Peppes Pizza, STORTORGET 2 9008 TROMSØ, Norway

So...the Veggiesaurus went on restaurant reviewing strike. But, every strike has to end and the catalyst for crossing the picket line of non-reviewing was Norway...specifically Tromso. 

You see, I lost my way...I became overly critical in restaurants  Yes, that's right, I had become that moron that you sometimes see at the next table, complaining that the Mille Feuille is one layer short of technically being 'Mille Feuille'. I forgot that the reason I was reviewing restaurants was to make life easier for the humble vegetarian. That was, until I went to Tromso. 

If only there was a one stop shop out there to tell me where to go when it is too cold to go a merry wandering through the streets, asking to be let into the inn. In layman's terms: Norway for vegetarians is a tough place. Generally things are very fish or meat heavy and everything costs the same as private health care so, if you don't want to buy yourself the equivalent of an MRI for dinner then go to Peppes. 

It's Pizza...Gangnam style. Not really, it's just a good, solid place to have decent pizza.

One word of warning, when ordering a Mocha in Peppes, always add 'Caffe' in front of the word Mocha. If not, you will end up being served some odd non-alcoholic beer which shares a minor similarity in name to the word 'Mocha'. 

All in all - a safe bet for Vegetarians. Plus, if you're lucky you might walk out and see Aurora borealis stretching over the city. If you're not lucky, book yourself on a tour - specifically, 'Chase the light tours'/'Marianne's Aurora Chaser Tours'. You get cheese sandwiches and hot chocolate - yum! 

Price: Approx. 400 NOK (~£44.00) for 1 x pint of Coca Cola, 1 x Caffe Mocha, 1 x large vegetarian pizza, 1 x dessert and service charge. 

Veggie Friendly: 3/5 - maybe 4/5 because you can pick your toppings if you want. 

Food: 3/5

Service: 4/5

Atmosphere: 3/5 

Regina Pizzeria, 11 1/2 Thacher Street, Boston, MA 02113, USA

"Boston's best pizza since 1926". 

A bold statement, but oh so true. Not that I've tried all the pizza in Boston but it's definitely the best pizza that I've ever eaten: thin crust, fresh toppings, a vegetarian section and maximum yumminess.

The walls are lined with old pictures of boxers, and what I can only assume is one 1920s pizza genius after another. Old signs for beer and Coca Cola fill the spaces left behind leaving very little wall on show...but who really needs to see the wall anyway?!
Booths, friendly staff and the beginnings of a round the block queue are the icing on the cake...or should I say, the topping on the pizza.

It might be a fool's dream, but I look forward to the day that Regina Pizzeria put a new slogan on their website: 'London's best pizza since 2012".


Price: $35.00 (approx. £21.98) for 1 x beer, 2 x bottled still water,  2 x 10" pizza and 25% service charge.
Veggie Friendly: 5/5
Food: 5/5
Service: 5/5
Atmosphere: 5/5 

Figs - Beacon Hill, 42 Charles Street, Boston, MA 02114, USA

I've come to realise that the way to end a writing hiatus is to either eat really good, or disgustingly bad food. Luckily for me, my Boston experience was firmly in the camp of the former.

The past weekend has been glamourous on paper:
1. Fly to Boston on BA Miles - check
2. 3 days waking up next to the Boston Public Garden - check
3. Straighten my hair, curl it, re-straighten it, curl it again...realise I've definitely killed already dead hair, but not care because it's in the name of glamour - check
4. Walk around in gorgeous sunshine eating cupcakes on the go - check
5. Eat out and eat everything to ensure that you gain weight before your wedding - check

OK, so the above five points wasted your time, bar the exception of point number 5, the eating out and everything part....yum!

Figs, is a pizza place (which also serves some pasta and salad) and has something to do with a chap called Todd English. I don't have the faintest idea who Todd English is, but I will be kidnapping him, putting him in a room with a wood-fire oven and instructing him to make me Pizza on-demand...I'll be doing the same to the chefs at Regina's Pizzaria as well...but we'll get onto that in the next post.

I quite happily ate more than my fair share of a pizza topped with cheese, rocket, red and yellow tomatoes...and what I can only assume was a delicate sprinkling of heaven on top. I need to buy me some heaven seasoning.
It's worth noting that these pizzas are huge, rectangular beauties that are served on top of some metal, swirly stands. You can order them half and half, which is what I would recommend, especially, if you're on a date. If you order one each, one of you will be eating a pizza off your lap. 

What's the only thing that could improve the experience? I think the answer to that question should be in list format:
1. Dark wood and brick decor - check
2. A bonkers soundtrack that ranges from 90s ballads to Ibiza mad, thus being a great conversation point - check.  
3. Sam Adams - check
4. The ability to be a little fancy...but really not be all that fancy - check check check. This one was particularly important to me as we were very jet lagged...in this case: jet lag schmet lag - a woman was in there having a nice glass of wine wearing an engagement ring the size of her head (she had a ginormous head), and running shorts.

So...I guess, that will be no improvements needed then...


