Hey hey! I've been so busy writing about my travels that I haven't stopped to tell you what I've been doing, well, eating, recently. I'm currently obsessed with Namul's, this new Bibimbap cafe that opened around the corner from me on Gardner Street early this summer. It's now the food I crave and my go-to whenever I'm not feeling up for cooking for myself.
There are three vegan bibimbap options at Namul's, the Classic Bibimbap (minus the egg), the Fluffy Tofu Bowl (also minus the egg) - the tofu itself wasn't vegan when Namul's opened but they've since changed it so that all veggies can partake, and the Mushroom Special which is my favourite.
The Mushroom Special consists of five types of mushroom - regular and king oyster, cloud ear fungus, chanterelle and shiitake, alongside shredded carrots, fresh greens, baby sprouts and fresh seaweed. This all comes on a bed of white, brown or black rice, I always chose black because it's so flavourful. You can also choose your sauce and I always pick Namul's Soy Sauce which is super delicious - I haven't asked about the vegan-ness of the sauces containing chilli (allergic!) and I'm unsure if the Goma Sauce is vegan.
This is such a light healthy delicious meal and I love, love, love all of the types of mushroom. It's one of the priciest dishes on the menu at £6.20 but it's totally worth it because it would cost a fortune to hunt down and buy all of those 'shrooms. I'm all excited just thinking about it and I'm totally counting down the hours until I can have it again.
My other summer obsession is Boho Gelato. I have always loved them right from when they opened with an awesome vegan selection to when they started a vegan friendly ice cream cocktail night. This week they outdid themselves when they unveiled their newest vegan creation, Peanut Butter Sea Salt Caramel. Vegan. Delicious.
This flavour stole my heart and the coveted favourite ice cream ever title. As you can see I had it in a cone with a scoop of Cookies and Cream, a flavour that I suggested and that they put into action. Nice one Boho Gelato!
I'm still on the epic Sunday Roast Quest and last Sunday Sal and I visited The Sussex Yeoman which had come highly recommended. The vegan roast of the day was a Vegan Rosemary and Sunblushed Tomato Polenta with chargrilled Mediterranean vegetables served with seasonal vegetables and roast potatoes. Phew, quite the mouthful!
This large piping hot plate of food arrived with a delicious helping of parsnip chips on top, I'll begin to think Brighton's pubs are in cahoots with a parsnip crisp company at this rate, I swear they're popping up on everything! I wish I could say that I enjoyed this twist on a Sunday roast but as someone who dislikes bell pepper quite a lot there was an abundance of it left untouched at the end of the meal but the polenta itself was tasty and the plentiful aubergine and courgette were perfectly roasted. The roasties (that's roast potatoes if you're not from around here!) themselves weren't bad but I wasn't a fan of the tomatoey gravy at all. Putting my personal feelings about peppers and tomatoey gravy aside this was a filling and well seasoned Mediterranean meal but it certainly wasn't a satisfying Sunday roast. I'm told this is quite a strange roast option even for The Yeoman but unfortunately there doesn't seem to be a way to check the menu in advance.
So, The Quest continues! The Earth & Stars is still taking first place and there are still roasts to try at The Prince Albert and The Park Crescent as well as rumoured vegan options at both The Wick Inn and The Foundry.
One thing I can't believe I haven't blogged about yet is that Nick and I are currently fostering a kitty whilst his real mum is in New Zealand. His name's Rorschach, or, as I call him, Fluffkins! He's been living with us since the end of May and he's crazy adorable. We already have no idea how we'll cope with giving him back, I'll definitely cry! Just look at that fluffy tummy!
In other super exciting news, I baked for my first ever wedding this week.
This was definitely Operation Icing's biggest order yet and I really hope that they keep coming. I make quite a small amount for the charities by selling to cafes and website orders are where the "big bucks" are. I sell cupcakes through the website for collection in central Brighton in boxes of 6 or 12 which cost £12 or £20 respectively and every single penny of my profits go to animal charities.
In other news I got sent some Frank bars to try recently, I love to snack so having bars like this on hand is great. They're gluten and nut free as well as being vegan and whilst they're mainly made with fruit they felt more substantial than, say, a nakd bar.
I loved all three of the flavours I tried but the Oat & Chocolate was definitely my favourite, I liked that flavour so much that I'm going to order a box of 20 in their summer sale - £10 for 20 bars, which should keep me going for a while. You can currently buy Frank bars directly from their website or via Planet Organic.
Lastly I have a little competition for y'all. I'm going to be out of the country when London VegFest is happening but I'm giving away a pair of tickets worth £20 right here.
All you need to do to be in with a chance of winning is to leave me a comment letting me know which stall from the list of stallholders you're most excited about visiting at the fest', if you wanted to you could also vote for me in the best blogger category in the VegFest Awards but you totally don't have to!
The competition is open to anyone who'll be in the UK on October 5th & 6th and is able to attend the festival. The competition will close on August 31st and tickets will be sent to you by the lovely people at Veg Fest themselves shortly after the closing date.