Restaurant Review | Temple of Camden, London.

I'm not only late to the party but am quite possibly the last guest to arrive, HOWEVER, I made it and that's the main thing really.

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!

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Restaurant Review | Koh Thai.

I love Thai food. I love Tapas. Thai Tapas just made sense.

The chain Koh Thai serves a huge range of Thai tapas in a few cities including Bath, Southampton, Bournemouth, Romsey and many others! We ventured to Southsea to try some of the delicious food they had to offer.
There were quite a few vegan options and we tried them all accept one.....

For the actual Tapas we had crunchy tofu and vegetable tempura which both came with a sweet chilli dip. I definitely enjoyed both dishes and considering they were battered and deep fried neither were overly greasy so you don't feel quite so bad about eating them! The vegetables were so soft, perfectly cooked and the batter was super light and crispy, once dipped in the sauce both the tofu and the tempura were jammed with a super comforting flavour (the broccoli was my personal favourite).
The only vegan tapas option we didn't have was the vegetable spring rolls, firstly because that is a hell a lot of batter/pastry but also I can get spring rolls from many other restaurants/take aways so wanted to try something different!

The other potential dishes for vegans is the stir fry, of which we opted for the cashew (there was garlic, chilli, ginger or Thai basil) with just veg - you can add tofu as well if you want extra protein!
I have no idea what the sauce was that this came in as it is simply described as "house stir fry sauce" but it was sort of a soy sauce base with a definite kick at the end from chilli. Scrumptious without over powering the vegetables.

And finally we also ordered the only vegan curry which was the yellow - this is the most mild you can have so if you like your spice you might be a little disappointed about not being able to have the hotter versions. However this was still full of flavour and I think it was my favourite dish of the night so if you try only one dish I would go for this one.

Oh and we had a portion of coconut rice because clearly we hadn't ordered enough already!

The one and only negative I would say about the restaurant is not about the food at all but the lighting! Now I understand having a chilled and cool ambience but it was so dark I had to hold the candle next to the menu to actually read it!! This is the reason for the rather poor quality photos (Also completely forgot to take pictures before we started digging in..... oops).

We finished the meal off with a cocktail because they have a whole tasty looking menu so would highly recommend you try at least one if you go!

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Restaurant Review | Las Iguanas.

As most of you will be aware the month of January is now known as Veganuary which is a movement to encourage people to try veganism for a month!
This has led to many shops and restaurants having deals and special products available throughout January.
One such place is Las Iguanas who have decided to do 2 for 1 on all vegan main courses - pretty great huh? One of my work colleagues messaged me about the deal knowing how happy it would make me and so I suggested we take a visit and make the most of the opportunity.

Before we get into the food I just want to give a mention to the staff who were brilliant from the start. Our waitress in particular was friendly, informative and crazy helpful. My friend that I was with isn't a vegan and they were accommodating enough for her to keep the cheese and sour cream on her mushroom fajita and still have it as part of the deal! Las Iguanas, you so great.

STARTER: I opted for Holy Guacamole and Tortilla Chips & Dips, now before you get your judgey pants on we shared the two!
Out of them I think the guac was my favourite... you can't beat a bit of avocado but I would recommend either and be aware that the piccalilli type dip does have a kick to it! Both were fresh and not too heavy so perfect to start.

MAIN: When it came to choosing a dish I was a spoilt for choice .... well between 5 options, but they all sounded INCREDIBLE (see the choices here just scroll down to the menu). I ended up choosing the Moqueca de Palmitos as it is a dish I doubt I'd ever make myself at home, but I am planning to try the mushroom fajita next time I find myself there.

My curry reminded me of a Thai curry as it was creamy, not to mention delicious plus it wasn't too spicy which is good as I'm not a huge fan of crazy hot food.

The palm hearts were new to me and they were soft and added to the super creaminess of the curry - I'm going to be trying them again as soon as I can.

The other addition that I'll be attempting in future is the toasted coconut to sprinkle on top - adding that bit of crunch gave some much appreciated texture!
It was accompanied by pico de gallo (essentially salsa), spring onion rice and green beans, I draw your attention to the below photo. The only slight gripe I had was the sides were a little cold when they got to me, having said that they were still tasty and I'm a fan of adding onion to basically everything so the rice was a winner with me!
Overall I absolutely fell in love with this dish and left feeling satisfied and full of goodness.

Dessert: After all that food we decided there was just no room left for dessert however it was pretty exciting to see that they actually had two vegan plates! The sorbet is a go to for a lot of restaurants as vegan puds are always tricky.
I was intrigued by the Tembleque which is a set coconut dessert - if you've experienced this do please let me know what you thought and I might order it at another time!

Now of course the main focus of this post is the food however the drinks need an honourable mention - It was a work night so we decided not to go for the 2 for 1 cocktails..... until we realised they had mocktails! The Virgin Piña Colada was something of true beauty and I highly recommend to all that drink and those that don't.

Cheers!!

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