Temple of Seitan has been in London for over two years now and I can still remember the day I first learned about it... I was very, very excited. The problem is I don't travel to London all that often (or as often as I'd like to) and if I do venture to the capital it's normally for a specific reason and so I haven't managed to divert said plans in order to try the delicious looking food.
The fated day thankfully did come - I was visiting a friend in London (not vegan she's just lovely and indulges me!) and as we had no specific ideas on what we would do once there, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to head to the Temple of Camden and buy ALL THE FOOD.
The first thing I have to mention was that the walk was a bit of a mission if I'm honest, considering it is supposed to be in Camden it is quite a distance from Camden Market and the main centre. Not a massive issue but something to think about if you wanted to go yourself, it's in the middle of nowhere!
Once we eventually got to the restaurant I couldn't believe the amount of choice available, both I and my friend just stared at the menu for a good 5 minutes.Now I was a huge KFC fan back when I ate meat and I haven't really had any form of "fried chicken" since which might explain why I ended up ordering enough food for four people and put a lot of pressure on this meal...
The service was super friendly and also really quick - we were there fairly early in the day and the queues did get a little bigger while we ate but it wasn't ever too much of a wait, even on a Saturday.
When selecting the food I knew I had to try one of the burgers and then we were torn between the wings and the popcorn chicken. We opted for the wings purely based on the fact that I've never liked wings because of the bones however as there is no animal in these wings there's also no bones!
You can choose the sauce in which the wings come in and I know traditionally it should be spicy but whenever I see it I just can't say no to BBQ.
In the end, our total order was the BBQ wings, Temple burger, Mac 'n Cheese, Gravy and fries.
My favourite dish was the wings, the BBQ sauce was sticky, smokey and there was a disgusting amount of it.... just the way I like it. I will say though that although the coating was crispy and did have some flavour the "meat" still had a hint of seitan (similar to soya) flavour to it so not quite a perfect match to KFC, but it was very close!
The burger was also crispy and so delicious, the only negative again is that I was still left with the seitan essence, I also found all the ingredients a little overwhelming so next time I might go for the classic burger or a chicken burger with less in it!
The mac 'n cheese was a little rich for me, but that might be more due to the sheer amount of food I was eating rather than the pasta itself! I would still recommend this to a mac 'n cheese fan as it is definitely a good substitute and would be a great side instead of fries rather than as well as!
The fries were amazing and I couldn't fault them at all which is why in future I would probably skip the mac 'n cheese for just the fries as the side. They also pair beautifully with the gravy which although thin was packed full of flavour!Overall I think I would give Temple of Camden a 4/5, it is very out of the way from everything else so you need to make a special effort to get there and back to the main streets and Camden Market so not somewhere I would go ever time I'm in Camden.
The food was truly delicious and I'm sure next time I go I will choose the perfect medley of options for me and it will be even better (and I WILL be going again)!
I would like to add finally that unlike non-vegan fast food I genuinely was not left feeling bloated and gross from all the grease like I would have with the meat/dairy, now I know it's not a healthy choice by any means but I certainly felt like I was eating something a darn sight healthier than KFC!
x
