Vegan restaurant

Vegan San Diego | Lean and Green Cafe

September 22, 2016Jade Green Vegan1 Comment

My final San Diego eatery post is about an awesome little cafe we ate at near La Jolla Cove:

Lean and Green Organic Health Bar ▷▷▷

Lean and Green Cafe uses fresh, locally sourced, organic ingredients and has lots of vegan options, so we were really excited to check it out.

Smoothies ▷▷▷

At home I usually make smoothies for breakfast every day and I really missed that whilst travelling; so, I was really happy to find somewhere that made smoothies with fresh, organic fruit. I ordered the Peach Dream – made of peach nectar, mangos, bananas and raspberries – and Matt had the Strawberry Bliss – made of apple juice, strawberries and bananas. They were both so refreshing and delicious and definitely the healthy, goodness we needed.

ps – I also love that Lean and Green Cafe use Greenware smoothie cups which are made entirely from plants – how awesome is that?!

Wraps ▷▷▷

Lean and Green Cafe offer a great variety of vegan options including salads, wraps and rice bowls; however, Matt and I both decided to go for one of the freshly made wraps. I ordered the Vegan Delight made up of a mix of delicious veggies, spinach and avocado; and Matt decided to order a make your own veggie wrap. He went for a bit of a weird combo: sun-dried tomatoes, beans, tofu, avocado, mushrooms & spinach but it totally worked and was actually really good!

If you’re looking for filling, nutritious, organic vegan food in San Diego, be sure to head to Lean and Green Cafe. They currently have 2 locations in San Diego: La Jolla and Sorrento Valley; however, we chatted to the Cafe’s lovely owner during our visit and he told us about some exciting new franchising opportunities meaning that more Lean and Green Cafes may be popping up soon!

Vegan San Diego | Kindred

September 21, 2016Jade Green Vegan1 Comment

Today I’m back to tell you guys about another awesome restaurant that we found in San Diego:

Kindred ▷▷▷

Kindred is an cool and edgy bar/restaurant that serves unique cocktails and inventive vegan food, all whilst playing death-metal tunes (not in a super intense way but in a this place has majorly cool vibes way). The staff are all super friendly and helpful and the decor is on point – hello white marble tables!

Drinks ▷▷▷

Before we get into the food, let’s talk about the cocktails, as 2 pages of the 4 page menu are made up of Kindred’s huge variety of creative drinks, so it’s only fair that they get a special mention. Now, I don’t really drink that often and when I do I usually stick to the same cocktails (pina colada & porn star martini) so it was exciting to mix it up and try the Depth Dweller which is made up of Strawberry Infused Rum, Campari and Lime. It was super fruity and delicious and had just the right amount of kick.

Starters ▷▷▷

To start off the meal, Matt ordered the Chargrilled Seitan Skewers which looked and tasted insanely like meat (and kinda freaked me out); but if like a lot of people you like the taste/texture of meat but also love animals then this would definitely be the perfect dish for you! Unfortunately, I didn’t manage to get any good pictures of this dish -mood lighting + an iPhone camera doesn’t exactly make for the best photography – but don’t worry there are plenty of mouth-watering food photos coming up.

Mains ▷▷▷

For main I had the Seared Cauliflower Steak. The cauliflower ‘steak’ was served with orange squash puree, tahini beets, little puff pastries and steak sauce. This creative combination made this one of the most gourmet style vegan dishes I’ve ever eaten and it was absolutely delicious.

Matt ordered the Salt & Vinegar Seared Gardein, which was basically a super fancy and delicious vegan ‘fish’ style dish. It was topped with crispy battered onion rings that were absolutely amazing and complemented the ‘fish’ and tartar sauce perfectly!

Even though we were both so full, when we saw the Cookie Dough Truffles on the dessert menu we knew we could make a little more room and it was so worth it as they were my favourite part of the meal!

Kindred is such a fun place with great vibes, so if you’re in the San Diego area and fancy a great drink and/or some delicious vegan food then be sure to check it out!

Vegan San Diego | Amardeen Cafe

September 20, 2016Jade Green Vegan1 Comment

The third stop of our USA trip was the awesome city of San Diego where we stayed near the insanely cool La Jolla Cove. We got to hang out and snorkel on the beach where all of these beautiful sea lions live and it was pretty much my highlight of our trip, as you all know how much I love animals!

Aside from trying to make friends with as many animals as possible, we of course also ate lots of delicious vegan food whilst in San Diego, and I’m really excited to tell you guys about one of our favourite restaurants of the entire trip today:

Amardeen Cafe ▷▷▷

When Matt and I were at University we were obsessed with a little cafe that served awesome vegan lebanese food; so we were super excited when we found out that there was a Lebanese restaurant (Amardeen Cafe) a short walk away from our hotel.

