Go vegan with a vengeance

Gone are the days, when you would scout the city or the capital for vegan options and come up with zilch. With a growing awareness and an increasing number of people crossing over to the vegan side, restaurants have started catering to patrons who want to enjoy a meal minus the guilt of hurting any animals in the process. As a result, you have some interesting and innovative vegan options that are fighting for both shelf space and a mention on restaurant menus.

Choosing the vegan way for inner peace...

Veganism is a way of life, and its followers make a conscious decision to avoid all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing or any other purpose. Ayesha Takia Azmi, director of Cafe Basilico, who also turned vegan six years ago, shares how it has changed her life. She says, “I happened to read some books about animal cruelty and veganism. I started off by turning vegetarian and then in a year’s time decided to go vegan.

The lifestyle has brought me not only inner peace but great health too!” Ayesha wanted to share the same with others, and that is also the inspiration for the vegan dishes that she and her restaurateur husband Farhan Azmi have incorporated in their menu at Basilico in Bandra. She adds, “The vegan dishes that we serve are quite extensive starting from breakfast items like Scrambled Tofu, soups like Shiltake Consomme (made up of mushrooms, spring onion and soy broth) or Lemongrass. One can indulge in Quinoa, organic avacado and papaya salad or Five beer salads. From the appetisers, the Tempura vegetables or  Bonsal Quinoa Burger is a must-try.” While Ayesha’s brush with veganism influenced the new additions to the menu, for Sean Pereira, F&B Restaurant Manager at Woodside Inn, Colaba, it was just great feedback to an experiment that clicked with patrons.

Sean says, “Raw jackfruit is a tropical fruit that can be used in the raw as well as ripe form. As we were celebrating our ninth beer and burger festival, where we always work with local and international ingredients, jackfruit was a surprising find. We researched and decided to have a vegan take on the dish and we used it with Southern Indian influences with coconut milk, peanuts, curry leaves and spices. With the dish taking a yummy route, we realised that jackfruit could actually be versatile and can whet taste buds so easily. During the B&B festival the Vegan Jackfruit Burger was well-accepted not only by vegans, but also our regular patrons, who not only raved about it, they went on social media to pass the word around on how great this burger tasted.”

Offering more variety...

Kitchen Garden’s Pierre Labail, who also happens to be one of the owners along with Antonia Achache and her husband Jérémie Sabbagh sums it up with these words. He says, “I am not vegan, but there are many out there who are. We wanted to create a space for all, catering to different people including those who are vegan, gluten sensitive or even lactose intolerant.” Hence, you will find an interesting mix of dishes. There are buckwheat pancakes to start the day, cold gazpacho for a lunch-time filler, which is light and refreshing and a soy cappuccino and sandwiches for tea-time snacks, alongwith an interesting mix of salads to choose from. And while the vegan way of life has caught on in the city, the capital is not far behind.

Vegan fever in Delhi too...

For a city that loves its butter chicken and adds dollops of ghee to anything they consume, making a vegan menu a hit with Delhiites can be quite a task which Guppy has managed to ace with aplomb. The restaurant famous for its sushi and ramen, has a good number of dishes that are exclusively vegan. Miso soup, smoked pumpkin salad and ​​tomato, edamame, ginko nut and konjac jelly ceviche are some of them. Talking to us, Vikram Khatri, executive chef, ​Guppy says, “Times are a changing, and with people becoming health conscious, having vegan dishes came naturally to us when we were ideating on the menu.” Rose Cafe in Saket is another place popular with vegans for its innovative menu. Apart from vegan desserts like carrot cake, banana cake, dark chocolate cake, its vegan pizza is a  big hit. All milkshakes served here too are vegan as they use only soy milk. “We introduced vegan dishes on our menu by default,” shares Sarita Ahuja, owner of the cafe. “One of my vegan friends shares her birthday with the cafe. So, we baked her a vegan cake. Then we realised we could do so much in vegan,” she adds. Lean Chef in M Block, GK-II is also frequented by vegans for their lip- smacking smoothies including berry blast and banana dark chocolate. They also serve gluten-free Thai Basa Fish sandwich, which is as healthy as can be. Radisson Blu, Noida has some exotic dishes for vegan food lovers. The Zameeni Hayyat (shallow-fried shredded beetroot patties served with mint chutney) and Nizami tarkari biryani which is loaded with vegetables, promise to entice any vegan palate.

— Inputs by Chhavi Bhatia

Go here, to have your fill of vegan food In Mumbai

1.    The Daily Bar & Kitchen’s Vegan Waffles
2.    Basilico’s Shiltake Consomme (made up of mushrooms, spring onion and soy broth) or Lemongrass.
3.    Kitchen Garden’s cold gazpacho that’s a good respite from the scorching sun
4.    Woodside Inn’s Vegan Pulled Jackfruit Pull Burger
5.    Boveda Bistro’s Vegan Hazelnut Cacao Milkshake
6.    Cafe Mezzuna’s Banana and Caramel Milkshake
7.    The Pantry’s Vegan Beetroot Cake
8.    Diet Tamasha’s Chia pudding

In Delhi

Rose Cafe’s Vegan pizza
Lean Chef’s Berry Blast and Banana Dark Chocolate smoothie
Radisson Blu Nizami Tarkari Biryani
Guppy’s Tomato, edamame, ginko nut and konjac jelly ceviche