Bristol Vegetarian

Culinary adventures of a vegetarian living in Bristol and working in Bath. Reviews, recipes and my quest to find the perfect vegetarian Sunday roast!

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Eat A Pitta - review, February 2015

Eat A Pitta has two outlets, one in St Nick’s Market and one in Broadmead. The food on offer is the same at both - falafel in a pitta or in a box, served with a range of tasty salads, and both good value at £4.50 a pop.

I’ve tried Eat A Pitta’s wares a couple of times and been impressed on both occasions. The falafel have a good crunch to them, and served still warm, if not always piping hot. You get five per serving.

There’s a good range of salads and you get a bit of all of them, unless you ask otherwise. I love the carrot and coriander salad, as well as the cous cous, which usually contains chick peas and olives. There’s also a fresh, herby tomato and cucumber salad, and tangy red cabbage, as well as the option of assorted pickled items such as gherkins and chillis.

Everything I’ve mentioned above is great, and very satisfying to tuck into of a lunchtime. The only thing I’m not a big fan of their homous - it’s a bit pasty for me.

It think it’s fair - and inevitable - to draw comparisons between Eat A Pitta and Edna’s Kitchen, another favourite falafel peddler, just down the road in Castle Park. I’d say Edna pips Eat A Pitta to the post on the falafel themselves - they’re just that bit more flavoursome - but that Eat A Pitta has a sunnier, more colourful range of salads. With that in mind, I’d say that if you want a falafel salad box, hit up Eat A Pitta, if you want falafel in a pitta with all the trimmings, head to Edna’s.

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Sticks & Broth - review, January 2015

I've had multiple recommendations for Sticks & Broth since it opened, and I was excited to try it out towards the end of last month.

We ordered veggie dumplings to start, £6 for six, and they were amazing - I'm not entirely sure what was in them, I think glass noodles and beansprouts, among other things - but they tasted awesome, as did the soy and dark vinegar dip that accompanied them.

The veggie ramen, unfortunately, didn't live up to the standard set by the starter.

Disappointingly, the broth didn't really taste of anything. It was really quite bland, and as a consequence, so were the noodles. The noodles were also still a bit clumped together too, although I don't think they were undercooked.

The pak choi, (single piece of) aubergine and shitake mushrooms were all good, although I didn't like the seaweed sheet - to be fair, that's probably an acquired taste. I would have expected the grilled corn to be warm and, you know, grilled, but it was cold and a bit soggy, and definitely seemed to have been boiled. 

The tofu cake served on top of it all was great though, really succulent and a real saving grace.

A real mixed bag (or should I say bowl?) then, in terms of food, but I fully appreciate that that may be down to my own inexperience of Japanese food and that that cuisine may just not to be my taste.

If you're a fan of Japanese food though, I think the fact that Sticks & Broth is heaving every time I walk past speaks for itself - and the service is impeccable.

[bristolvegetarian]

The quest for the perfect vegetarian Sunday roast - Chequers, Bath

The last time I went to Chequers for a Sunday roast (about five years ago), they didn't offer a vegetarian option, so I ended up eating a roast minus the meat and gravy for not much less than the cost of a full roast.

I returned this Sunday for a friend's birthday lunch. As we were a large group, we were asked to pre-order our meals, and I was cheered to spot a veggie choice on the menu - mushroom and apricot nut roast. Excellent. I ordered that and was quite looking forward to it by the time we arrived at the pub on Sunday

So it was disappointing when the meal arrived, to discover that the veggie main wasn't a nut roast at all, but a portion of mushroom risotto served in a ramekin. No nuts (or apricots) in sight!

I like risotto, but I don't really think it is a good centrepiece for a roast dinner. This one was quite nicely flavoured - unfortunately, it was also quite dry. 

Most of the vegetables were good though. I couldn't fault the mashed swede, roast carrot or roast parsnip. The kale was a nice and well cooked too. The roast potatoes, sadly, weren't up to the same standard. They just weren't very crispy, and didn't taste of much.