When we arrived at Amardeen Cafe we were greeted by the lovely Mark, whose parents own the restaurant. He explained to us that Amardeen serves a huge variety of authentic lebanese dishes, and that lots of them are naturally vegan. Mark very kindly offered to create a meza especially for us so that we could try out all of the vegan options Amardeen Cafe has to offer, and there were a lot of delicious dishes!

So, I’m going to chat you guys through the vegan options we tried out, and have put a little star (*) next to my 3 faves in case you need help choosing what to order as there are so many delicious options to choose from!

ROUND 1 ▷▷▷

Pita bread & pita chips – I’d never tried pita chips before, and boy have I been missing out! They were so crispy and flavourful and tasted amazing dipped in hummus!

Hummus – Amardeen’s hummus is freshly made and is definitely one of the best I’ve ever tried.

Garlic spread – this dish was another one that I’d never tried before, and for someone like me who adds garlic to pretty much everything, it’s basically the perfect spread!

Tabouleh – you all know that I’m not a huge salad lover (#badvegan), but I was definitely a fan of the tabouleh/falafel/pita bread/hummus/garlic spread combination.

Spinach fatayer – Matt was super jealous that he couldn’t try these delicious little spinach parcels (as they contain nuts) but I definitely wasn’t complaining about having to eat both of them!

Falafel* – now, as a big falafel lover I have tried a lot of different falafel, so believe me when I say that these falafels were amazing! They were light & fluffy on inside, crispy on the outside and bursting with flavour – a definite must try if you visit Amardeen Cafe!

ROUND 2 ▷▷▷

Squash kebeh – this is one of the most complex dishes to make and is traditionally made from meat, so it was really cool to be able to try out the veganised version.

Cauliflower tagine* – conversely, this dish is one of the simplest to make (just fry cauliflower & cover in tahini) but it is SO delicious and definitely one I’ll be trying to recreate at home!

ROUND 3 ▷▷▷

M’jadra – this brown lentil based dish lasted under 2 minutes around Matt (I think it’s safe to say he was a fan) but the little bit I did manage to try before he wolfed it down tasted great, especially when coupled with the moussaka.

Moussaka* – this spicy eggplant and garbanzo bean dish was so flavourful and delicious and definitely one of my favourites!

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Thank you so much to Mark and his family for hosting us at their restaurant. It was awesome to have the opportunity to try out all of the delicious vegan dishes and to also learn a bit about the Lebanese traditions and culture from Mark.

If you’re in San Diego and would like to try out some authentic, vegan Lebanese cuisine, be sure to head to Amardeen Cafe and ask for them to chat you through the vegan options, I’m sure you’ll love it just as much as we did!

Vegan in LA | Fala Bar

September 10, 2016Jade Green Vegan2 Comments

Matt and I are currently traveling in the USA and our first stop was the vegan food heaven that is LA. There is such an incredible variety of delicious vegan food available and we had so much fun trying out as many vegan eateries as we possibly could during our stay!

In four short days we ate: pizza, thai food, waffles, ice-cream, burgers, burritos and my favourite meal of the trip so far – the falafel sandwich at Fala bar.

Fala bar is located in both Venice and West Hollywood and offers a variety of falafel flavours and an array of delicious dishes to enjoy them in. They also have a great selection of drinks, including this pink coconut water which Matt absolutely loved!

For our main meals, Matt ordered the Southwest Burger, I ordered the Original Fala Sandwich and we shared a side of crispy sweet potato fries, and everything was absolutely delicious!

Fala bar is definitely up there when it comes to serving some of the best Falafel I’ve ever eaten. Both of our dishes were bursting with flavour and had the perfect combination of ingredients.

Now, maybe (/definitely) I’m just a messy eater but I always find falafel sandwiches so hard to eat elegantly, and with a sandwich as tasty as this, it’s definitely the kinda meal you just wanna lock yourself in a room with so that you can enjoy all of its deliciousness without having to worry about the sauce that somehow managed to get on your cheek bone (true story).

All jokes aside, the food at Fala bar is absolutely phenomenal. In fact, we loved it so much that that we decided to get a takeout the day after our first visit, so that we could eat it as messily as we liked!

Next time I’m in LA, I will definitely be heading back to Fala Bar to work my way through their delicious menu.

