Eating Vegan in Liverpool: Maray & Our Kitchen

August 17, 2018

Final Meal of 2014: Excellent Food & Great Value at Manna, London

January 2, 2015

Thank goodness for Manna! It is, to be extremely lame and dorky, from heaven. For the most part.
Although England is where veganism was formed, where the Vegan Society was founded, and where like everyone cool wants to live, its biggest city is kind of weak when it comes to vegan food. It’s easy to be vegetarian here — restaurants still think it’s necessary to mark options that are ‘vegetarian’ instead of marking the much more necessary ‘vegan’ (seriously, you can tell from descriptions and names what is vegetarian, without fail). But, while there are many wonderful vegan options at omni restaurants, wonderful all-vegan restaurants are few and far between.
Despite the dearth, the all-vegan Manna, in Primrose Hill, London, would still be the best we have to offer even if tons of vegan restaurants existed here. The food is fantastic, mainly comfort food in large portions. So freaking good. And aside from a few service issues aaaaand a few kitchen hygiene issues (we’ll get there), there’s little else to complain about.

Husband and I ate at Manna on New Years Eve, when they offered a special set menu: 7 courses (5 legit, 2 more like extras), aperitifs, wine, coffee and tea, all for £54. That is a freaking steal under normal circumstances (especially on New Years Eve, when restaurants love to gouge you), and here even more so. The portions were enormous. After the canape and the soup, I was pretty happy. And then all the other courses came and mocked me with their size and deliciousness. It was crazy. Let’s look at it!

First, we were asked to choose a complimentary aperitif from the drinks menu. I asked for tap water, and please keep it coming. And then I figured well it’s included, might as well get our moneys worth and have husband finish mine. On the menu was a Calvados, an apple brandy from Normandy, served with apple juice. On our trip to Normandy a few years back, I actually liked Calvados – at least the more apple and/or pear-flavored kinds – and so I ordered that. It tasted like alcohol. But it was better than other alcohols.

The first food served, the canape, was a buckwheat blini topped with horseradish sour cream, beluga lentils, and beetroot caviar. I imagine that the taste of this bite is what Russians would be referring to whenever they say “this tastes like home.” It was bright and dilly and reminiscent of borscht with cold sour cream on top. So, yeah, Russian. It was pretty good, considering I always think I hate sour cream and dill kinds of things and I liked this.

“Like it! I could eat 100 of ’em!”

Next up was the delicious soup. As you may know, soup is pretty much my favorite thing, and not just because I am good at it. Manna’s offering was celeriac and fennel bisque (hehe bisque) topped with cream and roasted chestnuts. We didn’t get the whole ‘topped with cream’ thing, and we only found a few chestnut pieces when we reached the bottom of the bowl, but the soup was really delicious. It was perfectly salted and wonderfully simple. And it came with two small bread rolls! Yay bread!

Soup I love soup.

Big bowls of thick soup are pretty darn filling, but luckily we waited so. damn. long. until our next course came that we were hungry again. The waitstaff was getting confused between where we were in the meal and where the table next to us were. While we both started at about the same point, we were still at this post-soup point when our neighbors were finishing their main! That’s 3 courses away! So messed up! But like I said we did get hungrier so that’s good. And it wasn’t the food’s fault.

Finally, our ‘starter’ came, the tempeh cabbage rolls with miso sauce. I expected a cold kind of sushi-roll thing, but surprisingly these were warm, hearty rolls, with grilled cabbage holding tempeh and matchstick veggies that tasted like a standard Chinese stir-fry. They were hard to eat with your hands and harder to cut apart nicely with knife and fork, but I really enjoyed them.

Tempeh and miso are like my favorites

The salad, up next, was really lovely, despite the fact that I tend to stray from vinegar-y salads (or ‘bowls of lettuce’, as husband tends to call my unadorned…well…bowls of lettuce). Manna’s salad on offer was a complex mixture of an arugula base (which they call rocket in Europe becauseeee NASA?), roasted squash, sundried tomatoes, kalamata olives, and roasted pepitas in a sherry vinaigrette. Despite the vinegariness, I really enjoyed having an interesting and refreshing salad instead of my usual lettuce bowls. It was really good, especially with the warm squash addition. I used to hate olives but now I absolutely love them. It took a trip to Portugal when olives and bread were all I could eat for a few days. Now I’m all yay olives.

Warm squash should go in every salad.