The Yorkshire pudding was huge - which you'd hope for 50p extra - but dry and a bit burnt. The base was the only part that was still doughy. The other downside was the gravy - it simply wasn't gravy, but a thick, creamy mushroom sauce, that was far too rich to pour over an entire meal. Luckily, the waitress was very accommodating and made some alternative gravy from the granules that I'd brought with me.

Suffice to say, it was disappointing meal overall, especially for £12.50 - a good 25 percent more expensive than any roast I've had in Bristol! The most disappointing thing was the stealth substitution of a nut roast for a risotto - something you would never normally serve with potatoes and veg. Menus are often subject to change, I get that, but given that we'd pre-ordered, it would have been nice of the staff to have mentioned that the meal had changed ahead of it arriving at the table. Would they have substituted a meat option without saying anything? I doubt it.

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Veganuary weeks two and three

9 January Bit of a struggle today. I go to Cafe Nero for an early break with a friend, as I have a meeting at lunch, only to find it doesn't do any vegan sandwiches (even the falafel wrap contains yogurt), so I just have a soya cappucino. Grab Mexican bean soup from Tesco on the way back to work, but then I have to rush straight into my lunch meeting. The cheese sandwiches on offer are staring at me while my stomach growls. I resist. Two hours later I get my soup. Dinner at Roll for the Soul that eve was more of a success - a mezze platter laden with falafel, olives, homous and various salads.

10 January Normally on a Saturday we'd make heuvos rancheros, but for obvious reasons that's off the cards today. I find this recipe for breakfast nachos on Post Punk Kitchen, but it really seems like a lot of effort for what it is. Instead we stick with toast (boring!), but I make a great courgette and red pepper soup for lunch. Go to a friends' house for a takeaway that eve. Despite being veggie, they're overly concerned we 'won't be able to eat anything', we assure them it'll be find. We order Indian, there is tons of food, we can eat all of it - win!

11 January Alpro yogurt with banana and nuts makes a nice change for breakfast. Head to the Lansdown for a Sunday roast, which is fantastic. I don't really miss the Yorkshire pud that much, nor the honey on the roast carrots, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't envy the next table their cauliflower cheese. Homemade pea, aspargus and spinach soup for dinner as we just wanted something light after the roast.

13 January Head to the Mighty Food Fight van for lunch. I have been meaning to go here for ages and I am not disappointed. Their quinoa ball sub is amazing! Donuts not bad either - a little dense perhaps. Make my other favourite curry for dinner - cauliflower, sweet potato and lentils, from a Waitrose recipe card I picked up years ago. You can find the recipe online too – it's really good!

15 January I'm adding 'soup for lunch' to the list of things I'm bored with eating. Still working through the pea soup from the weekend! Go to a friends for dinner. We have a tomato and olive pasta dish and salad, and I spend a lot of time trying not to be jealous of the doritos and creme fraiche that they snack on after.

17 Janaury My sister and her boyfriend have come to visit. We head to the supermarket to pick out things for lunch. Normally we put on a spread of things to eat, and today we do the same – falafel, bread, salad, homous, crisps, although we'd normally have cheese too – they buy a few meaty bits to add to it. Everyone happy! Dinner is another tried and tested recipe - squash, merguez chickpeas and cous cous ala Hugh Fearnley - check out his recipe here, just omit the yogurt for veganicity!

19 January I raved about the Mighty Food Fight so much that my husband insisted I take him there today. They've got southern fried tofu in the subs today, and oh my god, it is delicious. We spend lunchtime saying how good it is to each other. Great nachos too.

20 January More toast, this time with dairy-free chocolate spread, which makes it seem significantly less borning! And more soup too, this time it's lentil and tomato from Aldi. Stir-fry with ginger and tofu for dinner.

