Vegan food in York & Leeds

I recently got back from a long weekend in York (with a day trip to Leeds) with my mum and my sister, and while I was there, I discovered some amazing vegan food. I only found one fully vegan restaurant (as opposed to the multiple vegan ones in Edinburgh), but lots of places had vegan options so I was never short of food. I even found a stall in York station selling brownies and vegan sausage rolls, although I'd just eaten breakfast so I wasn't hungry enough to buy any.

Here's some of my vegan food highlights from the trip.

1. Double Dutch Pancake House

I stumbled across this place from a leaflet left in our apartment, and while it's not a fully vegan café, it has lots of options for vegans. I had the Belgian pancake which was served with sliced pear, Biscoff spread and Swedish Glace ice-cream and a chocolate milkshake made with soya milk and ice-cream. I did feel pretty stuffed once I left and I would never normally eat something so sweet for breakfast, but it was delicious and a definite must if you're in York.

2. Pho

Pho is a Vietnamese street food restaurant in Leeds which has lots of healthy, fresh vegan options. There's not a Pho in Scotland so it was completely new to me, but they seem to have locations all over the UK. Vietnamese spring rolls are my absolute favourite (even though I've only had them a few times) so I had them with vermicelli rice noodles, beansprouts and some salad.

3. Goji 

Say hello to the most delicious scone I've ever had. We arrived at Goji vegetarian café just as they were bringing out warm scones. I opted for the vegan version so it was served with coconut cream instead of butter. The café had a great menu with lots of choice for breakfast and lunch, and they had lots of huge cakes in the menu too.

4. Cosy Club 

We found Cosy Club through a booklet in our apartment and since it had a separate vegan menu it was a winner. They had brunch, mains, sides and desserts on offer which isn't always the case for a non-vegan restaurant. I picked the vegetable curry which was served with rice, onion bhaji, nan bread, poppadum and mango chutney. I don't normally order a curry when I'm out, but i was drawn to it because it came with so made sides and it didn't disappoint. The décor of the restaurant was beautiful too, so you could easily have a meal and sit for a few drinks after it.

4. Ambiente Tapas 

The dishes weren't marked vegan on the menu, but our waitress went through everything I could eat and other dishes that could be altered to be vegan. I picked veggie paella, patatas bravas, green beans fried in garlic and toasted bread with tomato and garlic. It was all really tasty, especially the green beans which I finished first. It might not seem like a huge amount of food, but it filled me up and it was really good value too.

I also have a vegan food blog from my recent trip to Iceland which you can read here.