I’m back with another review, and this one’s fully vegan.

You’ll get the full lowdown of all the vegan cooking and eating out I’ve done during week 3 when I write it all up in the next few days, but for now, we’ll just focus on this one specific feast.

From my flatmate, to work colleagues, to strangers on Instagram, Temple of Seitan had been recommended to me so many times. They have two sites – their main location in Hackney and then another one in Camden.

The Camden one was slightly closer to me so I headed there, but it is quite hidden away; you’d have to actively seek it out because there’s no way you’d accidentally stumble across it.

It’s got a kind of fast food set up to it. You order at the counter and then wait for your name to be called to collect your food, and there are a number of tables dotted around, but it’s not massive inside. It is however, a light, open space that’s not overcrowded, and so although I didn’t eat in, if you were to, it would be a chilled experience.

I only had to wait 5 minutes or so for my food, and the menu is pretty extensive without being overwhelming.

And here’s where you get to take a look at what I got…

Burger-wise I wanted to stick to ‘chicken’ as opposed to the beef substitute as I feel like that’s what they’re more known for. Even so, they have a few different Chick’n combos to choose from so I ordered the Nashville Hot. This comes as a hot dipped Chick’n fillet with ranch mayo, lettuce and pickles. Overall I really enjoyed the burger – it was indulgent and tasty in a decent quality bun, but the only slight disappointment was the patty. Don’t get me wrong, it tasted good, but it was very very thin – like half the thickness of a standard slice of bread (other than the particular side you can see in the photo which got a bit thicker), meaning that you got a lot of crunch from the outer shell but not much texture from the Seitan itself. What with all the lettuce and pickles in the burger, everything just kind of lumped together in a big crunch-fest, rather than being able to note a clear difference between the texture of the patty and the relish. Still would recommend as I reckon this was just an anomaly in the kitchen.

To reiterate what I often mention, I don’t always see the point in ordering standard fries as a side (unless I’m at Mcdonald’s) because they’re never really that exciting and I’d rather try something different, however, the exception to this is if they offer some kind of loaded fries or an interesting twist on the classic. This time I went for the ‘Döner’ Snack Pack – regular fries with vegan doner meat, mayo and spicy sauce.

It’s a pretty big portion, so definitely a sharer (or something to freeze for another time like I have done), and there are a decent amount of toppings. The sauces weren’t bad but I wasn’t a fan of the vegan Döner. The texture was pretty convincing but it didn’t really taste of anything and so I don’t feel that it enhanced the fries in any way. I’d definitely try their other Animal Snack Pack loaded fries if I were to go again.

As this is breakfast, lunch and dinner in one go I’ll move onto the next part of the meal- the Mac ‘n’ Cheese.

You can’t fault them on how much they can cram into this pot, and this is just the regular size. For me though, it just wasn’t creamy enough. The ratio of pasta to sauce was completely off, although that’s not to say it didn’t taste good. The macaroni were very small, meaning that more pasta could be packed in tightly, which in turn meant that the sauce literally just covered a few of the bites on top rather than coating every single piece. It was also quite salty, and so this wouldn’t be my first recommendation, but again, it wasn’t bad at all.

I do love to save the best until last, especially when it’s an unexpected one like this. The BBQ Wings were probably the thing I was least excited about ordering but I was still intrigued enough to try them.

Whereas the quality of the Seitan as a chicken substitute in the burger didn’t really do it justice, the wings really showcased why it’s such a good match. There isn’t really anything here to distract from the Seitan itself, and I found the texture to be very convincing. It doesn’t tear apart in the same way that fried chicken would, but other than that it really is spot on. There’s no oddly suspicious ‘this isn’t meat’ flavour, which allows the bbq sauce to take over without having to mask an unsettling aftertaste.

Some people love eating from the bone, but I find this quite annoying and would rather be able to bite into something freely without having to work my teeth around them so I’m grateful that there’s no dodgy attempt to create a mock bone here (the attempt at this in Biff’s Jack Shack’s jackfruit wings really weirded me out and put me off eating them when I accidentally bit straight into a solid piece of god knows what…)

So these ‘wings’ were my absolute highlight and I insist that if you’re reading this, you try them at some point, whether you’re vegan or not.

The four items together were £23 in total, which I think is pretty decent for London prices, especially as some vegan food I’ve had in the city has been the same amount for half the food.

I enjoyed trying a variety of ‘dishes’, and will definitely be trying the popcorn Chick’n next time.

This kind of food is not just for vegans. It’s indulgent and tasty, and even if you’re the biggest meat eater, you should try to overcome the psychological barrier of thinking ‘but this isn’t meat’ to decide for yourself non-judgementally if you could enjoy this instead of meat from time to time.

And if you hate it? Oh well. At least you’ve been adventurous and tried something new. I don’t even know if I’d choose this over a chicken or beef burger but I’m still really enjoying opening my mind to this new kind of cuisine.

But ultimately if you’re happy and healthy with what you’re eating then all is well; meat, veggie or vegan…

¡Comemos!

xo