Price: $36.00 (approx £22.64) for 2 x 16oz beer, 1 x pizza (more than enough for two) and 20% service charge.
Veggie Friendly: 4/5
Food: 5/5
Service: 5/5
Atmosphere: 5/5

Bacco Cafe, Pike Place Market, 86 Pine Street, Seattle WA

It's been a while since I've blogged about restaurants. That's not to say that I haven't been eating well and eating out, because I have definitely been enjoying food made better than I could ever make. 

The present question: To blog in arrears or to not blog in arrears. 

Though I'm not a huge fan of serious time lapses when it comes to post-dining judgement...who am I kidding, I love to judge. 

As Bacco Cafe is not brilliantly fresh in my cluttered mind, I will refrain from commenting on anything other than vegetarian options, of which there were only a few. Surprising for Seattle. However, in true Seattle form, the options present were simple and good. I had a grilled cheese sandwich and it did what God intended a grilled cheese sandwich to do: fill me up and lightly coat the inside of my arteries. 

Was it tasty: Yes
Would I go there again: Probably not. With all the vegetarian options out there in Seattle, it doesn't make a huge deal of sense to limit myself to a few. 


Price: Sandwichy - in truth, I cannot remember and I can't find the bill but from their website I would say approximately: $15.00 (£9.50 at today's rate) for a light main and a coffee.  
Veggie Friendly: 2/5
Food: 3/5
Service: 4/5
Atmosphere: 3/5 

Roast, The Floral Hall, Stoney Street, London, SE1 1TL

Before starting this blog I never imagined that Lord of the Flies would be so relevant, but as this will be the second time that it rears its ugly head, I guess that I should just accept that for me, all bad food experiences are synonymous with this book...or at least some reminder of it...wait, scratch that last bit. You'll find out why in a moment. 

I fully understand that for a vegetarian, venturing into a place called 'Roast' and expecting a plethora of choices is somewhat similar to a midget trying to buy clothes at Long Tall Sally. 

With that in mind lets review the choices that they did offer:

At first glance the list looked impressive - 3 starters and 3 mains! Monsieur, with 6 choices you are really spoiling us. 

Sadly, Monsieur was not spoiling anyone. 

The 3 starters on offer: chilled mint pea soup, asparagus with hollandaise or tomatoes on toast. 

The 3 mains on offer: Summer vegetable salad, Somerset organic spelt and herb salad (so...that'll be the salad for you then, Madame) or mushrooms and egg on toast. 

At least have the decency to combine the last starter with the last main and just give me breakfast!

Maybe it would have been bearable if the food was tasty, OK even. Unfortunately, I think mine must have fallen into a mound of salt somewhere between the kitchen and the table. 

However, the sides of mashed potato, carrots and chips were pretty good, and warranted the price. 

I should also note that meat fiends were extremely happy...those bastards. 

On the upside, Roast had a good show of puddings: sticky date pudding gets a thumbs up, as did the Eton Mess. 

I also really liked the ambience: live music, mellow, airy. 

With good pud and an atmosphere like that, Roast was close to finishing on a higher note...until I spotted the severed pigs head. That's right...a severed pigs head, just chilling out on the counter facing the room. That's not 'we like meat', it's more 'we probably killed ants with a magnifying glass and pulled our cats tails far too hard'. 

Being veggie, I can't handle any food with a face...but even the strong stomached T-Rexes found the display of savagery a touch creepy. 


Price: Approx. £300.00 for 1 x bottle of red, 6 x mains, 4 x sides, 3 x dessert, 1 x cheese platter and service charge.
Veggie Friendly: 1/5 (unless you really like salad, in which case it's a 2.5/5)
Food: 2.5/5
Service: 4/5
Atmosphere: 2/5 (Loss of major points due to the severed pigs head) 

Trattoria Pomo D'oro, 9 Arany Janos Utca, 1051 Budapest, Hungary

The best penne arrabiata in the world is in Mexico City at a restaurant whose name I forget.

Thankfully, some of the other amazing Italian food is in Trattoria Pomo D'oro in...er...Budapest.

Our hotel told us that Pomo D'oro was casual. They lied. 

With all the open brickwork and heavy wooden tables they're definitely going for rustic charm. The clientèle dining on the Saturday night of Jubilee weekend may have had all the charm in the world, but there was nothing rustic about them: unless you call perfectly applied makeup, properly adorned bling and men in pink shirts, blue blazers and espadrilles rustic. 

Due to the impressive masking properties of the colour black, we just about managed to look like we belonged...sort of.  

Once again, we were blessed by a little Hungarian humour (who'd have thought), and fresh, well-prepared food. 

There were plenty of pastas and pizzas available for veggies - so many, that I have forgotten just how many. 

I had homemade green tortellini stuffed with spinach and ricotta, served with walnut and gorgonzola sauce...it was so good that I'm considering using D-Licious to describe it, but even this would not do it justice...the only way to capture the taste is to confess that I closed my eyes (just a little) to savour the flavours...

Pirate Mole had a veg ravioli - I forget what was in it (maybe it was pumpkin) but, I know that she too loved her main...as did Stubborny, who had wild mushroom tagliatelle...mmmm...tagliatelle...

