Bistro 1847

Scott and I both went to Bistro 1847, seperately last week so you are today getting two reviews for one!

When we got to the restaurant we were surprised at how small it was - but it was really lovely and homely, the decor was really welcoming. It was a Friday night so the place was quite full, but wasn't excessive. The menu didn't overwhelm you, there were a handful of dishes, all of which sounded amazing but it was nice not to have to choose between 50 or so options.

In the end, I went for the beer battered halloumi (to be fair I just saw the word 'halloumi' and it was a no-brainer!) and Mike had the purple potato rosti with homemade hollandaise. Sadly the rosti wasn't purple but it still tasted amazing - Laura and I had already seen how it was made at National Veggie Week in Manchester a few weeks ago, and while the purple certainly looks striking on the plate, it still tasted incredible without it. My halloumi dish lived up to expectations, the tomato sauce with it was surprisingly good too, and all in all the portion size was spot on - we were pleasantly full after our mains!

But as our mains didn't get sent through to the kitchen properly, which we didn't particularly realise as we were well enjoying the wine and the atmosphere, we were offered free desserts, and I'm not one to turn down dessert at the best of times...!  Especially as there was vegan gin 'n' tonic cake which again Laura and I had the privilege of sampling and learning how to make at NVW. This was I think one of the yummiest desserts I'd ever had - the sponge was so light, but with a tonic icing drizzle and juniper berries to finish it just worked so well. I was also surprised at how good the sorbet on the side was - a really light and tasty accompaniment. All in all our bill, which included 2 mains, a bottle of wine (and then free desserts) came to £40, which was amazing value considering the quality of the food. A definite thumbs-up, and somewhere I'm already excited to return to! - Scott

  As it was my mums birthday, who is vegetarian, it only seemed right to head to Bistro 1847 to celebrate! Along with my dad, partner and two close friends of my parents we descended on 1847 on Saturday night. The restaurant is beautifully decorated and has a  boutique feel to it. Its quite small but has great atmosphere. The waiting staff were very friendly, bubbly and extremely helpful. 

The starters were lovely and light, the right weight to start with. We ordered, halloumi lollipop sticks with salsa, the cheese was grilled and the salsa was fresh and full of textures. Butter bean and sun dried tomato pate with homemade flat bread had a great basil infused flavour which made the pate have different elements each mouthful. Salt and pepper tofu with collection of sauces and baked Blacksticks Whitehaven which had an amazing strong flavour. I had to test all of them, you know just so I could give an honest review! and they were all truly wonderful, full of flavour.

Mains we chose, halloumi 'fish and chips' and the tofu option which was the first time I had seen this as an option. I really enjoyed my battered tofu, I was so impressed with the chips! seriously the best chips in Manchester! and the homemade mushy peas and sweet tomato sauce were great compliments. Savoury scone with mushroom ragu was a lovely hearty meal, great on an autumns day with a large glass of red and broad bean and leek pie with summer vegetables and a red wine reduction, which was a light summery take on a classic bean and vege pie. Again, all tried by yours truly and all delicious.

 Desserts....we decided to get three and share as we were all pretty satisfied with our two courses but they did sound good!
We selected rose sugared doughnuts with white chocolate and raspberry dipping sauce, this is like posh jam doughnuts, but better!
We also got salted caramel ice cream with peanut cookies which we were able to get as a vegan option, this was tasty but we all agreed very salty! and last but not least the famous Hendricks gin and tonic cake with a shot glass of cucumber and black pepper granite. This is such a beautifully sophisticated dessert. We finished with coffee, full tummys and big smiles on our faces! -Laura


The best vegetarian restaurant in Manchester city - amazing

where? 58 Mosley Street (Entrance on Booth Street)
Manchester
M2 3HZ
0161 236 1811

                     

Emotional Brilliance

Saturday 21st July saw the wholewide launch of Lush's brand new cosmetic range based around YOUR emotions.

Friday evening I went to see the new products with glass of bucks fizz and camera in hand!

The idea is that you select colours that appeal to you and those colours will indicate a certain emotion, thus being your colour of your emotion at that time. Everyday will be different and you can express that through the makeup that you wear.

Lush believe that you wear your emotion through the colours you have choosen which make them personal to you, instead of colours indicated by trend or fashion.

To choose your colours head into store and spin the wheel of colours, and choose three colours, these represent eyeliners and liquid eye shadows and lipsticks. All colours are beautiful and vibrant with such intense pigmentation.
These products are versatile as you can use the lipstick on you cheeks as blush and eye shadows as eyeliner.
All these new colours are vegan and cruelty free, packaging is recyclable.

My colours/emotions for the evening were Drive, Ambition and my subconscious emotion was Vibrance!

It was a great evening and the staff at Lush Arndale are always lovely and extremely helpful and bubbly!
Colours cost 14.50 for 5g and are available now in store and online.

