A Vegetarian Rant.

Some musings from me, or a discussion if you like, happy to have some comments and hear your views.

So, Vegetarian Food, when out and about - why is it SO hard for places to cater for us? When I say "places" I generally mean British Pubs.

If you go to an Italian restaurant you can have loads - Pizza, Pasta, almost anything. Spaghetti Carbonara ({no ham please) is one of my favs and so easily adapted.

Same with Indian & Chinese restaurants, they are always happy to adapt, leave things out, swap things around.

I never worry about the menu if we are eating Italian, Indian or Chinese.



But Pub Food? Why do they get it so wrong?

OK, there are exceptions like The Lane End Inn (Hayton, Carlisle) who have a Veggie chef and therefore have a good few options, but usually you get two choices if you are lucky. Sometimes just one, which then removes the choice totally.

Then you get the expected option - some kind of risotto, or spinach canelloni.

If I wanted Canelloni I would have gone to the Italian, if I wanted Vegetable Curry I would have gone to the Indian.

So, what DO I want? I want Pubs to KEEP IT SIMPLE.

How hard is it to do a Veggie Burger? Surely as easy as doing a meat burger? Easy enough to store in the freezer, pop under the grill, drop in the fryer, and slap in a bun.

What about a stuffed mushroom? Chuck some stuffing mix in and top with brie and grill - easy peasy.

Broccoli Quiche, Veggie Haggis, even a Veggie "Mixed Grill" (Fried Egg, Mushroom, Tomato, Pineapple, Peas and Chips)

Its the good old British Pub Food we want when we go for a Bar Meal - with CHIPS ! Get rid of the Pasta Bakes, and the Veggie Lasagna (actually, that IS a Pasta Bake!)

I have even in the past ordered Gammon without Gammon (gets you some funny looks when the waitress brings it to your table and shouts GAMMON, NO GAMMON). It was lovely though, chips, egg, pineapple, tomato, mushrooms and peas with ketchup :) I don't have a fryer at home, so it's a treat when we go out.

Starters and Chips, is the other option of course - deep fried Brie & chips works well, garlic mushroom & chips is good too. Put them on the main menu for us and make us feel like we have a choice.

Rant over, I am off to make dinner - Veggie Sausage Toad In The Hole !

Nowab/Indian/Carlisle

Situated on Lonsdale Street in Carlisle, just beside the bus station, this is a fresh looking, un-fussy style restaurant.

Parking is an issue during the day, you would probably have to use one of the City's car parks and walk, but to be perfectly honest, the only once I went during the day would not tempt me to return at lunch time. We were the only ones in, and felt like we were disturbing the waiter (dressed in a football t-shirt and jeans) whose English was not good at all and we were having to try and get across what we wanted to eat !

On an evening, if you are lucky you can park outside Alternative Gift Shop, otherwise park around St Pauls Church and walk back.

We used to frequent this restaurant a lot, usually most Sunday evenings as they do a cracking dinner deal on a Sunday Evening - 7 course for under £10.00 !


Unfortunately the quality started to lack quite considerably, and after three chances to get things to be right, we stopped going. Main issues were cold food with skin on, very watery mint sauce, stained tableclothes. We had continued to go as we remembered just how good it used to be, but finally gave up.

However..... three months later, we thought we would give it a final go with some friends, and they have started to restore our faith - it was back to being good. Hopefully this is now the norm and not just a lucky day !

So, the "7 courses" for under a tenner, consists of...

• Poppadums & Dips
• Any starter (ex King Prawn)
• Any Main (excluding King Prawn
• Any Side Dish
• Any Rice
• Any Naan
• Coffee
  

Now the portions on this deal are not massive, but why would you want them to be? There is plenty to eat without feeling bad that you have left loads.



They serve a wonderful red coconut with the poppadoms, this is the only place I have seen this served, and it is a lovely accompaniment.

To start I had Vegetable Pakora - 2 Mushrooms in crisp tasty batter, and 2 slices of Aubergine - as I say, not huge portions on this deal, but I actually prefer that.

The mint sauce was a good consistancy which was nice.

To follow I adapted a meal and had Mushroom Massala, they have the usual "Mixed Vegetable Curries" on the menu, but they were happy to cook my request for me.

I had this with Peas Pilau, which was really delicious, Cauliflower Bhaji side and Garlic Naan.

Oh, and a few chips that I stole off my partner.



