Vegan in Vienna: Velani

Posted on March 30, 2026 by Jenny
A gigantic schnitzel on a plate with a separate bowl of potato salad on the side

It’s always exciting to be able to try local dishes when you travel, but there are no guarantees of that opportunity when you’re vegan. We were delighted to find a vegan restaurant serving classic Austrian dishes last year. There was a bit of overlap with some traditional Czech dishes which we can get easily at home (like goulash), so we avoided those ones.

A large schnitzel

Both of us ordered the schnitzel. I just love a meal this size! It was massive and we both enjoyed the flavour and texture. Dr HH got a bit bored of it because every bite was the same, but I didn’t mind that.

A bowl of potato salad

It came with a potato salad. I appreciate that this is the local speciality, but personally I would have preferred it with a warm potato side. It was not slathered in mayo, so that was a positive, but the dressing was just too sharp for me. This is just personal taste, and I knew when I ordered it that I probably wouldn’t love the side. It was worth it to get the schnitzel. Dr HH enjoyed this potato salad more than I did, so it was very much personal preference rather than a bad dish.

Two dumplings filled with chocolate spread, on a fruit coulis

For dessert, Dr HH got the nougat dumplings, which he found enjoyable but not mind-blowing. The dumplings contain a kind of chocolate cream, which he liked.

Torn up pieces of pancake with stewed damsons

I had the kaiserschmarrn, which came in quite a large portion so it’s best for one hungry person or shared between two less hungry people. It’s a big pancake which is broken into pieces and crisped up a bit. I don’t think I’ve had this since going vegan, so it was a good treat. The little bites of pancake were good, I liked the crunchy exterior with the fluffy insides. The stewed damsons complemented the sweet pancakes nicely.

It was a really nice restaurant, quite busy on a Saturday evening so you might want to book. Service was great, and we really enjoyed ourselves. If you want to try veganised Austrian food, this seems to be the place to go!

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Vegan in Vienna: Chez Fritz

Posted on March 23, 2026 by Jenny
A display case of elegant looking vegan desserts

Dr HH’s trip to Paris may be over, but that doesn’t mean no more patisserie to talk about! We’ve made a couple of trips to Vienna over the last few months, just for a weekend city break – there’s a direct train and it’s only a little longer than the journey to Berlin. The vegan scene seems to be ever improving in Vienna, to the extent that it now has this lovely all-vegan patisserie spot.

Chez Fritz is quite a small spot, with just a few tables (though we didn’t struggle for seats on a Saturday afternoon). They have an exciting, all-vegan array of desserts, and from Thursday to Saturday they also have pastries. We tried two desserts in the cafe: the fruity pistachio and the tart au citron.

A pastry case topped with a beautiful lemon curd and piped with soft meringue

I loved my tart au citron. It had a lovely short pastry case, and the lemon curd was beautiful – really sharp, but not quite face-hurtingly so. The meringue was soft and sweet. I still haven’t had a lot of vegan meringue, so it was a real treat.

A pastry case topped with a glossy red dome encircled by a pale green pistachio cream

Dr HH enjoyed his fruity pistachio, though I think he agreed that the lemon tart just edged it. Again, the pastry case was excellent. It contained a smooth, thick, and decadent pistachio cream, a fruity jam in the base, and a fruity dome in the middle that he hoped would add a bit more sharpness. It was very nice, but a bit of sharpness would have made it better.

A pastry roll with za'atar liberally sprinkled on the top and through the rolls

We also got some pastries to take away for breakfast the next day. They kept well overnight. As za’atar fans, we both got the za’atar roll. It was packed with flavour, and had a soft, flaky bake. It was very good! It made us wish we made (or tried) more za’atar based foods.

A slice of banana bread with a few chocolate chunks in it, coated with chocolate

I got a slice of banana bread, which sounds like a boring choice but it was elevated banana bread! For one thing, it’s gigantic. The loaf is topped with a rich ganache and then the top and sides are coated in a chocolate layer. There are also some chocolate chunks in the loaf, which adds up to a lot of chocolate overall – I really didn’t need a full slice of this, but I couldn’t resist!

