Snacking with Sophie at the Almond Tree

September 13th

For those new to this blog (if so, you should probably start at the beginning) or my dietary habits in general, I’ve been vegetarian for about 8 years now. Ever since I moved out of self-catered halls of residence at Exeter University - away from a world of jackpot casserole, red dragon pie, the occasional shark and celery in every savoury dish - and started cooking for myself, I have been vegetarian. I tend to avoid celery though.

I had known vegetarians before going to uni. Some of my closest friends were. At the time, 50% of my band, the all-conquering Philanthropy (way ahead of our time, go check us out), subscribed to the way of the vegetarian, but it was only when the full responsibility of the kitchen came my way that I was ready to make the move.

It also helped that I met twice as many vegetarians in my first year in halls. The ethical reasoning for vegetarianism was just that bit more persuasive when it was coming from those poor heroes who had to sit through meagre dinners of couscous and celery on far too many occasions. The finer points of vegetarian cuisine were as yet unknown to the kitchen staff of Duryard Halls of Residence.

The majority of my friendships at Exeter Uni were forged in our halls of residence. I only made a handful of pals from my course. When I came to study at Sussex Uni I wondered if this would be repeated, especially considering that working full-time around the course meant that I wouldn’t be able to socialise all that much after seminars. Perhaps creative writing students in Sussex are a bit nicer than English students in Exeter? Who knows. Ultimately I was a bit more successful at making friends at Sussex than I was down in Devon.

Sophie Howell-Peak is one of these Sussex friends. I first met her during a module on Deconstruction and Creative Writing that was partly enlightening and exhilarating and partly mind-boggling. She is a skilled writer whose short pieces made their way to the final of Quick Fictions some years back. She also has a wonderful taste in music and politics, and since then we have been to numerous gigs, marches and writing workshops, having a rather nice time whilst doing so.

At breakfast we had a chat new job opportunities. Sophie had recently finished a teaching diploma, and had recently decided to turn a mega-job, staying loyal to the school that had funded her studies. I started a new job a few months ago myself and can now refer to myself as medical journalist. Not quite food journalist, but there is some crossover.

Sophie is also a vegan, which helped us decide on the Almond Tree Cafe as our breakfast venue that day as it was sold to us as particularly vegetarian and vegan friendly*. A true friend of animals (apart from the albino slug that recently invaded her bathroom), she is a keen defender of animal rights and we had a nice wee chat about the ethics of using animals in medical research, pet ownership and the prevalence of cats in Eastern Europe.

While on holiday in Croatia (following in the footsteps of both my parents and Steve Kelly. Seems like it’s the place to go this year…), Sophie found time to read a lot of books, including two major classics: Nabokov’s Lolita and Kafka’s The Trial (heavily recommended). Both were rapturously received. She recounted to me a maxim that she had picked up recently from a friend, that “a classic is something you will always find something in.” I definitely subscribe to this, and not just for literature as well. You can always find something inspiring or surprising in film, music and even meals…

Vegan breakfast

Flat mushroom, roasted tomatoes, polenta, tofu, baked beans, veggie sausage and toast

Vegan breakfast - £6.30

I decided that I would go for a vegan breakfast in Sophie’s honour. Although it was canonical suicide, the decision was also influenced by the fact that their veggie breakfast did not come automatically with beans. I would have to go off-piste one way or another, and the offer of new components for me to try such as tofu sealed the deal.

The Almond Tree Cafe is a small and unassuming little place located in the Seven Dials area. I had walked past in many a time in the past, but until then I had not fully realised what it was. Although it looks like it might just sell basic cafe fare such as tea and cake, it is a fully loaded vegetarian and vegan eating establishment, with extensive breakfast, lunch and drinks menus.

Sophie is a fan of monk spoons.

The only downside to it from the outlook was its size, which left us with little choice but to sit at a table outside. Nothing innately wrong with that, but the Dyke Road side of Seven Dials is not the most picturesque, and sitting in shade amidst slight breezes left me regretting my choice of shorts.

However, fans of spoons with monks engraved in the handle might find that the benefits of the cutlery outweigh these negatives.

When it arrived, I was excited by the appearance of the tofu and polenta. Sure, I’d eaten them before (polenta especially, during my world cup experimentation), but I had never experienced them within the framework of the British cooked breakfast.

The more familiar components were well prepared, providing the mixture of flavours and textures that I always look for. What made them especially enjoyable is that the more basic ingredients tasted different to the standard fare you often encounter.

The mushrooms were juicy enough on their own, but here they had been augmented by red pesto, giving them a sharp edge which mushrooms rarely have. The tomatoes, similarly, had been herbed in rosemary, making their soft flesh a more intriguing prospect. In addition, the beans may well have been home-made. They were rich, warming and soft as tissue.

Perhaps there was a little too much softness on the plate. The sausage felt great to eat, with a texture and herbiness akin to stuffing, but perhaps this was a little too similar to the beans and other flesh components. The sausage also had a facet of sweetness to it which made it stand out from the previous ones I’d sampled.

Condiment monk? Sauce saint?

Still, there was firmer crunchiness to be found elsewhere. The toast was powerful in this respect; wholesomely crunchy and formidably chewy, it served as a great counterpoint to the other components on the plate, yet could easily be satisfying alone with a sliver of almond butter.

The outer edge of the polenta was also crisp. Again, the texture within was possibly too much like some of the other ingredients, and its saltiness could have been provided more satisfactorily by hash browns.

The big surprise though was the tofu. Approaching the breakfast, this was the dark horse, the real unknown on the plate. I was amazed to find that it did a decent job of filling the void in the canon left by the egg. It’s texture was incredibly close to a very well fried egg white, and had a similarly subtle flavour to it. Heck, it even looks like egg without the yolk in the photo!

Admittedly, the yolk is the best part of a fried egg. The almond butter covered for some of the missing silkiness, and the other vegetables provided plenty of juice. On the whole, egg was not missed. This was quite a revelation and it has thrown my notions of a cooked breakfast canon right up in the air. It shows that you can have a cooked breakfast without an egg and it still feel like a cooked breakfast. There may be an element of character that is missing though.

In all honestly I haven’t thought enough about this conundrum, but for the time being the lack of egg did not hold this one back at all. The only thing that really held this breakfast back was the venue. A larger place with ample room indoors would have given the meal the setting it deserves. Where would you rather a read a classic text? At a stout oaken table beside a roaring fire, or on a damp bench beside a roundabout decorated with discarded gum and exhaust fumes?

Function: despite non-adherence to the canon, this worked well - 3/5

Adherence to Canon: No...but somehow it didn't matter

Value: felt decent - 3/5
Taste: top tastes but could have done with more variety - 4/5

Presentation: lovely cutlery and just look at that plate - 4/5

Venue: so little space indoors that you couldn't really eat here in bad weather - 2/5

Overall: if they could expand their operation they could hit the heights: 3.5/5

* A special mention must go to the gracious custodian of Number 19, another cafe situated on the other side of Seven Dials. We had originally gone there, but upon finding that their provision for vegetarians (let alone vegans) wasn’t great, he kindly recommended visiting the Almond Tree. I can’t vouch for the quality of his food, but his generosity deserves recognition. A top chap and true ally of fastbreaking.