Outside Bristol

Austria

Vienna - May 2016

Veganista - Neustiftgasse 23/31070 Wien
I just returned from a trip to Vienna and it was wonderful! There are quite a few vegan-friendly places to eat here, and hby appy coincidence I arrived at the same time as their vegan fayre. I had a quick wander round to scope out the options and my eye was drawn to Veganista's stand. I always do my homework before travelling abroad and I had this place on my list already because they sell vegan icecream. The people on the stand were really friendly and thought it was funny that I was so excited about vegan icecream. First I tried the raspberry and lavendar flavour, which was absolutely incredible. It was so good that I decided to have icecream for dinner that evening, and went back for three more flavours: basil, poppyseed and something a lot like Snickers. They were all fastastic, so pop into their shop if you're nearby.
http://www.veganista.at/?Page=40 

Raspberry and lavendar icecream

Venus Fly Trap on a veggie burger stand

Simply Raw Bakery - Drahtgasse 2, 1010 Wien
I had some nice vegan sachertorte (€4.5) at Simply Raw Bakery, and there was a bonus pug wandering around (which I liked). This place isn't cheap but if you're vegan it's worth a trip. Not the cheapest place in the world, but very tasty
http://www.simplyrawbakery.at/ 
 

Vegan Sachertorte, Simply Raw Bakery

Yamm! - Universitätsring 10, 1010 Wien
Finally, I had breakfast at Yamm. The vegan menu in their restaurant is not the same as the one online - I had gone for a more traditional vegan Austrian breakfast and they had, among other things, hummus/falafel and no wurst. I don't want hummus for breakfast; vegans are expected to eat it for lunch and dinner all the time. It was €9, which was a little on the steep side for what I got. On the plus side the decoration is nice and the waiter was really friendly. 
http://www.yamm.at/

Waiting for breakfast at Yamm

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Crete

Chania 

To Stachi (5, Defkaliona st., 73100 Chaniá)
There is plenty of brilliant vegan food in Crete (and even more good food for any vegetarians you're with). Staples in Crete include nice salads and rice-stuffed veggies; good veg seems to be almost everywhere. While here, I have acquired a liking for Greek salad, which is olives, green peppers, onion and tomatoes - this usually comes in a large portion with feta added, so just ask the staff to omit it. We stayed in a place called Stalos just outside Chania, where we went to a lovely vegetarian restaurant called To Stachi (rendered in Greek as To Staxi - the x is sort of pronounced like the ch in 'loch'). Here, we had baked veg (briam), stuffed veg, fava bean dip and some beautiful baked aubergines, topped with raisins, pine nuts and olive oil, which are apparently a best-seller. They also make their own bread. All the staff are lovely, with excellent English, and they're really helpful too. Vegetarians might like to try their boureki (filo pastry containing layers of potato and cheese) or moussaka. This place was so nice that we went there twice. 
https://www.facebook.com/pages/To-Stachi-Bio-Slow-Food/145114458897637 

 

Czech Republic 

Prague

Maitrea (Tynska ulicka 6, Praha 1, behind Tyn's Church, one block off Old Town Square)

This is a lovely restaurant, although very busy so the staff seemed slightly flustered. The food was fantastic; we had the hummus and a roasted red pepper to start, and veggie goulash for mains. They had plenty of vegan options here, all carefully marked on an English menu (as well as raw). It is also very nicely decorated, and cost £25 or so for 2 courses and two beers each for two people, which is excellent value.

Although we did get slightly lost looking for this place, it is actually very easy to find once you make sure you're on the right Tyn street (one is Tynska Ulica I think). It is behind a large church, and near one of the branches of Dhaba Beas, another veggie place.
http://restaurace-maitrea.cz/
This link is in Czech, but can easily be run through Google Translate

Estrella 

This place wasn't remotely busy, which was a nice change from the bustling Maitreya. The waitress was absolutely lovely; she was really helpful and friendly, with excellent English which was a bonus as my Czech unfortunately consists of about ten phrases. The menu is very well labelled for vegans and also comes in English.