21 January This evening I am seriously impressed by Pizza Express's cheese-free pizza. Arrabiatta sauce, spinach, mushrooms, artichoke, pine nuts and rocket. They let me have chilli oil with the dough balls instead of garlic butter too.

By the end of week three I'm feeling like it's getting harder to avoid dairy, particularly, when I'm in a hurry and need to grab something cheap and ready-prepared for lunch. If I don't want to eat soup every day, it really does rely on me being organised enough to bring lunch in from home every day (which, in fairness, I should do anyway). There are tons of great places to eat vegan around Bristol, but I can't afford to spend a fiver every lunchtime, no matter how big a falafel or how delicious a sub roll that fiver gets me! I am still having tons of fruit for snacks instead of crisps and chocolate though, which is definitely a good thing.

[bristolvegetarian]

Veganuary week one

I've decided to do Veganuary, an initiative that encourages people to go Vegan for one month, to reduce the suffering of animals.

It was my husband's idea. I wasn't that keen at first because, well, cheese. But when I thought about it, I realised that a lot of our meals happen to be naturally vegan, apart from the sprinkling of cheese or blob of yogurt that I often add, and that most of the dairy I eat is a result of snacking on chocolate or crisps (many of which contain milk or milk derivatives - who knew?!).

Given that I always try – and fail – to 'eat more healthily' in Janaury, perhaps doing it in the name of Veganuary will strengthen my resolve.

Here goes…

1 January I'm glad I don't have a new year's day hangover, otherwise I'd be really hankering for a cheese and chilli omlette. Instead the day starts with mashed avocado on toast, with parsley and tobasco. Lunch is a makeshift mezze plate made up of new year's eve leftovers (we send the cheese home with one of our guests) and dinner is leftover vegetable curry from two nights ago. A vegan dinner from when we weren't even trying to be vegan!

2 January I discover that Weetabix with soya milk is disgusting. It's lucky I drink my coffee black, otherwise I might struggle with this. For lunch I head to Royce Rolls in St Nick's Market for a chick pea and spinach slice and a vegan chocolate and ginger flapjack – so much for giving up chocolate! Dinner is my favourite Quorn, chilli and lemon linguine, but made with Vegi-Deli pieces instead of Quorn, as Quorn, I discover, contains egg and milk. Find the (original) recipe here.

3 January Today I have toast and jam (with sunflower spread instead of butter), kale and borlotti bean soup and more leftover veggie curry. Resist a Jaffa Cake while visiting friends. I find myself snacking on a lot of bread – with balsamic vinegar and olive oil, yum! 4 January I make an awesome tofu and ginger stir-fry tonight. Here's the recipe – I made it with wholewheat noodles instead of rice. 

5 January More toast and jam for breakfast today, then I treated myself to falafel from Eat A Pitta for lunch, then leftover noodles from yesterday's stirfry for dinner before band practice. Husband takes himself to Mission Burrito in my absence! Pop to the corner shop during practice and find myself checking all the crisps to see if they contain milk. Most of them do, and my choice is narrowed down to ready salted Walker's or chilli Doritos. Doritos win. 

6 January The best thing about Veganuary so far is that it is stopping me from buying crisps or chocolate from the vending machines at work, which is stopping me eating unhealthily and saving me money. I'm actually eating all the fruit I take to work too, instead of just leaving it on my desk and then tossing it out when it goes off. I make an old favourite, aubergine, red lentil and cherry tomato curry for dinner, and try new out a recipe, avocado and chick pea smash for lunch tomorrow. 7 January Mixed it up at breakfast with peanut butter on toast instead of jam. Exciting times. I pick up some Alpro soya yogurts to stop my sugar cravings. Depsite my dislike of soya milk, soya yogurts taste really nice. The avocado and chick pea smash is delicious spread on a ciabatta and topped with rocket. Dinner was a tried-and-tested South African sweet potato and black bean stew from the Demuths Cookery School website.

So far I'm not missing dairy products that much, although I am only a week in. I do have occasional chocolate cravings, but I needed to learn to stand up to those anyway. The Barnivore website has been a godsend in checking the veganicity (is that a word?) of wine and cider.

