Losing the taste for vegan restaurants | Letters
Isobel Lewis’s article on vegan restaurants suggests two reasons that they may be closing: general problems in the hospitality industry and a shift in cultural values (The plant-based problem: why vegan restaurants are closing – or adding meat to the menu, 2 September),Surely, it’s missing the real reason? I am vegetarian, but I rarely eat in vegetarian or vegan restaurants because I rarely dine out alone,People usually want to dine with their partner, or their friends,Quite a few people are vegan, but far fewer couples are likely to both be vegan,Even fewer friend groups are all vegan.
To me, requesting that my non-vegetarian friends dine out at a vegan restaurant would be as selfish as it would be for them to request I eat at a steak house.We might occasionally agree on one or the other just to see how it goes, but most of the time we’ll go to a restaurant that caters to all our diets.This is why vegan-only restaurants find the going tough.Adam WilliamsonVancouver, Canada I have not eaten meat for over 40 years and have gradually moved towards a more plant-based diet.I prefer my vegetables to look and taste like vegetables, not 3D-printed “vegan steak” (made of plant protein, with the fibrous feel of the real thing) and disarmingly realistic “tofish” (tofu fish).
Maybe the demise of many vegan restaurants means that I am not alone,Fr Colin PateyAshby-de-la-Zouch, Leicestershire Rendel Harris says that “if you really want to be kind to other species, go vegan” (Letters, 31 August),This is unfair,I really want to be kind to other species and as a result I have not knowingly eaten the flesh of mammals, birds or fish for the last 40 years,Yes, I could do more, but that is a reasonable start.
I also use plant-based “milk”, margarine etc, and thus limit my use of dairy products.It does not have to be all or nothing.Joe CockerLeominster, Herefordshire Have an opinion on anything you’ve read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section.
The Duck & Rice, London SW11: ‘Filling, but largely unmemorable’ – restaurant review
Not really your typical bowl-of-noodles stopgap jointThe Duck & Rice, the Chinese gastropub in Soho, London, has opened a second site in Battersea power station’s shopping precinct. To be fair, my use of the word “precinct” to describe this lovingly titivated landmark feels a bit shabby, as does “retail experience”. And plain old “mall” definitely won’t do, because Battersea’s collection of 150-odd shops is very much in the la-di-da, aspirational, lululemon, Mulberry and Malin+Goetz range of money-frittering, all set over multiple floors with dramatic mezzanines. This is a sumptuous paean to industrial chic, with pleasing air-conditioning and polished floors, and there is currently no more jocund and luxurious a place in London to spend money you don’t have on things you don’t need.In keeping with all this luxury, Battersea’s flagship restaurant right now is the new Duck & Rice, created 10 years ago by the renowned Hong Kong-born British restaurateur Alan Yau OBE, who also founded the likes of Wagamama, Yauatcha and Hakkasan
From Vietnam to Costa Rica, putting ice in beer is nothing new | Letters
In the tropics, ice in your beer is normal (Ice cubes in beer: is this popular pub order atrocious – or ingenious?, Pass notes, 2 September). In Vietnamese restaurants, servers wander around taking partially melted ice blocks out of your glass and replacing them with new ones. Of course, this is fine with low-cost options such as 333, Bia Saigon and even Tiger. The beer stays cold, and in any case it is drunk rather quickly with little chance of any meaningful dilution. Would I put ice in a pint of Pasteur Street Jasmine IPA or Heart of Darkness Dream Alone pale ale? I would not
Benjamina Ebuehi’s recipe for chocolate and malted buttercream cake | The sweet spot
Being a twin, I’ve always shared a birthday cake. Each year, I ask my sister what I should bake and the answer is almost never chocolate, despite it being one of my favourite cake flavours. However, this year, I’ll be changing that and making this lovely, fudgy two-layer chocolate cake filled and topped with a luscious, malty buttercream that I could eat by the spoonful. If you want to make it extra celebratory, swap the chocolate shavings for sprinkles.Prep 10 min Cook 1 hr Serves 12315g plain flour 150g caster sugar 120g light brown sugar 50g cocoa powder 2 tsp baking powder 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda ¼ tsp fine sea salt 3 large eggs 60ml neutral oil 225g plain yoghurt 115g unsalted butter, melted170ml hot brewed coffeeFor the malted buttercream250g unsalted butter 1 tsp vanilla bean paste 40ml whole milk 50g malted milk powder (eg, Horlicks)175g icing sugar¼ tsp fine sea salt Milk chocolate, shaved, to finishHeat the oven to 180C (160C fan)/350F/gas 4 and grease and line two 20cm loose-bottomed cake tins
Losing the taste for vegan restaurants | Letters
Isobel Lewis’s article on vegan restaurants suggests two reasons that they may be closing: general problems in the hospitality industry and a shift in cultural values (The plant-based problem: why vegan restaurants are closing – or adding meat to the menu, 2 September). Surely, it’s missing the real reason? I am vegetarian, but I rarely eat in vegetarian or vegan restaurants because I rarely dine out alone.People usually want to dine with their partner, or their friends. Quite a few people are vegan, but far fewer couples are likely to both be vegan. Even fewer friend groups are all vegan
‘You can host with just a sandwich’: Hetty Lui McKinnon on becoming an imperfect host
Hetty Lui McKinnon always wanted a round table. When the Chinese Australian food writer moved to New York, she finally got her wish.The table literally and figuratively opened her home up to a community she was trying to create. “When you eat around a round table, everyone can see each other’s faces. Everyone can speak equally,” McKinnon says
Want wines with attitude? Look to the Jura
If you’ve heard of savagnin (nope, not sauvignon), you may well be one of those in-the-know wine drinkers who have been ushered in the direction of the Jura, this grape’s iconic region, after being priced out of your favourite burgundy. And while there are some similarities between the two regions, a focus on chardonnay and pinot noir being the most obvious, there are plenty of other varieties for discerning wine nerds, and savagnin is definitely one of them.It’s a grape variety that’s been grown in France for 900 years, with high acidity and a late-ripening in the vineyard, and it’s known for the complex, age-worthy styles of wine it can create. It’s also grown just over the border in Switzerland, where it’s known as heida, as well as in Australia, where it was once mistaken for albariño. In the Jura, however, this high-acid grape produces nuanced still wines, and wines made in the vin jaune style, for which the wine is matured under yeast to give it a nutty, complex character akin to that of a biologically aged sherry such as fino
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