AIBU to hate the veggie option?

[BabooshkaKate]

It's always halumi.

Why? Why must it always be halumi?

How many different ways can you do halumi?

Why do restaurants never think outside the box?

I stayed in a small b&b once when I was away for work and was asked to order breakfast the night before. Fair enough - from the options of full English/continental/vegetarian I went for veggie, expecting some kind of eggs, mushrooms, toast, maybe a Linda McC sausage. Instead, at 7.15am I was served a ratatouille in filo pastry monstrosity all on its own, nowt else. Wtf?! Ruined my whole day.

Pleasantly surprised at Toby carvery.

Heidi that's dreadful! Even without quorn/soya bought in special they could still have done

Eggs, mushrooms, tomatoes, beans, hash browns, tattie scones, toast.

I stayed years ago at a fantastic wee b&b in skeggy and that's what they did for me. They offered to get veggie sausages in just for me but it really wasn't necessary when I had that as cooked breakfast plus wide choice of cereal, juice, pastries and as much tea as I wanted.

If there is only one thing on the menu that is suitable for vegetarians then it's not an option it's a vegetarian compulsory. There is so much that can be achieved with just vegetables and pulses I don't get why restaurants struggle so much.

jenpetronus

Another vegetarian restaurant you might want to try is Terre à Terre in Brighton.

Amazing vegetarian and vegan food.

what are "pulses"?

Beans, peas and lentils.

Thanks pandakin and vegan for the tempeh suggestions. :)

Thanks SuburbanRhonda Makes me want to plan a trip!

I cook a lot of veggie food:

Ghanaian Groundnut stew: white beans, onions, garlic, tomatoes and peanuts, served with rice and a salad..

Vegetable tagine: vast range of vegetables cooked with ras-el-hanout and served with cous cous. (If you are having meat eaters round as well, you can cook some merguez sausages or lamb and serve this separately.)

Any amount of Indian food: egg and lentil curry with spinach, chickpea curry, veg biriani, green pepper curry (look on www.spiceupthecurry.com for some really good ideas.) I also do some tapioca, soaked and then fried with onions and spices for an interesting side, as a change from rice.

Mushroom Goulash - mushrooms and peppers slow cooked with onions, garlic and paprika, in red wine and tomatoes, served with red cabbage and noodles or gnocchi and sour cream.

Lecso - peppers and onions fried with peppers, paprika, onions and eggs - sort of like a substantial omelette.

Lentil shepherd's pie, made with Marmite gravy.

Chilli made with bulgur wheat and lentils.

Quiche with onions/peppers/broccoli/cheese - any combo of veg and cheese really. Maybe not carrots.

Filo parcels of spiced chickpeas.

I do make a nut roast, but only on request. I put quite a lot of herbs in mine and it tastes a bit like stuffing. Served with everything else you get in a roast dinner and Marmite gravy or Bisto Onion Gravy, which is veggie.

Risotto - a mushroom one with interesting mushrooms, not just the white ones.

Stir fries with vegetables and nuts.

Vegetable lasagne made with a mx of veg or quorn mince if you want a more traditional taste/texture.

I also make peanut burgers for barbecues, as I think it's nice to have something substantial that can go in a bun, rather than grilled halloumi and vegetable kebabs. (It's quite difficult to keep the meat eaters away from these!)

Vanilla Black does brilliant food. I've been vegetarian so long that now when I get the choice of more than one or two things on a menu I don't know what to do - I think it took me about half an hour to make up my mind at Vanilla Black...

Other places I've been with really imaginative vegetarian food include David Bann in Edinburgh, Maitreya in Bristol, and Green Rocket in Bath.

I've also found some amazingly good vegetarian food while travelling round central/eastern Europe in the past few years - it's always a good idea to do some googling in advance, but places like Botanika in St Petersburg made a very welcome change from yet another pizza.

I found this interesting so I had a look at the last 3 places I ate out in (well the last 4 as one of them was a veggie restaurant and I don't think that counts for this purpose )

Place 1 a pub

Leek & smoked cheddar potato cake, wild mushroom sauce, poached egg and kale

Flat iron florentine spinach, poached egg, bearnaise sauce and potato herb rosti

Roasted red onion and puy lentil burger ketchup, mayo, lettuce and gherkin

ALL on main menu.

Michellin star restaurant (we went for big anniversary)

Wild cress and nettle risotto with toasted cobnuts

Brighton Blue Cheese Soufflé creamed spinach and walnut

There is also a mention of contacting them if you have dietary wishes and they will do their best to accommodate. As this is very much an occasion restaurant I would think most knows prior to going they will be going there so this will be possible.

Carluccios
RAVIOLI AL LIMONE
Pasta parcels filled with ricotta and pine nuts, in Amalfi lemon sauce and topped with fresh mint and pine nuts. (of daily menu)

Vegetarian and vegan menu

RAVIOLI AL LIMONE
(as on main menu)

RISOTTO AI FUNGHI
Rich mushroom risotto finished with a hint of chilli and truffle oil. Simple
ingredients that pack a punch

SPAGHETTI AL PESTO
Spaghetti with our fresh basil pesto and basil leaves.