                                                                                            

Vanillary

                                                 

My favourite perfume of the minute is this beautifully subtle scent from Lush, the Vanillary solid perfume stick. 

pic taken form Lush website

They use real vanilla and jasmine, which gives this perfume a lovely subtle warming creamy smell instead of that harsh chemically vanilla smell we are all so use to.
I love the packaging because you can just throw it in your bag and not worry about it breaking, making this great for travelling and now has become one of my festival essentials!
As its a stick perfume all you need to do is push the bottom and the product rises out of its tube but dont push it out further than you need to. I have found that if I apply the perfume onto my neck first and finish on my wrist I can use my wrist to push the product back in and apply at the same time!
Lush have a large selection of solid perfumes, which come in spray from too. I highly recommend you give them a try.
                                                    

                                                       

Raw Chocolate

Goji and Pumpkin Seed Pie, me little treat with my coffee! It is a vegan chocolate bar alternative with heaps of added goodness! sugar free, dairy free, gluten free and made using raw chocolate which is believed to have natural prozac properties! These chocolate bars, which are available in a selection of flavours, are made using all organic and fairtrade ingrediants. This bar which I enjoyed is rich in taste, moist, soft and crumbly, and the pumpkin seeds were nice and crunchy. Overall it reminded me of Christmas pudding and it was lovely and more-ish. Looking forward to trying the other flavours.

Where can you find them? Eighth Day, Oxford Road and on their website;

www.sproutingseeds.co.uk

My Vegan Nut and Basil Pesto

This is my own recipe for a lovely nutty basil pesto which I stirred into cooked and chilled bow pasta for a very yummy salad for our Jubilee Celebration Lunch.

2 handfuls of pine nuts

1 handful of cashews, roughly chopped
4 spring onions, chopped
1 large garlic clove, roughly chopped
2 handfuls of basil
olive oil
salt and pepper


In a frying pan add garlic, spring onions, cashews and pine nuts and a splash of oil, fry on low so the onions slightly soften and the pine nuts toast lightly.
In a food processor blend basil leaves and pinch of salt and freshly ground pepper until basil is roughly chopped.
Then add the nut and onion mix, blend until nearly smooth.
Add olive oil, a bit at a time to get your preferred pesto consistency .
I then stirred this through 1/2 - 3/4 of a bag of bow pasta.
Enjoy

Meat Free in Manchester!

First off, happy veggie week!

Last Saturday, 19th May, St. Alberts Square, Manchester played host to The Vegetarian Society's Meat Free in Manchester event. We went there armed with our Vegebee tote bags, as seen in this photo!
The day consisted of cooking demonstrations, tombola, banger racing, sausage rating! freebees and a tent full of info on being a veggie! there was also two food stalls, serving falafel options and the other served vegan burgers, cakes and pastries. The latter were all prepared by volunteers and all profits went to animal rights organisations.

Keeping everyone fed when they weren't at one of the stalls, there was so much to choose from! We spent a fair amount of time learning how to improve our cooking skills in the demonstration tent - we both agreed that a highlight was Wendy Swetnam, who is head chef at 1847, the veggie bistro just off Mosley Street in the city centre. Her menu featured purple potato rosti with aspargus, poached egg and homemade hollandaise. It was followed by the most wonderful Gin and Tonic vegan cake, which we were very lucky to grab a sample of, and required the recipe! With the theme being breakfast this year, other talks featured an eye-catching traffic light smoothie and a breakfast tofu and omelette wrap, as well as fish cakes and other dishes. There was definitely lots to take in and get inspired by!

The banger bonanza was a taste testing of 4 different brands of veggie sausages to decide Manchester fave sausage! We both chose different ones! Scott opted for Redwoods because it took him back to family sunday night dinners, where as Laura went for Quorn new Best of British, which reminded her of BBQs and sunny days! By the end of the day though, votes were pretty close between all 4 sausages, so it'll be interesting to see what came out top!

The cooking demos made us rather peckish (bit of an understatement probably...!), so we tried out both stalls. Scott had the falafel wrap with all the trimmings, and we both shared a portion of spiced potatoes. Then Laura tried the cheezy burger from the vegan stall - the burger was really tasty, although Laura was less convinced by the vegan cheese and we're still on the lookout for a tasty vegan cheese alternative!

Scott was quite excited by the 'pedal ur own smoothie!' so before we left he got on his bike and pedaled like mad to make his very own fruit smoothie...so proud! There were loads of flavour options and combinations, but he went for a berry blend, with banana and apple juice. It was super tasty!

All in all it was a very good day, Manchester was kind in holding back the rain - although a wee bit more sun wouldn't have gone amiss! Already looking forward to next year...!

Alpro milk alternatives

photo taken from Alpro website

i've never been a big fan of milk, and as much as i love soya milk, sometimes it can be a bit samey. so, when i heard of alpro new milk alternative drinks (including soya alternative!), i really wanted to try them. there's an almond and hazelnut flavour - both were lovely but the almond one just tasted like sweetened milk to me, which i was disappointed with because i love almonds. the hazelnut one though was brilliant - it still tastes sweet, but i loved the creamy flavours of the hazelnuts. it also goes surprisingly well with cereal, and it sounds strange but it makes a bloody good cuppa tea!

both cartons are priced at around £1.50-£1.70 for a litre, although i've found it in tesco's (on market street in manchester, not sure about other stores) for £1, and for that price you really can't afford to not try it!