Fiancé had some sort of meat feast pizza with white asparagus: Meat feast pizza: 1...white asparagus: 0.

The amazing food was washed down with equally amazing wine...which was washed down with a bloody good pudding of hot chocolate cake (it was really just chocolate fondant)...which was washed down with damn fine coffee...which was finished of by a really good sleep. Peace out. 

Price: 23, 646.61 HUF, (Approx £65.00) for 3 x glasses of red wine, 2 x starter, 4 x main, 3 x dessert, 3 x coffee and service charge/
Veggie Friendly: 4/5
Food: 5/5
Service: 5/5
Atmosphere: 5/5

21 Magyar Vendeglo Hungarian Kitchen, 21 Fortuna Street, Budapest, H-1014, Hungary

As a vegetarian, I feared that I would be hungry in Hungary.

As a literate human being, I fear that hungry in Hungary will leave you awkwardly silent at how bad that last line was.

Moving ever so swiftly on, Budapest had been on my 'list of things to do before I'm 30' for quite some time...quite some time clearly not being longer than 29 years...boy am I rambling today. Anyway, Budapest is awesome, as was 21 Magyar Vendeglo: Friendly and witty staff, dark wood décor, but ... hardly any veggie options. By hardly any...I mean one...Asparagus soup...with a random boiled egg yolk 'decorating' it.

Thankfully it was really tasty, and the bread and cheese dip skaplungle (it's a word) that it came with was D-licious which, should be the name of a rapper...or a wannabe rapper.

D-licious was also fully involved with dessert, of which we ordered an array of: Hungarian chocolate cake - as intense and flavourful as it sounds with layers of white and dark chocolate, some cottage cheese pudding which was a cross between cheesecake and mousse, and last but not least, something simply called 'sponge cake'...what a deceptive title for something that involves rich, dark chocolate, ice cream and cream. If this is sponge cake, then slap a hat on my head and call me Gloria. If this is sponge cake in Hungary...then Hungary is where you'll find me. 

Price: 22, 180.94 HUF (Approx. £61.00) for 4 x coffee, 3 x hot chocolate, 3 x starter, 1 x main, 4 x dessert and service charge. 

Veggie Friendly: 1.5/5

Food: 4/5

Service: 5/5

Atmosphere: 3/5 - would probably be a 4/5 in the evening - twas a twidge (also a word) too quiet at lunch

Odette's, 130 Regent's Park Road, London, NW1 8XL

Canada was visiting for a few days, so we chose to spend the time catching up and being posh (pronounce that 'o' as if in 'oh my, this white wine spritzer is just what I needed after a long morning shopping, redoing botox injections and strolling in the park).

Remove the bit about botox, and you pretty much have the day I spent with Canada, pretending to be ladies who lunch. Fortunately, for the purposes of childish sniggering and being wowed by huge, sparkly rocks, we were surrounded by actual ladies who lunch. I can safely say that three of the said ladies had enjoyed the exact same day as us, inclusive of Botulinum toxin...Toomuchinum facein! 

Facial paralysis and Richard Burton to Elizabeth Taylor diamonds aside, Odette's is delicious...and expensive, but so worth it. We went a la carte, hence the price below, but they do have a lunch menu that's three courses for approximately £20.00. 

I'm not a huge fan of runny eggs, but the crispy duck egg starter (crispy on the outside, soft on the inside) was pretty darn tasty, as was my main of blue cheese gnocchi. Again, un-melted blue cheese and I don't always get along, but Odette's did the whole dish so well (complete with tenderstem, perfectly cooked broccoli) that I was left with little to grumble about...ok, one thing to grumble about, I could have still done with a little less blue cheese - that stuff is so overpowering!

Dessert was blackberry soufflé with vanilla ice cream...D.I.V.I.N.E...which stands for Deliciously Incredibly Veritably Indulgent and Nicely Executed. Besides being 'eyes-shut and rolling' tasty, the portion of 'give me more souffle' was generous...so I should keep my waist slim(ish) and refrain from asking from more souffle...however, if you have any spare...

Price: Approx. £70.00 for 2 x white wine spritzer, 1 x starter, 2 x mains, 1 x dessert and service charge.

Veggie Friendly: 2.5/5

Food: 4/5

Service: 4/5

Atmosphere: 5/5

The Quilon,41 Buckingham Gate: Take Two

It's still delicious...that's all I have to say.
Oh, and if you're going later on in the evening, pre-order bibinca...I'm not the only one who loves it so. 

Earle, 4 Cecil Road, Hale, Altrincham, Cheshire, WA15 9PA

It's created by the same genius behind Greens, so the quality of the food is on the same level...for those of you who have been unlucky enough to stumble upon my insane ramblings but are not frequent readers, Greens is one of my favourite, all-veg restaurants.

The veg options served at Earle is pretty much a smaller selection of what is on offer at Greens, can't complain there. 

The decor was similar to that of Greens, apart from the space was much bigger. Despite the increase in size, the space still retained some of the 'cosy feeling' I like at Greens. 

