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 turned vegetarian in the 1980s, when the only vegetarian option in my work canteen every day was salad with a scoop of cottage cheese. I then moved to small-town Germany, where vegetarianism hadn't arrived yet, so I ate black bread and cheese for six months (the cream cakes and beer were good, though).

By the time I got to London in the early 1990s, the era of goat's cheese as the veggie option in every restaurant (at least there was one) had arrived, and it seems to have lasted a veeeery long time, so I am quite grateful for the arrival of halloumi - but it really is time that veggie options became rather less cheese-centric. There are other protein sources out there, and I don't mean Quorn, which is way worse than goat's cheese, as far as I am concerned.

I have a cheese-hating vegetarian daughter, who can't eat the veggie option for her (compulsory) school lunch about four days in five, as there is nearly always cheese involved in some way.

This is why I don't go to normal restaurants all that often (unless it's pizza/pasta which always have good options).

All-veg restaurants are all over the place nowadays.

I agree halloumi, goat's cheese, pasta and risotto are over-represented on veggie menus.

There's also the dreaded "roast vegetable slice" where a selection of greasy roast veg are encased in even more greasy puff pastry.

I'd like to see more pulses, delicate spiced. Lentils, chick peas, black beans. And remember carbohydrate is not an adequate veggie protein substitute.

I went to a vegan & vegetarian restaurant on Tuesday evening and they had it on the menu.....

Along with parsnip and lentil soup, stuffed mushrooms & chickpea curry

not very helpful but I make a fantastic parsnip and cashew nut roast Wellington with a lovely center of cranberries for Christmas, the meat eaters shovel it down cold on Boxing day.

foxtrot what kind of food do you serve?

More pulses would be good (chick peas yum!) maybe a chana masala curry?

Spinach and ricotta ravioli?

Leek and potato soup?

I wish places would just use more vegetables instead of just mushrooms (even though I love mushrooms). I also love aubergine, courgette, peppers, onions, carrots, roots and legumes, collard greens, etc.

Speaking of pulses, central/south american style bean dishes would be great. Fried beans with peppers, onions, spices and seasoning, and serve with rice. Yum!

foxtrotoscarfoxtrotfoxtrot

That's great, and I'm really pleased you're making an effort. Tibits in London are a vegetarian and vegan restaurant and they have a large and incredible selection, nick something from there!

I also would love to see something like a veggie burger made with Linda quarter pounders instead of a bean patty. The protein would be great, I'm.sick of eating so many carbs.

Also vegan coleslaw. Made exactly the same but with vegenaise, which is a thing and is delicious. I think pregnant women would appreciate that too :) mine keeps in the fridge for days.

Try tofu and soya pieces as well, there is so much you could put them in.

I'd be really grateful if some of you could give me an idea of 3 vegetarian/vegan options you would like to see on a menu?

What kind of restaurant do you have? Cafe? Modern British? French? Pub? That will help inform my suggestions! Price point?

Probably more for the hearty lunchtime meals, rather than Christmas lunch or fine dining evening meals.

I like macaroni cheese with cauliflower in and courgette and boursin risotto.

Also tapasy stuff, so patatas bravas, vegetable paella, garlic mushrooms, tomato bread, spinach and chick peas, fried aubergine, other vegetable, bean or chick pea stews, potato omelette, manchego cheese.

Curry with potato, chick pea, cauliflower, spinach.

I know there's a lot of squash and blue cheese hatred on here, but I once saw the Hairy Bikers make a lovely looking roast squash with blue cheese filling once - looked delicious. Probably not something to offer as the only option.

South american influenced food - beans, salsas, avocado etc.

Omelette chips and salad will probably please quite a few people.

I cook most of the above fairly routinely at home or choose them when eating out and I am not vegetarian.

Also I am actually vegan. Work Christmas menus came out today and halumi was the veggie option.

There was no vegan option of course but I've been assured that they will try to sort something out. Last year's solution was a DRY roast pumpkin and rock hard potatoes. No veg. No gravy. That was all. I brought my own dessert thank God. I still ended up horrendously drunk though because my stomach was empty.

I think this year I will go armed with Cliff bars.

I've had "fish and chips" made with battered Halloumi - was lush.

Foxtrot you will get lots of different opinions about what to serve but I think the main thing is to offer something good quality that is freshly cooked - lots of upmarket places offer veggie food that is clearly bought in and heated up in the microwave when the rest of the menu is made on the premises.
If you do gastropub type food then maybe something like a lentil cottage pie with cheesy sweet potato mash (with option to have no cheese for vegans). Also something with roasted root vegetables is good for winter. I'm also a fan of aubergine parmagiana but I might not order it in a restaurant as I'd suspect it was bought in and microwaved!

The Casa Moro book has a nice recipe for vegan paella, with the obvious 'no, it's not authentic, what do you expect from a country that thinks nothing of sprinkling ham on food as a garnish and not consider it to be meat' caveat . I think it uses canned artichokes and red peppers.

All the blue cheese options are annoying if you're vegetarian and pregnant.

