Viking Direct Arty Party - A Christmas Crafting Blogger Event

Last month the lovely folk at Viking Direct sent me an invite to their #VikingArtyParty. With promises of Christmas crafts & calligraphy I was in! When I was a P.A I used to get all the office supplies from them as they sell thousands of products. Being 57 years old & selling in 11 different countries worldwide Viking know their stuff.

Vegan Cafe Of The Month - The Zoo Newland Avenue Hull

If you didn't already know from following me over on YouTube then about 6 months ago I started dabbling with vegetarianism & loved it. A little over 2 months ago I had a health scare that meant I needed to cut out all saturated fats. The obvious solution was to go fully plant based. So as you are reading this I am on my way to becoming veganised( I think I just made that word up) What I mean by that is that my diet is vegan or should I say whole foods plant based but I am still working on all the other parts that make up a fully fledged vegan. Watch this space.

I thought it would be fun to do a monthly slot on my blog dedicated to the best vegan restaurant that I have visited in that month. Todays venue is one that I had tried to visit a few times but always on a Monday when they are closed. As you can imagine, I was super excited to finally visit & get some food in my belly.

Zoo Cafe was everything I was expecting & more besides. Hidden down a little alley just off Newland Ave in Hull you'd be forgiven for thinking you'd taken a wrong turn, but then you spot a blue brick building & an opening with a hip patio garden area with canopy above.

Upon entering Zoo the place was packed but luckily they have a very comfortable upstairs area with slouchy couches & tables made from cable reels. We perused the chalkboard menu & decided on the Zoo burger which is a butter bean burger.

As we waited for our food I took in the interior of the building which was an eclectic mix of boho chic meets urban warehouse. I loved it! My favourite feature was the Juliet balcony overlooking the patio garden which sported some rather fun monkey wallpaper. You might catch a glimpse of it in my pictures but I thought it would be more fun for you to visit Zoo & see it for yourself. The balcony allowed the light to flood in & of course gave great lighting for my food pics.

When our meals arrived I was taken aback by the sheer amount of food on the plate. Every single morsel was so tasty. The butter bean burger was packed tight with veggies & full of flavour, topped with vegan cheese & vegan pesto. Better still, when I picked it up in it's bagel it held together perfectly. The rustic side salad had a lovely lemony dressing, the homemade salsa was tangy & fresh, the cous cous salad had radish, herbs & butterbeans throughout it with a few corn tortilla chips thrown in for good measure. I could hear myself mmming as i devoured it, a true sign of enjoyment. If I went back for the same meal again the only thing I would change is to ask for the burger to be grilled rather than shallow fried, but that is only because of my health problems & that I'm trying to avoid all fats. Truly though for £6.50 this was such an epic bargain of a meal.

So as you can see, I really was taken with this place & wished that I lived closer so that I could be sat typing this blog post on one of their comfy couches with a soy latte, surrounded by plants hanging from the ceiling & cool interior design. But worry not, I will certainly be back very soon & can't wait to see what delights await me on the chalkboard menu next time.

Which vegan cafe or restaurant do you love? Let me know as I am always looking for new cafes to review(or stuff my face in more like, shh)