Dock Street Studios

Wednesday, 15 February 2023

Dock Street Studios is a multifunctional space; home to a beautiful shop, cafe and events venue. You’ll find it round the corner from the V&A (which you can just about spot from the cafe window) - it’s a great place to visit if you’re down at the Waterfront as you can have a wee walk via Slessor Gardens to get to it.

Sara has curated a wonderful selection of gifts, vintage and interiors with lots of work by local makers on offer too. There’s lots of quirky stationery and art prints - ideal for stocking up on cards if you’re organised. There are cabinets filled with handmade jewellery which would make wonderful gifts too. You’ll find plenty to choose from for accessorising your home; trinket dishes, textiles, candles and candle holders, plant pots and an abundance of artificial flowers.

I especially love the vintage items, there are just so many lovely one-off pieces. The stoneware in particular caught my eye, but I think my favourite was a multi-coloured pastel china tea set I noticed in the black dresser. The attention to detail in styling the displays is perfect for browsing too, you can keep looking and still spot more but it doesn’t feel overwhelming.

Tilted Duck Vintage has a new home at Dock Street Studios. There’s a cute and cosy corner with rails crammed full of retro-patterned clothes and chunky knitwear. The spotlight mirror is a fun addition! A few of my favourite vintage dresses are from Tilted Duck so it’s good to know where to find them now.

When we visited, the cafe was just serving hot drinks and ice cream. I have seen that they did sandwiches before - with a vegan option too. We decided to go elsewhere as we were quite hungry so ended up at the Dundee Cycle Hub for lunch but I'll be sure to pop back for a coffee soon.

Dock Street Studios has a surprisingly large exhibitions and events space through the back - it’s a bit of a Tardis as you can’t immediately tell on arrival! They are a Dundee Fringe venue and you can find out about upcoming events here, but do check their socials too.

Find Dock Street Studios at Dock Street Studios at 9/10 Dock St, Dundee DD1 4BT
https://www.facebook.com/dockstreetstudios
@dockstreetstudios







Dundee Cycle Hub Cafe

Saturday, 11 February 2023

It was a lovely sunny January day when I was meeting Lyndsey of Lyndsey Currie Textiles for a semi-business lunch. We had met at the waterfront for a wander and were deciding where to go when I remembered the Dundee Cycle Hub had a little cafe with a lovely window seat and some vegan options.

We headed over and were delighted to find the window bench was free. It’s the perfect spot for enjoying the Waterfront view with the bonus of people-watching. It was quite quiet, but I’d imagine it would be a lot busier in summer when everyone is making the most of the Urban Beach.

It’s such a welcoming space with industrial bike-themed decor, plants, books, magazines, and merchandise. You can hear the workshop happenings in the background, but it’s still very peaceful. It would be a great place to get on with some work on your laptop over a coffee and you can even bring your dog.

We had a look at the wee menu; there aren’t a lot of options as it is a small cafe, but it’s very reasonably priced. Vegan-wise there was just the black bean and coconut chilli bowl, but there was also an avocado toast which I’m sure could be made vegan. We both opted for the chilli which was just £6 and came with some tortilla chips. It was very warming and the ideal comfort food for a wintery January day. We both loved that it was made with desiccated coconut as it wasn’t something we’d tried before (we both make a lot of chilli) and it really added to the texture.

There is usually a vegan sweet option, you just have to check the cake cabinet on the counter. We decided to share a slice of Oreo rocky road which was delicious - very rich and chocolatey - I certainly wouldn’t have managed a piece all to myself after the chilli. We had been planning on ordering a hot chocolate too, as we’d asked if it was vegan-friendly when ordered with oat milk, but we were all chocolate-ed out after the rocky road.

Of course, the Dundee Cycle Hub is much more than just a cafe. They are a social enterprise that provides bike recycling, sales, cycle servicing and repairs, bike hire and training opportunities. If you’re thinking of hiring a bike (or electric bike) they will be happy to help and have lots of information on local cycling routes. Their website has lots of details of current events and projects if you’d like to find out more. They also have a cycle hub in Arbroath.

The Dundee Cycle Hub is a fantastic addition to the Waterfront and I have to say I’m tempted to organise a bike hire for myself… though I think it’s been well over 15 years since I’ve ridden one. We’ll see how well that goes as to whether it makes it onto the blog!

