10th July 2011
Mr Ikeda works shifts, this means the majority of the time we are like ships passing in the night, but occasionally his roster will work out in our favour so we get a day or two together at the weeked. One such rare weekend was last month so with I packed up our swimming gear and we headed off to Windsor. I haven’t had too much luck finding a child friendly pool in our area, floating around in the deep end of a pool wrapped in flotation devices was never going to be that entertaining for the Lil Man. Thankfully Windsor is not too far from us as I found my perfect pool there at the Windor Leisure Centre. Two slides, interactive water play features, wave machines, shallow ends – need I say more?!!
Since we were in Windsor we then headed the short distance to Windsor Castle, but first we were all famished. Of course I had planned lunch into the whole day so an email a couple of days before confirmed Carluccio’s were going be accomodating.
The bread tin included a plain focaccia (I LOVE the stuff), grissini (breadsticks that were already on the table), ligurian ciappe (another type of crisp bread) and a sliced bread with dried fruit in served with olive oil.
There really wasn’t much to the salad, dressing was good, it was only a side but I had ordered the soup as well so crisis averted (a hungry vegan is not always a happy one! :)).
The soup was a thick and hearty pasta soup filled with barlotti beans and vegetables (a big hit with the Lil Man) and served with more focaccia. All in all it did the trick, but I was a bit surprised there wasn’t at least one veganisable pasta dish. The menu on their website has since been updated so contact them for the most up to date items.
Whilst we were admiring the castle the Queen actually arrived back from Trooping the Colour to Windsor Castle (which is the largest castle in the world that is still lived in fact fans!), this was signified by the raising of the Royal Standard. We had such a lovely day and I am looking forward to going back, we might even do the tour next time.
I have had good luck there in the past too at various branches. I made up a lovely plate one time with a mushroom chilli bruschetta and side dishes of rosemary potatoes and spinach which are normally cooked in butter but they did in oil for me. I think it depends on the front of house staff, how imaginative they are.
I was in windsor the other day and got a nice veganized lentil and butternut salad in zizzi’s and another place I’ve been to in Windsor and been well catered to was Green Olive http://www.green-olive.co.uk/default/index.php
I remember having the Pasta e Fagioli sometime last year in Carluccios and it was lovely. I was thinking of going again and checked the menu again and now it says it’s infused with parma ham and not even vegetarian!!! Nooooo 🙁 I hope they’ve got another vegan main course now as the bread tin was amazing and I want to go back!
It always makes me sad when restaurants regress and take vegan items off the menu, surely they must know its the way forward!