Can you go a week without meat? Without a slice of bacon or a sneaky bit of chicken? Well, that’s the idea behind Meat-Free Week (23-29 March), which aims to get us all thinking about how much meat, fish and fowl we eat and the effects on the planet. Of course, if you’re already vegan or veggie then every week is meat-free week and you probs know about all these great veg-centric restaurants already. Sorry guys – for one week only expect to be joined by penitent carnivores, because these are some of the best places in the UK to eat without meat…
Moveable Feast**, London**
Street food, but indoors – which is a pretty good idea for London in March. Moveable Feast is a pop-up in an empty café near The Shard. Inside, a rotating collective of vegetarian traders will be offering everything from Not Dogs (self-explanatory) to roast chickpea and kale salads. It runs for six months and there’ll also be gourmet coffee and sweet things from east London’s Luminary Bakery.
Moveable Feast, 21-27 St Thomas Street, London SE1 9RY
The Egg Café, Liverpool
It’s a veggie restaurant-slash-art-gallery and it’s in a beautiful Victorian warehouse building. There’s lots to love about The Egg in Liverpool, not least its veggie Full English and big Sunday lunch – a nut roast piled high with roasties, sweet potato mash and roast parsnips. Mmmm… carb coma.
The Egg Café, 16-18 Newington, Liverpool L1 4ED
Bistro 1847, Manchester and Birmingham
A duo of stylish veggie bistros – one in central Manchester and the other in Birmingham. There are sharing plates and tasting menus with seasonal dishes like squash velouté with burnt leek and Feta terrine, and decadent puds like chocolate mousse with ‘chocolate soil’. This is ambitious, cheffy stuff – not reheated goat’s cheese on a bed of rocket.
Bistro 1847, 58 Mosley Street, Manchester M2 3HZ, and 20 Great Western Arcade, Colmore Row, Birmingham B2 5HU
David Bann, Edinburgh
David Bann does veggie dining right. For starters, this Edinburgh restaurant has a sleek cocktail bar (ours is a Havana Club mojito, ta). Then there’s the food – indulgent rather than worthy, with highlights including the olive polenta with roasted veg and goat’s curd, and the spicy aduki bean and cashew pie. Leave room for the whiskey panna cotta… and a cheeky aperitif.
David Bann, 56-58 St Mary’s Street, Edinburgh EH1 1SX
Terre à Terre, Brighton
Even committed carnivores like Sunday Times critic AA Gill love Terre a Terre. It’s been open for 20 years and has spawned cookbooks and its own food range. Why do veggies and meat-eaters alike love it so much? It’s because the Brighton restaurant sources the best ingredients to create crazy-imaginative dishes like savoury churros made with sesame seeds, togarashi and spinach, rolled in nori and served with miso-mirin mayonnaise. You don’t get that down Wagamama.
Terre à Terre, 71 East Street, Brighton BN1 1HQ
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Picture: Stephanie Gonot
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.