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The quest for the perfect vegetarian roast dinner: The Barley Mow

After the disappointing roast at Stourhead in November, I had high hopes for The Barley Mow in December, especially as it came recommended by a good friend and fellow vegetarian.

I'm told the centrepiece of the roast varies - today it was a delicious beetroot nut roast. I've never come across this combination before but it worked really well. The beetroot kept the nut roast moist and added depth to the flavour - as well as giving it a pinky hue!

Hiding under the Yorkshire pudding were green beans, which were fresh and nicely cooked, as were the carrots and the red cabbage. I'm not sure how the cabbage was cooked, but it had a nice, slightly sweet flavour to it. The parsnip mash was a real highlight, smooth and creamy and really, really tasty. The gravy looks a bit translucent in this picture, but it tasted good and wasn't too runny.

Last but not least, the roast potatoes - these were spot on, crispy outside, fluffy inside and not the least bit oily or undercooked. The staff put the leftover potatoes and Yorkshires on the bar when they'd stop serving roasts, so we helped ourselves to a couple more of the latter!

Given that June's Kitchen is no longer running Sunday roasts at the Thunderbolt, the Barley Mow is bumping into second place on my Sunday roast leaderboard - The Lansdown still holds my top spot for now. I'd definitely go for a roast there again and would recommend it to friends. It's a lovely pub in general, with a good range of ales and ciders, friendly service and a cosy atmosphere. I can see why my friend recommended it so highly!

[bristolvegetarian]

The quest for the perfect vegetarian roast dinner: Stourhead cafe

My hunt for the perfect veggie roast had taken a break over summer, but resumed one November Sunday following a lovely walk around the gardens at Stourhead.

I realise the cafe may not be the main concern of a National Trust property, but I was disappointed with what was offered as a veggie roast dinner here.

The main part of the meal was a Mediterranean vegetable crumble, comprising courgette, onions and peppers in a tomatoey sauce, topped with breadcrumbs. The crumble tasted pleasant enough, but was a little dry, and would have been better served with salad or garlic bread than roast potatoes and boiled vegetables.

The potatoes were ok, not crispy, but cooked all the way through, and relatively tasty. The veg - carrots, swede and some greens - was bland though, and some of the carrots were still hard.

Worst of all, there wasn't even any veggie gravy! Judging by the response on my Twitter profile, I wasn't the only one upset by this! Luckily I keep gravy granules in my car for such occasions, although it's been a while since I've had to use them. Hopefully the staff at the cafe weren't too upset at me using a tea cup to mix them in!

As I said before, it'd be the house and garden that are the main focus for the National Trust at Stourhead, but I think it's a shame that the cafe wasn't up to the standard of the rest of the property. Better food would make a visit to Stourhead a real day out - as it is, I'd visit the gardens again, but find a nearby pub for food instead. If anyone has any recommendations, feel free to share them!

[bristolvegetarian]

Mathilda's Chilli – review, October 2014

The two words I've most often heard used to describe Mathilda's Chilli Bar are 'hearty' and 'warming', and having now tried Mathilda's chilli myself, I'd say these adjectives were bang on the money.

The three-bean chilli is rich, tasty and, yes, hearty and warming. When it arrived at the table it looked as though it also contained some kind of veggie mince, but the satisfyingly thick consistency is entirely down to beans, onions and tomatoes.

You get a massive bowl of it, served with an almost equally large bowl of rice, and a tub of soured cream, and topped with very tangy guacamole and jalepenos. Not that you'd need the jalepenos - this really isn't a chilli for the faint-hearted! I'm well versed in spicy food, but my mouth was burning by the time I finished the bowl.