A side on view of a pain au chocolat with beautifully laminated pastry

Dr HH had a pain au chocolat as his sweet pastry, and he thought it was great. Just look at that lamination! The pastry was light and crisp (we had actually heard someone else biting into one at the cafe and were impressed by the crisp sounds) and the chocolate was tasty.

I highly recommend this place to sweet-toothed vegans in Vienna – I’m already hoping for an excuse to visit again soon!

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Vegan in Paris: Aujourd’hui Demain Cafe

Posted on March 16, 2026 by Jenny
A plate with eggs Benedict, potatoes, and a lot of salad

Here’s the final installment from Dr HH’s trip to Paris last year. I’ve been dazzled by all the good food he had!

I had one last morning in Paris and as the weather was good I decided to enjoy some parks. I started with another Land and Monkeys breakfast that I have already covered. After some outdoor time, I went for brunch at Aujourd’hui Demain Cafe.

It was a Sunday morning and it was very busy, I definitely recommend booking ahead (which I did the evening before, so I don’t think you need to worry about booking too far in advance).

A very small cinnamon roll topped with icing

I went for the brunch set deal, which meant I got a main, a dessert, hot drink, cold drink, and a mini cinnamon roll. The cinnamon roll was just a little bite and was perfectly fine.

A plate with eggs Benedict, potatoes, and a lot of salad

I ordered eggs Benedict as my main dish and it was a tasty dish. It was half an English muffin, topped with salmon, cream cheese, egg, and hollandaise. Everything worked well together, the salmon gave a nice bit of smokiness and there were good flavours and textures from the egg and hollandaise. The hollandaise was very cold though, like it had just come out of the fridge. The potatoes on the side were nice but it was a bit of a shame to find half my plate was salad. I of course would have appreciated both halves of the muffin.

A white and green dessert in a takeaway box

I was in a bit of a rush so I got my dessert to go and I ordered a coco pandan, which looks like it was just a special for May. This was delicious. It was a coconut and pandan sponge cake with a pandan whipped ganache topped with a coconut panna cotta and a bit of raspberry coulis. In the middle of all this was a crunchy coconut biscuit thing. There were a load of different flavours and textures in here and they all worked really well together.

A tall glass of a cold red drink and a mug of milky coffee

For drinks I got a cafe latte, which was fine but a little bit small and a bissap, which was an infusion of hibiscus, mint and orange blossom. This was perfectly pleasant too.

That brings an end to the tales of my Paris trip. I had a great time with lots of delicious food and some excellent tourist activities. I look forward to going back and eating all the pastries again.

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Vegan in Paris: Fauborg Daimant

Posted on March 9, 2026 by Jenny
A dish of creamy butter next to a plate with four crispy croquettes

More from Dr HH in Paris.

The big event of my last full day in Paris was another fancy meal, this time at Fauborg Daimant. Would this go better than my last attempt at a fancy meal? I got croquettes, potato millefeuille, a side of butter and a chocolate ganache for dessert.

Four crispy croquettes with a green dipping sauce

The croquettes had a great crispy coating which had a really good crunch. The menu described them as “piggy croquettes”, which doesn’t mean much to me – perhaps they were meant to resemble trotters of sons kind. The filling has a bit of a jelly texture with some bits of meaty texture. I would have preferred a bit more bite from the filling and it didn’t particularly wow me. I don’t know the original dish that it’s emulating so it may be a good imitation. On the whole, it was a good crunchy bite with a tasty dip.

Three blocks of layered potato with an orange sauce and various garnishes

I also got the potato millefeuille with a tomato and paprika sauce. The potato was tasty and rich with plenty of butter oozing out when I cut into them. The sauce was a good accompaniment and tasted like it was made with plenty of butter too. It was also topped with some chimichurri, but I didn’t feel like there was enough of it for it to really shine through.