Big fresh fluffy naan breads :)

There is a good wine list, and even better a single serve wine list - it actually works out cheaper to buy the single serve bottles believe it or not (or it did at the time of writing this!)

I am not willing to shout from the rooftops about this restaurant just yet, but based on the last meal we had, we will definately be back to try it again.

One change I would make however is the young man who seems to be floor manager, used to be such a happy cheery sole, but these days hardly cracks a smile. So if by chance he happens to read this blog, a message just for him - "Turn your frown upside down" :)

Cannot find a website, but the contact details are:

Nowab
7 Lonsdale Street
Carlisle

CA1 1BJ

01228 537 779

Wallfoot/Pub Food/Carlisle

Having passed this Hotel loads of times, I thought it was about time we went in to try their bar meals, having noticed their "open to non-residents" board.


The Hotel is situated on a very busy road, with very fast moving cars, it does have a private car park though.





I telephoned first, a) to check they were serving food, and b) to check they had some Veggie options. The chap that answered the phone said they had lots of Veggie options and mentioned a few on the phone, he asked if I ate fish, and when I said no he said "Oh, your a Vegan". :)


For clarification....(taken from Wikipedia).

• A Vegetarian does not eat meat, including red meat, game, poultry, fish, crustacea, and shellfish, and may also abstain from by-products of animal slaughter such as animal-derived rennet, found in most cheeses, and gelatin.
• Pescetarians, also called pesco-vegetarians, is the practice of a diet that includes seafood and excludes other animals. In addition to fish or shellfish, a pescetarian diet typically includes some or all of vegetables, fruit, nuts, grains, beans, eggs and dairy.
• Veganism is a philosophy and lifestyle whose adherents seek to exclude the use of animals for food, clothing, or any other purpose. Vegans endeavor not to use or consume animal products of any kind.
  

Anyway, my partner and I decided to go and give it a try. They stop serving at 8.30pm, we just made it.

The young lady that greeted us in the bar was very pleasant, friendly and smiley, which always makes you feel welcome. This lovely service continued throughout the whole time we were there.

We were shown to a nice looking restaurant which looked quite modern and fresh. We were given a leather bound menu with a good selection of choices - except only one Veggie option. The other Veggie options mentioned on the phone were starters and a salad, so I was a little dissapointed, especially when the only one left was a Tuscany Bean Pie with peppers (yuk! - peppers are just not my veg of choice).


However, I asked if I might have an omlette, and even though it was not on the menu it was "no problem at all" Phew! I opted for Cheese, Tomato and Mushroom.

Delivered to me was a nice big fresh omlette and home-made chips. No veg though, no trimmings, no side salad, just a rather large gap on the plate. Unless they thought my veg was all in the omlette. It did taste good though, but the home-made chips had been kept warm so were a bit soggier rather than crisp.

My partner had Gammon, it was offered with Egg or Pineapple (he choose Egg) and tomato & mushroom, which he asked to be left off. Again served with no other vegetables, not that he was worried about that. He said it tasted 'very, very' nice.

We decided we would try a pudding, as when we walked in another customer was having a "Queen of Puddings" which looked totally delicious. When we were given the menu at the beginning there was a full page of puddings, but when we asked for the desert menu at the end of the meal, we got given a small blackboard with 5 options on it.

I queried this and was told the "Queen of puddings" had been an error on the menu, but if I 'really, really' wanted one she would ask the Chef if he would do one. I declined, feeling that I would really be putting them out, but my partner said I should have said yes and gone for it.

I am guessing this is because it was past the last orders time of 8.30pm and suspect the Chef had tidied up and left just easy-to-prepare puds to be served to the stragglers.

My second choice was Creme Brulee with Shortbread biscuits. This is one of my most favourite puddings.

Sadly, this one was lacking. The Shortbread was quite salty, and the Creme Brulee, although tasty was very small. It measured around 2" square and was less than 1cm deep. At nearly £5.00 I thought this was a bit mean.

My partner had the Sticky Toffee Pudding and Ice-Cream. He said....."it was microwaved, nothing special, just a light sponge & sauce - expensive for what it was".

We only had one drink, were not offered a second, so didn't bother asking.

I visited the Ladies during the meal, and had to walk through the lounge, there was big holes in the carpet and a faded wall which looked like a radiator was missing, how odd !

Not sure if the place is being done up or not, but it does need a good spruce up.

