Fast Love
10th September 2010
Something is happening to fast food, have you noticed it? It’s fast (ha ha) becoming all about sustainability, seasonality, recycling and composting (all the things we love at THV!). Otarian the first carbon neutral fast food restaurant have branched over from the US to open 2 shops here last month, but back in 2004 Leon were aiming to prove that fast food can be good for you and the planet.
So, Leon do serve meat like POD another healthy fast food chain, but the thing with these types of places is they also tend to be very vegan friendly, because as we all know going vegan IS the most sustainable way to eat.
Spitalfields is now home to some white rabbits, plus one of the 9 branches Leon now has. We sat outside as it wasn’t too chilly that evening, but we were tempted by the super cosy feel created by the walls lined with books and family photos dotted all around the restaurant. Perfect spot for a sunday morning reading the papers me thinks!
I have been to Leon about 3 or 4 times before, so I was a bit confused when I saw the menu – what no Thai curry? And what was all this ‘grazing’ business?
It turns out Leon have gone all tapas-y, hurray! That means we get to order one of everything and try it all! With 3 of us to feed we ordered about as many vegan items as there were on the menu, some things I had had before, others were new. Now I’m apparently fussy when it comes to hummus, give me a tub some bread and normally I’m happy, but Leon’s didn’t have the zing that seems to be eluding me.
The green sunshine salad consisted of mixed beans with mint which wasn’t particularly flavourful or memorable.
I was looking forward to the chilli and garlic broccoli but it was overcooked (well for me anyway I like my veggies to be crunchy), and the Leon gobi oddly have sweet potato in. The sauce itself although nice and creamy there was a bit of a sweet potato overload as we also had the sweet potato falafel. The slaw was fresh and crunchy and came with a wedge of lemon (yeah some zing!).
They did originally serve us the falafel covered in aioli although we had speficfied everything should be vegan, they were however very apologetic and corrected it straight away. Most disappointing of all however is they don’t have any vegan desserts.
I won’t be in a hurry to eat there again until the seasonal menu changes but I will give them another go as Leon has a consciousness about it’s food that all the fast food places need to catch on to.
We ordered 7 dishes for 3 people which worked out to about £11 each incl drinks and tip.
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