For a starter I had the lentil pate and my partner had the ratatouille, which was unexpectedly cold but delicious. For a main I had the Thai curry with noodles and tofu, and my partner had a quesadilla. All food tasted great, and was beautifully presented. Yet another great thing about this place was the mini cocktail menu; I had a Pink Panther which was made with rose wine (as in the flower) and ginger syrup, and was probably the nicest cocktail I've ever had. Bear in mind that this menu does change. All together all food, two cocktails, a soft drink and beer came to about £25. The restaurant is small, and has art made of fabric on the walls (like felt pulled thinly into different shapes - it was cool, the kind of thing you might actually want on your wall). Frankly, I'm not sure why this place was not totally full. I suspect that it could have something to do with it's location. It is probably a ten minute walk from the nearest tube station; you then turn off the main road, which in the half darkness doesn't look like it will yield a nice restaurant. At the end of this road, go right, slightly round a corner and you'll find it. I advise carefully marking this on a map before going to look for it.
http://restaurace-estrella.sluzby.cz/
Again, in Czech - install Translate

The lovely Estrella restaurant

 

Hungary

Budapest

Nepfanyes Etterem (Rozsa ul. 39, District VII)

We were late arriving to this place, so they couldn't serve us on the first night as their kitchen actually shuts at 22.00. We decided to go back the next day for lunch and we were glad we did. My partner had a bowl of spicy potato stew ('very Hungarian' said the waitress) and I had the stuffed cabbage filled with Jasmine rice and a side of thick vegan cream. Both dishes were tasty, although mine could have perhaps done with some more vegetable matter as it came topped with more cabbage! We both had the ginger lemonade which was good too, and a side of pizza bread to shar This all vegan restaurant had a lovely pizza smell, and seems fairly popular with a steady stream of locals. Although the food was nice, I think this meal came to £32, so I'm not sure how much value for money you get (and it was not clear whether you were supposed to ask for the bill as the waitress went past or go up to pay). 

The restaurant itself is nicely decorated, but I did find it slightly warm in there as it is a basement premises. To find this restaurant, get a metro somewhere near Kiraly Ul. and go down Kiraly until Rosza St until you reach the restaurant. Remember to check road numbers and make sure you go down the correct side of Rosza, as it is split in half by Kiraly (trust me, it's a long road, you don't want to go the wrong way).
http://www.napfenyesetterem.hu/english

Nepfenyes Etterem

 

Morocco

Marrakech

Earth Cafe (Derb Zawak, Riad Zitoun Kedim, Medina)
I have no idea how we actually managed to find this place - I think I'll just put it down to my boyfriend's excellent navigational skills - but we seemed to go a different way each time. They had a nice little selection of vegan and veggie food, all for quite a good price. I looked on Google Maps to see if it was on there and was amused to find it listed in about ten different places! If you can't find this lovely little place, don't despair - Morocco is pretty good for vegans generally, you should always be able to find somewhere that does cous cous and veg.
http://www.earthcafemarrakech.com/
 

 

Poland

Unless you have an excellent knowledge of Polish, being vegan here is impossible - I must confess that I went veggie, eating pizza several times, as there wasn't really any other option. I felt sorry for people with allergies, too, as things weren't that well labelled. On the plus side, we did find two places where vegan was possible (hoorah!).

Vega
There are a few of these in Poland (Kraków, Wrocław, Warsaw - Google them for addresses) and they were always tasty. The one on Gertrudy Street in Kraków had a lovely waitress, who was really helpful; our Polish phrasebook didn't have everything in it, and there were no English menus, so she went through it all for us! One of the things I loved about this place (and the Greenways) was that it was no smoking. My partner and I don't smoke, and it was quite disgusting eating in restaurants with people puffing away. The food was good here, and at the one in Wrocław main square, they have a separate vegan bit upstairs and an English menu.

