Manna, London - Nov. 16th, 2011

(See our Manna, London post from November 2009 here)
It was our 20th wedding anniversary and we spent it in London, and had our dinner at our favorite London restaurant, Manna.


Twenty years of marriage! (24 together.) Still happy.

This is the "ravioli" (£8=$12) "a crisped ravioli filled with wild mushroom & walnut pâté with fennel cream sauce, sundried tomato pesto & balsamic reduction" I think they should call this an "empanada" because it resembles an empenada more that a ravioli because it's not made out of pasta, but more of a pastry. Regardless, this the BEST thing ever. So good. If you go to Manna you are missing out if you don't try these babies.

This is the "Bangers and Mash" (£14=$21) "organic fennel and pumpkin seed sausages on a bed of parsnip & carrot mas h served with cavalo nero on a red wine, leek & thyme jus" This is their signature dish, and they nail it. I have had this before, and it's great every time.

Deanna got the "Pasta of the day" "cherry tomatoes, courgettes, some kind of soy cream sauce." (We can't remember very well!) She liked it, but we were trying to go a bit lighter since we had come a few days earlier and gorged ourselves to the point of pain.

Yeah, we have 3 photos of this dessert.


Deanna is gushing about this! "The best dessert of our trip!" She says. I must admit it was pretty incredible. Its the "Cranberry & orange cheesecake" (£8=$12) "served with ameretto brittle ice cream and butterscotch sauce." They hand make the ice cream, and the combination of that with the perfectly made cheesecake is bonkers.

If you are vegan and going to London, treat yourself to some fancy vegan food at Manna, you will not regret the choice.

Thanksgiving at Native Foods

Deanna and I decided that our Thanksgiving dinner would be at Native Foods this year.

I don't think either of us care too much about the meaning of this holiday. We grew up with it, and enjoy the food centered aspect of it, even after going vegan 20+ years ago. We are very thankful for what we have and like the thoughtfulness attitude of the day, but the traditional pilgrims and indians ideas are total BS. And of course today's turkey genocide centered theme is the worst.

So here is the food. Native's vegan Wellington, mashed potatoes & gravy, stuffing, polenta, cranberry sauce, green beans, and not shown: Green leaf salad and a very nice Waldorf Salad.

All of this is presented in an all you can eat buffet style. You can pile your plate up high just like you might at home.

We enjoyed our food very much. The food was great, the atmosphere was festive if not a bit impersonal (compared to being with family, or even having a regular waitress.) And we didn't have to cook! The dessert was not so hot. They had 3 pies, pumpkin, chocolate, and pumpkin cheesecake. The ones we had, cheesecake and chocolate were mushy, and not inspired.

Eating this food did spurn us to make Thanksgiving type food later in the week though.

I would do this again, the food was excellent, and the price is right. But it feels a little weird not being with family or friends, no matter how bad the food might be with them in comparison.

Hangawi Restaurant, New York City

On recommendation from our good friend Sweet Melissa we tried Hangawi in NYC, A Gourmet Korean restaurant that is also 100% vegan. Everything was super good, but it costs a pretty penny.

Ever wonder what a 15$ salad looks like? Ta-Da! We provide the answers to these pressing questions. This was the "organic mix green salad" (organic fresh herb salad with tomatoes and grapefruits in creamy almond dressing) The dressing was really good, and we loved the salad. It wasn't until we got the bill that we realized how much it was. Was it worth it? Hard to say. For the size it is overpriced. But if we went back here we would surely get it again.

These are the "kabocha pumpkin pancakes with mung beans." (pancakes with shredded kabocha pumpkin and mung beans) These were a hit. Deanna loved them. It comes with a dipping sauce that was very nice. They seemed to be made of potatoes with pumpkin and mung beans mixed in.

This is my sweet little lady Deanna, happy and enjoying our "high-roller" dinner.