A dish of creamy butter

I got some butter as a side dish and it was great. It tasted more like dairy than any other vegan butter I’ve tried. It had a good bit of smoky and salty seasoning in there. I enjoyed eating all of this with the bread that came with the meal. It was a lot of bread and butter for one person, but I was not wasting any of that butter!

A quenelle of chocolate ganache garnished with lime zest and a tuile

The chocolate ganache was great. It was lovely and rich with a great texture. The lime was a nice addition to cut through the richness a bit. The tuile was lovely and thin and crisp.

I got one of the mocktails, which was tasty but it didn’t feel special enough to be charging 14 euros. They also provided bottles of still and sparkling water with the meal. It was an excellent meal that I thoroughly enjoyed and I would happily go back there again.

A structure made of bones in the Paris catacombs

In between all of this eating, I did some touristing with a trip to the catacombs. I’ve seen a good few large collections of bones over the years, and this one sits probably somewhere in the middle. The fact that it’s a wander through some underground tunnels sets it apart from places where you see ornate displays of bones in a large room. There are a lot of bones and there are some interesting displays made from some of them. Parts of it were under renovation when I visited, which I think included some of the more famous displays. It’s currently closed for large-scale renovation.

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Vegan in Paris: GangNam Falafel

Posted on March 2, 2026 by Jenny
A corn dog drizzled with sauce

The next stop on Dr HH’s solo Paris trip…

After a morning of art, I had a little wander along the Seine before heading to my next eatery, GangNam Falafel. This was pitched as an all vegan Korean Lebanese fusion restaurant (apparently it serves meat now). There was some fun looking stuff on the menu here with some fusion ideas. I went for a bit of classic Korean with the corn dog and some fusion with kimchi hummus.

The inside of the corn dog, filled with a sausage
The inside of the corn dog, filled with melted cheese

The corn dog was enjoyable. Half is filled with a mozzarella-esque cheese and the other half has a sausage in it. The fillings were tasty, the bread coating was quite light and it had a good crispy outer. The sauce on top gave a bit of extra flavour. It is also partially dipped in sugar for a bit of sweetness. I really enjoyed it, but it may not be for everybody.

A bowl of kimchi hummus with some garnishes, and very well crisped tortilla chips

The kimchi hummus was also very good. The hummus had a little bit of texture and wasn’t perfectly smooth, which is exactly how I like my hummus. It tasted good, but I always think hummus can have more seasoning, I may be overseasoning the stuff I make at home! The kimchi is a good addition, it’s not your typical napa cabbage kimchi and I wasn’t exactly sure what vegetable it was. It had a good bit of bite and crunch to it, but wasn’t very spicy. The crispy tortilla served with it was great for scooping everything up.

There was some interesting looking stuff on the menu and I’d have liked to have tried the falafel and tteokbokki skewer. Maybe another time! It’s a small place and looks geared to takeaways orders. There were only about 10-12 seats so just keep that in mind when visiting.

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Vegan in Paris: VG Patisserie

Posted on February 16, 2026 by Jenny
A plate with a croque monsieur and an eclair on it

(More envy-inducing pastries from Dr HH’s solo trip to Paris.)

On my second morning, I decided to get some pastry treats elsewhere and headed to VG patisserie with my sights firmly set on an eclair. That of course was never going to be enough to keep me sated so I also ordered croque monsieur and a large cafe latte.

A croque monsieur - a very tall toasted sandwich topped with melted cheese with a slice of ham visible in the middle

My sandwich came out after a short grilling and I was concerned about how I was going to fit in my mouth with how tall it was. Fortunately, the bread is lovely soft and airy and squished down easily for eating. Along with the cheese on top there was a bechamel inside with a slice of ham tucked in amongst all the cheese. I didn’t get particularly strong flavours from the cheese and bechamel and the ham was a bit lost in the vast quantities of everything else. It was a lovely comforting bite of food but it wasn’t packing a huge amount of flavour.

