Firstly there’s an overwhelming amount of options that span quite a number of cuisines. Everything from Italian, to German adaptations with mock meat and fleeting visits to the far east. These wide variety of options in a normal restaurant concern me as they did here. Normally doing such a wide variety of tastes means that nothing is very spectacular and everything very average. Fortunately I turned out to be wrong for in this case.

We started with a tomato mozzarella sharing plate. A generous serving which I forgot to take a picture of. I ended up ordering the truffle gratin. Strong flavours and a hearty dish to counteract the heavy cold lightly dotted with snow.

To lighten the dish, it came along with a very nicely dressed side salad that had some sort of nut dressing, adding another dimension to the otherwise already umami-rich truffle gratin. A good complement and really tasty.

When we hit desserts, we had a look at the menu and once again, the wide breadth of options made me a bit concerned. Apparently there’s a saying that the you’re not in a true Bavarian restaurant unless their dessert offerings is at least half the size of the main course. From the number of cakes, puddings and desserts, I guess this definitely qualified. I couldn’t really make up my mind. My friend ordered this asian inspired tiramisu, using bright red berries, yuzu cream and layered in a foo-foo glass tier.

Since I was in the heart of Bavaria, I thought I would go with the more classic option of an appel streusel with vanilla ice cream.

Thank goodness the ice cream was proper and none of this weird, pretend vegan stuff. It was a very hearty portion as well, that I ended up leaving a significant amount after having my fill of it. The apple was well cooked, but still firm, studded with lots of spicy and with the appropriate layers of pastry folded as is the way for a streusel from this area (it’s isn’t any apple crumble style here!).

Service was great – not rushed, polite and away from the typical haughty German service infamous in many other restaurants. The waiters did a good job of entertaining my attempts of German and kindly answered only in German. A great find and one I’ll be returning to next time I’m in Munich.

Name: Prinz Myshkin
Website: http://www.prinzmyshkin.com/en
Found at: Hackenstraße 2, 80331 München, Germany

Kopps

Patrick Berlin, Restaurants, Vegetarian

Berlin is probably the paradise city for any vegetarian or vegan place in Germany. Not really a country known for its affection for meat, The Happy Cow lists just as many, if not more, vegetarian places in Berlin when compared to even larger cities such as London.

Kopps is the latest addition Vegan restaurant on offer, the decor following the trends of clean walls, large windows and very modern decor. As a Berlin friend told me, “Very Mitte.”

I happened to chance upon the week they opened, serving a very excellently valued four course menu for only €15 excluding drinks.

To start was a pumpkin soup served with roasted pumpkin seeds. The use of coconut milk in this dish made it taste slightly more tropical than what it probably should have but it was still very, “lecker” (tasty!).

Second round came the red beetroot ravioli filled with a cashew-herb ricotta and a fennel salad. Not only was it really well presented but I really enjoyed the contrast of the slightly sharp fennel against the typically sweet beetroot. A clever concoction and one that I’ll try (though probably with the use of real ricotta instead of some weird vegan substitute).

The main course was an attempted “meat substitute”, including a roasted soya roulade with red cabbage and potatoes. A tasty dish although I found it slightly over-seasoned for my liking.

Round four, and by this time, I was pretty full. However it was definitely worth the effort being a delicious chocolate mousse with raspberry sauce. Given it being a vegan place, I have no idea how they managed to make the mousse so creamy and delicious as I was expecting some sort of gritty, or slightly off tasting mousse. A definite highlight and something you should try.

Name: Kopps
Found at: Linienstr 94, Berlin Germany 10115
Website: http://kopps-berlin.de/

Lucky Leek

Patrick Berlin, Restaurants, Vegetarian

Continuing the great adventures I’ve had with the Happy Cow website, I ended up at a relatively new vegan restaurant located in the heart of gentrified Prenzlauer Berg. They had a few tables outside when I went as it wasn’t so cold, and had probably about eight or ten small to medium sized tables on the inside. Make sure you reserve if you want a spot on popular Friday or Saturday evenings as they are often sold out.

It’s modernly decorated and offer a changing menu both daily and it looks like their regular food changes as well. I guess a focus on seasonal produce and local ingredients definitely make it worth while.

I had the food pretty much from the daily menu. A wonderful yellow pepper gazpacho, a slight adaptation from the typical spanish dish with plenty of chunks of fresh vegetables and a very spicy garlic bread that went well with the dish. It was a huge serve for being an appetiser and a bit more and I think it could have served as a main.