The deep fried pickled gerkins with blue cheese sauce were aways going to be a love-or-hate side dish. It pairs two of the most polarising food items out there. I loved it, my husband described it as 'hell-in-a-bowl' - not a reflection on Mathilda's, just on blue cheese and gerkins! That said, I'd have liked the batter on the gerkins to be a little bit crispier. The paprika onion rings were great too, and the batter on these was just right for me.

Situated just off the underpass from the Bearpit, Mathilda's isn't in the most obvious location. It was pretty quiet on the night I visited, which is a shame. I hope when the subway reopens it'll get a bit more passing trade. In the meantime, it's definitely worth hunting out. It's £7 for the chilli, and between £2 and £4 for the sides, so for the amount of food you get, it's excellent value. You get free beer on Wednesdays too, which is always a win.

[bristolvegetarian]

Souk Kitchen, Bedminster - review, September 2014

Ever had a restaurant that you intend to go to for ages, and then when you finally go it's so good you kick yourself for not having been sooner? The Souk Kitchen was that for me. The photos above really don't do it justice.

It's not a vegetarian restaurant, but I'd read that it caters really well for vegetarians. The mezze selection provided some genuinely exciting choices, with a higher-than-average non-meat contingent.

First up, the watermelon and feta. I'm not really keen watermelon, but would make an exception for anything covered in feta. It was fresh and juicy, and the chilli and pickles in the dish complemented the flavour of the melon well. 

I couldn't fault the spinach and pine nut bistilla either; three light stuff pastry rolls, drizzled with heavenly-tasting orange blossom honey. They'd make a great starter if you were going for a main rather than mezze.

Something I wasn't expecting to be impressed by was the labne with tomatoes - I mean, how good can strained yogurt be? Really good, actually - shows what I know! Ripe tomatoes, full of flavour, sat atop the labne which was infused with preserved lemon and sprinkled with sea salt. The dish also featured radish, pomegranate, onion and parsley, all evident but never overpowering, not even the onion.

The Turkish beans were a special for that day - they came served with feta, dill and delicious smokey, tomato sauce. It was nice to have something a bit more filling to go with the salads. The flatbread was fantastic too, topped with cumin and drizzled with oil.

All of the above came to about £16 and was easily enough for two people. They restaurant does a mezze platter for two for £12, so depending what you get with that, it could be a great value option.

There were at least two meat-free choices for larger main courses too, based around haloumi and roast veg. I definitely intend to return to the Souk Kitchen, but it would be difficult to choose something other than the fantastic mezze!

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Mud Dock Cafe - review, July 2014

It's not that often that non-vegetarian restaurants have more than one or two meat-free options on their menu, so it was refreshing to have three mains to choose from at Mud Dock.

Before I get to those, though, were the spiced courgette fritters with cumin and fennel I had as a starter, which which I was so keen to try that I forgot to take a photo of them. They were very tasty - the fennel was the dominating flavour but the cumin definitely made itself known too. They were perhaps a tiny bit oily, but not unpleasantly so. The harissa yogurt the fritters were served with was good too, but they would have been perfectly nice without it.

The soup of the day was also vegetarian - on this occassion it was a chunky leek and potato, which I didn't try, but it certainly met with my dad's approval.

Squash, saffron, feta and blueberry might sound like an ambitious combination for a risotto but it worked well and retained the individual flavours of the ingredients. With so many flavours already going on in the dish though, I probably could have done without the balsamic glaze on the top.

The orange and cinnamon spiced polenta with roast tomato and rocket was the best thing on the table that evening. I only had a taste of this one, but the tomato sauce was rich and generously portioned. I struggle to cook perfect polenta myself - there seems to be a terribly fine line between gritty and soggy - but this got the balance spot on.

(For anyone who's wondering, the third veggie main was spinach and mushroom parpadelle with chilli.)

Two great meals, in a lively, pleasant setting. It's not the cheapest place to eat in Bristol, but is one of the less expensive in that part of the city. And kudos to Mud Dock for offering a wide range of food that goes beyond the regular run-of-the-mill veggie fare. Some people might bemoan risotto as an uninspired vegetarian choice, but done well, a good risotto is a delight and Mud Dock balance it out by not making risotto the only option.