Greenway
These places are everywhere! They are incredibly cheap, and all vegan food is labelled - some have menus in English, but they're fairly easy to decipher anyway. While this is no De Muths, the food is good for the money, and is also no smoking! Unfortunately, they also have no alcohol...
http://www.greenway.pl/ In Polish (I have Google Translate installed, which automatically translates non-English pages)

The UK

Bath

Sad to lose these two: have moved them to the gone but not forgotten page.
De Muths (2 North Parade Passage, BA1 1NX)  
The Porter (15 George Street, BA1 2QS)

Edinburgh

Empires (St Mary's Street)

This awesome mezze place has special menus for the Fringe Festival - the vegan plate features all the usual suspects - hummus, dolmades, falafels, broad beans, artichokes, salad - for only £15. The plate was massive and it was all delicious, so well worth it! Normally, though, they offer a large variety of dishes that you can mix and match. You can bring your own wine (£3 corkage charge) or bottles of beer (50p), and it is a good idea to book a table.  http://empirescafe.wordpress.com/

Empires Mezze

 

Liverpool

Firstly, I'm going to plug Liverpool. I don't go up North very often, but it may be the friendliest city I've ever been to! There is also some gorgeous architecture and a Tate to visit. What are you waiting for?!

Portico (Albert Dock)

This was a nice little restaurant - we orded the tapas which were really tasty, especially the cous cous and patatas bravas, and it was really good value too (lunch with drinks for two for £20). Lovely decor too! However when I asked what was vegan, the waitress looked like she blagged it; looking through menu listings won't always tell you what has egg or dairy in it, so I'm not sure that I can recommend this place to people with allergies.

Egg Cafe (Newington Buildings, 16-18 Newington, Liverpool, L1 4ED)

This cute little cafe was great, and really cheap - £5 for a main course. The salad I got with my spicy bean burger was really delicious (buckwheat and borlotti beans, cucumber, and basil pasta). I also really loved the decor and all the art that adorns the walls.

Ha Ha Bar (Albert Dock)

We went here for a friend's birthday just after a Liberty event, and who did we spot here? None other than Shami Chakrabarti, Liberty's director and one of my personal heroes! It's a great organisation that promotes human rights, and you can join here. On to the food! It was a little pricey (£30 for a main with wine), our waiter was friendly but the service was really slow. My food was tasty (I had the tomato bruschetta w/out pesto, and veg papardelle), however the portion wasn't terribly generous for the money, and it contained 1 1/2 chillies which I had to pick out as it was quite hot!

http://www.hahaonline.co.uk/menus/

London

Retsina (48-50 Belsize Lane, NW3 5AR)
I went to this nice Greek place for my Grandma's birthday. I love the style of food, and what I had was very tasty, but they looked at me like I'd grown a second head when I asked if a dish could be prepared without dairy. The odd thing was that it arrived with dairy anyway, on the side, so I'm not sure what the fuss was about! The staff were otherwise helpful - it was absolutely packed in there, so it must be popular!
http://www.retsina-london.com/

Minehead

Toucan Cafe and wholefoods shop (3 The Parade, TA24 5NL)
We found this lovely little cafe by accident, wandering around Minehead looking for something to eat (in January, apparently most places are closed). The cafe is all veggie, with good vegan options - I had a huge plate of goulash and it was delicious (£7.95). They also had light bites, and vegan cake. Yum! I've added the Facebook page as the link below (instead of the website proper) because it has more food-related info.
https://www.facebook.com/toucanwholefoods?fref=ts  

Oxford

Chutneys (36 St Michael's Street, OX1 2EB)

I've just returned from lovely Oxford, where I went to this great Indian restaurant. I don't think I've ever seen so many vegetarian options (most of which could be made vegan!) before, and they all were far from token - check out the menu on their site. I had the pumpkin and spinach curry - just because I'd never tried it before - and it was very tasty and a good portion size. The waiter was able to answer my question about dietary requirements himself, so they might all know what's in the food. This place also wins on the famous diner front - one of the first things you see when you walk in is a picture of the staff with Bill Clinton!

http://www.chutneysoxford.com/

Al Shami (25 Walton Crescent, OX1 2JG)
This Lebanese place is tucked out the way, but it's worth tracking it down. Quite a few vegan options - go with friends if you can and order three per person to share. The prices were very good, and the staff were friendly.

http://www.al-shami.co.uk/index.html

St Ives

Spinacios (Wharf Rd, TR26 1LF)
I went here last year with my boyfriend - slightly confusing, but this nice little place is only open for half the year. Really easy to find, and the staff were really friendly. Good food, and good prices - see the site below for more reviews and a map.
http://www.veggieheaven.com/uk/england/Spinacios_6465/


Glastonbury Festival

As the Guardian says, "Venture into the Green Fields and you'll find that festival food can actually be a rather pleasant affair" - it is certainly the place to eat if you're vegan. I overheard other people saying that the best food at the festival was veggie, even if you're a carnivore - I agree! I've never been confronted with such a wonderful array of breakfast, all for about £7, the same price as you'd pay in a nice cafe. If you can't be bothered to traipse half way across the site to go back for food, the rest of the fields are also vegan friendly. Another great thing about the food at the festival is that loads of it is locally sourced/free range! We ate at Manic Organic, Buddhafield Cafe, and - I think - the Chai Cafe.