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If you’d like to see more of the food we’ve been eating and also what we’ve been getting up to, I’ve been vlogging our entire trip so you can head to my youtube channel and watch those videos there: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWITr6x8M0wHoDcwTNlyJ7w

VEGAN IN PARIS – SHAKESPEARE AND COMPANY CAFÉ

August 30, 2016Jade Green VeganLeave a comment

Last weekend, I visited Paris with some of my best friends from uni and whilst we were wandering around the city, we stumbled upon Shakespeare and Company Café. I was so happy to see that they had lots of vegan options so we decided to check them out. I ordered a fresh orange juice with a hummus and carrot bagel; it was bursting with flavour and tasted absolutely delicious!

I’m so pleased we found this little gem of a café and will definitely be heading back there next time I’m in Paris to work my way through the menu.

Whilst we were in Paris we also spent a day in Disney Land; even though we’re all grown up now, it was still such a magical experience. I vlogged our whole weekend, including our visit to Shakespeare and Company Café and our magical day in Disneyland – it’s a super fun vlog so be sure to check that out here:

If you’re planning on visiting Paris and would like more ideas of where to find delicious vegan food, check out my previous vegan in Paris blog post here.

Where’s your favourite vegan eatery in Paris? Have you ever been to Disney Land? Let me know down below 🙂 xo

WHAT I EAT IN A DAY | VEGAN & PINA COLADA SMOOTHIE RECIPE

August 1, 2016Jade Green VeganLeave a comment

Recently I have been really into filming What I Eat In A Day videos. They’re fun to film, quick and easy to watch, and such a great resource for anyone who is newly vegan or just looking for exciting new meal ideals!

In my most recent video, I featured the following delicious meals:

Breakfast ▷▷▷ pina colada smoothie & alpro soya yoghurt with granola
Lunch ▷▷▷ sushi bowl
Snack ▷▷▷ loving earth caramel chocolate
Dinner ▷▷▷ veggie hot dog and fries at herman ze german

Pina Colada Recipe

I absolutely love Pina Colada cocktails so I was really excited when I accidentally created the Pina Colada smoothie, and it has become one of my all-time favourite breakfasts. As I didn’t specify ingredient quantities in my video, I thought I’d share the recipe here too so that you guys can enjoy this delicious, healthy version of one of the yummiest cocktails!

Ingredients

1 cup ice
1 cup frozen pineapple
3 ripe bananas
1 cup coconut milk
1 tablespoon chia seeds

Instructions

Put all ingredients into blender
Blend for 20 seconds or until smooth
Serve with pineapple & enjoy!

VEGAN RESTAURANTS IN BOURNEMOUTH

July 3, 2016Jade Green Vegan2 Comments

Last weekend the JGV Compassionate Clothing Line had a stall at the Bournemouth Vegan Fair. As Matt’s lovely Grandma lives in Bournemouth (who btw at 90 years old is insanely cool, open-minded & banterous), we decided to make a weekend of it by travelling up on Friday lunchtime to spend some quality time with Grandma JJ, as well as checking out the Bournemouth vegan food scene.

AMALA CONSCIOUS FOOD ▷▷▷

We were really excited to hear that Bournemouth’s vegetarian restaurant Zoukinis had recently been transformed into a fully vegan restaurant, now named Amala. So, on Friday evening, we took Matt’s grandma for her first ever vegan restaurant visit to Amala.

The restaurant has a great yogi/eco-friendly vibe, with the beautiful woodland themed décor sprinkled with delicate fairy lights.

Firstly, let me say that I absolutely love the fact that you’re greeted by a glass of warm lemon water – what a great way to start a meal! The menu features an abundance of healthy and nutritious vegan cuisine, something Matt and I as wannabe HCLF but in reality Junk Food Vegans are not used to, but were very excited to try.

For main course, Grandma JJ and I both ordered the burger with sweet potato fries, whilst Matt ordered the veggie filo pastry. Although usually a bit of a Joey from F.R.I.E.N.D.S when it comes to sharing food (Joey doesn’t share food), Matt let me try a bit of his pastry and we both agreed it was absolutely delicious!

The burger of the day when we visited was a quinoa patty and had a very sweet taste, which we discovered was due to the fact that it contained dates. Neither Grandma JJ or I are big sweet mixed with savoury lovers (the idea of putting pineapple on a pizza has always seemed beyond weird to me); however, if you love that kinda thing, which I know a lot of people do, then this would definitely be the burger for you! The burger was accompanied by sweet potato fries that were cooked to perfection, deliciously creamy vegan mayonnaise and coleslaw which I definitely could have eaten by the spoonful!

