My Top Vegan Eats in Milton Keynes
My Top Vegan Eats in Milton Keynes This is my second year of doing Veganuary and I am loving it! I always feel so much more creative in the kitchen, and love trying new veg-forward recipes throughout the month. But sometimes you just want someone to cook dinner or make sweet treats for you, don’t you? That’s where this guide to my favorite vegan eats in Milton Keynes comes in handy! After extensive (though not exhaustive) research into the MK vegan food scene, I’ve compiled a list of my favorite vegan-friendly breakfast & brunch, lunch & dinner, and dessert & treat vendors around town. So whether you’re vegan, dairy free, or just veeg-curious I hope this guide helps you find a new favorite vegan treat. Happy vegan eating! Vegan Eats in MK French Affaire Out of Office Coffee, Witan Studios The Quirk Space A Vegetative State The Chester Arms Greedy Pizza Ole Tapas Bar Saf’s Kitchen Walnut Tree Fish & Chips Clare’s Vegan Cakery Fuuudge Nutmeg Kitchen My first experience of vegan treats from The Quirk Space was summer 2020. My in-laws surprised Ben and I with a delivery of sausage rolls, peanut butter cups, and brownies for our anniversary! Every piece was absolutely delicious. The sausage rolls are now a family favorite, I always love a dark chocolate peanut butter cup, and the brownies are some of the best I’ve had. 19.06.20 – Sausage rolls, peanut butter cups, and chocolate brownies from The Quirk Space 29.08.20 – A delivery of freshly baked croissants from The Quirk Space Read More My Top Vegan Eats in Milton Keynes Breakfast & Brunch French Affaire I love visiting French Affaire for a fancy brunch out with my husband or the girls! It is an adorable French bistro that offers several delicious vegan items on their brunch menu including crepes and baguettes. I’ll confess I have yet to try their baguettes. The crepes are just too good! While the only savory crepe on French Affaire’s menu is Falafel, they were more than happy to make Le Chevre vegan for me. Both Falafel and Le Chevre are stuffed with so much flavor I never feel like I’m missing out. Just make sure you save room for a sweet crepe. The Apple Tatin Flambee is a showstopper! It is filled with caramelly soft apples, and flambeed in Calvados as they place it on the table in front of you. Location: Stony Stratford Dietaries: Some vegan items on the daytime menu, none on their evening menu 10.07.21 – La Chevre vegan quiche at French Affaire Out of Office Coffee, Witan Studios Fluffy American pancakes are one of my favorite breakfast foods, second only to waffles. Leslie Knope definitely had the right idea! And lucky for me (and you!) the newest Out of Office Coffee location in MK has delicious vegan pancakes on their all day brunch menu. The fluffy stack of pancakes come topped with yogurt, berries, and granola, making a perfect sweet vegan brunch option. Though if you’d rather start your day with something savory, Out of Office also offer a tasty-looking tofu scramble on sourdough toast. Location: Central Milton Keynes Dietaries: A range of vegan and gluten free items to choose from 29.05.21 – Vegan pancakes at Out of Office Coffee Witan Gate Out of Office Coffee, Witan Studios Fluffy American pancakes are one of my favorite breakfast foods, second only to waffles. Leslie Knope definitely had the right idea! And lucky for me (and you!) the newest Out of Office Coffee location in MK has delicious vegan pancakes on their all day brunch menu. The fluffy stack of pancakes come topped with yogurt, berries, and granola, making a perfect sweet vegan brunch option. Though if you’d rather start your day with something savory, Out of Office also offer a tasty-looking tofu scramble on sourdough toast. Location: Central Milton Keynes Dietaries: A range of vegan and gluten free items to choose from 05.11.20 – An assortment of chocolatey treats from The Quirk Space 12.11.20 – A vegan sausage roll from The Quirk Space The Quirk Space If you’ve been following me for awhile, you’ll be very aware of my love for The Quirk Space. It’s a cute cafe, shop, and event space in the heart of Olney. It is also the only place that serves nothing but vegan eats in Milton Keynes! For a light breakfast, The Quirk Space offers great coffee, a variety of vegan milks, and cakes and pastries to takeaway. I highly recommend the croissants! But perhaps the real star of the breakfast show is their “Breakfast Stuff-in Muffin”. The sandwich is stuffed full of the tastiest vegan alternatives to your favourite breakfast sammie fillings. Bacon, sausage, egg, and cheese – all delicious and all plant-based. You can also add ketchup or brown sauce if you like, but it’s perfectly tasty on its own! Location: Olney Dietaries: All vegan, can cater to gluten free 17.07.21 – The Quirk Space’s Breakfast Stuff-in Muffin Lunch & Dinner A Vegetative State A Vegetative State is a firm favorite at Milton Keynes vegan events and street fairs, and it’s not hard to see why! They make their own seitan-based meat alternatives to serve up in a variety of deli sandwiches and burgers. If you’re a fan of New York style deli sandwiches, you need to try A Vegetative State’s famous Reuben sandwich! Multigrain bread is stuffed full of vegan pastrami, sauerkraut, Violife cheezy slices, and Thousand Island Dressing, griddled til toasty and melty, then topped with a pickle. It is absolutely delicious and tastes so similar to the “real deal”. As a lover of Reubens I’d prefer more traditional rye bread, but this is a great swap! Location: Local street food events – follow their socials for the latest popup at a local street fair or takeaway event Dietaries: All vegan 05.12.21 – A Vegetative State’s vegan Reuben sandwich
Eating Out at Anatolia Turkish Restaurant
