Category Archives: Hackney

Inspired by Southern US fried chicken and casual food chains, Absurd Bird brings to the table a wide variety of vegan “chicken” and iconic American fast food dishes. I dined in at the Spitalfields location, to try the vegan vaffles and the vegan mac n cheese, and here are my thoughts:

Vegan Vaffles (￡11.85) – This dish consists of 3 crispy vegan fillets, and 4 waffle pieces, along with vegan gravy and maple syrup. The vegan gravy was tasty! It had a very similar taste to a meat-based gravy. Some of my fillets were a little bit too crispy, making it hard to cut them up and eat them, but they were delicious nonetheless. The waffles were also scrumptious, and not soggy! I would order this again, however, I do think the price for this item is a bit steep.

Vegan Mac & Cheese (￡5.80) – Now this was probably my favorite dish. The vegan mac ‘n cheese was unbelievably creamy. It also had an additional layer of melted cheese on top, adding some crisp to the texture. Although it is classed on the menu as a side, the serving size was big enough for 2 people to share. I would 100% go back for this!

Absurd Bird currently has 2 London locations, in Spitalfields and Soho. They are both open for dine-in, as well as click and collect and delivery.

Temple of Seitan continues to prove that you don’t have to sacrifice quality food for a quick, affordable meal. Temple of Seitan has some of the best meatless wings I’ve tasted, and is one of my favorite places to grab a burger. Burgers here cost￡6 to ￡7, whereas lots of other places charge upwards of ￡9! I visited the Camden location, and tried the BBQ Glazed Wings, Mac n Cheese, Popcorn Snack Pack, and the Buffalo Burger, and here are my thoughts:

BBQ Glazed Wings (￡5) – These were probably my favorite item that I ordered. The glaze had the perfect tang that you would expect from a BBQ sauce, and the texture of the “meat” was perfect in the sense that it didn’t just turn to mush when you bit into it. It had the texture of real meat.

Popcorn Snack Pack (￡5) – The popcorn “chicken” bites were crispy and flavorsome. I enjoyed these best dipped in ketchup.

Buffalo Burger (￡6.50) – This buffalo burger is probably one of my favorite vegan burgers I’ve had to date. Again, the texture and flavor of the Seitan were spot on. The sandwich consisted of a buffalo glazed fillet, topped with pickles, coleslaw, and ranch mayo.

Mac N Cheese (R￡3.50/L￡5) – This creamy mac is made with cashew parmesan, and topped with sour cream, Seitan bacon, and parsley. It wasn’t my favorite vegan mac, but I still enjoyed it!