The Glassworks - Food Review

As a vegan, going out for a meal with friends and family can be difficult. People tend to ask you to choose the place to go because they simply 'don't know what you can eat'. The thing is, wherever you choice, the options are usually limited, and the your decision is usually made for you for that simple fact. You see, as a vegan, you can eat ANYTHING, there is a substitute for all meat, a substitute for fish, its really not a limited diet - however, people see it as being too much effort to cater for so they limit the options, and by doing so, exclude a wide customer base.

I have, however, began to see this slowly changing. More places have a good selection, or easily adaptable vegetarian options that can be made vegan with a few adjustments - bean burger with halloumi, guac served in a brioche bun? Ditch the Guac (this is usually made with cream for those who didn't know) and the bun, ask for salsa instead, and ta-da, vegan! Not only have places started opening up to Vegans, some pubs/restaurants have started creating a whole separate menu for meat free plant based lovers! They are saying 2019 will be the year of the Vegan. Greggs are doing their Vegan sausage Roll, Marks and Spencer's have a whole vegan range - Plant Kitchen (I will be doing a further post on this) - more and more places are embracing this life style. It may be a trend or craze to some people, but to many who try vegan, stay vegan Or at least continue to have a couple of vegan days (flexi).

I went to Gastro Pub with a good friend of mine - I chose this place because they had a complete vegan menu with a selection of starters, mains and desserts. Desserts alone are hard enough to find, most places just don't offer them. So I thought, why not give this ago. The pub in question? The Glassworks in Stourbridge, West Midlands.

The menu itself gave 3 options for starters, 5 options for main, and 3 options for desert. It even gave a selection of Vegan drinks including alcohol. For my Starter I had Jackfruit Wedges, Main I had the button mushroom bouguignon pie, and for pudding I went for the Raspberry Jam donut pudding.

As you can see, the menu has a great range of options, from the pie, to tacos and a burger. most places that offer vegan burgers usually just settle of a bean burger, and sometimes, its just not what you want. The desserts that they offer, again, amazing choice, chocolate cheesecake.. Yes please.

 

So this is what my starter looked like - evidently, a bit over cooked - a bit on the burnt side. However, with that said, it was still deliciously tasty. I agree with what you are probably thinking - its just a black blob on a plate, and I guess you are right to think that, it is exactly what I thought when it was brought to the table. Maybe I should have sent it back, but i ate it, and it wasn't as bad as it appears to look.

The Jackfrut was delicious, it was in a sweet and tangy BBQ sauce, with black beans. I had never had black beans until I had this, and I will happily have them again. There was a slight spicy flavour to the dish, but it wasn't over powering.

The wedges were HUGE, and you got a decent amount of them for a starter, I had 6 wedges, and every last bit was topped with the Jackfruit and sauce. The price of this was £3.75 and I think that is reasonable for the amount that you get. I would most likely order this again if I ever went back.

For main, I went for the Button Mushroom Bourguignon Pie. As a whole, I felt it was missing something, maybe a spot of gravy. I enjoyed it don't get me wrong, the pastry was delicious, the chips were cooked to absolute perfection, the pie itself was so tasty for basically a mushroom in redwine sauce pie. 

To be honest, I do feel it could have had a bit more - there was only 3 button mushrooms in the whole of the pie. There was a gigantic piece of onion, which for me, I like, but know it may not be for everyone. The pie really isn't much of anything, the best part about it was the pastry. 

The peas and carrots, for my liking were not cooked enough, they felt too crunchy, like almost raw, and they felt dry without any sauce. I understand that a lot of people enjoy steamed veg, and veg that is still crunchy, but I have always been brought up with soft veg. 

The chips, my word, they were beautiful. I would much rather have more chips and ditch the veg! they had a lovely seasoning on them, which somehow just gave them more of a tasty edge, but i couldn't work out what the seasoning was.

For £7.75, you really cannot complain. Its satisfying, its allowing you something more then the usual options. but I do feel they could give you a few more mushrooms in the pie. After all, it is a button mushroom pie! 

Dessert, well, this is usually my favourite part of a meal. The option of having the choice got me excited. I strayed from my usual option and thought I would go a little crazy and go for the donut pudding. Honestly, I wish I hadn't strayed from the cheesecake. 

The jam that had been used was seeded - who on earth makes any form of cake with seeded jam? I don't really like jam in or on cakes, but, I wanted to give this ago, thinking it would be seedless at least. When I realised it wasn't I was instantly disappointed.

The Donut block itself was a little underwhelming too - I felt like i was eating Polystyrene, in the way that, the outside of the pudding was hard, crunchy and not very enjoyable. however, once that was tackled, it did soften up, and it became more edible, but I wasn't overly impressed myself. However, if you are a Donut lover, this could be ideal for you! 

The ice cream, did make up for the main event - it had a slight mint hint to it, and I LOVED it. It was only of the nicest ice creams I have had since becoming vegan. The ice cream really did save the day for me here, and for £3.75, you cant really go wrong! It's a great sweet treat that hits that sweet tooth instantly.

Overall, I enjoyed the food, the atmosphere in the pub was great, and the food is great priced. They have deals on the main menu, and soft drinks are refillable. they have a selection of lite-bites on the main menu that are also vegan which is great! If you are at all in the West Midlands, I would check this pub out. 

I give the experience and food a solid 3/5.