[bristolvegetarian]

Green Rocket Cafe - review, June 2014

The Green Rocket Cafe offers wide selection of imaginative vegetarian food, which, based on what I sampled, is flavourful and wholesome, but it's not the best place to choose when you're on a lunchbreak from work.

The menu spans the usual cafe fare such as soup, sandwiches and cake, to larger meals such curry, noodles and a mezze platter. It’s all veggie - here a ‘V’ denotes vegan - and there’s even a raw option.

I chose ramen noodles in a lime satay sauce, with peppers and mange tout, topped with tofu, spring onions and sesame seeds. This was divine - the sauce was thick and full of sweet peanut flavour, with just enough of a hint of lime, the veg was fresh and crunchy, and the tofu was lightly fried, and had taken in the flavour of the sauce nicely.

My fellow lunchers plumped for a falafel sandwich served with salad, and carrot and ginger soup. The soup was fresh and zingy, thanks to the ginger (It’s nice to have a change from coriander in carrot soup) and came with some really lovely bread, and the falafel sandwich was described as “wholesome, filling and tasty”, which is what you want from a sandwich really.

The fourth in our group just went for a chocolate brownie, which was one of the nicest I’ve sampled in some time. The rest of the cakes looked good too - if the noodles hadn’t have been such a big meal in themselves I might well have indulged in some rhubarb and apple cake.

The downside though, was that the service, although friendly, was very slow. Good food takes time to cook, and that’s fine, but we had a 20-minute wait for canned drinks alone.

The cafe didn’t seem especially busy, so I can only assume it was short on staff or that the workflow system aren’t the most efficient. Fair enough, the Green Rocket Cafe may not be aiming at people popping in for a lunch hour, but it wasn't especially helpful for one of the waitresses to tell me that we couldn’t pay for our food until after she had made and served three coffees!

Regardless, the food was good enough that the service wouldn’t put me off a second visit. I’ll just make sure I’ll go when I have a bit more time to spare – or when the boss isn’t in!

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Turtle Bay - review, May 2014

Turtle Bay is an attractive looking restaurant, and has a great central location. Its website proclaims that Caribbean food is the "last undiscovered great cuisine of the world", which is probably true for a lot of people in the UK, but perhaps not Bristolians, who've had Plantation in their midst for years.

I recently popped in for some pre-gig nibbles on a Monday evening. To make this a truly fair review, I'd need to try one of the main courses - I think I spotted three veggie mains on the menu - but for now, I'll share my thoughts based on the four small plates (or 'cutters') and sides that I tried.

The service was fast (for food at least - our mojitos seemed to take forever to arrive) and friendly, and the atmosphere was very upbeat, although I was surprised by how loud it was on a Monday night.

First up was oven-baked pepper roti, filled with potato, carrots, peppers, cheese and scotch bonnet chillis. The scotch bonnets really made themselves known - funny how you start to identify the tastes of different chillis after a while!

Both the sweetcorn fritters (with hot sauce, naturally) and sweet potato fries were fantastic. I'd expected the Trini chickpeas to come in a sauce; instead they were fried and curried and served in a cone. They had a good kick to them, but were quite dry, and I felt they'd make better bar snacks than a menu item.

All of the above did feel like rather too much fried food for one meal, but that's a reflection of my ordering rather than the menu as a whole. It's something I'll bear in mind for next time; the Rastafari Run Down sounds like it might be a good option to try next!

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Edna’s Kitchen - review, April 2014

Is there more Bristolian food than falafel? Pie, perhaps, but I don't think I've been to another UK city that has quite as many market stalls and street vendors selling falafel as Bristol does.

One of these falafel-touting street vendors is Edna's Kitchen, an unassuming food stall on the edge of Castle Park. All Edna's wares are vegetarian; as well as falafel there's sabich (aubergines, salad, egg), haloumi wraps, soup, salads and eija (green herby frittata).

