My Vegan Asian Takeaway

- well, almost, if I lived in Düsseldorf. But good news is that Jade's also delivers within the city so I could order in from work :)

As couple of weeks ago I read that a Chinese diner in Bilk had changed to all vegetarian (mostly vegan) options after being a regular omni place for ten years or so.

Two weeks ago, I finally went there and was thrilled- though it's got the size and atmosphere of a small greasy takeout place (there are five or six seats available, ok but far away from comfortable or fancy), they've got all the fake meat/fish options, authentic Thai cuisine and some creative own fusion food dished at reasonable prices.

Not to forget a slightly wonky but charming chef and a piggy on top of the fridge:


For starters, I had the second-best Tom Yum soup in my life, and I've had a lot of it. I nearly choked on this one when Chrissy asked me who this "Tom Yum guy" is and told me it sounds like it's the name of an Asian foodie ^^


Then I ordered a Thai curry with seitan and fake bacon... I know, boring choices but both are my favourite Thai dishes and it's easy to judge a restaurant's quality by these items. The fake bacon was a bit too realistic to me, the seitan good and the veggies awesome.

Chrissy had some mock duck and veggie stir fry dish with an ovo-vegetarian fish patty that I can't review (the only downside of the place- fake fish is made with egg, anything else is or can be ordered to be made vegan).


I also had a Bionade, paid 10 € and left the place stuffed and happy, planning to return very soon (hopefully this Friday!).

Sorry for the crappy pictures, we went directly after work so I didn't take my camera.

For anybody who's in the area and would like to check out the place, this is their website with the complete menu.

Bye-bye, Brunch!

... at least for the next two months, the potluck-style vegan brunch that I've come to love in the last months will be closed.

One thing I like best about veganism is socializing with other vegans, though the capitalism-critical little punk in me tells me not to do so in commercial places. Plus, I consider myself a good home cook so I'm mostly dissappointed by the bland, hippy-reminiscent food most vegetarian places in Germany sell for mucho €€€.

In January, I discovered the monthly vegan brunch in Düsseldorf, which is organized by a former VoKü group (something like the German FNB, though I'll talk about FNB later). It's non-profit, though they charge 2.50 € (which is nothing compared to another vegan place in town that takes 12.90 € O_O !!!), and anybody can bring their own stuff as long as it's vegan.

The venue is the sort of run-down autonomic leftist centre which also has a lovely yard where you can sit when the weather is great- as it was last weekend, also perfect lighting for food pictures (we tried photographing the buffet inside, but it was waaay to dark).

Beware of messy food pics!

Kick-ass tiramisu. Must remember not to mix it with couscous and chickpea salad on a plate next time. The recipe is the best! You can find it on their website (among other recipes, if you read German), but I plan on making it myself sometime soon and posting about it.


Rachel knew better and got herself tiramisu AND streusel cake:


A small relief considering the summer break is that they had a little zine with recipes on offer- post to come for sure (yeah I didn't mean to promote Vegan Fire & Spice again, but so what?)!







It was an amazingly hot spring day, so we decided to walk through the infamous Altstadt and by the Rhine, where I took the picture of the day:


On Sunday night, we're off to Bochum to see what their Food not Bombs group is up to (anybody who'd like to join us is more than welcome!).

Now do tell me all about your brunch/potluck/whatnot non-commercial vegan thingies, I'd love to hear about it!