Find Dundee Cycle Hub at Waterfront Place, Riverside Esplanade, Dundee DD1 4EZ
www.dacyclehub.org
@dundeecyclehub

Mate Date: Drawing Day

Tuesday, 7 February 2023


With Galentine’s Day just around the corner, you might be looking for the perfect mate date; how about a drawing day? It’s a wonderful excuse to spend some quality time with your bestie and you can do it for free!

When I was noting down ideas for activities Wee Dundee last month, I spotted an Instagram post by local illustrator, Cara Rooney featuring a drawing day adventure. It looked like such a lovely thing to do so I reached out to see if Cara would have me along on one so I could blog about it and luckily for me, she said yes!

You may be wondering what a drawing day is, and I’m sure there could be lots of variations. For us it was a mix of walking, exploring, drawing, coffee, and lots of good chats. You don’t have to be amazing at drawing to enjoy yourself - there’s plenty of joy in slowing down and noticing things around you that you wouldn’t usually.

If you’re thinking of arranging your own drawing day date you will need:
  • A willing friend
  • A sketchbook or other type of notebook
  • Some drawing materials (you don’t need much - limited colour palettes are fun!)
  • An idea of a route or at least a starting point
  • Warm clothes if you’re going to draw outside like we did (fingerless gloves would have been handy)
  • If you’re on a budget, pack a thermos and some snacks, or even a full picnic
  • A plan B if you’re relying on good weather

We arranged to meet for lunch at Pacamara as a starting point and hoped the weather would be on our side afterwards. Cara told me she likes to divide up her Moleskine page into little boxes, which makes it into more of a storyboard - I love the end result with her playful style. I was feeling very out of practice and had a scarily blank sketchbook but I reminded myself it was just for fun and it felt so nice and mindful once I started doodling.

After lunch, we headed down Taylor’s Lane to Magdalen Green. It was very breezy but we found a picnic bench at the bottom end which was a little more sheltered - it didn’t stop our pens from blowing off the table though! We were also interrupted by an overenthusiastic dog who came and slapped my sketchbook. After drawing here, and photographing said drawings, we walked along the waterfront until we found a good spot to stop next.

The sun was starting to set, which meant some beautiful evening light along with the choppy waves that feature nicely in Cara’s drawings. By this point we were pretty chilly, so decided to finish our day with a hot drink at Blend to warm us up. Blend is back to opening until 8pm on Thursdays now, so it’s ideal if you’re looking for a cosy place to hang out after dark. We did some last doodles over oat chai lattes, then it was time for our drawing day to come to an end.

It was such a fun afternoon and I’d definitely recommend it as something different to do. A big thank you to Cara for letting me be part of a drawing day and for sending me over these copies of her super cute sketchbook (below). You can find Cara’s work on her website here, or follow her on Instagram here.

I’d love to know if you decide to have a similar drawing day. Let me know if you’d like to see more mate dates on the blog!


Loco Rita's

Thursday, 26 January 2023


Being one of Dundee’s 3 fully vegan eateries, Loco Rita’s is one of our favourite places to visit. I was trying to work out why we never covered it as Vegan Dundee, but realised we had popped in for ice cream back when it was Underdog, and then the pandemic happened, and the blog fizzled out. It was top of my list for dining in with my camera, so when our friends asked if we wanted to go for lunch and said we could choose the place it was a done deal.

Loco Rita’s is a Mexican Cantina and bar with a colourful exterior and casual dining style which is family-friendly. We were seated in a slightly chilly spot by the door but our friends had a pram so I think that was for convenience more than anything. The table was the first thing we noticed as it was so bright and colourful being made from recycled plastic (this was a little challenging having such a busy background for photographing!).

I think by this point we’ve actually tried everything on the menu - I love that with it being small plates you get to have a little bit of lots of things. They recommend 2-3 plates per person. We chose our food with coordination for sharing in mind. Loco Rita’s also has lots of gluten free options and the menu is clearly labelled for this which is always handy.

First to arrive was the fully loaded nachos, these are so fresh and zingy and come with little pots of salsa and guacamole to add to the already well-topped jackfruit and beans tortilla chips. Next up our selection of tacos - our table had chosen cheeseburger, crispy shrimpz and barbacoa carrot this time. I’d ordered the shrimp as this was my favourite the last time we were eating here, but the cheeseburger is a close second - the beer cheese is fantastic. The cheeseburger loaded fries also came slathered in house-made beer cheese with tasty crumbled burger bits. Finally, we had some veggies in the form of elote ribs (Mexican street corn) and two plates of crispy cauliflower wings; one with lime crema and the other with chipotle and mango.