As a veggie, I will always opt for unlimited choices at Greens, over limited choices at Earle. However, if your party's food preferences are mixed, then I suppose bottling your selfish desires is necessary. If you don't give two hoots about bottling anything when it comes to food, then I fully support you...unless it's soup. Always, bottle soup.


In short - find my review for Greens to find out more about Earle...feeling lazy today!

Price: Approx £100 for 5 x soft drinks, 3 x starters, 5 x mains, 3 x pudding, 3 x coffees/teas and service charge. Sunday set menu
Veggie Friendly: 2/5 on the set menu, 3.5/5 a la carte.
Food: 5/5
Service: 4/5
Atmosphere: 5/5

Browns Bar & Brasserie Leeds, The Light, The Headrow, LS1 8EQ

After a spate of so-so venues I was feeling pretty so-so myself...until Browns.

Good food, good choices, good service..well actually, the choice was average but the food was tasty for Meaties and Veggies alike.

Fatty Meaties ordered an array of interesting dishes which bored me, but pleased them no end. Father had flat bread with roasted peppers, aubergines, courgettes and mozzarella - simple and delicious.

Snooty (whose name I am considering changing to Stubborny) and I had a filo pastry parcel filled with minted peas (GOLD minted...not really), courgettes and ricotta. I think there may have been something else in there too, but I forget what it was...either way it was yummy. So yummy, that I wanted to stay for dessert, at the risk or missing the show we had waited months to see...Carousel.

After putting it to the vote, Carousel won out, because apparently my family are staunch believers in democracy - the cheek of it!

Price: £100.71 for 5 x soft drinks, 1 x starter, 7 x mains and service charge.

Veggie Friendly: 2.5/5

Food: 3.5/5

Service: 4/5

Atmosphere: 3/5

Monkey & Me, 114 - 115 Crawford Street, London, W1H 2JQ

Imagine someone shrugging their shoulders, bending their arms at the elbows and turning their palms face up and saying 'eh'...that was my reaction to the vegetarian dishes here. 

There were only two items on the menu with a 'v' next to them, both in the starters section. Everything else is at risk of fish sauce, oyster sauce and 'begone veggie you can't eat this' sauce. 

Fatty meaties seemed to enjoy their pork ribs and pig backsides while veggies have to pick through the menu constantly asking the question 'does this have fish sauce or anything like it'? 

The curries are an absolute no no as apparently it is not possible to make these veggie friendly, so your best bet is to stick to stir fries and accompaniments...and ask for them to be made without the aforementioned sauces. 

By the end of this exhausting ritual you'll probably be as disheartened as I was...and that's also when you're most likely to notice that the red plastic seats at Monkey and Me hurt your bum something special. 

Luckily for me the night ended on a high as we went to see The Avengers which was nothing short of hilarious...though it did leave me with a hankering for a vegetarian sharwarma and a realisation that I miss The Hulk as a TV show....and the A Team...especially that drunk episode with Boy George...

Price: £65.00 for 1 x beer, 4 x soft drinks, 2 x starters, 1 x noodles, 4 x curries/stir fries, 3 x rice and service charge

Veggie Friendly: 1/5

Food: 2.5/5

Service: 4/5

Atmosphere: 2.5/5

Amico Bio, 44 Cloth Fair, London, EC1A 7JQ

Amico Bio is on a very cute street, serves delicious wine (get the one with squirrel on the label and persistent cherries ), is all dark wood on the inside and the restaurant is vegetarian and organic. 

It all sounds perfect, doesn't it? It's not. 

The only other persisting factor, bar the cherries, was the distinct feeling that each dish missed the mark, somehow. 

My tofu, orange and fennel salad starter was heavy on tofu and light on taste, the risotto balls were a poor man's Arancini and the Kiwi Tart/Pie was in need of help. 

OK, I'm verging on too harsh so I'll reign myself in. The spinach and ricotta cannelloni was decent, not life changing...but definitely edible. Yeah, I realise, I still sound harsh but it's difficult to be positive when things 'persistently' did not quite fit. 

I even asked Fiancé and Marmot for their opinions...sure, they mumbled something but the lack of any real conviction behind what they were saying/mumbling lead me to believe that they felt the way I did. 

Price: Approximately £82.00 for 1 x bottle of red wine, 3 x glass of prosecco, 3 x 3 course meal and service charge. All on the top table offer

Veggie Friendly: 5/5

Food: 2/5

Service: 3/5

Atmosphere: 4/5

Thai Pot, 1 Bedfordbury, Covent Garden, London, WC2N 4BP

Having nothing to say is really much worse than having too much to say. It's not great for me and it definitely does not bode well for the restaurant. 

Now, where should I start...the restaurant looks...alright. The food tastes...alright: Veg options are tofu-centric and despite ordering two different options (one chilli, one ginger) they tasted the same. 

The service, however, was good due to our rather smiley, smiley waiter. 

All in all, the experience was...alright.

Price: £74.64 for 3 x soft drinks, 1 x veg sharing platter, 1 x starter, 3 x mains, 1 x side, 3 x rice and service charge.