An eclair filled with chocolate cream and topped with chocolate

I don’t really know what eclairs are supposed to be like. I make no claims about authenticity but I can say that this was delicious. It was a lovely thin shell of choux pastry filled with a delicious chocolate cream. There was possibly more of that cream on top along with some biscuity chunks.

A pain au chocolat and glass of hot chocolate

I was having a bit of a slow start to my day so I sat and read for a little while before I decided to treat myself to a pain au chocolat and a hot chocolate. I was a bit underwhelmed. It was a bit bready and didn’t have a huge amount of chocolate. I’ve definitely had better. This was a much cheaper pastry, coming at 1.20 whilst the fancier goods were 4-5 euro.

The drinks were nice, the latte was pleasant and not very strong. The hot chocolate was fine but not up there with some of the great decadent ones I’ve had.

A colourful abstract painting
A painting from the exhibition

After a hearty fuelling, I headed to the Modern Art Museum to see (I thought) an exhibition of Matisse and Magritte. Unfortunately, I did not read this very closely and it was actually an exhibition titled Matisse and Marguerite. It was a collection of paintings mostly of Matisse’s daughter named Marguerite. It wasn’t as fun as I was hoping for. The good news was that the permanent exhibition in the gallery was great so it was still a good activity for me.

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Vegan in Paris: Le Potager de Charlotte

Posted on February 9, 2026 by Jenny
A cream sauce topped with mashed potatoes, asparagus, and various garnishes

(Dr HH picks up right where he left off in last week’s installment.)

I spent some more time ambling around the city after my exhibition before heading to Le Potager de Charlotte for my dinner. This promised a bit more of an upscale dining experience. I’ll be honest, the menu didn’t really excite me but after reading all the glowing reviews, I thought I would give it a go. This meal did not hit the mark for me but I may have just chosen poorly. I’m keen to support places doing higher end vegan dining and I’ll happily give them another try when I make it back to Paris again.

Blocks of tofu crusted in sesame seeds, sitting on a pool of yoghurt and garnished with greens

I had the sesame marinated tofu to start, and it just lacked flavour. It was a big piece of tofu with a lovely texture and a good sesame seed coating. As we all know, getting your marinade into a big piece of tofu is not easy and it just didn’t taste of much. It was served on a soy and lime yoghurt sauce, and this also didn’t really deliver enough flavour.

A cream sauce topped with mashed potatoes, asparagus, and various garnishes

In classic fine dining style, the dishes are mostly just a list of ingredients so I didn’t know what to expect from the mains (except probably the bowl of pasta). I went for the hazelnut mashed potatoes and was a bit underwhelmed again. The issue probably is that mashed potatoes are just not that exciting, so I’m willing to hold my hands up and admit I probably chose poorly. The tamari and rooibos sauce was pleasant and got good when I got a nice hit of the wholegrain mustard too. The white asparagus sitting on top of the mashed potato was fine, I don’t have strong feelings about asparagus. Maybe it was great asparagus but it didn’t do much for me. Bits of hazelnut added a crunch. I was disappointed to find the mushrooms on the dish were a few raw slices. I always prefer my mushrooms cooked.

A deep glass pot of creme brulee topped with berries

For dessert I got a creme brulee topped with some completely unnecessary goji berries. It was a hearty deep pot of creme brulee, which unfortunately meant the caramelised top to custard ratio was not what I had hoped for. The top was nice and sweet and crispy but it was already broken up so I didn’t get the chance to break my way in. The custard itself was well set but I would have preferred it to be a bit sweeter.

I had a bottled drink of fizzy cherry, verbena and lavender, which was nice. The flavours were good and it wasn’t very sweet, which worked well.