The total bill for two mains, two puds and two drinks was £35.00 not including a tip. Quite expensive for what we got.

So, would we go back?

Well, it was OK, but just OK, nothing special or memorable. There are much better places within a few minutes of driving. If we were staying there, we would probably eat there, but as we will never stay, we will probably not bother eating there again. In a nutshell "nothing to write home about".

Here is the website.

http://www.wallfoot.co.uk/index.html

The Viceroy/Indian/Carlisle

The Viceroy is a Bangladeshi Restaurant in Carlisle that has been around a long time now.

Tucked away on the edge of Rigg Street, Shaddongate. It is walkable from Carlisle Town Centre (about 10 mins) and there is private parking for about 6 cars outside. On an evening you can abandon your car on Rigg Street itself, although this will be more difficult during the day.

Wednesday night is special night, there is a fabulous deal on offer. For just under £11.00 you get Poppodums & Dips, then followed by any Meat, Chicken or Veg starter from the Menu, following this you can have any Meat, Chicken or Veg main course along with your choice of Rice and a portion of Bombay Potatoes. (You can can pay extra for Tandoori Grill dishes and King Prawn)

We always swap one portion of Bombay Potatoes for chips - The Viceroy chips are gorgeous, home-made, chunky and very tasty, you must try them.

The Poppodums are always served fresh and warm, with the regular dips.

At this restaurant, they are always happy to mess about with ingredients to make me a unique dish, the thought of "mixed vegetables in sauce" fills me with dread - meat eaters wouldn't always want to eat "mixed meat" in every dish, so why should we Veggies?

Although the Viceroy do have the "Mixed Veg dishes on offer on their menu, they have always been more than willing - more so encouraging - for me to have something different.

So this visit I chose "Mushroom Bhuna on Puree" (it is prawn on the menu, so this was adapted for me)

Delicious, really tasty with freshly made puree bread. And no onions as requested :)

(ignore the tomato in the photo, it is not included, I just stole it from my partner).

For the main I just could not decide, so I threw some ideas out - I fancied Paneer (Indian Cheese) and lots of tomatoes in a medium curry sauce. Rogan Josh was suggested so I went with that. It was beautiful, and I will definately choose that dish again.

I had it with Kashmiri Rice, a tasty fried rice with dried fruits.

In the past I have had "Mango Chicken" - swapping the chicken for boiled egg and mushroom, "Cauliflower Bhuna" "Paneer Masalla", so lots of self-designed dishes - don't be afraid to ask.

I never manage to finish this meal deal, but I do take the leftovers home and have them for lunch the next day :)

Service is always spot on, very friendly waiters who greet you like friends.

Mr Ali Senior & Mr Ali Junior.

You can buy a decent Chillean red wine by the mini 'one glass' bottle, which doesn't work out much dearer than buying a big bottle. Fab !

Lovely looking website, easy to navigate, and informative with opening times and menu choices.

http://www.viceroy-carlisle.com/

JasmineThai/Thai/Carlisle

Thought we would give the Jasmine Thai a try, as it has recently changed ownership.

Plenty of parking spaces around in the evening, and you don't need a parking disc after 6.00pm. Failing that, there is a car park across the road which costs £1.00 for 2 hours.

We walked up the stairs to the restaurant and walked in to find three children watching TV. After a few minutes one of the youngsters spotted us and told us just to find a seat. At this point the Father/Owner arrived, and the kids packed themselves off to the kitchen.

The restaurant was nicely set out, with authentic Thai tableclothes and nice wall deco.

From there, the service was excellent, the owner was attentive, friendly and very hospitable. The only thing I would change is that he was wearing an old tatty t-shirt, and looked slightly unproffessional. A crisp nice shirt would have looked much much better.

Not a bad wine list, but only if you want a bottle. The only option to buy-by-the-glass was French, and not caring for French wine I chose not to bother.

The menu was extensive with some great Vegetarian options. There is also a 2 course meal deal for just under £9.00 and a buffet option on a Sunday evening for £9.99.

We opted for the regular menu.

I chose Deep Fried Mixed Vegetables (no onions or peppers) served with a sweet chilli dip. Beautifully crisp, melt-in-the-mouth, batter on carrots, cauliflower, broccoli and babycorn.

My partner opted for his favourite - Chicken Satay, the peanut dip looked a little oily, but tasted fabulous with big lumps of peanuts.

