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| Zizzi restaurant at the Corn Exchange in Manchester. |
Hello Spooky Spuds,
As I'm sure you're all well aware by now, I'm vegan, and next month I'll be celebrating being vegan for a whole year.
Choosing to be vegan is by far the best decision I've made in my life so far but many people believe that it's difficult and time consuming. I want to assure you that it's not. What may have been overwhelming in the beginning - reading ingredients on packaging and asking for vegan options in restaurants, is completely second nature to me now and I wouldn't change my lifestyle for the world.
In this blog post I want to share with you my favourite place to eat vegan when I've had a busy day shopping or I'm celebrating a special occasion; Zizzi.
There are over 140 Zizzi restaurants spread across the UK and Ireland, serving a whole host of delicious Italian dishes, many of which are vegan and each restaurant has its own unique decor specifically designed to compliment the environment of the local area.
The restaurant I've had the pleasure of visiting on a number of occasions now is at the Manchester Corn Exchange, previously known as The Triangle. Each time I've visited with my boyfriend, and we've been greeted by friendly staff upon arrival and seated at a table of our choosing.
A lot of vegans we know recommended Zizzi before we even considered dining there so we knew to ask for vegan menus when we arrived. Most restaurants have one vegan option on their menu, so to have a full vegan menu with a variety of starters, mains and desserts to choose from was actually really exciting.
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| Vegan garlic bread to share. |
We were told that all alcohol at Zizzi restaurants is vegan apart from a few drinks which were clearly pointed out to us. Both Chris and myself ordered a bottle of Peroni each and then we ordered the vegan garlic bread, topped with freshly roasted garlic, to share between us as a starter.
If you're ordering from the vegan menu it's advised that you state you want the vegan version of each thing you order, so that your waiter or waitress writes that down for the chef. Lots of the vegan food at Zizzi is available as a non-vegan version as well so it's really important you make it clear which food you want to be vegan.
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| Award winning Vegan Rustica Margheritas. |
For our main we both ordered a Vegan Rustica Margherita each, which were served on 'big, thin and crispy bases.' They won the PETA Vegan Food Award for 'Best Vegan Pizza' last year and rightly so - these pizzas are exquisite.
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| Pizza and Peroni. |
I've tried making my own vegan pizzas in the past, using a few different cheeses and I can say without a doubt that Zizzi have the best vegan cheese on their pizzas. Lots of vegan cheeses I've had before are either very rubbery in texture or don't taste of anything but the one at Zizzi reminded me of the cheese you get in lasagne; it was slightly runnier than real cheese but really flavoursome and tasted amazing with the tomato on top and light, floury base. Both of us have said that they're by far the best pizzas we've ever had the pleasure of eating, vegan and non-vegan pizzas included.
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On the occasions we've dined at Zizzi, we've both been way too full to eat a dessert so unfortunately I can't give you my verdict on those but I do know that they offer a selection of vegan desserts including coconut based ice creams and a chocolate and fruit calzone.
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| Cutting up my pizza (very seriously). |
Zizzi's the perfect place to dine out for a family meal, even with smaller children or just with friends. It's also a great place for couples as the atmosphere and lighting is very intimate and romantic. I'd totally recommend taking a trip to your local Zizzi restaurant; I know we'll definitely be heading back soon.
There are always special offers on which change constantly, entitling you to money off your overall bill or discounts on selected food so it's well worth having a look on the Zizzi website before you pay to see if you can get any discounts.
Amy x
