Yes you veCAN - it's never been easier being green
More and more people are turning over a new leaf and going plant-based in 2021.
Whether you’re trying on a vegan jacket, hoping to make the transition full time, or just looking for something different for your meat-free Mondays, it really has never been an easier or more exciting time to lose the meat and dairy. Manchester has an enviable garden of veggie and vegan options and it just keeps getting better.
We’ve come up with fifteen of the best vegan menus available for home delivery in the region.
Bhaji Pala
We were totally chapati about Bhaji Pala when we popped over to Cheadle to review it when it first opened. This entirely vegan Indian restaurant is sure to please everyone, plant-based or not. There are classics here, of course, like chana masala and tadka dal but less familiar dishes from the subcontinent’s culinary treasure chest abound as well as creative adaptations like tandoori broccoli, gram flour ‘omelettes’ and pinwheel spinach samosas. Delivery via Just Eat will keep us going until we can return in real life.
Bundobust
Who doesn’t love Bundobust? In February 2020 BC (before Covid) we got all excited with a visit to their about-to-open second Manchester Bundobust with brewery on Oxford Road but it remains closed for now as we pine for a cold beer and a hot bhaji on a long table more than ever. It’s all veggie, as existing fans will know, but vegans have plenty to love from the iconic vada pav to the famous broccoli, kale and onion bhajis. Pop to Patel’s for home-delivered booze.
Four Side Pizza
Reformed chicken flattener, Dan Hope’s vegan food empire is expanding as rapidly as our lockdown waistlines. His Detroit-inspired vegan pizza gaff opened in the space vacated by Manchester’s long-standing Earth Cafe. You can eat in or get Four Side on Deliveroo. Expect sharp-edged, deep-pan pizzas with inventive plant-based toppings like vegan burrata, chorizo and n’duja and a real passion for winning over the naysayers.
Green Haus by Home-X (Six By Nico)
If you’re not really into junk food or want a bit more of a special occasion spread for two, head to HOME-X, the new, improved meal box service from Six By Nico. Green Haus is the latest incarnation of HOME-X’s vegan cook-at-home kit. It’s crammed with no less than eight veg-centric vegan dishes from Korean gochujang carrots with edamame bean and hot & sour kimchi to Goan xacuti masala with smoked potato, spinach and snow peas, as well as a pumpkin cake dessert and a bottle of vegan wine.
Lily’s Vegetarian
Lily’s is old-school, their family has been quietly knocking out incredible vegan and veggie food for years. You won’t find them on Deliveroo but if you’re not lucky enough to live nearby, you can give them a bell or download their new app and either order for collection or see if you’re within their delivery radius. This is some of the best Indian food in Manchester and the vegan options are extensive, from a tomato-based vegan paneer curry to Indo-Chinese dishes like Gobi Manchurian (the stickiest, crispy deep-fried cauliflower) and oodles of noodles.
Nell’s Pizza
Common’s social media humour kept us all going through those "if we don’t laugh, we’ll cry" moments of the pandemic and selling Nell’s pizzas probably kept them going too. Now also available from The Beagle in Chorlton, these massive 22” pizzas (also available by the slice) come in non-vegan flavours too but even if you’re not losing cheese for good, their vegan slices are well worth your time. The Veganic features mushrooms, roast garlic cashew cream, chilli, "forza win sauce" and thyme - who needs a load of PVA-glue-esque vegan cheese with all that going on? Their vegan garlic bread is a big hit too.
The Ottömen
If you want to fill your fridge with a few days’ worth of nourishing, vegan food with a Middle Eastern influence, get a delivery from The Ottömen. Stockport’s own veggie lockdown food saviours are more used to dishing up at sociable food markets like Grub but their transition online has worked really well as we found when we reviewed one of the Ottomen's veggie mezze bundles. The vegan options are plentiful.
