Vegan Ireland

When one thinks of Ireland, they do not really think of too many vegan-friendly things. I was determined to have good vegan grub when I was in Ireland. The tour I was on took us around the majority of the Republic and breakfast/dinner was included. If I had to eat one more serving of only potatoes, toast, and beer, I was going to cry. Too much starch! So, before I left America, I did some research on vegan-friendly restaurants in each of the cities we were to stay at. Below are my findings...

HappyCow.net was my friend in this quest. While I was in Killarney, I found the only vegan-friendly place listed, Stone Chat. 

 To start, I had the house salad which was filled with lots of great vegetables! It was very tasty.

For my entree, I had the mushroom stir-fry with tofu. The mushroom sauce was quite good. I really enjoyed this as an entree (huge fan of mushrooms) and it was such a great meal change from what I had been eating for 3 days.


After Killarney, we headed to Galway for two days. I got a terrible cold while in Galway and I think a lot of it has to do with the weather change (90 degrees to 60 degrees via one plane flight) and the fact that I was eating crap instead of the real meals that I'm used to. So, I skipped a day of touring the Irish countryside to sleep and explore Galway on my own. I found the only vegan-friendly restaurant there and had some hearty, cold-curing food. Food For Thought was a quiet, homey sandwich bar where people come in for a bit of food and tea to get out of the rain. It seemed like the perfect place to do some reading or homework.

 Vegetable soup of the day with black bread.

 
Vegan shepherd's pie with side salad. The pie tasted a bit like a breaded ratatouille to me. I really loved the soup and it was so great for my cold. This place changes their menu daily in order to try out new things for customers. I really loved Food For Thought! Definitely my favorite vegan-friendly restaurant in Ireland.

The last big city we stopped in for a few days was Dublin. To my surprise, there are not many vegan-friendly restaurants in Dublin listed on Happy Cow. I would think it being the capitol that there would be more. I chose to try Cornucopia Wholefoods. It was similar in set-up as Food For Thought. It's a lunch type spot where they change their menu daily. It is located in a busy part shopping part of Dublin, just off of Grafton St. Here I chose the curry with two types of salads, a microgreens salad and a cabbage type salad.

For more information on vegan dining in Ireland, check out Happy Cow, Vegan & Vegetarian Guide, and VegGuide.Org.


For good measure...

Me in Ireland at the Cliffs of Moher! Smiles.

Vegan London: Part One

During the summer of 2007, I lived in London, U.K. I was ultimately spoiled by this abroad experience because London is possibly one of the most veg and vegan friendly cities of the world. As such, this is going to be broken into parts. First, if you are going to London towne, I highly recommend this little book. While it is outdated (as I found out when I went exploring for several restaurants only to find out they no longer exist), it still is a must have to help you find some yummy veg food and natural grocery markets.

Of course, there is always Happy Cow but I have found that website does not always list the current or all the possible veg or organic places in town. Still, it is free and accessible to everyone on the internet. Anywho, here is Happy Cow's London list.

Let's explore Soho first, shall we? To start, there is a lovely little cafe called Beatroot. Small, quick, carry-out friendly, or just wanting a snack, this is the place to go. I picked up some food here several times to bring back to the dorms for dinner. Their menu may have changed a little in the past 1.5 years, but if memory serves me right, I had the tofu stir-fry and the curry of the day. I know I also got some form of cake there, but none of their cake's are listed as vegan on the website. I believe they rotate their food during the week too to different dishes. So, I do not think that menu is constant.

Mildred's is a somewhat pricey restaurant, at least compared to Beatroot. It was not as good as another veg place I went to (which I will talk about later), Eat and Two Veg. Their menu looks unfamiliar to me now, though I did go there on more than one occasion. From recollection, I had a salad one time and some sort of pasta the next time. I went with a friend the second time and he agreed with me Eat and Two Veg is certainly better.

The inside of Mildred's - this is the first time I went, for lunch. For dinner, we sat up front and it is much more chic looking. It's candle lit and the lights are dim, haha.

Soho is just full of veg places! Another restaurant to note is Govinda's Pure Vegetarian Restaurant. Never went, just walked by a couple times. This goes to show London's love for Indian cuisine!

Covent Garden is next on the agenda. Neal's Yard is definitely the highlight here. While I never ate there, it was still quite cool to walk through. You have to take this little tunnel side street, too darling. Also - it is home to Neal's Yard Remedies which I use daily and highly recommend their products. I'm a fan of the Chammomile Cleanser, the Palmarosa Facial Wash, and White Tea Enriching Facial Mask.

Another veg place in Covent Garden is Food For Thought. Again, I did not go but only because I could not find it!

Okay, that is all for part one. In part two, I will talk about the random other veg restaurants I found in London as well as the several natural, organic grocery stores.