I chose a pitta full of piping hot falafel, so fresh out of the cooker that they glistened in the sunshine, crunchy on the outside, soft and moist in the middle. That's not pesto that they're served with by the way, it's a very potent chilli sauce, which I loved, although others might find it too hot.

There was also creamy homous, and salad, which featured the usual shredded carrot and cabbage, but also contained tomato and gerkins, to make it more interesting. Everything tasted and full of goodness, while the pitta that held all was warm, doughy and delicious.

The haloumi wrap, was chock-full of perfectly cooked haloumi (not too salty), as well as salad, complemented by cucumber, olives and jalepenos. Again, it was great to have some more exciting elements to the salad. It also contained homous, which I didn't think would work with the haloumi, but it did.

Both were pretty massive, very filling, and total bargain fro £4 and £5 respectively.

Best falafel in town? My vote's going to Edna.

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Gopal's Curry Shack at LoveFoodFest / Crofters Rights - review, March 2014

Gopal's Curry Shack has been around since 2013, popping up at markets and events across Bristol to sell vegetarian and vegen Indian food, but it was February of this year before I heard of it, and March before I sampled its wares.

The most recent occasion was at LoveFoodFest at Paintworks, where I tasted the £5 aloo tikka chat (top photo). The potato patties were crispy on outside, fluffy in the middle, with a medium level of spiciness. They were piled high with a rich, tomatoey chick pea curry and topped with various chutneys (including one very hot one!), crunchy sev (crispy gram flour sticks), yogurt and coriander. The patties kept their texture well, depsite being smothered in all that sauce.

It was a really satisfying lunch, but would be good at any time of day. The onion bahji was £1 extra; it tasted pretty good, but was still a little pasty in the middle.

I preferred this meal to the one I had at Gopal's pop-up at Crofters Rights a few weeks' previously. On that occasion I'd gone for the Gopal's combo (bottom left photo), which comprised the curry of the day – red pepper, sweet potato and coconut – served with dahl, rice, salad, chutneys and chapatis, plus an onion bahji (which actually had a much better consistency on this occasion). The dahl was nice and thick, again fairly medium on the spice scale, and the chapatis were soft and doughy. The curry of the day was tasty, but you didn't really get very much of it, compared to the other components. The pomegranate seeds in the salad were a nice touch though, and the beetroot bonda I bought as an extra was unusual, crispy and delicious.

Gopal's Curry Shack is a great venture, and seems set to be a big success. I love the Bristol Eats idea of rotating pop-up food stalls in pubs such as Crofters, and I hope it doesn't sound like damning with faint praise to say that Gopal's food is far nicer than - and preferable to - your average pub curry. Aloo tikka chat is definitely my top pick from the menu.

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Flavours of Italy class at the Vegetarian Cookery School

I took part in the Demuth’s Vegetarian Cookery School Flavours of Italy class at the start of March. I’d been struggling to decide which course to do for a while, but finally settled on the Italian one because the food it covered seemed to be the most different from what I normally cook at home.

It’s not the first Demuth’s course I’ve taken – I did a Thai evening class last year, and a ‘Fast and Delicious’ class a year two before that.

The class was quite small ­– just six people – so there was plenty of hands-on working and friendly chatting.

We made a veritable feast over the course of the day: mini calzones with squash, sundried tomatoes, artichoke, mozzarella and spinach; rosemary foccacia; wild garlic pesto; griddled polenta with braised kale and purple sprouting broccoli; beetroot and lentil salad; ravioli with a Sicilian filling of pine nuts, sultanas, capers, olives, basil and parsley, with sage butter; and torta di ricotta (a Italian cheesecake, made with lemon).

Photos of it all are above, before and after cooking in some cases. 

As before, it wasn't just the great recipes that made the class a worthwhile experience, it was the tips, techniques and interesting fact I picked up too.

