Monday 19 August 2013

Let's catch up!

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.

20 comments:

  1. To me that pub meal looks decent, but yeh it's not a roast :(
    I'd love to win tickets to VegFest! I've never been able to go to Brighton or Bristol but I'm definitely going to London! I've just been browsing the stallholders list and it's impossible to pick just one. The 3 which I'm currently most excited about are:
    Cool Chile, Mighty Fork and The Vegetarian Butcher :)

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    1. Oh yeah, a decent meal but not what I want from a roast! I didn't know The Vegetarian Butcher would be at Veg Fest London, that's awesome!

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  2. Cat and the Cream. Because I think Cat is awesome :D, she sorted out a near disaster on my birthday and I love the mini cheesecakes she's doing. She's bound to come up with something new for veg fest (like the cupcakes she did to raise money for Sarah Kramer last time)

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    1. Cat is awesome, I can't wait to try her mini cheesecakes!

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  3. Whee, I'd love to go! Lot's to be excited about but I'm going to say Nia's Allergy Friendly Foods because I've been in London for a while now and haven't yet found too many glutenfree options for baked goods. And ordering a batch of something just for me (especially since I don't have a freezer) seems a bit too indulgent. ;)

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    1. Hey! You won! Please get in touch with me asap to collect your prize! Jojo x

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  4. I've gotta say, I'm not normally a big fan of the wedding cupcake trend, but I could easily make an exception for these beauties. Love the colors and the styling! Looks like a good selection of flavors, too.

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    1. The bride & groom chose Peanut Butter Chocolate, Vanilla Raspberry, Mint Chocolate Chip & Coconut Lime. Yum!

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  5. That mushroom bibimbap sounds awesome! The goma sauce is traditionally just sesame, vinegar and soy- nothing funky.
    That kitty is too adorable for words!!
    And that gelato- wow. Just. Wow.
    Ttrockwood

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    1. Oooh that's interesting, some of the staff at Namul's said that their Goma sauce contained milk so I'll have to ask again next time I'm in!

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  6. The Mighty Fork, because vegan hotdogs!!

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    1. Good choice! I'm going to visit them in London next weekend.

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  7. peanut butter sea salt caramel; wow!!!

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  8. Ooh, so jealous you have access to vegan gelato. And Fluffkins is ADORBS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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  9. oh man, that's my kind of food! i want that ice cream bad!

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  10. The people at Namul have told me before that all of the sauces are indeed vegan!

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  11. I've never had bibimap but it looks really interesting. Sadly I won't be in London for the festival but I'll let CLFers know about the competition. I've got some Frank bars on the way to me too, looking forward to trying them. Congrats on the wedding order, bet they were well chuffed, the cakes look excellent.

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  12. I've never been to Brighton or Bristol vegfest so I'm desperate to go to the London one! The stall I'm going to make a bee line for is Cat and the Cream. The desserts look amazing and I so want to try the Blueberry & Vanilla Cheesecake - yummy!

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  13. I'm visiting Brighton soon and can't wait to check out this gelato! YUM!

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