Canterbury

Kitch (technically 4 St Peter's Street, CT1 2AT - actually on the High Street)
I found this place by accident when I was last in Canterbury. It was 9am, but because I spotted vegan apple cake, I had some for breakfast and it was delicious. If you're the kind of person who, um, likes breakfast for breakfast, they will happily make you a vegan one. One of Canterbury Times' picks for veggie places to eat. Lovely.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/KITCH/511681578924565?sk=timeline

Portugal 

Porto

O Caçula (Rua Antonio Besse Leite)
A great find when my boyfriend and I were on holiday in gorgeous Porto last year. There is plenty here to keep vegans happy, and the food was lovely! 
http://www.ocacula.com/uk/mainmenu.html 

A note on vegan eating in Romania
Before we went to Romania, I had read about the meniu de post; a special menu for those undertaking the religious fast that requires you to forego meat and animal products (see here for more info). Invariably, after not managing to find much - and having had no time to practice my Romanian - we ended up at a pizza restaurant, and they had a veggie pizza de post, with no cheese, on the menu. Hoorah! Unfortunately, we only spent one day there on our way to Bulgaria (we visited Brasov in the former and Veliko Tarnovo and Plovdiv in the latter; all gorgeous places) so didn't get a chance to enjoy the food much.

Spain

Barcelona

Juicy Jones (Cardenal; Hospital)

The food here was great, and the restaurant is lovely and colourful. It's really easy to find, just off the Rambla, but surprisingly cheap (thali for about £5). They are also a juice bar - the mango, kiwi and orange was delicious! Unfortunately our holiday was ruined when some vile pond scum pickpocketed my mum on the metro; a group of teenagers surrounded her and it was over in about 30 seconds. Barcelona is a wonderful place (enhanced by Gaudi), but be on guard at all times - go here for tips on how to stay safe.

 

Madrid

Prepare for secret ham; for a country with such beautiful ingredients,  vegetarianism is pretty much unheard of. When we went to the Prado gallery I asked which of the salad items contained meat, and after a brief poke by the server, was assured that two were vegetarian (they were behind glass so I couldn't see very well myself). I got back to my table and found bacon. No one really seemed in charge, and the first person I spoke to basically said there was nothing she could do, and didn't seem to care very much. I got the server to swap it in the end, and to be honest I was pretty angry (I would have been utterly furious if I'd eaten some by accident). This is bad for anyone who does not eat meat, but given that the meat available is probably not halal, is also very unhelpful for Muslims who might usually go veggie in this situation. 

However, owing to almost catastrophic attempts to eat last time we were in (northern) Spain, I did a lot of homework beforehand. Madrid has a few vegan-friendly restaurants, and I highly recommend checking this in advance unless you want very sore feet. We didn't have very long in Madrid so we only managed to visit one, a lovely all-vegan tapas bar called B13. We had soya calamari, mushroom and squash croquettes,  a portion of lovely smokey patatas bravas the size of your head, and some seitan chorizo (choriz-faux?). They also do a vegan tortilla, but that was all gone when we got there. Along with a few beers, this place made me rather happy, and reminded me how great Spanish food could be. We didn't manage to eat much of the chorizo as it came in a sandwich, so I had it for lunch the next day. All that and two beers came to €24 which was very good. The barman was really friendly and spoke English. Ask for an English menu, order at the bar, and pay at the end.
http://www.b13bar.com/p/english.html 

