vegan / vegan-friendly cafes in Manchester UK

[Clem Snide]

first rule of checking out chinese restaurants in Manchester: see that over half of the customers are chinese

Using this rule of thumb and some experimentation my favourite one easily is the one on oxford road, near the library and mcdonalds.

It has awesome mock chicken with pineapple and ginger...

Tai Wu!

I had that very same mock chicken dish on Tuesday night. Amazing.

[Clem Snide]

I don't know whether someone on this thread is working at the Guardian trying to secretly inflitrate it with pernicious veganism, but their Top Ten Places to Eat in Manchester includes Earth, Tampopo, Croma and Barburrito:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2008/oct/02/manchester.travelfoodanddrink?page=all

Also there is Schlurp, which does a few vegan soups - very nice and surprisingly cheap.

[emm7]

Just wanted to plug the Veggie Cafe on Manchester University Campus, it's got a bit of flak in this thread, but this week the cafe chef and VF member Purpuss has had free reign over the menu (and will have for the next couple of weeks) and has been offering a lovely vegan main course every day.

It's hard to say which dish was nicer- the creamy Broadbean fillo tart or the Baked Spanish broccoli and rice torte. There's more to come! So if you find yourself in the area over the next couple of weeks, pop by and you'll be surprised! At £4 for a generous main course and large grain and leafy salad it's good value as well as tasty.

wanted to check whether this Cafe is still open and still offering vegan options?

[Rochellita]

Just wanted to plug the Veggie Cafe on Manchester University Campus

wanted to check whether this Cafe is still open and still offering vegan options?

It's still there and the soup is always vegan. There are also a few vegan sandwiches (nothing fancy) on the menu so you won't go hungry. The daily specials are sometimes vegan, it just depends on the day.

[Hiking Fox]

When I went there, the only vegan thing on the menu was a hummous and olive tapenade sandwich on white bread, with iceberg lettuce. There was no soya milk, so I had to have black tea.

I wasn't impressed! I have only been there once, though.

[JP]

if purrpuss is working, the vegan main meal is usually AWESOME!

[Rochellita]

If you are after a warm meal, 8th Day http://www.eighth-day.co.uk/location.htm, which is close to the campus is perhaps a better choice as there is always a vegan main course, and again a soup. You will also always find vegan cake of some sort. It's mentioned elsewhere on this thread and has been in Manchester in some form or another for so long it's like a landmark. Avoid the uni refectory at all costs, it's awful!

[emm7]

thanks very much for the advice! So 8th Day sounds like the best bet for vegan food close to the uni. Cheers for the links!

[Hiking Fox]

Update: I went in Mod Pop Cafe the other day and had the curry.

I wasn't impressed at all! It wasn't what I'd call curry - more like dry fried veg with chopped chillies. The rice was also only just cooked.

Update:

Can't remember whether Zest Cafe on Piccadilly Approach has been mentioned, but they used to do very handy vegan sosage butties. Unfortunately, they have now switched to Quorn sosages

[spike]

Been in 8th day a couple of times recently and the food was relatively good.
Can't say the same for the sugar free vegan muffin - they're nice when they're fresh but the last one was really stale and frozen in the middle.
That place really annoys me TBH, I only go there cos the location is handy.

[Hiking Fox]

A coupla updates:

Mod Pop Cafe has disappeared! The shop is still there, but the cafe has gone. I bumped into Martin the Mod not long ago in the street and he didn't say owt about plans to close. Does anybody know anything about this? Has it re-located or completely closed?

There's now a branch of Subway on Piccadilly Approach. Really handy for grabbing a butty while waiting for a train, or lining your stomach on the walk from a train to a pub. It is open till 11pm.

The Earth Cafe continues to be pretty good, and now seems mainly to be run by women. The selection of cakes is not as reliable as it used to be, but standards haven't dropped.

[JP]

The battle for the best falafel in manchester continues, but my current favourite is at Marriots Pantry on oxford road, not far from 8th day (on the same block).

Suboptimal if mod pop cafe is gone, hope thats not the case!

[Hiking Fox]

The battle for the best falafel in manchester continues, but my current favourite is at Marriots Pantry on oxford road, not far from 8th day (on the same block).

Will check it out - I've gone off Safad, as the last two times I've bought one from there I've had a dodgy stomach the following day.

[spike]

A coupla updates:

Mod Pop Cafe has disappeared! The shop is still there, but the cafe has gone. I bumped into Martin the Mod not long ago in the street and he didn't say owt about plans to close. Does anybody know anything about this? Has it re-located or completely closed?

it closed a couple of weeks ago, the owner of the shop wanted to expand his old furniture range so booted the cafe out apparently.

There's now a branch of Subway on Piccadilly Approach. Really handy for grabbing a butty while waiting for a train, or lining your stomach on the walk from a train to a pub. It is open till 11pm.

Do they do anything vegan other than the salad bap or whatever they call it?

The Earth Cafe continues to be pretty good, and now seems mainly to be run by women. The selection of cakes is not as reliable as it used to be, but standards haven't dropped.

I disagree . Last few times I've tried to go there the savoury food choice was really limited - e.g main dish was dahl and the soup was a variation of the dahl. There was also a "choice" of roulade and burgers which are very similar! IMHO the cake has gone downhill form totally amazing to very good.

[Rochellita]

IMHO losing that space might be a blessing in disguise for Pop, it really put me off eating there, I hate smelly old retro tat! I hope he finds somewhere new.

Earth is massively busy at weekends at the moment, last weekend there was a 2-layered queue and no seats at all on Saturday afternoon, we could do with another vegan cafe.