A pond in the park surrounded by greenery
A couple of peacocks
A cavernous path in the park

Earlier in the day, I had opted to spend a few hours strolling around Bois de Vincennes. The park is described as one of the “lungs of the city” and it made for a nice peaceful contrast to the hustle and bustle of being in the city in the morning. It’s a huge space and I only explored a fraction of it. I took a nice leisurely walk around one of the lakes, enjoying the views and the birdsong. There were quite a lot of peacocks running loose so I spent some of my time watching them from a suitable distance, which sadly cannot be said for everyone as there was one person right up in their faces taking pictures. I could happily have spent most of my day here if I hadn’t already had various meals and exhibitions planned.

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Vegan in Paris: Jah Jah

Posted on February 2, 2026 by Jenny
A plate of cauliflower wings and a mixed plate with loads of different things on it

(Dr HH continues to talk us through his solo trip to Paris.)

After a good few hours of touristing on a full belly of pastries, I was starting to get hungry and headed back towards my hotel to eat at Jah Jah. I’ve not got a lot of experience with Afro Caribbean food and have very few opportunities to get this, with there being nothing vegan readily available in Prague. I’m always keen to try but also have no real frame of reference to whether it is a good version of this cuisine.

A plate with lots of different things on it, including skewers, rice, salads, and something that looks like stew

I ordered a mixed plate of the day and a side of cauliflower wings. The mixed plate had some Attieke, which was made from cassava and felt very similar to couscous. There was a tempeh and red pepper barbeque skewer. The sauce was good and I’m never going to complain about some tempeh. The boiled yam and plantain were both fine, there wasn’t a lot of flavour from the yam but it worked with the other sauces and flavoursome things. There was some coleslaw and some salady bits which added some textures and a bit of sharpness. The saka saka was possibly the best thing on the plate, it was well seasoned spinach with some beans in there.

A plate of cauliflower wings with a crispy looking coating and a pot of sauce

The cauliflower wings were very good. They were really tender and the coating was crisp and nicely flavoured. I think there was some coconut in the coating which worked really with the sauces it came with.

I had a nice ginger and passion fruit drink to wash everything down with too.

A painting from the Paris Noir exhibition
A painting from the Paris Noir exhibition

One of the big draws for my trip to Paris was the Paris Noir exhibition at the Centre Pompidou. This was celebrating the influence of Black artists on art in Paris and it was an excellent exhibition. I’ve spent plenty of time in big European galleries and the only person of colour I have ever seen really highlighted was when I saw a Basquiat exhibition, so this exhibition was a welcome change to the norm. Sadly, the galleries with the great permanent collection were closed but the one of the other exhibitions was also good fun and this all made for a good couple of hours of afternoon art.

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Vegan in Paris: Land and Monkeys, Les Halles

Posted on January 26, 2026 by Jenny
Two pastries on a tray

(More from Dr HH on his solo trip to Paris last year.)

On my first full day I was up bright and early to get breakfast at Land and Monkeys – Les Halles before I went to Notre Dame. Land and Monkeys has about 10 branches in Paris now and they are famed for serving delicious sweet treats. Pastries were one of the main reasons I took this trip to Paris. I came here for breakfast twice.

The inside of a cinnamon roll, with lots of spice and sugar running through it

On my first trip I got a cinnamon roll that was more like a cinnamon knot. It was lovely and soft inside, with a good crust on the outside. Some of the edges were gloriously crispy. The flavour was great too, well balanced without being too sweet or too strongly spiced.

The inside of the tart showing layers of pastry, cream, and pistachio

I also got the azahar which just looked too good to turn down. There was a buttery pastry case that crumbled perfectly as you put a spoon through it. There was a pistachio frangipane type thing in the base and a layer of meringue. There was a pistachio cream in the middle on the top. It tasted good and the textures were great, but the flavours didn’t really wow me. I’d have liked a bit more of a pistachio hit. I got a cafe latte to drink that was nice and a decent sized cup.

A lemon meringue tart with elegantly piped meringue on top
The inside of the lemon meringue tart showing layers of pastry, lemon curd, and piped meringue

I went back another day and got the citrus and meringue tart and a babka roll. The tart had the same great pastry as the azahar and the filling had a good consistency and was good and sharp. There was also sweetness from the lemon filling and the meringue to make a well balanced treat.

