4 sunny days in England (Cambridge & more)
Despite all the life changes - England remains my go-to place to visit. I spent four beautiful sunny days in Southend-on-Sea, London, and, last but not least, Cambridge. Needless to add, this trip was full of good vegan food.
Southend-on-Sea
This time, Southend-on-Sea was mostly about exploring local stores. Baked beans, vinegar crisps, vegan sausages - I wanted it all! What I did not expect is that you can purchase dino-shaped crumpets, too - incredibly cute.
However, if you fancy treating yourself to vegan breakfast outside the home, The Brunch Co in Leigh-on-Sea is a place to be. On the plate below - sourdough toast, vegan sausage, wilted spinach, grilled tomato, smashed avo, garlic-and-thyme mushrooms + baked beans.
For dinner, we decided to try a restaurant called the Oaktree. They serve show-stopping vegan fish & chips. On the side, mushy peas. It was really good! In general, that’s a lovely place offering such an interesting menu - even when it comes to desserts.
Talking about sweet stuff… I love everything creamy and ice cold - especially in summer. Well, here comes a pro tip - if you go to see the Southend Pier and Railway, there’s a good chance that you may encounter a place that serves the most delicious frappe. It can be easily customized into a vegan drink. This is also where I saw vegan potato-based milk as an option for the first time - quite surprising.
We’re going to London, baby!
Where to have fun in London. Food:
Neat Burger - plant-based burgers with so many locations in London,
Tofu Vegan - the tastiest vegan Chinese restaurant; wontons in a house special sauce are highly recommended to order,
Addis Vegan Kitchen - traditional vegan Ethiopian dishes.
Other recommendations:
Vivienne Westwood Worlds End - the very first Vivienne Westwood shop located at 430 King's Rd, London SW10 0LJ,
Natural History Museum - with the coolest items to see in a breath-taking building,
Howl At The Moon - the bar where Arctic Monkeys shot a music video for Why’d You Only Call Me When You’re High (178 Hoxton St, London N1 5LH).
Cambridge
It has to be one of the nicest places in England. So green, so pretty! As that was my first time in Cambridge, I enjoyed the visit. This little trip started with iced coffee and a piece of lemony-ginger-ish cake. The cake was tasty with noticeable spices - not labeled as vegan but I was assured that it is. :’) If you want to try it yourself, we got the cake and coffee at Michaelhouse Cafe.
Moving on to dinner options. The decision was made in favor of the Tipsy Vegan. Again, really cool menu with small or large plates, sides, drinks & more. Here is an example of two smaller plates to be shared: green potatoes tossed in basil pesto followed by a lentil pancake with masala potatoes, spinach, and chili chutney.
On top of that, Cambridge is the place for good music & book findings. I finally got lucky to find Clothes, Music, Boys by Viv Albertine - its’ physical non-ebook form, in one of the bookshops! This book is my all time favorite and it also inspired a blog post some time ago: the Viv Albertine sandwich.
To end it all, I’ll just say that I got my hands on the chocolate - vegan salted caramel Cadbury. A very pleasant experience. I was searching for that every time when visited the country. If you are in the UK, do recommend.