Next we were given glasses of house organic wine. It tasted like alcohol.

hair today, gone tomorrow

The piece de resistance was next. Our main course was a mushroom stout pie with whole grain mustard champ (mashed potatoes with green onion, weird ass name) and braised kale. A lot of braised kale. And a lot of mash. It was quite the plate. The pie was pretty great, with a fantastic sturdy crust and lots of little mushrooms inside. It was all going swimmingly…and then I saw it. The beginnings of a hair coming out from the middle of the pie. I pulled and it was long and dark — my biggest restaurant fear. See, normally I’m the type of person who would report to waitstaff when there’s a hair or a bug or generally anything wrong. But if it’s a long dark hair, I tend to keep quiet out of the ridiculous fear that someone will say ‘WELL MAYBE IT’S YOURS!’ and I can’t deal with that possibility of someone thinking I’m not telling the truth. It happened first at Blossom in NYC. I was about to say GIMME NEW FOOD but then I had a flashing vision of the waiter saying “Maybe it’s yours?” and me peeing myself in frustration and embarrassment. It’s so messed up, I know. But I can’t help it. No feeling is worse than not being believed and I didn’t want to risk it so I just ate around it and omg I didn’t say anything until now. AHHHHHH. (And no, imaginary people in my head, it’s NOT mine, because unlike the people MAKING my food I always tie my hair back when EATING the food.) Anyway.

Luckily, dessert was up next. The hair incident made me a little nauseous but it was nothing a change of palette wouldn’t fix. They offered two options: a chocolate orange hazelnut delice or a coconut rice pudding brulee. Obviously, with two people, we got one of each, the only way to do things properly. Both were beyond words. Seriously. Probably the best desserts I’ve had in London so far that I didn’t make myself. The chocolate orange one was like a really thick fudge on top of graham-like crumbles that tasted exactly like a certain cereal from my childhood that I cannot recall, but I know I loved it. The vanilla ice cream on top may have been Swedish Glace but it worked so well with the dish. It was wonderful, as was the rice pudding. I normally require chocolate in my desserts but I actually preferred this one. The bruleed caramelly top was ridiculous and it didn’t even need the mulled cherries it came with. So creamy, so comforting, so delightful. I would love to eat this every day.

Apparently this was supposed to be like a Jaffa cake, but if you can believe it, I still haven’t had one.

Delicious rice pudding with a hidden foe.

When we picked up the gooseberry to split with one bite each, we noticed another unwanted villain in our midst. Another hair! This time small and lighter, hanging off the gooseberry. I mean. This means TWO people are to blame for poor kitchen hygiene. I actually think Manna should be investigated by the board of health now. I mean but the food is so good I can’t really say another worse about them. Like I still want to eat there because it’s the best vegan food in London!

Lastly, we were served coffee (for husband) and tea (fresh mint tea, gorgeous, for me) and – the best part – a plateful of cookies and truffles EACH. One plate would have been more than enough but one each was like the coolest thing ever. Even better, they offered to wrap up the extras (the entire second plate) for us to take home. Win! The cookies were a delightful end to a pretty spectacular meal, foodwise, though it left much to be desired in terms of what goes on behind the scenes.

MANNA, LONDON
Water speed: Poor but eventually gets there, which makes it the greatest water speed in London.
Service: See above. Service in England is notoriously bad. Luckily all the staff is super nice.
Bathrooms: Down the most awful set of stairs ever – seriously, it would be closer to normal if they took out every other step. You have to be very careful. But they are surprisingly nice for basement toilets.
Food: Wonderful comforting vegan food. Just watch out for hairs.
Bonus: Such a great value!

Veganizing “Friends”: The Moistmaker, or MY SANDWICH?!?!?!?! (Plus Stuffing Recipe!)

December 2, 2013

Well, it’s a few days after Thanksgiving, so what does that mean, dear Friends? It means it’s time for the Thanksgiving leftovers sandwich! Every Thanksgiving, Monica would take her leftover turkey, stuffing, gravy, and whatever else she made that year, and stuff it into a huge sandwich for Ross. I believe that the below clip shows Ross at his absolute best, freaking out (rightfully so!) when his boss “mistakenly” eats this special sandwich. Featuring Monica’s trademarked gravy-soaked bread called “The Moistmaker”, this sandwich was apparently worth screaming at your boss and losing your job over. Now that’s a good sandwich.

“YOU YOU YOU YOU THREW MY SANDWICH AWAY? MY SANDWICH? MY SANDWICH??”

Don’t remember the details? Can’t watch the videos at work? Good, I have an excuse to transcribe:

Ross: Hi.

Joey: What’s wrong, buddy?

Ross: Someone at work ate my sandwich. 🙁

Chandler: Well what did the police say??