Coming in at 25 big ones was this wonderful "organic zen bibimbap." (with organic vegetables, mushrooms and wild mountain greens, served with organic brown rice) What is a bibimbap you ask? It was my first one too, and now I'm hooked. (Well for vegan ones anyway.) Very good. It came with a miso-paste sauce and in a hot stone bowl which kept it sizzling the whole time.

Deanna had the "avocado stone bowl rice."(avocado with variety of vegetables and tofu over rice mixed with miso sauce in stone bowl) weighing in at 20 bucks, this one came with white rice and Deanna wishes she had substituted for brown rice. (Actually I think she just wanted my dish.) We really enjoyed the restaurant and atmosphere. You have to take your shoes off. Also it seems like you have to sit at very low tables and I was fretting because I can't even get into the Indian style position, and I would have had to lay sideways and Jabba the Hut my meal to be comfortable. But luckily there is a secret chamber under the table for your legs to go into. They banged a special gong before signing "Happy Birthday" to some customers. And when you leave your shoes are waiting for you on the steps like eager puppies. A charming, if pocketbook-scorching place for sure. Take someone special.

Gelaromy Gelateria, Rome, Italy

We visited Gelaromy Gelateria not too far from the Vatican City.

Fairly nondescript, we got the address from Happy Cow.


The word every vegan is searching for, "Soia."


Happy Campers. If you are visiting St. Peters Basilica, or the Vatican Museums, this Gelato shop is a nice walk through a very charming part of Rome. Map It.

Street Restaurant, Los Angeles

This happened back in June, 2010. Our friend Stacy works at Street, Hot Tamale Susan Feniger's latest restaurant, and we got invited for a special all-vegan multiple-course meal invented just for us. It's always a treat to have a a world renowned chef cook for you, and a complete rarity to have one cooking vegan. Street is not a vegan restaurant, but has many things on the menu that are vegan, and a vegan can have an excellent meal there, no problem. But this menu was concocted just for us!

Here's a peek at our exclusive menu with our names printed on them!

A closer peek.

These are the Mandoo Vegetable Dumplings. Ridiculously good.

The Burmese Melon Salad.

These were the hit hit of the night, Jackfruit Tostadas and Soyrizo Empanadas.

Soba & Satay, green soba noodles with Tofu satay. Yum.

Heirloom Tomatoes with black garlic vinaigrette and Thai basil.

Indian potato & Eggplant Curry. This was so good!

These weren't even on the menu, special Indian savory crepes!

The Nectarine & Strawberry Cobbler. Whoa.

These were some slightly alcoholic, sweet tamarind style drinks that were delightful.

These were called "Kajsa's and Christine's Coco Marshmallow Thing." And they were wolfed up in seconds.

The blessed party who ingested all this sweetness.
Thanks to Stacy and all the people at Street who made this such an amazing culinary evening! Vegans looking for a different place to go in LA can try this place out, and do some celebrity watching while you're there.

Seabirds Truck

If you are in Orange County and are vegan it is well worth the effort to look up the Seabirds all vegan food truck and see if your paths will cross, or better yet, make sure your paths will cross.

You can find their schedule on their WEBSITE, or via Twitter and Facebook.

It's clean and the people are friendly. As a vegan for a couple of decades now I have never really had too many chances, nor have I had much desire to eat from a food truck. But food trucks have become all the craze as of late, and I kept seeing articles about them, and started to feel like I was missing out on some interesting food. Seabirds fills that void for the vegan who wants to be included.

Deanna got two tacos. One, the Beer Battered Avocado Taco (Topped w/shredded cabbage, red onion and a creamy jalapeno sauce.) and the the other a Jerk Jackfruit Taco (Jerk seasoned jackfruit topped w/onion, cilantro and a green salsa.) She loved them! The avocado taco is amazing. "Anything fried is good." Deanna says.