A babka roll with a sticky, nutty topping
The inside of the babka roll with nuts running through the swirls

The babka roll was a lot like a classic cinnamon roll but with lots of hazelnuts in there. It was perfectly baked and had a great light texture with a nice bit of crust on the outside.

A chocolate cookie topped with sticky caramel and nuts

I got a couple of the peanut caramel chocolate cookies to take away as a treat for Ms. HH on my return to Prague. They were quite decadent. The cookie was very soft and the sticky nutty filling on top made for a good treat. I enjoyed all the food and would love to go back and try some more things. Everything on display looked great.

Notre Dame with a baking tent outside it
A huge stained glass window in Notre Dame

Notre Dame was a relatively short walk from the bakery and I took a nice scenic walk along the river with a little detour past the glass pyramid of the Louvre. I’d managed to book a slot relatively easily online about a week before my visit. It was absolutely heaving and not a particularly relaxing activity. It’s an impressive building and I was glad to see it rebuilt and open. As usual with cathedrals, my favourite things are always the fun stained glass windows. There was also what appeared to be some sort of baguette baking competition going on outside. Could there be anything more quintessentially French than a famous landmark and a competition for baking baguettes all in the same scene?

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Vegan in Paris: Le Daily Syrien Veggie

Posted on January 19, 2026 by Jenny
A large plate with one big falafel in the middles, surrounded by two stuffed vine leaves, some tabbouleh, and various dips

Hello! Dr. HH here making a return and I’ll be at the wheel for a few weeks. At the start of May last year, I had a few days off and decided to take a long weekend trip to Paris. Ms. HH was unfortunately still stuck at her desk so I was flying solo this time. It’s been a few years since we’d last been to Paris so I was curious to see how the food scene had changed.

On my first day I arrived in the early evening on the 1st of May. This is taken very seriously as a holiday in France so the hotel staff were a bit unsure about how many places would be open for a meal in the evening. There was no need to worry as the area near the hotel was buzzing with open eateries and many of them were all vegan or at the very least vegan friendly.

My first spot for food was Le Daily Syrien Veggie. I believe there are a few branches in this chain around the city, all with a slightly different name and serving slightly different things.

A large plate with one big falafel in the middles, surrounded by two stuffed vine leaves, some tabbouleh, and various dips

I had the vegan plate which consisted of falafel, hummus, tabbouleh, mousakka, moujadara, courgette caviar, vine leaves, and a pile of flatbread. There was one big falafel, it was crisp and well seasoned. The moussaka was excellent, with really well seasoned meaty aubergine in a tomato sauce. From the dips, the courgette caviar was my favourite, packed with flavour. The remaining dips were tasty too. The vine leaves were good and felt similar to others I’ve had in the past. There were nice bits of pickled vegetables and pomegranate seeds on the plate for little bursts of extra flavour. This was served with lots of flat bread to mop everything up. It felt like good value for 16 euros.

A plate with several pieces of flatbread

I also ordered makdous as I can’t resist the opportunity to get those when I have the chance. They were delicious, the aubergine was really soft and had a good sharpness from the pickling. They were well stuffed with plenty of walnuts and the whole thing was bursting with flavour.

A plate of makdous, small pickled aubergine stuffed with walnuts. The dish is on a bed of salad and garnished with pomegranate seeds.

I got a lemonade with orange blossom to drink. This was really good, it was quite sharp with a bit of a floral note from the orange blossom. They also brought over a bottle of water to drink too.

It was very busy when I went but service was still very quick, I guess it helps that almost everything I had was a cold dish ready to be plated up.

The vegan plate is labelled as vegan (obviously) but the individual items are not clearly labelled. If you’re ordering individual dishes from the menu, it might be a good idea to check. 

This was a great hearty meal that was perfect after hours in airports and transit.

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