Enter David 'Sammy' Sale and Calum Adams, the friends and co-founders of Shrub in Chester. Their plant-based restaurant, which has gone from strength to strength since starting out as a takeaway between lockdowns, was crowned ‘Best Vegan Roast’ in the The Good Food Guide’s Best Sunday Roast Awards 2024.
Their style of serving vegan food ‘without making a song and dance of it’ has appealed to hardline vegans and laid-back carnivores alike. Ahead of opening their new bar TBC, they share their top tips for making a success of a vegan – or mostly vegan – start to the year.
1. Small plates for the win
Small plates offer a great way to explore plant-based cuisine with variety, creativity, and balance. Small plates also encourage sharing, allowing you to sample a wide array of flavours without committing to a single dish.
2. Ditch the centrepiece
Without meat, it can be hard to create a big centrepiece to your meal, as a lot of people build a meal around the meat. Instead of focusing on one central part to the meal, have a few dishes that work alongside each other, and swap out a meaty main for some plant-based protein like beans or tofu.
3. Accidentally vegan
A lot of food is vegan without making any substitutes, think curries, hearty soups and wintery salads. Winter is a great season for vegetables, from kale to cauliflower, celeriac, leek and potatoes.
4. Meat alternatives
There are plenty of meat substitutes on the market which can help when it comes to cooking vegan. Whilst we don’t use much ‘fake meat’ in the restaurant, at home it can help to use substitute meat in meals, from vegan sausages to seitan shawarma. Most supermarkets have a wide array of meat alternatives nowadays, compared to 15 years ago when Sammy first went vegan!
5. Don't be too rigid
Veganuary is a great way to try something new, so don’t worry if you can’t commit to the whole month. Even eating one vegan meal a week is great, and you can save money by eating plant-based too.