For dessert, Grandma JJ ordered the sorbet which she absolutely loved; Matt ordered the chocolate brownie, and I ordered the cheesecake. Matt has a very mild nut allergy and forgot to check if the desserts contained nuts; unfortunately both mine and his did, so I had the verrrry difficult task of eating two equally delicious vegan desserts #itsahardlife! The Amala team were really lovely and offered to bring Matt another dessert even though it was our mistake; but he was very happy eating the sorbet that came on the side of his brownie.

Thank you very much to Amala for inviting us to their lovely restaurant; it’s always great to find a new vegan spot and it makes me so happy that you can now find a vegan restaurant almost everywhere you go!

BOURNEMOUTH VEGAN FAIR RECAP ▷▷▷

Now, before this post turns into a book, I wanna quickly say a couple of things about the festival! The organisation was impeccable, making the festival one of the best I’ve ever been to. The stall layout was extremely spacious meaning it was comfortable for stall-holders and customers alike, not to mention the location was incredible with a beautiful view of Bournemouth beach. We were really lucky as the weather stayed mostly dry and sunny, but let’s be honest, of course there was a little bit of rain, we are in England after all.

It was great to get to hang out with so many of my favourite veggie business owners, as well as discovering a few new businesses/charities (check out my Bournemouth vlog at the end of this post for interviews with You Cork It, Solkiki and F.R.I.E.N.D). As always, I also love meeting clothing line customers/blog readers and nothing is cooler than seeing people walking around in my designs; I really do feel so lucky to have such awesome customers!

BOURNEMOUTH PIZZA CO ▷▷▷

Finally, I can’t finish this post without telling you guys about Bournemouth Pizza Co. Lizzie, a lovely lady we got chatting to at the festival, told us about Bournemouth’s booming vegan food scene, and gave us a leaflet showing lots of places that have great vegan options. As soon as we saw that Bournemouth Pizza Co. offered a vegan cheese, we knew we had our Saturday night sorted! Pretty much as soon as they opened, we called to order: two large pizzas, a garlic bread, and a chocolate and banana calzone – is your mouth watering yet? I know mine is! Did I mention, they deliver? And this all came in at under £30? And it was insanely delicious. This place is basically heaven on earth for pizza lovers! Thank you very much Lizzie!!!!

VLOG OF THE WEEKEND ▷▷▷

We had such a great weekend hanging out with Grandma JJ, chilling by the beautiful sandy beach, meeting other lovely vegans and eating A LOT of delicious vegan food. I’m seriously considering a move to Bournemouth, as beautiful beaches coupled with a delicious and growing vegan food scene is basically everything I want in a place to live!

Be sure to check out my vlog of the weekend featuring our visit to Amala, our pizza night in, and a few interviews with awesome vegan business/charities at the Bournemouth Vegan Fair!

Exploring Brighton + eating at VBites vegan restaurant

May 5, 2016Jade Green VeganLeave a comment

Last week my friend Anna from the Ukraine came to stay with us for a few days and we spent our time exploring London, Kent and Brighton. Anna and I have so much in common, including our love for photography, animals and eating copious amounts of delicious vegan food; so as usual, we had such a great time, took crazy amounts of pictures, hung out with some adorable rescue animals and ate as much delicious vegan food as was humanly possible!

♥ BRIGHTON ♥

One of the highlights of Anna’s visit was our girly road trip to Brighton with Alfia, Maria and Natalie. We spent the day chilling out on the beach, shopping in the little boutiques by the seafront, and eating at the awesome VBites restaurant.

VBites ▷▷▷

By the time we arrived at Brighton after an early start and a loooong car journey filled with contact lense dramas (more deets in the vlog ;)), we were all feeling pretty hungry/some of us even a little hangry; so we decided to head straight to VBites and stuff our faces with delicious vegan food.

Natalie and Maria both ordered the Bean Burger, Alfia went for the Marinated Chicky, Anna got a Hotdog and after much deliberation (everything looked so good!) I decided to go for the Hickory Chick burger. We all absolutely loved our meals and would definitely head back to VBites next time we’re in Brighton!

Photoshoot ▷▷▷

Anna is an insanely talented photographer, so after we’d stuffed ourself with food and chilled out by the beach, we decided to pretend we were models for the day, take advantage of the beautiful scenery and do an awesome beachfront photoshoot for my clothing line. Here are some of my favourite pictures from the shoot that I’m so excited to share with you all.

All of these jumpers are available on my online store jadegreenvegan.com/shop.