Proove
This Didsbury pizza place had already proove-d itself on the classic pizza front but has recently really stepped up its vegan game too. Not content with a token "vegan cheese available" footnote, instead a whole menu of vegan pizzas "designed by vegans for vegans" has joined the party. Choose from nine pizzas from the basic Margherita to wildcards like the Art-Beet with basil, beetroot and artichokes or La Contadina with green pea base, sauteed cabbage, capers, vegan Mozzarella and pistachios. There’s even a vegan aubergine parmigiana.
Ruyi Vegetarian House
Another hit when we were able to do restaurant reviews, Ruyi has everything you’d expect from a Chinese restaurant but reincarnated in vegetarian or vegan form. Yes, that includes ribs, wings, prawn crackers, crispy beef, and crispy duck. The menu is overwhelmingly vast with a dim sum selection that could be taken as a challenge. Another one for winning over the carnivores.
Vegan Shack
A relative newcomer, Vegan Shack opened in the latter half of 2019 and quickly amassed a cult following via Instagram. There are no pretensions to health food here, this is the kind of gratifying fried food that goes down so well on a boozy night out - remember those? Most notably, the kebab featuring a house-made seitan "doner meat" wrapped in fresh khobez bread with salad, chilli sauce and mayo. There are burgers, "chicken" dippers and fries too.
Vertigo
If breakfast is the issue that troubles you most about going plant-based, let Vertigo take care of you. This "plant-based eatery" opened its cafe and deli on Cross Street in early 2019 and happily rode the (frothy oat milk) wave of vegan fanaticism, opening a second venue on First Street just six months later and a base at MediaCityUK last year. Breakfast dishes span everything from the ubiquitous avocado toast to a Vertigo "Benedict" with vegan black pudding, confit tomato, hash brown and "hollandaise". Other dishes include a green mac 'n' cheese, a Reuben bagel with peppered tempeh, and enough hummus to feed five thousand angry lorry drivers.
V Rev
It started as a very niche Oldham St record shop with a vegan cafe on the b-side. Now four years since a move to Edge Street, V Rev has fully established itself as the go-to for your day-glo, towering vegan junk food fix. Think Almost Famous without the cows, or the bacon, or the cheese… Fun burger names like "Whopper Way To Make A Living" and "Donut Have A Cow, Man" give you an inkling of what’s involved, but they also do burritos, brunch and seitan chicken wings.
What the Pitta
Migrating North for the first time, cult London vegan kebab outlet What The Pitta finally opened here on 7 January 2021 for delivery and takeaway with eat-in available when restrictions are lifted. We wrote about What The Pitta in 2020 but in a nutshell, it’s one of those gaffs that focuses on doing one thing and doing it well. In this case, that’s pitta stuffed with a family recipe for vegan kebab 'meat'.
Wholesome Junkies
An Arndale market favourite, now available at a few other locations - see their socials for full ever-changing deets. Wholesome Junkies do indecent things with oyster mushrooms. Those mushrooms happen to be local Lancashire lads and are a welcome change from seitan or soya in a deep-fried "chickn" burger smothered in Buffalo sauce (no buffaloes were harmed etc.). There are fries and sides too - special mention must go to their loaded tater tots that would certainly get Napoleon Dynamite’s groove on.
Wow Yau Chow
Altrincham’s Wow Yau Chow was set to expand its empire in 2020 but while new locations are temporarily on hold, Henry Yau’s enterprising spirit is not. Fast to adapt with an in-house delivery service (along with takeaway and click and collect), a new-ish vegan section on the menu has also proved popular. If you’re a fan of tofu, you’ll be in your element with crispy panko tofu stuffed into bao with vegan sriracha mayo, snuggled up with shiitake mushrooms in dumplings and smothered in salt 'n' pepper seasoning for that classic Anglo-Chinese flavour thwack. No-fu? No worries, there’s golden cauliflower curry, salt n pepper fries and Szechuan "not chicken" amongst other menu highlights.
Read next: Four Side: More on the vegan, Detroit style pizza & doughnut pop-up opening in Manchester
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