You wouldn’t think we’d have managed dessert after this, but we’d been chatting about churros earlier so couldn’t resist ordering some to share. These came drizzled with chocolate sauce and a wee bowl of delicious soft-serve ice cream. There are also whippy ice cream sundaes made with this and we were told it's the only vegan soft serve in Scotland.

Though I didn’t have a cocktail on this visit, we sometimes treat ourselves to a frozen margarita from the specials board. It was a bit chilly for it on our mid-January visit, but they often have flavours like passion fruit and watermelon.

If you’re free on a Tuesday or Thursday then you’re in luck, as Loco Rita’s has a fab Taco Tuesday offer (half price tacos) or grab 4 tacos and a frozen margarita for £15 on a Thursday.


Find Loco Ritas at Old Hawkhill, Dundee, DD1 5EU
www.locoritas.com
@loco_ritas_dundee

Marwick's Vegan Kitchen / Italian Week

Sunday, 8 January 2023

 


Marwick's Vegan Kitchen is back! We were delighted to see that to celebrate Veganuary, Marwick's world food menus are available to order for delivery every Thursday this month - the first one being Italian.

These menus are fab as the food comes chilled, prepared, and ready to heat at home up to 48 hours from delivery. I love this as you can choose when you're going to have it and it means I can enjoy setting up a cosy date-night table while it's in the oven. Oh, and there are hardly any dishes! The delivery zone is DD1-DD6, KY15 & KY16 with delivery typically between 4-6pm.

In previous years we'd had their afternoon tea delivery (which we ate in the sunshine in the garden - hard to imagine at the moment!), Christmas dinner, and a few other around-the-world meals. These were all so delicious I knew we had to order this time.

You can choose your number of courses (1 course £14.50, 2 courses £20, or 3 courses £25) and the portion sizes are very generous. We ordered two between the two of us and had enough left over for the next day. The heating and serving instructions are very easy to follow, and there are little pots for dressings, so you can add the right amount for yourself.

For Italian week we had arancini filled with basil pesto and served with an arrabbiata sauce to start. Arancini is my favourite and this did not disappoint! It's something I never make so it was such a treat. 

Next up was Lasagne al Forno, with Caprese salad and bruschetta. I did a terrible job of serving up the lasagne (I'm going to blame my utensils) so please keep that in mind when looking at the photos. Mike had made the pasta for the lasagne and mozzarella for the Caprese and you could really tell! The mozzarella was so fresh and creamy and it was a deliciously rich lasagne.

We both agreed that the bruschetta was incredible, I would happily eat that every day. The bread came with pesto to spread on top before popping in the oven then you added the tomato topping and balsamic glaze afterwards. Yum! 

Last but not least, the dessert was tiramisu. There was even dark chocolate fudge for afterwards - it would have been perfect with an espresso. Tiramisu was one of our go-to desserts pre-vegan so we were very excited. The homemade mascarpone really made this, it was so light and velvety. 

Next week's menu theme is Vietnam with crispy stuffed jackfruit pancakes, Vietnamese meatballs, spicy tofu, rice noodles, and more. You can check out the menu and order here. We would definitely recommend it for a January treat!

You might have noticed that Marwick's has now split its food and retail into separate brands (and websites). Marwick's Vegan has a winter sale on which I'd definitely recommend checking out - we did lots of Christmas shopping as there are so many great vegan and sustainable goodies on there. 

Jesmonite Workshop with Nine Angels

Wednesday, 4 January 2023


Last year, I was delighted to hear that Melissa of Nine Angels* was launching Jesmonite workshops. For those who aren’t familiar, Nine Angels offers a range of colourful Jesmonite homewares and polymer clay jewellery, all handmade in Dundee. Jesmonite is an eco-friendly composite material which makes really tactile objects.

Melissa launched the workshops at an introductory price so I snapped up two tickets, one for me and one for my Mum’s birthday. We always say we’d like to do things like this, so it was the perfect opportunity.

