Dining out: Zizzi

August 04, 2015 / Heena Modi

Do you go out and ever feel the need to grab a bite to eat?

What do you do when you decide you fancy eating something but you're too far from home to go back, or you haven't finished what you're doing, so you can't go home yet?

Would you make do with a bag of crisps or some other type of snack? Would you ignore your hunger and keep going? Do you keep a snack with you and eat that? Do you get into a bit of a state and need to find somewhere that you can eat something substantial?

Do you end up eating things that won't agree with you, because you're intolerant to them? Might you eat something that goes against your ethics, because you think you won't find anything vegan?

Finding somewhere with vegan options when you're eating out

Some people wouldn't bat an eyelid when tasked with finding a restaurant with vegan options, yet others would see it as a huge, perhaps impossible, challenge. I know people who perceive it to be so difficult that they would rather avoid it altogether and simply, eat at home.

Things have changed...

I don't think there are many places that couldn't or wouldn't have something vegan nowadays. If they don't have any options on their regular menu, I haven't heard of many instances where the chef wouldn't create something to satisfy a customer who had particular dietary requirements.

Vegan options at Zizzi

Zizzi is a well known restaurant, which can be found in a number of shopping centres and High Streets across the UK.

I was out with a friend when both of us realised that we had been out for a number of hours and hadn't eaten since we had lunch. This wouldn't be a problem if both of us didn't get quite irritated when we are hungry!

It's great that we both know ourselves well, and that we know each other too. However, this created a sense of urgency. We needed to find somewhere fast!

We needed somewhere that wasn't overly busy or understaffed, so that we could order quickly and start eating ASAP.

The waitress came to give us a menu, and rather than look at it and try and see if there was anything suitable on there, we asked her if she could tell us what was vegan. We were chuffed with her response, which was that she'd get the vegan menu.

The menu isn't huge but there are enough options to have a satisfying meal. There are also hidden options in that one can add more toppings, change the type of pasta used and so on.

You'll see what we ordered below. It came fast, which was great! The food was full of flavour, the size of the portion was good and, it was just what we needed. The fact that we could have dessert was a bonus. I often think of sorbets as boring but the two we tried were really nice!