Milton Keynes: The City of Dreams and Turkish restaurants! Growing up outside DC we had loads of Greek restaurants, enough for me to have several favorites (oh Cava Mezze, how I miss thee…). But I can’t remember ever going to a Turkish restaurant. So imagine my surprise when I moved to Milton Keynes and learned just how many different ones there are here! Enough that I am once again back to having multiple favorites… And eating out at Anatolia Turkish Restaurant in Stony Stratford definitely tops the list. Despite rarely going out to eat, I somehow managed to eat out at Anatolia three (3) times between November 2019 and February 2020! Those times were: A friend’s group birthday meal A belated work team Christmas lunch A welcome lunch for new team members And each meal has been an absolute delight. 1. A Friend’s Group Birthday Meal The first time I tried Anatolia was part of a friend’s birthday festivities. There were at least 10 of us in the group, so to start we got several warm and cold platters to share. I didn’t manage to get a picture of the platters, but if you’ve had a Turkish mezze platter before you can probably imagine them quite well. They were loaded with meats, fried fishes, various dips, and some veg to brighten it all up. Everything was lovely, but I remember particularly liking the fried whitebait and slices of sucuk on the warm platter. And tarama, featured on the cold platter, is always a favorite of mine. I ordered the Whole Sea Bream for my main and to say I still think about it regularly would not be an overstatement. The fish was cooked perfectly. It was nice and flaky without being dry, with lovely crispy skin. And as a grilled item, the charcoal flavor came through pleasantly. But what took it to the next level for me was the bed of sauteed new potatoes the fish came placed on. They were absolutely luscious – melt-in-your-mouth soft but with the skin still, adding a nice bit of texture. I could have eaten those potatoes all night and never tire of them. 2. A Belated Work Team Christmas Lunch My second time eating out at Anatolia Turkish Restaurant was for a very belated Christmas work team lunch at the end of January. I was more than happy to suggest it after such a lovely first experience, especially as it’s dairy-free-friendly as well. I knew they didn’t skimp on portions so this time I went for 2 starters instead of a main. It’s never fun spending the rest of the workday fighting a post-lunch food coma! I got the vine leaves (another favorite of mine) and falafel. The vine leaves might be some of the best I’ve had. The leaves held everything together well but were buttery smooth to cut through and not chewy in the slightest, which they can be. The rice stuffing was perfectly spiced and cooked just how I like it for these. While slightly over for regular rice, the grains were separate and fluffy yet still held together nicely. No fighting to pick up individual grains after cutting into the vine leaves here! And oh my goodness those falafel! Lovely and herby and crispy and fluffy. They were, and I do not use this term lightly, perfection. Pillowy light insides and crispety crunchety outsides. Despite being fried, they didn’t feel oily at all, and were not the slightest bit dense the way falafel often can be. They came with a really generous helping of creamy hummus too. My colleagues all got lamb dishes and they looked absolutely lush. The sarma beyti and lamb chops were the most visually stunning of the dishes if you’re looking for a meal that excites all the senses, but none were ugly to look at by any means. 3. A Welcome Lunch For New Team Members My third time dining at Anatolia within four months was completely by happenstance. We’d meant to eat at Calcutta Brasserie in Stony Stratford but it was closed when we got there (despite calling ahead to see if they were open…) Being the middle of February, it was very cold outside. So instead of waiting around to see if they’d open up for us we simply headed across the street to Anatolia! I got the falafel again, as I loved them so much the month before, and they were just as good as I remembered. I also decided to try another starter (they do offer it as a main as well) – the Seafood Trio. It was a mix of mussels, prawns, and calamari in a rich tomato sauce. The flavors were lovely, and it was the perfect amount of food for a lighter lunch. I just wish the trio had come with a carb of some sort (bread, chips, rice even) to soak up all that nice sauce! There was simply no way for me to get as much of it as I wanted with just the seafood and a fork to pick it up, and at that point the bread they bring at the beginning was long gone… The Takeaway I would highly recommend this restaurant for anyone looking for a top-notch Turkish in Milton Keynes! MK has loads of Turkish restaurants, and they are definitely not one and the same. But I have consistently been delighted by my experiences eating out at Anatolia Turkish Restaurant. Great thoughtful food, lovely atmosphere, and they are always very helpful with helping me find dairy free options.
Girl’s Brunch at French Affaire
After a year of having French Affaire in Stony Stratford on my radar (thanks to a Sophie etc review I stumbled upon when trying to find a local restaurant for my birthday dinner) I finally managed to get there for brunch in January. Service was a bit slow, but with food that good it’s hard to fault them too much. And it made for a leisurely late breakfast catch-up with good friends as well. I got an Americano to start. It was a bit bitter as I prefer to drink my coffee black if I can, but that was nothing a little Demerara sugar couldn’t fix. Of course, the real star of the show was the crepe, and what a star it was! Being extremely lactose intolerant, I’ve avoided them and their dairy-filled goodness in restaurants for years, and you just can’t make them the same at home. So it’s been awhile since I’ve had a crepe of any sort, but it was the best welcome back a girl could ask for. I got the Crepe Aux Legumes with a poached egg and it was beyond delicious. The veg (peppers and mushrooms) were cooked perfectly, and the vegan cheese (Violife Greek style if my taste buds weren’t mistaken) was the perfect accompaniment – soft and creamy, a bit salty, the closest thing I’ve tasted to goats cheese in years. My egg was a bit more done than I usually like, but I love a very runny egg and this one was by no means hard so very much a middle of the road poached egg. Between the food and the adorable design aspects, I’m so glad I’ve finally had a meal at French Affaire, and I can’t wait til the next time I get to go back! Their dinner menu is definitely high on my “to try” list.