The worst veggie meal I have ever had was a Christmas meal for DH's department at university. It was 8 overcooked brussel sprouts with a tablespoon of tinned tomatoes spooned over them, topped with half a grated brazil nut. Awful!

foxtrotoscarfoxtrotfoxtrot

Speak Fine dining, with a lower key 'gastro' edge at lunch time. Hill walking area so hot and hearty is very popular at lunch. Evening people prefer something a bit more special.

Look at Vanilla Black in London for inspiration. Their menu is incredible and absolutely does feel special.

What!!? It's usually a token pasta dish.
Halloumi is amazing Yabu

Foxtrot not sure if you offer a roast but a veggie one of those would be good. Make it vegan friendly too and you'll have a wider market for it. Properly cooked, butter free veg (lots), decent roast potatoes, a proper protein part (chestnut burger, nut wellington, lentil roast?). Veggie gravy. Make the plate as full and appetising to look at as the regular roast would be. If your Chef wants to work it more in future and can pull off a vegan yorkshire pudding you'll get a lot of free advertising online once local vegans cotton on.

A well done root vegetable and lentil stew with dumplings and thick crusty bread is nice and hearty. Good seasoning turns a more basic dish into something fab.

Things like apple crumble are easily done vegan friendly and are perfect for the Autumn/Winter. Those are probably all more for the lunch crowd.

If you're able to offer a dairy free milk for tea/coffee and dairy free spread that would be great.

One of the nicest things I've made was a puy lentil cottage pie with a cauliflower, potato and sweet potato mash on top. It was delicious, and I don't even like sweet potato.

At home I make the following regularly

Pasta
Stir fry
Soup
Curry
Casserole
Chilli

So if I'm being offered that when paying it better be good! Being charged £10+ for pasta in a jarred tomato sauce is taking the piss!

Suggestions for a restaurant (and yes depends on restaurant type)

Change seasonally so your veggie guests aren't facing the same options year round (and yes the same courtesy should be offered to the carnivores).

Spring

Good seasonal veg soups
Light good quality pasta dishes
Warm salads with couscous, quinoa, rice base seasonal veg and optional cheese/eggs/nuts/seeds

Summer

Good quality cold salads
Good veggie burger option
Something South American style - tacos, loaded potato skins, Guac, sour cream etc

Autumn

Hearty root veg soups
Chilli
Stir fry

Winter

Roast alternatives (made with nuts, chick peas, lentils, peas, root veg) served with typical but veggie aware accompaniments roast potatoes, yorkies, veg stuffing, veg gravy - also perfect for Christmas do's.

Hearty veg curry well flavoured

Well seasoned casserole with veggie suet dumplings

I happen to like quorn (I know some veggies don't) so restaurants could easily provide veggie versions of meat dishes simply by 'swapping out'. A wetherspoons type place near me does this and it means in there I can get:

A fry up! (Eggs, veggie sausage, veggie bacon, beans, tomatoes, mushrooms, tattie scones)

Veggie burger - with all the same topping options as the meat ones

Hot dogs, Chilli, quorn fillets with same sauces as for chicken/steak dishes etc

I also love shepherd type pies, macaroni cheese, pastry bakes, risotto (but yes not microwave watery crap, and not always mushroom)

thinks
duchess potatoes (too faffy to make at home regularly) (not vegan/egg)
dauphinoise potatoes (ditto)
Roasted winter veg with decent honey glazes
veggie cassoulet with bits of veggie sausage. Could use flavoured oils and roast veg to get depth of flavour in the beans
I love pasta primavera when the ingredients are in season and fresh not frozen and not overcooked
For that matter, a cream and wine sauce with pasta verdi and veg - I often ask for a carbonara sans meat if I go to Ask or similar. Last time I went, they put loads of extra asparagus in to compensate for no meat. I could have hugged the chef but dh was there
(and the risotto version - no mushrooms! with a good veg stock without overbearing celery flavour yuck)

Yea yes yes!

To the quality/lack of flavouring issues.

Lost track of the amount of times I've been served a dish that CLEARLY hasn't been seasoned - we still have taste buds!

Crispbutty your veggie dishes sound delicious! I'm a huge fan of mushrooms and halloumi but if I see one more lentil and bean burger or worse still a generic "vegetable burger" I'm likely to throw it at someone. How they get away with charging that much for a frozen lump of mush just deep fried is beyond me. They are the exact burgers you see in the supermarket value range and they taste awful.

I'm in love with sweetcorn fritters at the moment and I love a good paneer curry.

I've just been on holiday to an all inclusive resort and the vegetarian option was a pineapple ring on a disk of toast topped with cheese. It was so shocking that I just couldn't help but laugh. The eat options were - 2 types of curry, stew, steak, sausages and hams... there was me sat there with my single pineapple ring crying with laughter chugging back the wine.

I'm always aware of the vegetarian options when booking places for meals out but I think it can be difficult to be the organiser. The last place I booked had 7 vegetarian options (I just checked) and I still got complaints that there wasn't a vegetarian grill option. Vegetable and halloumi skewers were available as a starter (not in the 7) so they could have just added chips but apparently that wasn't acceptable.