Veggie Friendly: 3/5

Food: 2.5/5

Service: 4/5

Atmosphere: 2.5/5 

Bank, 4 Brindley Place, Birmingham, B1 2JB

I almost didn't write this review as I had nothing to say. OK, that's a blatant lie. I had too much to say...which resulted in me not knowing where to start...which led to a bottleneck of thoughts...

I think the best way to tackle this is to go section by section.

Vegetarian Options...I'm sorry, where? You can pick a few sides, a couple of starters and a couple of mains which is pathetic considering the menu is huge.

Decor/Atmosphere...I'm sorry, what? Big and stark with bananas paintings on the wall...not paintings of bananas as that would have been more interesting and probably nicer to looker at than the badly painted figures that looked like their muscles were on the outside.

Price...I'm sorry, why are you robbing me? Far too expensive for a restaurant that feels like Pizza Express on the inside.

Food...I'm sorry, can I have more water...I'm sorry, I'm not allowed to have it from the tap? The food is too salty...so it tastes decent, masks flavour and dries you out all at the same time...but, the pudding is excellent. 

Would I return...I'm sorry, can I go now?

Price: Approx. 205.00 GBP (Why does the American Mac not have a pound sign?!) for 3 x bottled waters, 4 x soft drinks, 2 x starter sharing plates, 6 mains and 3 x desserts. 

Veggie Friendly: 2/5

Food: 2.5/5

Service: 5/5

Atmosphere: 2/5

The Providores and Tapa Room, 109 Marylebone High Street, London, W1U 4RX

This review is for the dining room upstairs, not the tapas room downstairs.

Let's begin:

Good food, excessive price tag.

For dinner you pick between 2 - 5 courses and the price is set. It sounds fine so far, doesn't it?

2 courses = £33.00

3 courses = £47.00

4 courses = £57.00

5 courses = I can't remember, my eyes blurred to protect me from fully understanding the hit my purse was about to take.

We'll come back to the prices in just a mere moment. The dining room is nice, not amazing, but decked out nicely...nicely is such an insipid word.

The food was nice...there's that word again...

The Providores seems to add things to the food that are neither here nor there: The sweet potato dumplings were perfect, but the chocolate fondant, for example, already had a different touch by adding chestnut butter to the gooey centre in the middle...why add coconut sambal on top? It neither adds to, nor detracts from the flavour...and it doesn't even add an aesthetic advantage. That being said, minus the addition of the unnecessary, the food provided is...good...I'm mean...nice... 

I'm trying to say that the Providores dining room is a good experience, but the feelings dissolved to nice as the price is just too high for what it is. Especially, once you have factored in the 'starter' size portions that are 'designed to allow you to try more food'...ok...great idea...why are you charging me over £10 per course for smaller portions though? My momma didn't raise no fool (well...). 

Price: Approx. £145.00 for one 1 x carafe of white wine, 1x 3 courses, 1 x 4 courses and service charge. 

Veggie Friendly: 3/5

Food: 4/5

Service: 5/5

Atmosphere: 3/5

The Red Pepper, 8 Formosa Street, London, Greater London, W9 1EE

I know that the approved model for constructive criticism is: start with a positive, then highlight the problem, then finish with a positive. The problem that I have with that model is two-fold: One, I didn't come up with it. Two, I like everything about The Red Pepper bar one small thing...and that small thing is the table.

You see the problem is, most of the tables are the same size. I suspect your asking, what's the problem with this? Well, if you'd just let me finish I'd tell you that the size in question is a two person table...even if there are four chairs around it. In any restaurant, four people on a two people table results in elbows at dawn, but there are certain restaurants that should avoid doing this. Basically cuisine that requires sharing, or any cuisine where the food is served on big plates...or as I like to call them colossoplates. 

Other than that, there is a good selection of pizzas which are all delicious. Just be aware that the black olives on the pizzas are not pitted...Small found this out the hard way. 

The rest of our party: Fiancé, Tallulah and myself were 110% satisfied...now I sound like I'm on The Apprentice. 

Desserts are so-so but for me, that's not all that relevant as I come here for the pizzas. 

On another note, the sister formerly known as Jiggly will now have the pseudonym of Pirate Mole...it's exactly like it sounds. 

Price: £104.00 for 1 x bottle of white wine, 1 x beer, 4 x pizzas, 2 x sides, 3 x dessert and service charge

Veggie Friendly: 3/5

Food: 4/5

Service: 5/5

Atmosphere: 3/5

The Quilon, 41 Buckingham Gate, Westminster, London, SW1E 6AF

I had written the most wonderful review for this restaurant. I also decided to delay posting it to keep...er...I'm not sure why. BIG MISTAKE. The body of the post somehow disappeared! That might be a great thing for the editors as it was one long review. It's a pain for me...as it was one long review!

Without trying to recreate it, let's just try again. Here goes...

I've had my beady eye on The Quilon for a while - South Indian food and a Michelin star - yes please!

However, they closed in January for refurbishment. It felt like a long wait, but they reopened again in March and I can say without hesitation that it was worth the wait. This just may be my favourite restaurant in London. 

The decor is simple yet striking: No gaudy decorations to transport you to a far and exotic world. They managed to create the perfect balance where the ambience matched the food. 