Valencia

After Madrid, we moved on to Valencia, which we both really liked. Here, there is a chain of vegetarian restaurants called Malmo, Copenhagen and Oslo. These were wonderful - we started in Copenhagen,  but it was really busy for lunch there, so they sent us to Malmo 30 seconds down the road. They had loads of vegan options here, all clearly marked, and even had some veggie craft beer. We had a set menu, which was three courses for €10, which was a bit of a bargain considering how good the food is. It wouldn't be a bad idea to book if you want to eat here at times that could be busy (e.g. Friday night, weekends). The restaurant was also beautifully decorated in an understated Scandinavian style.
http://grupocopenhagen.com/ 

A note on vegan eating in Istanbul, Turkey

When I arrived in Istanbul, I felt like 'the internet' had lied to me. Everything I had read led me to believe that it would be easy to find (probably) vegan food in Istanbul, but when I looked around, all I could see were kebabs. We were staying in Kadikoy on the Asian side, and after wandering for an hour and a half on the second evening, I started to panic. Two years ago, I went to northern Spain with my partner; here, ham is considered a vegetable, and there aren't even many pizzerias for veggies to seek solace in. We wandered for hours on more than one occasion, trying to find something that looked even remotely meat-free, and I must say, it caused a little strain. Anyway, on that night in Istanbul, I had flashbacks to this holiday and I started to worry that it would be much harder than I had assumed. Eventually, we saw people eating something that looked a bit like mezze and sat down at a kebab restaurant. When I saw the pictures of metre-long kebabs on the wall, I wondered whether we had made a mistake. Luckily, we hadn't. I can say without a doubt that my decision to learn the following two phrases before almost anything else was the best idea I had when planning this holiday:

Etsiz mii? (does this contain meat?) Evet = yes. Hayır = no.

Et yemem (I do not eat meat)

'Vegetarian' sometimes means 'with vegetables,' here; it does not always mean 'no meat' (when my partner went to a canteen, the vegetarian option contained lamb). Make sure you learn the phrase for 'I do not eat meat,' instead of relying on asking for the 'vegetarian option.' Also, these phrases mean subtly different things, so do learn both.

When we sat down at this restaurant, it became quickly apparent that the waiter did not speak a huge amount of English, so using my (at that point) rather rubbish Turkish, I asked if they were open and we were given a table. They showed us the English menus and to my dismay, they contained only kebabs. Luckily, my veggie phrases paid off; in Turkish, I said that I did not eat meat, and pointed to the salads listed along the bottom of the menu. They nodded, and a short while later presented me with eight little plates of salad: aubergine dip, a spicy tomato dip, tzatziki, cucumbers/tomatoes, and onions. This was a definite win in my book. Basically, I figured out that people in Turkey do 'salad' a lot better than they do in the UK (no limp lettuce leaves here).

Luckily, while it was harder to find dinner in Kadikoy, crossing the water (especially to slightly more touristy places) made it easier to eat veggie. Near the Aya Sofya, there are loads of places selling ready-made mezze that you can pick from, and the inevitable pizza restaurants. I was very relieved to discover these. The good news is that veggie lunch and snacks are not hard to come by. From simit (bread rings covered in sesame seeds) to boiled corn on the cob, to kumpir (baked potatoes filled with olives, sweetcorn and all manner of other things). A lot of Turkish delight (or lokum, as it is called there) is also veggie friendly, but watch out for gelatine. In the markets, loads of the fruit sellers (selling soooo many types of fruit!) have shrink-wrapping machines that do this:

Dried fruit from the spice market

Pretty neat, huh?! Happy eating!

Just Falafel, Istanbul, Beşiktaş, near the market

Despite discovering lots of lovely sounding veggie restaurants here, we didn't get to any of them because literally all of the first five I found were near Taksim Square, which was miles away from us. After the story of the second night above, I searched hard online for a veggie place in this area and this is what I found. The food was very cheap (about £3 for a falafel wrap, some fries and a coke), and the falafel was lovely and moist. This is a chain, and they do lots of different types ('American,' 'Italian' etc).

Despite wearing a t-shirt saying - in English - 'Just ask me and I'll tell you', the chap who served us was utterly baffled when I asked for the halloumi sandwich. I shouldn't have assumed that he actually spoke English, and when I read the Turkish from their board (it was also in English) he got our order right so it was fine.

http://www.justfalafel.com/