Ross: My Thanksgiving leftovers sandwich! I can’t believe somebody just ate it!

Chandler: Ross it’s just a sandwich!

Ross: Just a sandwich?! Look, I am 30 years old, I’m going to be divorced twice, and I just got evicted. That sandwich was the only good thing going on in my life! SOMEONE ATE THE ONLY GOOD THING GOING ON IN MY LIFE!

You know what, it’s too good. Just watch it the whole thing. Your boss won’t mind.

You know, there are plenty of “Friends” moments in which Ross is clearly in the wrong yet acts insanely entitled and, well, insane. But this isn’t one of them. He’s so right! Oh my goodness, I would be so upset if someone ate my lunch. Like who does that? Seriously! What kind of sick bastard knowingly eats someone else’s lunch? Bastard. For Ross’s (a.k.a. Mental Gellar) sake, we’re going to make The Moistmaker with our Thanksgiving leftovers. Bring it to work tomorrow and write a little caveat on it so no one steals it, something like “Hey, keep your mitts off my grub.” Or something not quoted from “Annie”.
Before we get to assembling Our Sandwich, let’s make some stuffing! I made this stuffing for my family dinner, and it was awesome. I recommend it for all of your stuffing needs.

VEGAN SAUSAGE & SAGE STUFFING

Ingredients:

1T olive oil
1 large onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
2t sage
1t thyme
1t salt
freshly ground black pepper to taste
2C carrots, diced
2C celery, diced
1C Field Roast chipotle sausage, diced (or sausage of choice, or tempeh crumbles)
1 loaf (16 oz.) day-old multigrain sandwich bread, ripped into cubes/bits/whatever small shape you prefer. I go with bits.
2-3C vegetable broth or water

Directions:

In a heavy stockpot over medium-high heat, saute your onion in the olive oil for about 5 minutes.
Add your garlic, carrots, and celery and cook for another 5 minutes.
Add the sage, thyme, salt, and pepper and stir through.
Add the sausage and stir while it cooks for about 2 minutes.
Next, add your bread and then the broth/water. Mix through, and the bread should be wet. If you need more liquid, use it.
Add the entire mixture to a large casserole dish, and bake for 20-25 minutes in a 350° oven.

Bring the dish to Thanksgiving dinner and save a serving so you can put it on more bread for your sandwich!

So pretty!

Stirring the veggies in the stockpot

Before cooking: Gross wet bread with seasoning! Ew! So gross!

After cooking: Mm, hot bread with seasoning.

SOMEONE ATE THE ONLY GOOD THING GOING ON IN MY LIFE!!!

THANKSGIVING LEFTOVERS SANDWICH WITH “THE MOISTMAKER”

Components:

2 pieces of sandwich bread or one large roll
1 additional piece of sandwich bread
1/2C delicious gravy
several pieces leftover seitan roast (amount depends on how big you want your sandwich)
1 serving Vegan Sausage & Sage Stuffing (about 1/2C)
2T cranberry sauce
Extras: spoonful of mashed sweet potato, green beans, Brussels sprouts, whatever you got

Directions:

Put your bread down on a plate. On top of it, place your leftover seitan.
Next, layer your stuffing on top of the seitan for a beautifully gluten-full trio of bread, seitan, and stuffing. Marvel at your ability to maximize the gluten.
Cover that with a spoonful of cranberry sauce.
Then, cover that with some spoonfuls of gravy.
Take your extra piece of bread and soak it in the gravy. Place that on top of the stuffing. (Not pictured because oh man, that’s messy.)
After “The Moistmaker” is in place, reverse the process: On top of that, layer more gravy, then cranberry sauce, then stuffing, then seitan.
Finally place your last piece of bread over your leftovers monstrosity and just take a gander at it. We <3 gluten.
Now eat it! Or, pack it for lunch and write a message to would-be thieves to scare them away from YOUR SANDWICH.

The gravy is the most important part. Really. Of anything.

Bread, seitan, stuffing.

Gluten trio covered with cranberry sauce.

Here comes the gravy!

Oh oh really? Did you confuse it with your own turkey sandwich with a Moistmaker?

Man alive that’s some good sandwiching. Who cares what time of year it is – make some Thanksgiving-y food and then make this sandwich! Poor Ross didn’t get to eat his. I feel so bad for him, especially because he was essentially fired for his reaction. He didn’t do anything wrong! I would have punched Donald, not because I care so much about the sandwich, but because Donald was SO WRONG. I punch wrongness in the face. That’s life. Enjoy!