Monday, 17 June 2019

Vegan in Scotland, Glasgow, Fort William, Isle of Skye, Inverness, Edinburgh.

We spent just over a week in Scotland, a few big cities, and lots of beautiful scenic Highland areas. We were worried if we would be able to find vegan food options as we toured around, and we were pleasantly surprised to find a lot of very accommodating places.  We had 7 days of adventuring, we hadn't booked any accommodation of specific destination, but we had a tent if we needed it, and most of the time we had some internet to research a few bits. 


Day 1 Glasgow:

We went to an awesome little cafe called Picnic which was quite central, delicious food, great menu, lots of cakes, smoothies and the giant croissants again. We eat had a 'Egg mayo' bap and a pesto med veg toasted sandwich. My friend had lotus biscuit cake, and we had smoothies and I finally tried the infamous empire biscuit, which is a shortbread biscuit sandwiched with jam and topped with thick icing and a cherry. 

Giant vegan Croissants!

When your friends know you blog vegan food.

Trying a vegan empire biscuit. 

Our other day in Glasgow called for lunch at The V & V cafe - all vegan, lots of cakes, and lunch options to eat. the croissants were huge and could be filled with 'cheese and bacon', my friend had the vegan sausage rolls which was served with homemade baked beans. This cafe worked out great to stop in at before the botanical gardens being about a 5-10m walk away. 




Our lovely friends who let us stay in their spare room, also made some delicious home cooked meals in Glasgow from the Green Roasting Tin cook book. Harissa aubergines is on my list to do!

Tomato and orzo pasta 
Harissa Aubergine bake with lemon couscous


Day 3 Fort William

On day three our car broke down, but after a lovely visit to Loch Lomond, and two castles, and Glen Coe, so we still made the most of the day. We quickly found some accommodation, checked in and headed out sharply for some food. The Geographer luckily had a table for us, and had a few vegan offerings including okra gumbo with rice and sweet potato fries (delicious) they swapped the mayo for hummus, and the falafel dish was ok. The meal came to over £30. 





Fort William
For breakfast in our last minute B&B, we were very grateful to have some fresh hot scones and oat cakes with vegan butter, and oat milk for breakfast at our guest house The Gantocks, followed by walnuts and mushrooms, pepper, garlic on sourdough toast. It was about £145 per night to stay here.




Day 4 Fort William
In the centre of the town was The Wildcat which was the perfect brunch spot after our walk up Ben Nevis. We had avocado, edamame, mint smash on rye bread, and homemade beans on toast. To drink we had turmeric root & ginger latte with coconut milk and a chai with oat milk. They also do a selection of zero waste items, and other treats to purchase. I really liked this cafe, and wish it wasn't so far away! I cant remember the price, but this was all fairly reasonable and very tasty. I think around £18. 




Day 5 Isle of Skye
On this day we did a huge sight seeing mission all around the cloudly Isle of Skye, stopping briefly for a thankfully hearty lunch at Columba 1400 a cafe just off the A855 and is an organisation that invests in young people. In the cafe we had a vegan burger, and a jacket potato with veggie haggis and for hot drinks they had soya milk. About £17 for lunch for two. 




Dunvegan, Skye
After our epic day of sight seeing we needed to find somewhere near our campsite that still cooked food before 8;30pm, thankfully Old School in Dunvegan answered our hungry prayers. They had a special of chickpea tagine with couscous and flatbread, and a mushroom pie made vegan for us. This restaurant would require a booking, otherwise you may have to wait for a table, but thankfully they are open very late in the evening. About £35 for dinner with drinks, and amazing service. 



Day 6 Inverness 

I had heard really good things about The Alley Cat its one of the reasons we stayed in inverness, the cafe is fairly new, opened early 2019, and all vegan menu. There were so many great options, the highlight was the sticky toffee pudding to finish, and the amazing marshmallow rings. They had a great selection of healthy and junk food options, the haggis hot dog was delicious, and made with mushrooms. The pie is a scotch pie, which I realised after ordering that my love of fried food was being tested by Scotland, and so I ordered a side salad to go with my meal. About £35 with two mallow treats for the road.






Breakfast in inverness was tricky, so we thought, Alley Cat not opening until 10am, and another cafe locally not open either. a stroke of luck we found a sign saying vegan options outside a pancake house, named Wild Pancakes
We asked before being seated, and were delighted to find out pretty much all the pancakes could be made vegan, as they had vegan topping, and would just remove the whipped cream from them, and had milk chocolate alternatives. So we ordered to stacks of 4 pancakes each! One classic lemon and sugar pancake, and one hazelnut chocolate and strawberry.  Could see some chia seeds were used to make the pancakes, and these did distinguish them for the non-vegan batter. We were really happy and full of tasty pancakes. what a great find. I didn't really find this place when searching #VeganInverness so take note, and tell your friends! Just over £20 for two people with teas. 





Day 7 Edinburgh

We arrived late and so had time for dinner, we had a lot of options but a few we had tried on our previous visit. I had heard about these giant nachos, but at the time we weren't planning to go to Edinburgh, I think I found them researching vegan Glasgow. Auld Hoose, was the name of the place, it was a really cool pud with a focus on food, somewhere our younger gig going selves would have frequented back in the day! The nachos were quiet spicy, I would eat less of the chillis next time, but it was an awesome meal for two, you cannot doubt the potion, I think it was about £13, £20 with drinks, and the limey Guac was amazing!




Our very last stop in Scotland was The baked potato shop - we had visited here in 2013, and remember it fondly, great portion sizes and lots of vegan options. I opted for the salad, as I was missing my vitamins, and everything looked so tasty! We also shared this large potato with Vegan haggis! Lunch for both of us was less than £10, we ate it in the car with our reusable cutlery. 




Highlights of the food tour were: hot scones, of which we have now sources the recipe, yay!
Pancakes. Copious amounts of Irn-Bru. Vegan haggis (McSweens is available at Watirose) And those giant Croissants!


Hope you enjoyed my pictures from food adventures in Scotland, if there is anywhere else you recommend, we plan to make a return visit! Comment down below. >