♥ VLOG ♥

As well as taking crazy amount of pictures, we also made a vlog of Anna’s entire trip, so if you guys would like to see everything we got up to and all of the awesome vegan cafés/restaurants we visited be sure to watch our vlog ▷▷▷

xo Jade

Las Iguanas Vegan Menu

April 15, 2016Jade Green VeganLeave a comment

Las Iguanas is an awesome chain restaurant that serves deliciously authentic South American food. A friend recently told me about their extensive vegetarian and vegan menu, and after having a read through I knew I had to check it out!

The vegetarian menu has lots of vegan options (marked with a v), as well as dishes that can be made vegan upon request (marked ‘ask for v’); so if you order one of the veggie dishes, be sure to ask for the vegan version.

Our waiter Tony was super friendly and happily chatted us through the veggie menu, as well as letting us know that Las Iguanas currently has an all day, every day happy hour to celebrate their 25th anniversary, which meant 2 for 1 cocktails all night long! As if 2 for 1 cocktails aren’t enough to make for a fun evening, Tony also showed us some pretty cool magic tricks, like how to balance a spoon, fork and toothpick on the tip of another tooth pick stuck in a pepper shaker (wow that was a mouthful!). I won’t show you how it’s done as I don’t want to ruin the magic, but needless to say our attempt wasn’t exactly magical…

STARTERS ▽▼▽▼▽

Matt and I are both big nacho fans, so to start we ordered two of the corn chip side dishes to share – holy guacamole and totopos.

The totopos (aka salsa dip) was delicious but holy guacamole was the guacamole amazing!! It was creamy, flavourful, and tasted amazing alongside some onions, tomato and salsa on a corn chip!

MAINS ▽▼▽▼▽

For main, we were torn between all of the vegan options but finally decided to share the three mushroom fajita and the veggie chilli.

The veggie chilli is made up of sweet potato, butternut squash and chickpeas, and is served with spring onion rice and tortilla wraps. It was absolutely delicious; however, the three mushroom fajita was a definite favourite for both of us! It is cooked with onions and peppers in a delicious sauce that is the perfect amount of spicy and tastes amazing wrapped up in a tortilla with some guacamole and salsa.

DESSERTS ▽▼▽▼▽

Dessert was definitely my favourite part of the meal, as I ordered the tembleque and it was one of the best desserts I’ve ever eaten! The creamy set coconut pudding is topped with mixed berries and a mango purée and tastes heavenly!

Matt ordered the mango sorbet and judging by the fact that there was none left by the end of the meal, I’d say he was a big fan!

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The restaurant’s fun and friendly atmosphere coupled with amazing food and lovely staff meant we had a great evening! I will definitely be heading back soon for some more of that delicious guacamole and one (or maybe two!) of the coconut puddings!

Fortify Café Maidstone

April 9, 2016Jade Green VeganLeave a comment

After finding this list of six great vegan/vegan-friendly restaurants to visit in Kent, I checked out Fortify Café‘s extensive menu and instantly knew we had to check it out!

My mum and I visited the Café for lunch earlier this week and were warmly welcomed by James, the lovely owner, and his friendly staff. The restaurant, situated in Maidstone, has a great, cosy atmosphere and was full of packed full of customers throughout the afternoon – a testament to how delicious the food is!

The entire menu is 100% vegan and is an amazing example of how varied vegan food can be. Whether you fancy a toastie, a kebab, a burger, or a quiche – Fortify Café has got you covered! Needless to say, we were spoiled for choice but eventually managed to decide on what to order and everything was absolutely delicious!

DRINKS ▽▼▽▼▽

My mum ordered a freshly squeezed orange juice which she enjoyed so much that I didn’t even have a chance to snap a picture before it disappeared! I decided to go for a chocolate milkshake, which was creamy and delicious.

MAINS ▽▼▽▼▽

It was so hard to chose between all of the main course options but I finally decided on the falafel burger, whilst my mum went for the frittata. Both dishes were absolutely delicious and were served with huge, refreshing salads – the potato salad in particular was amazing!

DESSERT ▽▼▽▼▽

For dessert we shared the rocky road with vanilla ice-cream, which was honestly the best, creamiest ice-cream I have ever eaten! My mum also took advantage of the huge variety of dairy-free milks on offer and ordered an oat milk latte which she enjoyed very much!

Side note: How cute of an idea is ‘The Happy News’ newspaper?!

My mum and I absolutely loved everything we ate/drank at Fortify Café and fully intend to work our way through the rest of the menu! Thank you so much to James and his lovely team for a delicious meal.

You can also check out my short video about great vegan restaurants to visit in Kent here (featuring Fortify Café and Singh’s):