You wanna Pizza me?

Soooooo, I've been back from my #holiday to Somerset for a little while now and finally am getting round to the 3rd #blog piece about my food experiences there being a #vegan. Apologies for the delay!

One thing I really do miss since becoming #vegan is cheese, I was a major cheese lover. Literally one of those people who would just chop cheese off the block and eat it (yes I'm aware this wasn't really very healthy at all). Since being vegan I have tried many cheeses and though yes I have found some that are quite nice and I eat from time to time, they don't compare in terms of taste or texture, and I also haven't been able to find a cheese that melts well on #pizza. Any recommendations let me know! Admittedly, the more I have educated myself on the dairy industry it has made me want cheese A LOT less, but I do sometimes crave a nice pizza.

More vegan #pizza options are appearing in supermarkets and on some #restaurant and take out menus now, which is great. One of my absolute favourites I've tried so far is at restaurant Zizzi. Having had a few of their vegan options I have to admit I was seriously impressed and have recommended to others. I like to support #independent places, but I can't take away from Zizzi that they really do have a well thought out and tasty vegan menu. I've also tried some of the supermarket pizza options and been fairly underwhelmed.

I guess I really didn't expect to find an Italian restaurant with plenty of vegan options nearby to where we were staying in Dunster, Somerset. So when I did I decided that was where I would like to go to eat on the evening of my birthday. The place is called Vladi's Pizza and is in Minehead. It doesn't come top on google searches as I cant actually see that it has a website, just a Facebook page and is available to order on Just Eat. We came across it by simply passing by and noticing vegan options advertised outside the restaurant. We called the day before to check that there were definitely vegan options. I have found some places advertise what they think are vegan options but are actually vegetarian, or use the word options when actually there is 1 option involved!

Browsing through the menu to find the vegan section I realised that there wasn't actually a section but the vegan options were mixed in with the other options which was fine, but I was conscious that I didn't want to miss anything. I was torn between a pasta dish or pizza (mainly because there was really a good choice of vegan pasta dishes), but decided that I more often make pasta at home and very rarely a pizza. I had the thin crust pizza with pepper, mushroom, sweetcorn, onion and olives. I did ask for black olives but had green as they didn't have any black, which I was slightly disappointed about but wasn't the end of the world lol.

My partner had a vegan thin crust pizza with pepper, onion, tomato and jalapeno. My dad (a meat eater) opted for a meat calzone. We had some fries and a what was large portion of onion rings to share. The service was good, pleasant waitress, relatively quick and nice hot food. The place itself had a simple but authentic, rustic Italian feel, and also felt quite nice and cosy. It was pretty quiet, I'm guessing due to it being a seaside town not yet in summer season, but I did note it was evidently pretty popular with locals as they seemed to be doing a fair amount of deliveries.

And the verdict on the food. I am by no means a food expert, I'm not really sure what that even means, maybe having a more sensitive and delicate palette than mine? The pizza tasted fresh, base was thin and crispy, a good amount of ingredients on top (if not a little thrown on looking), and the cheese what I think was some kind of cheddar style. It was good, but it still wasn't as good as the ones I have tasted at Zizzi, where I think they use vegan mozzarella- for me this just works better.

My partner liked his more than I anticipated (he was never a cheese fan even before being a vegan, and has a real dislike for the often sour taste and smell of some vegan cheeses). My dad really enjoyed his, and the calzone was HUGE. The sides were tasty and the portions very generous for the price, we didn't manage to finish them (and we can all eat). Overall it was a good meal, and the vegan options compared to many other places I have visited were much more extensive.

I'm not sure I would have a pizza if I visited again, I think I would probably opt for one of the pasta dishes- but I would definitely recommend people to try it, and I would go again myself. It was certainly refreshing to find an Italian establishment that offered such a great range of options for everyone!

Vladi's Pizza is located at 43 The Avenue, Minehead, TA24 5AY.

Until next time...