World Vegan Month: Top Vegan Restaurants in Edinburgh

Have you ever considered going vegan? Well if it's something you've thought about, then World Vegan Month is here to help. All throughout November there's lots of different things happening to educate people about veganism, and help those who want to make the transition to this lifestyle. Not only are there a growing number of people becoming vegan these days, but restaurants are really starting to cater for those people who choose to follow a plant-based diet.

Here's my top places in Edinburgh to eat if you're looking to try out some delicious vegan food.

Henderson's
Henderson's is a bit on institution in Edinburgh among those who don't eat meat. Earlier this year, its vegetarian bistro changed to become the city's first fully vegan restaurant. The menu includes Henderson's famous haggis served with potato and turnip mash and red wine gravy, as well as salads, nachos, and lots of other main courses. If you've not got time to sit down for a meal, then you can drop into the deli round to corner and pick from their selection of sandwiches, burgers, salads, or even try their new vegan scones.

The Baked Potato Shop
This tiny baked potato shop at the top of Cockburn Street usually has a queue of people out the door waiting for the best baked potatoes in town. Forget the toppings you're used to and try something different like curried rice, fruity coleslaw, chili and haggis. Plus there are lots of different salad options with avocado, quinoa and chickpeas to name but a few. And if you're still hungry after their large portions, then the shop also has a couple of cakes on the counter too.

Nova Vegetarian Kitchen
Gone are the days of ordering pizza without cheese thanks to this new Italian restaurant in Edinburgh. While the restaurant isn't fully vegan, they have a huge variety of pizza made with vegan mozzarella and different meat substitutes. There's also a great choice of pasta dishes including spaghetti bolognese and lasagne made with soya mince. And forget about only having fruit salad as an option for desert because Nova has some great cheesecakes on the menu to sweeten the deal.

Brass Monkey
Some people would argue that the best vegan hotdog in Scotland can be found in Bloc in Glasgow, but Edinburgh has its own to rival it. Brass Monkey in Leith has been serving up a great selection of vegan food for a while now including its vegan chilidog topped with bean and pepper chilli, beer soaked onions and mustard. If that's not your thing, then the menu also has vegan dishes including soup, curry, flatbreads and burgers.

BBL
Breakfast, Brunch and Lunch is a saviour for vegans in Edinburgh who don't always want a smoothie or fruit for breakfast. This city centre café, which also sells meat, is serving its own homemade vegan sausages. If that wasn't enough, they're serving both lorne and link ones. I've had a lot of vegan sausages in the past two years, but never found anywhere selling lorne ones before BBL added it to their menu. I guess that's why this café is proving to be really popular among vegans in the city.

Treacle
Situated on Broughton Street, Treacle is another Edinburgh restaurant expanding its meat-free options. They serve a banh mi with roasted cauliflower, zucchini, radish, cashews and red chili glaze, shitake mushroom noodles, and there are some salad and starter options too. They might not have any suitable desert options on the menu yet, but let's hope that's something in development to match their other great vegan dishes.

Radio Forth Awards

In 2004, I remember going to the Radio Forth Awards in Edinburgh. It was a much smaller event back then, and I was only there to help out with some of the charity aspects of the day. I was also only 17 at the time, and never thought I'd be back there 11 years later as a guest on my own table. 

This year's event started with a fantastic three course meal. I'm always sceptical about what the vegan option will be at events like this, since I've been served fruit salad as a starter and dessert at several before. It's almost like people think you won't notice if they serve the same dish on a different plate.

I forgot to take a photo of the starter which was a roasted vegetable and pastry dish, but I did get a photos of my other courses. The main course was a stuffed mushroom served with potatoes and roasted vegetables. It was really nice, even though I don't like anything to do with mushrooms, so that was left in the middle of the plate.

For dessert, I got a some kind of jelly, fruit, and cream dish which not only looked like the dessert everyone else was eating, but it was the first time I've not been served a fruit salad at an event like this.

The awards were presented by Arlene Stewart and Grant Stott, and given out to local people who have done great things and those in the entertainment industry. The Edinburgh Playhouse sponsors the Icon Award which this year went to Travis. We also managed to spot our front cover photo from my Priscilla photocall on the big screen at one point during the show.

And here's a Playhouse team photo from the end of the event when we're all still look relatively fresh!