#cardiff lifestyle blogger
Remember going outside and buying food made by other people? yeah I miss it too. hopefully we’ll get back to that soon, but in the mean time I’m gonna write about the places I’m missing.
Arguably Cardiffs first vegan junk food spot, Greazy Vegan really hits the spot.
I can be found here a few times a month scuttling away with a bag filled with vegan Buffalo wings, one of their outstanding…
I’ve sat on this article, just waiting for the right time to post it. Christmas-based posts are usually pretty time/season sensitive. However with what’s going on in the world right now, with COVID-19 and the resulting lockdowns and restrictions in place, it’s made everything very doom and gloom. Hopefully this will act as some kind of a pick-me-up both for myself and for anyone reading it.
C…
Not that I’m shouting it from the rooftops, but I’ve stopped eating meat!
It’s been a slow journey which started with me being a fairly voracious carnivore, happily taking on any ridiculous burger challenge I could find or making the most un-godly Internet foods my skill set could muster.
Fast-forward to the present and I wouldn’t have believed the changes I’ve made. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not by any means a healthy eater, it’s just that all the junk food is now vegan! When I was in high-school I tried to go vegetarian and barely made it a week. Although people who were vegan did exist, the term wasn’t as commonplace as it is now.
I can credit the transition to some major contributing factors that helped me with making the change over the last year. The first is having the love and support of my partner Hollywho is almost a lifelong vegan that had the ability to help me open up my palette to try new foods, also the massive cultural shift we’re currently seeing that has brought veganism into mainstream consciousness, specifically the options now available to order in restaurants!
While I’d rather keep to companies that are completely vegan, it’s not always possible. So in the list below you’ll find a mix of completely vegan businesses, as well as some of my favourite options from other establishments in Cardiff.
Greazy vegan is a vegan junk food restaurant at the entrance to Castle Arcade. I’ve found myself going here for lunch up to 4 times a week while I’m working in town. My top items from them include their Doner Vebab and Hot Wings although their burgers are nothing to turn your nose up at either! (get the Vacon Double Cheeseburger and thank me later) they also do monthly specials from time to time!
Blanche bakery is a regular haunt these days. I’ve consumed what can only be described as an unholy amount of doughnuts from them. The owners are fantastic and dedicated to their business and it really shows.
It’s not just doughnuts either, they serve full sized meals including Cardiff’s first (and to my knowledge, only) vegan mac and cheese as well as rotating their doughnut selection with new and creative doughnuts all the time!
Anna Loka has, IMHO One of the best “chicken” burgers in Cardiff!! Another restaurant that is 100% vegan from the ground up so there’s no shortage of choice on their menu!
A new place that’s just been flooding my radar recently is a place called Wild Thing a vegan and low/zero waste food joint in Grangetown. From what I’ve heard, I’m gonna have to visit and make a full review post of my own very soon!
The Grazing Shed is something of an institution as far as burgers are concerned. They were one of my favourite places to eat back when I was a full-time meat human. And I’m glad to say that they have stepped up their game when it comes to vegan food. Their menu consists of 4 permanent vegan burgers and at the moment also featured the Dirty Vegan burger by Pritchard of S.W.Y.D. another man who has seen the vegan light!
Tiny Rebel is one of my favourite bars in Cardiff and they now serve seitan wings in a variety of flavours, all the way from buffalo to salted caramel (don’t knock it til you’ve tried it, think battered mars bar) the menu is actually pretty substantial, including (as above) tofu bites, corn fritters and cheesy fries. They also have burgers and pizza!
YO! Sushi are so good that they almost bankrupt me every time I go in. They do an outstanding tofu katsu curry as well as a few other favourites including the spicy pepper cauliflower and inari taco (ask for the old recipe if you order it!) also you if you’re particularly hungry they do a larger version on the Katsu! They also do “Green Wednesday” when all vegan dishes are only £2.30 each!
Other places in Cardiff are releasing vegan options faster than I can write a post about it. This article got started 3 months ago and since then it’s blown up even more. Companies such as TGIFridays, Frankie and Bennys and even eds easy diner in st Davids 2 have all released vegan items since January 2019! In fact this post keeps getting set back because new items keep getting released. Even KFC and burger king are trying to stick their oars in.
It amazes me how fast something can catch on. In 2018 the UK released more vegan food than any other country and it was the biggest food trend of the year. source
Even as I finish writing this post, I know more and more vegan products are coming to market every day, and if I don’t post this now, it’ll never be finished because I won’t be able to keep up with the constant influx of new options!
Keep an eye out, because I’ll be doing full in-depth reviews on each of the restaurants mentioned, covering everything from their menu options to their company ethos and the design of the restaurants themselves!
Good food isn’t that hard to find. Not that I’m shouting it from the rooftops, but I’ve stopped eating meat! It’s been a slow journey which started with me being a fairly voracious carnivore, happily taking on any ridiculous burger challenge I could find or making the most un-godly Internet foods my skill set could muster.Like most people I’ve been into cycling since I was a kid.
I remember opening my first mountain bike one Christmas. I couldn’t tell you anything about it apart from it being black with yellow tires.
I remember going for my first ride with my mum walking along side me and my brother. This is when a stranger stopped us to say my handlebars were on backwards.