I’m glad that it didn’t though because the tagliatelle was marvellous. My Italian friends would have been impressed by the al-dente-ness of the pasta and combined with fresh steinpilz (porchini) and wonderful truffle flavours, was just an absolute delight to eat. Fresh cherry tomatoes bursting with their sweet goodness provided a nice counter balance as did the fine strips of chilli sitting atop the dish – not advertised but wholly welcomed by myself.

It’s probably on the pricier side of being a vegetarian, but the portions were well worth the price and the flavours alone demonstrated how impressive vegan cooking could be.

Name: Lucky Leek
Found at: Kollwitzstrasse 46, Prenzlauer Berg, Berlin
Website: http://www.lucky-leek.de/

Vego Food World

Patrick Berlin, Fast Food, Vegetarian

Berlin is in no short supply of vegetarian places. However vegetarian doesn’t always really mean healthy. Like Yellow Sunshine, Vego Foodworld supplies vegetarian alternatives to fast food – everything from pizzas, gyros, even schnitzel. Their biggest main selections however are the burgers, all vegetarian including the “bacon and cheese” burgers.

You can order food with just fries, or salad, or both, the latter making it feel like you’re actually being slightly healthlier.

You’ll pay much more for vegetarian burgers although with a drink, fries and salad expect to pay around €10.

You can find Vego Food World tucked in around a trendy street in hip Prenzlauer Berg. Popular for folks eating in and particularly take away

Name: Vego Food World
Found at: Lychener Straße 63, Prenzlauer Berg, Berlin
Website: http://www.vego-foodworld.de/

Happy Burgers at Yellow Sunshine

Patrick Berlin, Fast Food, Vegetarian

We’ve eaten at Yellow Sunshine a few times since being in Berlin. Even though it’s vegetarian and vegan food, it is still fast food, so I wouldn’t necessarily think of it being very good for you. During the week, the evenings have been fairly busy and I can imagine a much longer stream of people here on weekends, particularly when it hits the drinking hours.

They have a great selection of burgers, and even though it says chicken or some meat reference on the menu, it is all mock meat. And tasty.

Things are ordered at the counter and cooked fresh, including the chips that could probably be a little bit crisp but still go down well with the whole burger.

Expect to pay at around €10 for a burger, fries and a drink of some sort. Not that cheap for fast food, but it’s really great fast food that’s happy. I’ve never tried them but they also do “currywurst”, and a number of other snacks though I suspect many other are simply deep fried.

Name: Yellow Sunshine
Found at: Wienerstrasse 19, Berlin-Kreuzberg, 10999, Germany
Website: http://www.yellow-sunshine.com

Dada Falafel

Patrick Berlin, Restaurants, Vegetarian

I think I stumbled across this place on the Lonely Planet website, looking for other vegetarian friendly places in Berlin. It’s really not that hard. However on one particularly very cold evening, I ended up at this place with another vegetarian workmate.

The shop is actually split into two sections – one side, you order the food and can choose take out or eat in. The other side opens up to a very large, bright space that looks more like an art gallery than any other restaurant. You order drinks from the bar (I highly recommend the classic mint tea) and they have a number of other desserts and small bites.

The whole process seemed a little unclear to us. After finding out whether or not you order from the side with tables and seats (you don’t), we were then unsure of whether or not they would bring the food when ready (they did in our case), though you still order drinks from the bar. Fortunately the food was really worth the wait and the strange confusion. My workmate ordered for both of us, getting the falafel plate with the spicy sauce that we really could have done with more of. Given Germany’s general aversion to anything with spice, this sauce finally had some kick and something I really wanted more of. The plate came smeared with hummus, super fresh salad and accompanied by a couple of small pitas that let us eat the food the way that we wanted to (as a pocket sandwich, or bit by bit).

They have a nice atmosphere and the entire dinner is a pretty cheap affair. Combined with a tea, dessert (yummy baklava below!) and the plate, I think the whole affair would be around €10-€12.

I have no idea how busy it gets, but it’s also definitely worth eating on the premises, taking in the nice atmosphere.

Name: Dada Falafel
Website: http://www.dadafalafel.de/
Found at: Linienstraße 132, 10115 Berlin-Mitte, Germany