The staff are perfect...I would tell you all the reasons why but it would mean having to start a new blog titled: 101 Reasons Why I Love The Staff At The Quilon.

Onto the food...oh my...the food. One word: authentic. Two words: authentic and delicious.

You should know that their set menu is £24.00 per person, for 3 courses, including tea and coffee.

Fiancé and I had a sneaky peak at the dinner menu and the choices given on the set lunch menu are at least half of those on the dinner menu - not bad at all!

As a quick rundown of what you get for your money, this is what we ordered:

Pre-starter:

Pappadoms served with two chutneys and three pickles

Starter:

Crispy, spiced cauliflower

Mini Masala Dosa (waheeeee - just to clarify, this is the sound of joy).

Random in-betweener:

Rasam - for those of you that are South Indian or Sri-Lankan...or know someone who is, then you should know that the best way to have rasam is poured over your rice. If you don't know someone from the region or you feel uncomfortable pouring a sherry glass of rasam over your plate in a fancy restaurant then just drink it, it's still good that way. If you do know someone from the region, and you're perfectly comfortable pouring palate cleansers over your mains and you still don't try it...well then, ayo for you.

Main:

Paneer and soya curry

Mango curry (hells yeah!)

Plain rice

Tawa Paratha (bread prepared in ghee)

Dessert:

Baked Yogurt - Fiancé  took a liking to this in Chennai and was exceedingly pleased to report that The Quilon delivered on par with the rest.

Bibinca - layered pancake served with the ice cream. It was phenomenal!

Now, I know that you can get wonderful South Indian cuisine for a fraction of the price (*cough* Saravana Bhavan *cough*) but there is something to be said for paying a bit more for the experience...and that something is Bibinca.

The only issue I have with The Quilon is...I'm not there right now.

Price: £66.00 for 1 x beer, 1 x glass of white wine, two set lunches, and service charge

Veggie Friendly: 5/5

Food: 6/5 (I don't care)

Service: 5/5

Atmosphere: 5/5 

Bistro't Klein Genoegen, Sint Salvatorskoorstraat 3, 8000 Brugge, Belgium

For me, Bistro't Klein Genoegen has the perfect atmosphere.

The walls are painted almost black but it doesn't look ominous or gloomy, it looks chic. The wooden floors and the white of the ceiling and the table cloth provides enough brightness. The lighting is ample without shining too strongly onto my parting making it look sparse and bald (despite a decent head of heair).

The reason all of this appealed so much was that Bistro't Klein Genoegen created an atmosphere of intimacy, and made you feel special without leaving the venue with only a hint of light.

I counted at least four vegetarian mains, and two starters, which is enough.

I had breaded cheese to start (excellent and surprisingly, not heavy), and a quiche for my main...that's right, a quiche! Why do more restaurants not turn to quiche for their vegetarian option(s): it's delicous, filling, goes with the same sides as various preparations of meat...and once more for the skim readers: it's delicous.

Also, the quiche goes very well with the house Sauvignon Blanc, and Fiance would like you to know that the meat options were all that and a bucket of Belgium chips. 

Dessert was apple pie. Proper pieces of spiced apple on a substantial pie base with a nice dollop of excellent quality vanilla ice cream. Former fan of the French apple tart found at Mon Vieil Ami, Paris; Fiance quickly renamed this one as his favourite. If it hadn't been so damn delicious, I'd have branded him fickle and felt deeply concerned at his flitting affections.

Ok...I know I have to STOP with the overuse of alliteration...it's just that when I get going it becomes a hilarious challenge to see how long I can keep going for...but, I will try and stop...really...try...

Service was perfect: friendly, non-invasive, genuine, helpful...other relevant, positive words that you can think of.

If you're veggie, know a veggie or anyone else who is restricted when eating out then you must dine here at least once if you visit Brugge.

If you're not veggie, don't know a veggie or anyone else who is restricted when eating out, then why are you reaading this? Go and do something useful with your time.

Price: Approx. 87 EUR (around £72.00) for 1 x beer, 1 x glass of white wine, 2 x bottles of still water, 1 x starter, 2 x mains, 1 x dessert and service charge.

Veggie Friendly: 3.5/5

Food: 5/5

Service: 5/5

Atmosphere: 5/5

Chez Vincent, Saint - Salvatorkerhof 1, Brugge, Belgium

This may not be the best veggie burger in the world, but it put up an admirable fight with my current favourite (Fine Burger Co.) to come a close second.  

Usually, I'm not a fan of the mixed vegetable, breaded patty. To put it mildly, I find the taste to be...bonkers.

However, the Brugge, Belgium burger betrays it's breadcrumbed bretheren as burgers with bonkers flavours do not belong in Brugge, Belgium where the burgers are bonza.

Apologies for that...in short: there's one vegetarian burger option (and it's Belgium so the fries are excellent), and that option is damn fine.

Price: Approx. 14 EUR (around £12.00) for 2 x soft drinks, 2 x veggie burgers, 1 x large fries and service charge. 

