Roots at Inspired Nights on the Green

Wednesday, 28 August 2019

Earlier this year we were enjoying a walk with family on Aberdeen beach when we remembered hearing about a new plant-based catering truck near Footdee. We decided to have a look and see if we could get some lunch. The whole family was impressed (non-vegans included) and Roots have become a favourite of theirs too! I didn't have my camera with me that day but when we visited this month we saw Roots would be at Inspired Nights On The Green. We headed along, excited to see what would be on offer this time.

Inspired Nights On The Green is a monthly event held in Aberdeen over summer, with a selection of street food vendors, pop up bars and music it's such a great atmosphere. The Green is also home to some fantastic street art which was part of the nuart festival so make sure to have a wander around and check out the painted doors too!

Roots catering has a small but perfectly formed menu, it changes regularly as they experiment with new creations and so far everything we have tried has been our newest favourite! At Inspired Nights we had the Philly Cheesesteak and Philly Cheesesteak loaded fries. Actually, David had both as he couldn't choose but I just had the fries! I say just, but the portions are very generous so that was plenty for me. The cheese sauce is unbelievable, and the seitan 'steak' is delicious. My sister and her friends came along too and pinched a few of our chips before ordering the same plus the Chickn' Katsu Curry Burger.

Last time, we had a southern fried Chick'aint Burger and Crispy Panko To-fish burger which were perfect after a breezy beach walk. It's definitely given us more motivation to visit the beach on an Aberdeen weekend trip! Roots is the creation of chef Nick Coetzer, you can see his passion for making exciting plant-based food in the attention to detail. The seitan and cheese sauce alone are worth a trip to Aberdeen! Look out for future pop-up events as you don't want to miss food this good.

Find Roots at the beach and local events - check their social media for details:

The Long Dog Cafe

Monday, 26 August 2019

It had been years since I'd visited the Long Dog Cafe in Aberdeen (before I was vegan) and the last time I was there was for one of their famous freakshakes. I was delighted to see they had recently added a vegan version to their menu, so when my sister asked where we should go for a coffee we opted for a huge sugar boost instead.

The Long Dog Cafe is incredibly dog-friendly (we brought Molly), they cater for your furry friends and also have a boutique next door for all your pup's accessories. It's great to see they are now catering for vegans too! There is a sign saying soya and almond milk are available but I've also seen oat and coconut mentioned on Instagram. The freakshake, which we had also seen on social media before visiting, was slightly different from the dark chocolate one here which was topped with banana bread and lotus biscuit. Ours were topped with a tasty flapjack type cake instead, with chocolate sauce, biscoff spread, pretzels, dark chocolate buttons and almonds. The shake itself was just vanilla-y but that's fair considering how much else is going on with this delicious creation!

We didn't try out anything else on the menu, but I think they have a couple of vegan-friendly savoury options for brunch and lunch as well as a cake or two. I'm sure if you're visiting after reading this, it's more likely you'll be ordering a freakshake! They cost £6.50, but it is basically a cake and dessert in one so it's worth it as a treat for sure.
66 Claremont Street, Aberdeen, AB10 6QY
07.30-17.00 Mon-Fri | 09.00-17.00 Sat | 10.00-17.00 Sun
http://www.thelongdogcafe.co.uk/