What's that I hear you say! Another vegan eatery in East London? Hell yes. The Vurger Co. opened their doors up this year and they're already proving to be a major hit with all the vegan foodies and bloggers. Their claim is that they are 'revolutionising fast food through the power of plants' which is basically just like music to my ears! I couldn't wait to get myself down there to find out what all the fuss is about.
Situated in hipster paradise Shoreditch, just off Brick Lane in fact, sits the first and currently only Vurger Co. restaurant. It's quite unlike any other vegan burger place I've been before in that it's an extremely professional setup. I'm used to getting my vegan burgers from quirky cafes or street food stands so it made a really nice change to step inside a full blown contemporary restaurant.
The style of the restaurant is very appealing on the eye. It has an almost urban industrial feel which is softened down by lots of green plants, cosy seating areas and the Instagrammers prerequisite - a neon light slogan! Lets just say I felt right at home.
I was really pleased to see they had the Lemon Aid drinks on the menu as these are a real favourite of mine and not something I always come across, especially in Essex. So the drinks alone felt like a real treat! We were also handed a little buzzer device to notify us when our food was ready to collect from the counter - very TGI Fridays.
There are four main burgers on the menu - the Classic, the Auburger, the MLT and the Holy Habanero - all of which sounded crazy good and made the decision making process quite difficult. But as ever when I'm faced with a conundrum like this I always just go in for the most straight forward option, the Classic.
All of the burgers are made from 100% vegetables, seeds, nuts, grains and legumes. I personally was really happy to see this because as always I much prefer actual vegetable based vegan food than anything pretending to be like meat. I was however quite surprised as I almost would have expected somewhere like this to be jumping on the fake, bleeding, looks like flesh, yada yada bandwagon.
The Classic burger did not disappoint on any level. When it arrived it was everything I had been hoping for and more. It was a giant of a vegan burger and even as I'm typing this now I am salivating just thinking about it again! This burger patty is made up from black beans, chargrilled pepper and corn and it comes with tomato, red onion, gherkins, cheese and The Vurger Co. special burger sauce. It was heavenly! And I was most impressed with the brioche style buns.
For side options I went for their Skin on Fries, Mac n Cheese and the House Slaw. I really wanted to try a bit of everything and as I was sharing this worked out quite well. The fries were perfect and got demolished first. The House Slaw actually surprised me how much I liked it considering it's basically just shredded carrot and cabbage with no dressing.
And now for only the bad news in this review..... the Mac n Cheese just didn't do it for me at all. I felt quite disappointed because it was just under £5 which seemed like a lot for a side dish. Plus I'd seen it in so many other peoples photos and just felt convinced it was going to be a good one. Let me just say though that I don't think I've ever been blown away by any vegan Mac n Cheese I've ever tried and I'm starting to feel like it's a dish that just shouldn't be veganised. I really wanted to like it but actually couldn't force down more than a couple of bites.
Overall it was a really enjoyable lunch and I would definitely go back again if I was in the area. I would however just stick to a burger and fries next time as the other sides just didn't seem worth the extra spend for me. You should expect to pay around £12.00 here for a burger and fries which is obviously way more expensive than your regular fast food joints (the likes of McDonalds, Burger Kings etc). But to be honest this is just what I come to expect in London now and I appreciate that the costs to run a restaurant like this in such an area are going to be sky high. Also the quality of this food is definitely more restaurant style opposed to fast food.
I hope I live to see a day when vegan fast food joints are everywhere and on the side of every motorway! I can't see it happening any time in the near future but it's amazing to see restaurants like The Vurger Co. paving a way for a more compassionate future.
Have you been to The Vurger Co. yet?
If yes then be sure to tell me what your favourite burger is below!
I love that they put chargrilled pepper in the patty! I do find that lots of bean burgers can be dry, so this addition sounds like it would be moist and tasty
ReplyDeleteThose burgers look amaaazing! I need to get here ASAP! So disappointing about the Mac & Cheese, though. £5 is a pushing it a bit, though.
ReplyDeleteOn a side note, I've made the red pepper Mac & Cheese from "Isa Does It" and it's really flippin' good! If you want to give vegan Mac & Cheese one last chance, I'd recommend trying that one. ;-)
This place looks amazing! I wish I had a place like this nearby as I live in the US and probably won't be visiting London anytime soon.
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