I got the BBQ jackfruit sliders. What is jackfruit? The seabirds website can clue you in. (Pure Luck restaurant in LA uses this a lot too.) I have to say it tastes real good, different, but good. And it's much healthier than eating highly processed tofu, or fake meats. These are not always on the menu and it was quite a treat to get a few of these into my stomach. Deanna thinks they are very "cute."

We also got some Potato-Jackfruit Taquitos to split. These are freshly made, and basically perfect with the guacamole they come with.

Deanna is a fan of Cute food. We didn't try the Grant Burrito, or the Ashley Burrito, name yet to be decided upon, but it's their "Locals Burrito" (Potatoes, organic beans, organic brown rice, caramelized onions, guacamole and vegan sour cream.) But switch the potatoes for sweet potatoes. They may even call it the "Grashly." Named after the couple who turned us onto the truck.
UPDATE: We finally got the visit Seabirds a second time and tried the "Grashly." The verdict? Along with the stuff mentioned above, yet another tasty reason to keep going back.

Free Soul Caffe, Tustin, CA

Our friend Ashley B. pointed us to a new vegan place she went to in Tustin called Free Soul Caffe, so we went to check it out. Its a simple place, mainly soups, salads, and sandwiches, but they also have breakfast items and a well stocked dessert case filled with vegan treats. The owner, who was telling us all about the new restaurant, said that almost everything is organic and that they have great coffee. There were a lot of drink options on the menu including granita and boba style things.

Deanna got the Portobello Panini sandwich. It came with a big spinach salad with a nice dressing and candied walnuts. Simple, but very nice and fresh.

I got the Smoked Vegan Ham sandwich. My salad was a mixed greens, with olives and a light dressing. I also have no complaints. I feel like we could make this kind of food at home, but it's nice to know there is a place that will make it for me, and I can get out of the house. And also I never mind supporting a place that is dedicated to making vegan food and using organic ingredients.

Since this place deals in soups as a specialty, we wanted to get some soup as well, but they were sold out of everything but the chili. That's a good sign. So we got the chili. It came with a huge hunk of sliced bread and vegan butter. It was very good and I would like to come back and try some more soup...
...If I'm welcomed back!

Why would I say that you wonder? Well as I was shooting a photo of the menu (above), the same menu you can see online here, the waitress, a young college aged blond girl came up and said, "We don't allow photos." Deanna and I both asked, "Why?" Her answer was that people were trying to steal their recipes. (I can understand the people from Millennium worrying about getting their recipes stolen, but they are not. They publish their menu online and have a cookbook, and I have been inside taking photos on multiple occasions and never been hassled. In fact I have been all over the world taking pictures of food and menus and never been stopped once. Not in New York, Paris, or Berlin.) I wondered in my head why people would want to steal simple vegan sandwich recipes. Bread, vegan ham, vegan mayo, etc. Pretty easy to memorize I would say. Deanna said, "We do a vegan food blog and we wanted to tell people about this place and share some photos, we thought you would like the publicity for your new restaurant." She replied, "Well, no, we can't have people taking photos..." And then added, "Can you delete that." On general principle I was not erasing the photo. I said, "No way. Can you tell the owner to come over here?" The owner was apologetic, but did say that local businesses are trying to steal her recipes. We explained that we were only trying to help bring them business and are slightly offended by the accusation of recipe stealing.
So I don't know where I stand on this place now. I want to support vegan eateries, especially one so close to my house. But I can't get over the people who would hassle a customer over a paranoid idea that their recipes are worth stealing. I wish I could have screamed to the waitress, "Perspectives! This is a soup and sandwich shop in Tustin, CA!" anyway...

Here is the dessert case. The cookies were pretty good. We have yet to eat our peanut butter chocolate cheesecake and our pumpkin pecan ganache torte. I hope they are as good as they sound! UPDATE: We ate them and they are AMAZING!!!!!!
I say check it out, but beware bloggers, you may be hassled for helping them get the word out. I wonder what QuarryGirl would have done?