Last week I finally made it down to The Veggie Red Lion pub in Suffolk for a lunch date with my husband. This pub and restaurant has been on my hit list for some time now and you may remember that it was featured within my 20 Things To Do Before 2016 post a little while back. So I am happy that I can now tick it off my list and that I have been able to sample some of their amazing Vegan food!
This pub is a good 40 minutes drive from where I live in Halstead, Essex and it's right out into the Suffolk countryside heading towards Ipswich. It isn't exactly close by but in my opinion it's definitely worth the journey.
This pub is exactly what you would expect to find within the rural countryside. It's extremely welcoming, cosy and traditional in its style. However the menu is far from conventional as they amazingly offer up a purely Vegetarian and Vegan menu. I have to say that this is such a rarity and, in fact, pubs tend to be some of the most difficult places for us to eat as they always seem to be quite meat orientated. It's also very different to find somewhere like this within the countryside as from my own experience I have generally found rural pubs and restaurants to be quite intent on offering up things along the lines of local venison or beef/pork from a nearby farm. I can't begin to tell you how refreshing it was to walk into a plant based pub like this.
I apologise that the photos aren't the greatest quality within this post but the lighting within the pub was quite dark so it made it difficult to capture things as I would have liked to, but I hope you can see the huge amount of choice on offer at the Veggie Red Lion. It was also great to see that many of the dishes were Vegan friendly, or could be made to be Vegan, along with gluten free.
We started off with some bread and balsamic oil which was really nice as the bread came out freshly baked and warm to us. We were also starving hungry so this proved to be a great little filler between our starters coming out.
For my starter I opted for an all time favourite of mine - garlic breaded mushrooms! These were accompanied by some salad and a homemade Vegan garlic mayonnaise which was delicious. I think I would make the journey back there again purely for these mushrooms. They really hit the spot!
My husband, who is still flitting between being Vegetarian and Vegan, opted for the risotto cakes, also known as Arancini. These traditionally have a cheese centre so I didn't try them but, judging by the noises he was making whilst eating them, I think they were pretty good!
For our mains we both decided on the mushroom wellington, one Vegetarian option (above) and a Vegan option (below). The difference between the two being that the veggie one came with mozzarella on the inside and was accompanied by a creamy white wine sauce. I forgot to ask what was actually with mine but all I can is that it was lovely! It was kind of like a jus sauce which was nice and light.
With the accompanying triple cooked chips and side of vegetables this was a really hearty and enjoyable meal. It was exactly what I would expect from some decent home cooked pub grub but even better because they cater so well for Vegetarian's and Vegan's.
I kept thinking that this pub must have taken such a risk when deciding to serve up only plant based food but, judging by how busy they were for a Thursday lunchtime, I think the risk paid off. When my husband visited the bar to get more drinks a local gent sat there turned around and said to him "I'm not even Veggie and I eat in here all the time. I bloody love it!". This made us laugh a lot and it's great to see that even the meat eating locals are also supporting the pub.
On reflection we probably ordered too much for a lunch time visit and our eyes were definitely bigger than our bellies. We were so full up we couldn't face any desserts which was a real shame as they also looked delicious. But I guess that's a perfect excuse to go back, not that I really need one!
If you have a spare afternoon or evening where you fancy a little drive out to Suffolk then you can't go wrong with the Veggie Red Lion. Although be sure to book ahead because they're busy!
And .... I'm sold! It sounds worth the trip from Wales, your food all looks amazing. I'm yet to find anywhere local that does food like this, so The Red Lion is now on my list of places I have to go. Fab review hun, thank you ♥
ReplyDeleteKelly
The Vegan Taff | cruelty-free beauty and lifestyle
Well Kelly if you ever fancy a break away in Essex / Suffolk there's some great places to eat and I can point you in the right direction. Do you have the Happy Cow app as I find this really helpful for when looking for places to eat that are Vegan or Vegan friendly xx
DeleteThis place sounds amazing, the chips look delicious!! Fantastic review, just wish I lived closer xx
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Thank you Yasmina! The chips were pretty damn good :-) You know where to go if you're ever down this way :-)
DeleteSo good to hear about this place. Pity there are not more like it.
ReplyDeletehttp://johndhartil.blogspot.co.uk/
I know John! Its a shame but hopefully with the more people going veggie & Vegan we may see an increase. Thanks for commenting x
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ReplyDeleteThis sounds so so good! I wish it was closer, but it's still a great place to have on a to visit list, it definitely sounds like it's worth it :) I'm so happy that it's doing well, hopefully other places may follow suit :) x
ReplyDeleteThanks for commenting Lucianna! Definitely a great place to add to your hit list and if you ever fancy a weekend away in Essex or Suffolk there are a few great Vegan places around this way. Every town needs a Vegan pub! :-)
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