What happened to that bike I have no idea. Like many of the bikes I had growing up, it most likely ended up a rusting hulk in the garden because we didn’t have the space to keep them inside.
Anyway, fast forward a about a decade and many bikes later. I’ve amassed a small fleet of custom bicycles that have occupied my spare time over the past 4 years.
The first one on the list would be my Duracell mountain bike. I got this as it was being given away as a promotional item. I don’t remember what exactly because I’ve owned the bike for at least 10 years in total now.
I used it a handful of times when I was 17, but living in a hilly valley town made it difficult to use and thus it was resigned to the garden until I moved to Cardiff in 2015.
As I’d moved to the city for university and work. I figured I’d need a mode of transport, Cardiff being a fairly flat city made the idea of cycling fun and easy. That’s when I decided to dig the Duracell bike out of retirement.
Needless to say, the bike was completely seized. I remember there being a puncture in the rear tire when I last used it, but being sat in the garden for all that time had taken its toll.
As I was unfamiliar with bike maintenance and repair (I had never even opened a puncture kit) I was unsure if the bike was worth saving or if I’d have to just buy a new bike, however having a limited budget at the time made looking for a new bike difficult.
So seeking some professional help, I went to my local Halfords store to see what they could do.
As it happens a friend of mine worked there and gave me the news that he could bring the bike back to life and have it in working condition for £55… Bearing in mind I had to carry this bike into the store because it was completely seized up.
Fast forward a week and here’s what I got back!
They had replaced the bottom bracket, brakes, brake levers, brake pads, inner tubes, brake cables and housing, gear lines and housing, front and rear derailleur arms and the rear cassette…
For all of you that are unfamiliar with bike anatomy, that’s basically everything that makes the bike move!
Of course. As happy as I was with the resurrection of the bike, I just couldn’t leave it in its stock setup. I had to make this mountain bike a useful city commuter that can take the urban and the mud. I started out by adding pannier racks and bags.
Ultimately the pannier bags above lasted about a week and the handlebar bag even less. They didn’t suit my needs, and keeping things on your bike while it’s locked up on the street just isn’t a great idea.
My modifications from this point had whole practical influences. I changed out the bars for a straight bar from Brick Lane Bikes and swapped out the horrid grip shift gears for some new combination Shimano EF41 quick shifters and brake levers. Finished off this some gold bar tape… Just because. This setup was then improved with the addition the Takeaway tray, another item from Brick Lane Bikes.
This setup helps me I’m the city because it makes the bike so narrow. I can filter through the heaviest traffic without worrying about accidentally scratching other vehicles, and the tray on the front has come in handy on so many occasions.
Later additions came in the forms of a Pendleton satchel bag for my everyday use, and some metal carrying cages.
While in uni, using the duracell bike. I realised that sometimes I was taking out a really heavy bike built to carry things when all I really needed was something simple and lightweight to get me from A to B. So as a result of this I ended up buying a new bike from ebay.
Brand new this bike only cost me £160 including delivery.
A nice, simple, single speed bicycle with nothing unnecessary weighing me down… The only problem was, I hated the bars on it for some reason.
I already knew what I wanted, dropped racing bars and 2 position brake levers like I’d seen on vintage 10 speed bikes.
I found it a great bike and took its place as my main ride depending on if I knew I’d need to carry anything heavy or bulky.
When I had these 2 bikes up and running my commute to work was only around 500 meters or so, I made a point of living close to my workplace. In fact, some mornings it would take me longer to get the bike out of my flat than it would take to cycle to work.
However, in February 2017. My place of work changed location. Which meant that my 500m trip to work became a 7 mile round trip. Needless to say this was a massive step up in regards to my previous cycling endeavours.
The first few weeks were hell and I still couldn’t work out which bike would be better to commute with. A lighter bike with only one speed, or a heavier bike with the ability to adjust the gears… over time and with a lot of practice I was capable of cycling the route in a best time of 15:30 with either bike. I still believe I could have got that down to less than 10 minutes if it wasn’t for the 10 sets of traffic lights on the way. My health improved massively and my asthma almost completely disappeared. I was in the best physical shape I had ever been. My thighs muscles had even doubled in size!
As of this post I have started a third bike build for the sake of fun. This project bike was actually acquired as the same time as the duracell mountain bike and was in pretty much the same condition when I dragged it out of the garden at my family home.
I proceeded to strip off all the parts I didn’t want or were too damaged to use. This left with the frame and forks, wheel set, front crankset, pedals and rear cassette.
The plan is to get the bike up and running as a single speed cargo bicycle for now, with the intention to eventually get an 80cc engine kit and make it work as a cargo moped! I’ve only got as far as to get the wheels re-wrapped with City jets and I’ve also already started to cover the frame with stickers… Because it’s my project and I want to… other parts I’ve been looking at including this flat rat handlebar rack by Brick Lane Bikes
I know this post isn’t for the purist cyclists put there. Nor is it for the mountain bike crowd, or even the city commuter crowd. These bikes are built to my own, very weird specifications. They all serve a purpose that I need them to. And honestly I do it for the fun of building. There’s nothing more rewarding that looking at something you’ve created with pure glee and pride. Here’s to running these bikes for years to come!