The workshops are held at Fresh Studios, 4-6 Staffa Place where Nine Angels HQ is located. There are lots of other businesses in there which I’ll have to check out in future; Andie the Label & Sewing School offers classes that I’m very keen to book.

When we arrived there were lots of moulds laid out, sparkly glitters and bottles of coloured dyes. It all looks very tempting and we were spoilt for choice. Melissa explained how the session would go (I won’t go into too much detail as I know this one was a bit more of a guinea pig run so it might be slightly different now), told us about Jesmonite and showed us how to measure and mix.

Next, we got to choose our moulds. Me and my Mum decided to share a pair of snowflake moulds, these could be made thin for hanging or thicker to be free-standing decorations. My Mum added silver leaf to her mould and I choose pink and gold flakes, she then poured her lilac Jesmonite in and I mixed up a pale pink. Jesmonite is so satisfying to work with! It’s much quicker to set and become a finished object than I expected.

For my next make, I chose a trinket tray mould which I wanted to make for my sister’s spa - it had to match her colours perfectly so I spent a wee while faffing with the shade of green but I love how it turned out with the bronze glitter and flakes. My Mum also made a pair of candle stick holders for the Christmas table with a lovely grey-green colour and green metallic leaf.

While the Jesmonite was setting we had a coffee break. I’d told Melissa it was my Mum’s birthday so she even got some little (vegan) cupcakes in which was super thoughtful. While we drank our coffee we kept an eye on our moulds to see if they had cooled down - the Jesmonite heats up as it sets so this is how you tell when it’s ready to pop out.

Once the Jesmonite was set we de-moulded the pieces and got to work sanding and sealing. It was lovely to see the variety in everyone’s makes. There were so many beautiful colour combos with everything from coasters to pots and pendants.

I absolutely loved this workshop, it’s been so long since I’ve done anything properly crafty and I’d love to do another. Nine Angels have more workshop dates on their website including a new lamp workshop which looks very cool. You can also buy Jesmonite kits if you’re interested in trying it at home.

*Nine Angels is a client of mine through JillyJilly

Introducing: Wee Dundee

Monday, 2 January 2023

It’s been a while, so long in fact that you might have forgotten that Vegan Dundee (the blog) existed. If you do remember, then Vegan Dundee has now become Wee Dundee! This has been on the back burner for some time now as I couldn’t work out how best to take this change of direction. After a Christmas break with lots of time to think about it, I think we’ve figured it out. Oh and don’t worry - we’re still vegan!

Wee Dundee will be a guide to indie businesses in Dundee, from food and drink to shopping, events, and activities. At the moment the categories are Shop Small, Food & Drink, Things to Do, and Wee Scotland. Here’s what I hope they’re going to cover:

Shop Small
As well as local business features, there will be shop small gift guides, sustainable swaps, and charity shop challenges. Eventually, I’d love for this to become more of a directory but that’s going to take some time!

Food & Drink
This one’s pretty self-explanatory. This category is where you can find the old Vegan Dundee posts - sadly lots have been archived as many of the businesses are no more. As with the old days, we’ll be on the lookout for Dundee’s newest vegan offerings.

Things to Do
Think workshops, classes, markets, cute wee walks, date nights, mate dates, and more! This category is basically an excuse for us to try new things and see what Dundee has to offer. I’ll be sure to include free activities too.

Wee Scotland
There are so many fab indie businesses outside of Dundee to see too, so it would be a shame to completely rule them out. While this will mainly be the nearby surrounding areas, sometimes we’ll feature day trips and mini break ideas elsewhere in Scotland.

As you can see there’s lots planned and it’s going to take some time to grow this wee blog. It’s one of the reasons I’ve not launched sooner, but with the cost of living it’s certainly a make or break time for many an independent business. It might just be a side project for me, but if even a handful of people find out about a business through one of Wee Dundee’s posts it would be amazing.

Before I go, I should probably introduce myself. I’m Jilly, and previously I ran Vegan Dundee with my friend Falda (who’s now living in England). I’m a brand designer & photographer who works with indie businesses - for transparency I will point out when a blog post features a client. I’ll mostly be out and about blogging with my husband David, but occasionally other friends will pop up.

If you’d like to stay up-to-date, you can find Wee Dundee on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok (that’s right, I’ll also be attempting video content this time around). I’d love to hear your thoughts or if you have a business that you’d like to be featured. You can also email me at hello@wee-dundee.co.uk.

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