Veggie Friendly: 2/5

Food: 4/5

Service: 2.5/5 only because it's order at the bar and the rest is self service

Atmosphere: 2.5/5

La Cochonnet, 1 Lauderdale Parade, Lauderdale Road, Maida Vale, London, W9 1LU

It is a testament to these pizzas that I was able to eat them. 

Earlier that day...

The Boy and Wimbledon arrive looking expectedly and impossibly radiant after a long trip. 

After hugs and hilarity we head to the Damien Hirst exhibit at the Tate Modern. How excited I am to be given the opportunity to be cultural...or at least pretend that I am. I even had my best 'ah, yes, but if you transcend the box, it's clear that the rigidity of the lines represent the constraints placed upon the biscuit base, by the cheese' face on. 

And then, everything that I so firmly believed...remained the same. However my upchuck reflex was tested, even more so than when I had a severe bout of food poisoning in 2000.

It was kind of like being in Lord of the Flies except; instead of the chaos of a plane full of boys crashed on a desert island...it was me lost in the Tate, instead of a pigs head on a stick covered in flies it was a severed cows head in a box with flies buzzing around it, and instead of that bat-shit-crazy kid who was head of the hunters it was a giant circular disc of dead flies that was going to metaphorically (and actually) nauseate me. So much so, that even the best chocolate in the world was unable to coax me out of the unnattractive stupor I had settled in to. 

I don't know enough about art to justify that rant, so lets quickly move back to what I do know: belly satisfaction and veggie friendliness.

Don't be afraid by the size of these pizzas; they are light and as Wimbledon put it; 'very easy to eat'. When it comes to taste - refer back to the first sentence in this post.

As for options for us Veggisaurs: there were plenty, and the setting is cute and rustic (I hate that word).

Sentence of advice: If it's even vaguely chilly outside and they give you a table by the glass in the conservatory then refuse and wait - Brrrrr. This is especially crucial as they serve their pizza on cold plates and, as The Boy pointed out, isn't a warm plate basic protocol? I wouldn't mess with him...he can identify a statue of Dwight Eisenhower before you can even see it. He's a litte bit like Chuck Norris in that way.

Price: Approx. £67.00 for 1 x coca cola, 1 x bottle of red, 4 x pizzas and service charge. 

Veggie Friendly: 4/5 

Food: 3.5/5

Service: 5/5

Atmosphere: 4/5

Chor Bizarre, 16 Albemarle Street, London, W1S 4HW

Do you like that ambiguous, grey area between Indian and Moroccan decor? You know what I mean?...That space of non-committal that Disney's Aladdin danced in...I don't literally mean danced...although, there is always a fair amount of merriment involved in most Disney films, apart from Up and Bambi - why would you upset me by starting a Disney movie with the truth?! 

Back to Aladdin: You know that feeling where you know you're in the middle east, but you can't shake that niggling itch that maybe, just maybe, you're in India? 

Well Chor Bizarre is kind of like that...but the other way round: you know you're meant to be transported into an Indian market but somehow, you can't shake the feeling that you're in a Moroccan Bazaar...bizarre. 

All of the above was not that clever, and far too protracted for what I'm trying to say. So, using my best Northern chavtastic accent, I will conclude this monologue by saying: 'It were well nice'. If you don't know what a Northern chavtastic accent sounds like, then you haven't lived. 

My entourage for luncheon (ooo-err) included and concluded, myself, Jiggly and Mother who was put off from ordering the usual Thali by its £24.00 price tag (ay caramba). 
As a result, we managed to spend a little over £40.00 on more than enough posh nosh: Pappadoms and chutneys, Paanch Mirchi Ka Paneer (paneer with five chillis), Dal Makhni (black lentils), Bindhi Do Pyaza (okra in tomato sauce), Raita (cucumber and yogurt), Saffron Rice and Basmati Rice. 

All dishes did both the country of origin and the host nation proud - for the slower readers: the food wasn't shipped in from India...and by slow, I don't mean your reading speed. 

However, despite tasting good...I still don't think they were a patch on Mother's home cooking, Good Mother's (my Aunt - the name is a direct translation...from a mysterious language) home cooking, See Food Eat Food's mum's home cooking, the food I recently ate at some of the places in Chennai and Saravana Bhavan. 

That being said, let me just reiterate one more time for the record: this place is good, and selections for all are varied and numerous. 

Price: Approx. £48.00 for 2 x soft drink, 3 x vegetarian curries, 1 x salad, 2 x rice and service charge.

Veggie Friendly: 4/5
Food: 4/5
Service: 5/5
Atmosphere: 4/5

Verru, 69 Marylebone Lane, London, W1U 2PH

A Scandinavian restaurant in London. 

That's all. 

...

I kid. Unfortunately for my overworked editors, that's not all. 

Perhaps, slightly more fortunately for you, there will be a tad more information. 

The most important thing to note: Meaties will not want for choice. Vegatables, we get one starter and one main...and an array of puddings, but then who doesn't offer an array of pudding?! Vegetables is a working collective name. I plan on seeing how it sits with me over the next few weeks...chances are it will sit so comfortably that I'll forget that I'm testing it out...I digress...again...but, I haven't admitted my penchant for digression since post one at The Garrison. 