SPAGHETTI AL POMODORO E BASILICO
Served without spinach balls. Giant Pugliese penne with courgette, chilli and Italian cheese and garlic

VEGAN
Spaghetti served with our fresh tomato and basil sauce.

PENNE GIARDINIERA
Served without spinach balls. Giant Pugliese penne with courgette, chilli and Italian cheese and garlic.

STUFFED PEPPERS NEW
Roasted red and yellow peppers, stuffed with spinach, baby plum tomatoes, ricotta, goat’s cheese, and garlic breadcrumbs

Interestingly not a single stuffed mushroom or any halumi on any of those menus..

Those restaurants are in Kent Surrey and East Sussex.

YABU if you thin the problem only for vegetarians.

Its a works set menu, choices are very restricted anyway and quality is crap. I'm not vegetarian but always look at these menus and think, ok wont enjoy it but what is vaguely edible? If you choose to restrict your diet, or in my case just don't like the standard Xmas offerings, that is going to restrict your choices further.

I made this for Christmas dinner last year and a restaurant could easily make a batch and it be well received

www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/2295/moroccan-spiced-pie

I think vegetarians are aware that their choice will be limited. It seems a shame that often it is no choice at all, as there is only 1 option compared to 3, 4 or 5 for non-vegetarians. And that the 1 option is usually something very dull that you've had a million times before, that demonstrates a lack of interest in non-meat based dishes. In real life, I think most of us dutifully indicate the vegetarian option and don't mention a word of how we feel about it.

I've been cooking vegetarian for now close to 30 years and it's progressed a whole lot in terms of what you can do. I have hundreds of recipes some using quorn, some not. I cook for friends and family some of whom are veggie, some not. There are loads of options.

But I stopped going to works Christmas dinners as it was simply so depressing it terms of what was on offer for vegetarians. Obviously when we go out as a family we select the best restaurant in terms of vegetarian options as we are all veggie. But when you're not choosing it can be tricky. I've had some awful meals presented. Like the breakfast where they microwaved quorn bacon and I sent it back and offered to come back to the kitchen and demonstrate how to cook it. And the veggie roast I wrote to the restaurant and said if the chef wanted I could come in and show him how to cook a decent roast as not even the meat option was passable in that case.

This Christmas period I will be doing a chestnut pithvier, a mushroom, chestnut and cream bake and a morrocan filo roulade. I serve all with the trimmings you'd expect (it is possible to roast without goosefat).

Where I am there are veggie restaurants, we love the Alley Cafe in Nottingham, it is always packed though but it's well worth the wait.

I'm not going to my works do either - it's £54 and DH and I usually spend less when we go out together! I'm a long standing vegetarian with a recently diagnosed egg, soya and mushroom intolerance.

I love cheese though - goats cheese, halloumi, paneer, bring it on!

I'm enjoying all of the links to veggie menus, thinking of planning a trip to Brighton so I can visit terre a terre as the menu there sounds delicious! Also feel the need to visit a Toby Cavery too, it's not somewhere I would think of as having decent veggie options but it looks like they've made an effort.
Vanilla black menu looks bonkers, has anyone eaten there? Great to see somewhere being really inventive with veggie food but it's difficult to imagine what it tastes like.

Can I just say how SICK I am of risotto? Don't get me wrong - I like it - but it's not the only damn thing that can be made with vegetables! Plus, it's really lazy because dead easy to do. When I go out, I would like something that I wouldn't cook at home.

Enko - not all, but many, many Michelin star places have a full veggie tasting menu, provided you contact them in advance. In my experience, these are the best veggie food to be had - beating even specialist places like Terre a Terre.

Butternut squash risotto seems to be the only veg option in a lot of pubs and restaurants. It's like this vegetable has been newly discovered and we all need to eat it and nothing else.

I recently went to a wedding. 'Veggie option' was listed, not what it was. One sodding, non listed thing...and it was shit. Feta wrapped in something, wilted lettuce (yes, lettuce...) and something drizzled. Needless to say, I asked the waitress what it was and was told it was 'the vegetarian option'. I tried again and was told it was feta. I refused it and left soon after. Not the best wedding and the food wasn't even the biggest problem!

YABU if you think the problem only for vegetarians.

Actually, ^that. I eat flesh-things. Recent work meal out, I didn't like a single thing on the menu (here). I chose something ok eventually. I had walked 6 miles that day so should have had some appetite, but nothing grabbed me. That meal, food was fuel nothing more.

There's no vegetarian main option at all in that menu, but I guess it's a fish restaurant so perhaps not a surprise. There are seven options for meat eaters, so you'd think that would be enough choice!

They had 2 vegetarian main courses on the night I went. I think they were rissotto & pasta. I'm not overly a fan of either.... I think I had a huge piece of fish in the end (without enthusiasm).

Try adding a dairy allergy into the mix, and things get even more interesting. I'm intolerant to red meat (really upsets my stomach), and seem to be heading the same way with poultry, so gave up and went vegan, bar certain eggs*

I now feel like I'm the most awkward person ever when it comes to food :(

• we buy eggs from the lovely egg lady up the road, who has some seriously spoilt hens.

Dh always complains that the veggie option is half the size of the meat option, as though vegetarians don't have an appetite.