Next I had Thai Yellow Curry with Mixed Vegetables, my partner had Sweet & Sour Chicken, we shared Sticky Rice and Soft Noodles.

The sticky rice was lovely, a glutinous rice, almost like rice pudding without milk. The curry was very nice, but lots of asparagus which was a little woody, the other veg was lovely though.

My partner enjoyed the Sweet & Sour, but said it was "nothing out of the ordinary".

Couldn't manage a desert, in fact, didn't manage all the food.

A downside however was the children that kept appearing at the door from the kitchen to the restaurant, and the younger one crying quite a bit. If we had wanted to listen to kids messing about we would have stayed at home.

The bill came to around £35.00 not including the tip. This was for 2 starters, 2 mains and 3 sides with soft drinks.

You can order Take-Away from the Just Eat Website.

I cannot find a website, but the contact details are...

Jasmine Thai

2 Wilfred St,

Carlisle,

Cumbria

CA1 1PQ

Tel: 01228 599866

The restaurant also opens up as a Buddhist Temple every 2nd Sunday of the month.

Lane End Inn/Pub Food/Carlisle

The Lane End Inn is a lovely place to eat. Situated half way between Carlisle and Brampton on the A69 (nearer Brampton really). Plenty of parking outside.

You can choose to eat in the Conservatory Restaurant with proper tables and chairs, or in the bar with a roaring log fire (in the winter) and rustic farmhouse style tables and benches.

This is a dream pub for Vegetarians, due to one of the Chefs being one. There are plenty of options on the menu, and if you do eat meat then it is supplied by a local Butcher so is excellent quality.

Main courses are around £8-£10, but there is a "Two meals for £10" section too. There are always specials on the chalk board too, not that you need them as the menu is quite extensive.

The chips are home-made and delicious. I can recommend from past visits the Spinach & Feta Pie & the Mexican Bean Burger, but I often go for the Mushroom, Pesto & Spinach Lasagna.

The desserts are lovely, you really need to leave some room to try one. The meringues for the pavlovas are made fresh every day and are huge - topped with a very generous amount of freshly whipped cream and strawberries. My friend had the Bailey's Cheesecake, which she said was amazing.

The owner Ian, is often wandering about, being very hands on with taking orders and delivering food, which is always nice to see.

Food is served all day, every day, up until about 9.00pm (Double check on this time)

There seems to be no website, but the address and contact details are below.

Hayton Lane End,

Hayton,

Carlisle,

Cumbria,

CA8 9JB
Telephone: 01228 670674

Zefferellis/Vegetarian Italian/Ambleside

Zefferrellis cinema, restaurant and café bar on Comston Road has to be one of the greatest reasons to visit Ambleside.

A modern, clean, fresh restaurant, with a refreshing waterfall feature inside, makes it a nice place for a meal away from the hustle and bustle of The Lake District.

We always book, having been turned away a couple of times in high season.

If you are lucky, on an evening, you can sometimes grab a parking space outside, otherwise there is a public car park at the top of the road (signposted) and just 5 minutes walk away.

Zefferellis is a "Wholefood Vegetarian" restaurant, meat eaters will seriously not miss meat, there is so much on offer. In fact, the first time we went we were half way through our meal before we even realised.

It is also connected to a Cinema, and you can buy a "Movie Deal" where you get dinner and a cinema reservation. Check out the website for more details (link at bottom of the page).

The dough base for the Pizzas is wholemeal, but light and fluffy, and you can get fresh garlic chopped and kneaded into the base if you ask them nicely.

I went with three other people, we all ordered a different pizza, and we all cleared our plates - just. We didn't order single starters,. instead chose to share a Garlic Bread with Cheese between 4 of us, totally delicious, dripping with Garlic Butter, and we couldn't manage puddings, which was a shame.

I had the ...

TOSCANA - With Goats Cheese, Pine Nuts, Fresh Rocket - and swapping the peppers for Mushrooms.

Another of our party had the...

RAIN FOREST - Spinach, Roasted Peppers, Jalapeno Peppers, Red Onions and Mozzarella

(When you purchase the Rain Forest Pizza, Zefferellis donate 25p from each pizza sold to a small botanical sanctuary in Kerela, India. This donation buys a piece of land approx 40 times the size of the pizza!)

The service is proffesional and quick, but perhaps a little "cold", a few more smiles and conversation wouldn't go amiss.

Here is the website, you can download the menu on PDF.

http://www.zeffirellis.com/