Back to options, or lack thereof: 

To start: Lightly truffley creamy cheese, beetroot, apricot chutney, walnuts and lingonberries

Mains: Roast squash, wild mushrooms, Västerbotten cheese.

Dessert: Elderflower and Strawberry cheesecake.

Verdict: pleasing (and precise) presentation (now that's what I call plosives), well prepared food and perfect service. 

The only downside for Veg Monsters (another working title), one choice per section, so check that the menu sounds agreeable before giving your cash card a work out.

Price: £81.38 for  small glass of white wine, 1 small glass of red wine, 2 x starter, 2 x main, 1 x dessert

Veggie Friendly: 1/5

Food: 5/5

Service: 5/5

Atmosphere: 4/5 (My reason for deducting a mark has nothing to do with the restaurant...it's just...well...as we were enjoying the last precious mouthfuls of cheesecake, another patron let one rip...and I can't erase the subsequent assault on my nostrils from my memory)

Gauthier Soho, 21 Romilly Street, London, W1D 5AF

Warning: The meal took over fours hours...so might this post...

I'm not brilliant at handling super serious places. To be frank, I find it nerve-wracking with all that clean damask waiting to be sullied, and waiters that have an air of pomp (or finesse, depending on how you look at it).

Gauthier Soho made my list of places to eat at because I'd heard that it was a French restaurant with a Michelin star, and a vegetarian menu to match it's meat counterpart in taste and choices. For these reasons, braving my inferiority complex was a must.

If, like me, uber trendy or posh places give you the heeby jeebies, then I should warn you that you have to ring a doorbell to get into the restaurant. Yes, that's correct - a doorbell. The covert nature of entering, and our location, led me to worry for the briefest of seconds, that we were at the wrong door and we were moments away from a Soho surprise.

Inside, Gauthier Soho is beautiful (minus the weird papier mache, Victorian lady's head in the bathroom - what's that about?!). The restaurant is a converted Town House, so it's on different levels - not good for negotiating if you plan on binge drinking but perfect for making each room feel personal and intimate.

The decor is simple but the lighting was so dim that it was difficult to see: other tables may not face this but we were on the first floor in a corner away from an overhead light which meant that every time our words hit a 'th', 'p' or 'b' we came close to blowing out the candle which would have left us, quite literally, in the dark.

Lets head back to my inferiority complex for a brief moment: it dissipated as soon as the staff talked to me. Also, I was people watching a fair bit and the staff were able to adapt to the customer. There were little nuances in their behaviour that prevented them from being overly friendly to stuffy patrons or too formal with nervous or more relaxed ones - very impressive.

Now the food. Oh my...the food. I'll try and keep this as short as possible, which will be difficult as both Fiancé and I opted for the 8 course tasting menu: him meat, me veg.

His menu included everything from seafood to lamb and on the whole he was happy.

I started with Jerusalem artichoke veloute, goats cheese and swiss chard ravioli - interesting, innovative, not risotto, delicate and delicious. 

On to Kentish carrots and a medley of vegetables (I forget the name of this dish) but it was filling, the veg was cooked perfectly and once again, delicious. 

Next, the loathed risotto, this time with black truffle and brown butter - tasted amazing. The meat counterpart also got a 'happy face' and big thumbs up from Fiancé. 

The next dish was poached duck egg on purple broccoli and quinoa. The broccoli and quinoa were delicous but I'm not a huge egg fan unless it's scrambled (or in a pudding) so I couldn't bring myself to eat it...those of you not as wary of poached egg as I am will probably enjoy the whole thing. 

Yuzu curd and a roasted root vegetables followed. Without even an inkling of doubt I can tell you that Yuzu curd and I, don't get on...at all. One of the meat starters also involved some Yuzu curd and it elicited the same response from Fiancé. The response being; 'what is this sloppy, weird tasting, coagulated stuff?'. 

OK, so this dish represented a severe reduction in enjoyment, especially when set against its predecessors (and the subsequent dishes), and had I not done the tasting menu and ordered this as my main I would have been disappointed, hungry and definitely poorer. However, on a tasting menu where every other dish offered was incredible, I think I can let it slide. 

A cheese plate marked the end of the savoury section. Nothing wrong about that. 

Some kind of passion fruit sorbet/fruit combination was dessert number one: flawless. Seriously it was wonderful and light and managed to be full of flavour and cleanse my palate at the same time. 

The last dessert of the evening was a Golden Louis XV. It was just as decadent as it sounds: Dark chocolate and Praline soufflé. After Gauthier Soho and the wonderful soufflé made by the chefs at Bistrot de Luxe, it would seem that soufflé has won a place a rather large space in my heart.   

Anyway, I think this review has been long enough, but if you can't be bothered to read the above, just take heed of the following: veggie choices galore and tastes that just may rock your world. 
Then again, if you've come this far...the summary really isn't necessary. 

Price: £229.00 for 1 x bottle of still water, 1 x tasting menu with 4 glasses of wine, 1 x vegetarian tasting menu with 4 glasses of wine and service charge.

Veggie Friendly: 5/5

Food: 5/5

Service: 5/5

Atmosphere: 4/5