So, like always, I apologize. I should have "been on it" but I failed. So since I want to have something to write about I'll write about the couple of restaurants I ate at when I was surviving in Yorkshire England, and also the worst restaurant I ever went to.
So let's start off with the worst.
Here is my review of the Tribal Cafe in Leeds.
I was extremely excited to go to Global Tribe Cafe. It was the number one place I wanted to go to. I thought that if the trip to England sucked then at least I would have had one thing to use positively in memory.
I was so wrong.
Global Tribe Cafe presents itself as a new age hippy restaurant offering Vegan/Vegetarian options. It has a small shop that sits under it and the overall theme of the store seems like a new age hostel. I was so excited. The food seemed like a mixture of healthy/ homely vegan food and I thought it would be a great place to be "me". My whole day was centered around eating there for lunch. In my mindset, I would go christmas shopping in Leeds and then I would feast right after.
Now, to their defense, what I have been told is that the English are notorious at being TERRIBLE for customer service. However my only argument is that what happened to me seemed to so idiotic and inhumane. But, to be civil, I might have had a cultural mishap.
When I arrived I was so ecstatic. I ran upstairs and then I was instantly disappointed. It was full and small. My dad was a bit defeatist and decided to leave but I wanted to give this place credit. I mean this was going to be my everything. So I went up to the waiter and asked if there were any seats available; he looked at me with disdain and said "no".
"No". He just said "no" like I was some sort of inconvenience. Nothing like, "well let's see what we can do", or, "I'm sorry we're full right now but if you wait a couple of minutes we can get you a seat", just "no".
He just said "no".
So I asked how long the wait will be and he replied, "thirty minutes". He never once ask, "shall I get your name down?" or anything like that he just said, "thirty minutes", like
I just took a shit right in front of him. Like I said before, I became the inconvenience for him. I believe I told him that I would be downstairs and will wait and he said that was ok. I also believe I asked him if I could put my name down and he said they didn't do that. I had never experienced a restaurant that didn't have a waiting list but I thought this is England so I can't judge.
So I decided to wait a couple of minutes downstairs. I knew I could wait a couple more minutes so I thought I would go up in thirty to see if I can get a table. This was going to be good. This was what I was waiting for.
However as I waited I noticed several people went upstairs and never came down.
They got tables.
I went upstairs and finally got to speak to someone else. She was a lady who kind of realized how upset I was. I asked how the fuck I was going to get a table and she asked me IF I WANTED TO WRITE MY NAME DOWN. Now maybe that guy was having a bad day, but he needed to grow up. He was working for a company and he brought his weird prejudice with him. When I said yes I asked how long it was going to be and she said, "forty-five minutes".
The problem with this restaurant is that they do not want your service. If you come from another country, maybe from another English county, they do not want your kind here. They do not care about service they just care about their own. I never felt so insulted and rejected in my whole life. I am privileged to experience being a white woman but for the first time in my life I felt judged for who I was. If you want to experience vegan cuisine I HIGHLY recommend that you DO NOT COME HERE.
However I'm not here to bash England. They're not a country of idiots. I actually did eat at some good places. One of the restaurants I did enjoy was Wagamama.
Wagamama is a asian inspired franchise that spans from the UK to the USA. It became my last resort after the fiasco at Global Tribe Cafe. Wagamama is a bench lunch style eatery that offers all diet food. It also is an ASIAN FUSION. I repeat, ASIAN FUSION.
Now I am currently living in Los Angeles. I know a lot of restaurants that have authentic Asian food and a lot of Asian inspired fusion food as well. Now I have to make the statement that Wagamama is an English- Asian fusion restaurant. It is very English, very very English.
However I have only nice things to say about Wagamama because the one I went to was on the ball with my morals. After the fiasco with Global Tribe Cafe, I found Wagamama on the top of the Leeds mall. Our waiter, I'm sorry but I don't remember what her name was, was the nicest. When I said I was a vegan she quickly got the nutrition menu and found me several meals for me to eat. She even took an initiative to separate my meal from other areas where meat was cut and cooked.
At Wagamama I had the Yasai Pad Thai without egg. Comparing it to a lot of the thai food I had, (I live above thai town in Los Angeles), I would say this was so-so, however I did go twice and I did enjoy the meal. Needless to say, not all is lost in England.
Closer to home was also the Rob Royd Farm Shop which was very helpful towards my lifestyle.
From what I've been told Rob Royd is a famous farmhouse that converted itself into a shop/restaurant. Now my family lives near Rob Royd and my Great Aunt Nora LOVES, and I mean LOVES, Rob Royd so we went a couple of times. Every single time I went they made me a meal especially for me and they were always really kind to my great aunt who is 97 years old. I always had a salad, but every single time it was always good.
England had some good and bad moments when it came to vegan food, however if you manage to ask, they are usually knowledgeable to help you out. Being vegan in England is not as impossible as some might think.
The next post I'll write about were goods I prepared for my vegan christmas dinner and foods I manage to buy at the local shops.
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