Vegan Birmingham

I was recently in Birmingham again for a few days. We had previously been to the Warehouse Cafe, a vegetarian and vegan cafe, (see my review here) but I wanted to try some different places to eat. The first place we went to was The British Oak in Stirchley near Selly Oak. It is a cosy, traditional English pub that sells traditional pub food. The amazing thing about it is that not only does it have a vegan main meal section on its menu, but it has vegan dessert and drink sections too!  

 

 

 Each section has a varied choice of options, but even before I went I knew I wanted the vegan 'fishy' and chips after seeing it all over Instagram. The 'fishy' is a huge piece of tofu encased in beer batter served with chips and mushy peas. The fishy flavour comes from the seaweed that is wrapped around the tofu. It may seem strange to want to recreate the taste of fish but fish get their flavour from the sea, just like seaweed does! It was so delicious and I would highly recommend trying it if you are ever in the Birmingham area. Jamie chose the mixed bean chilli and rice which he really enjoyed. For dessert I initially ordered the syrup sponge (after much deliberation!) however the chef came out and informed me that he didn't have the ingredients to make vegan custard and said the sponge would be too dry without it so I went for the chocolate fudge cake. Never in my life have I seen such a huge slice of cake! The cake was lovely, especially the gooey icing, but I couldn't finish it!   

 

 

We also went to a cafe called Cherry Reds which is situated not far from the Bullring shopping centre. Cherry Reds have plenty of vegan options and vegan cakes made by a local baker. I had a baked potato with houmous and falafel. It was delicious and I've since made it at home a few times; I love baked potatoes and it's nice to try them with different fillings. For dessert I couldn't decide between a cupcake or a slice of cake but I eventually decided to try the cake, which was chocolate sponge with berries in it. It was yummy! 

 

On a previous visit to Birmingham we went to another vegetarian restaurant called Bistro 1847 not long after it had just opened. I meant to write a review soon after we went but I never got round to it so I thought I'd include it in this post. Bistro 1847 serves more sophisticated vegetarian and vegan food and is located in the Great Western arcade near the Snow Hill train station. It is a lovely contemporary restaurant and the staff were really friendly and helpful. I also had tofu fish and chips here, but this time it was more of a posh version! It was equally as delicious though. For dessert I had dark chocolate truffles with cacao nibs & ice cream, which was really rich and decadent. 

 

 I'd love to hear about other great places to eat vegan in Birmingham so let me know if you have any recommendations!