Here are six things I learned from this course:

Italian food is all about keeping things simple in order to appreciate the food’s natural flavours – but you have to use really good quality ingredients for the best results

Rapeseed oil is often better for roasting vegetables than olive oil, because it can reach a higher temperature before it burns.

Pesto can be made from just about any combination of green leaves, nuts, garlic and olive oil. Hazelnuts and wild garlic are especially good – if potent! It doesn’t traditionally contain cheese.

Pasta machines are like the Play Doh Fun Factory – and a lot easier to use than I’d assumed.

Wrapping beetroot in foil and roasting it in the oven, makes it really easy to remove the skins. Just unwrap, let them cool down a little, and you can just rub the skin off.

Old Winchester cheese is a great vegetarian alternative to parmesan. 

I had such a good time on this course, and would highly recommend it. Yes, the courses are expensive, but they’re totally worth it for a special treat or day out.

[bristolvegetarian]

Bocabar - review, March 2014

This was intended to be a review of the Bocabar's veggie Sunday roast, but when I saw vegetarian 'fish' and chips on the specials menu, I couldn't resist.

The 'fish' was haloumi in a cider-batter, which was light, crispy and, despite being fried, not the least bit greasy. The haloumi itself was soft, evenly warmed through and not overly salty.

It was served with everything you'd expect to get from a chip shop, all with a twist.

Sweet and tasty wasabi peas took the place of mushy peas (and they weren't too heavy on the wasabi, thankfully), pickled ginger stood in for pickled egg, and the chips were garnished with a balsamic glaze rather than traditional salt'n'vinegar. Completing the meal was a light and crispy spring roll. All in all, a much lighter version of fish and chips, but every bit as tasty.

I, like many people it seems, am not a fan of having food served on a slate, but that's my only niggle about this meal, and a fairly minor one at that. The haloumi 'fish' and chips was delicious, and Bocabar should be applauded for this genuinely imaginative vegetarian dish.

The roasts I saw being passed to other diners did look great though; I'll have to go back to try one another time. Bocabar also do an impressively wide range of vegetarian pizzas - I'll be trying those at some point too!

[bristolvegetarian]

The quest for the perfect vegetarian roast dinner: Yurt Lush

Yurt Lush is a big Mongolian Yurt at Creative Common near Temple Meads station that serves food and drink throughout the week, with roast dinners, including a vegetarian roast, on Sunday. It was pretty busy on this particular Sunday, so it's probably worth booking ahead, which you can do via text - details on the Creative Common website.

While the area surrounding the yurt (a big car park) isn't exactly appealing, the inside is delightful. Big wooden tables, a log-burning fire, fairy lights, bunting and jars of flowers made it feel a bit like having a roast dinner at Glastonbury! I loved it, hence I've included a couple of photos.

To start we were given a tiny bowl of slightly spicy carrot and coriander soup, which was a nice surprise, and just enough to whet the appetite.

The Yurt Lush veggie option is a nut roast - not the most imaginative choice, but really well executed, firm and crunchy, but not dry. it came is a long slab rather than a large chuck, so it was cooked nicely all the way through. The potatoes were done well too, as was the gravy - again, I wouldn't have minded a bit more of the latter.

The cauliflower cheese didn't skimp on the cheese, and the sauce had a good consistency. Other vegetables included broccoli, a purple carrot and a parsnip, all of which still had some bite and were not overcooked. Additional sauces (horseradish, mint sauce, etc) were offered too, and the Yorkshire pudding was tasty, if a tiny bit dark of the edges.

The Yurt Lush roast was very enjoyable, more by virtue of everything being very good, as opposed to any one element being especially outstanding, but consistency is important.

It's reasonably priced too - roasts are £10 across the board - and although the serving wasn't the largest, it was enough to feel full without feeling uncomfortable. Good food, in a nice quirky setting made for a great way to spend a Sunday lunchtime - the relaxed atmosphere makes it a nice place to linger for a couple of ciders afterwards too...