What's vegan in Sakonis in Hatch End
Does the location matter?
You’d think it wouldn’t because it’s part of a chain of restaurants but in this case it does. The menu, layout and style of Hatch End are completely different from the other branches.
The branches in Wembley, Kingsbury and Hatch End are part of the same group. The restaurant in Harrow is franchise ie it’s not part of the three mentioned earlier.
My opinion of Hatch End
In comparison to the other branches, I love the look of the restaurant in Hatch End. It’s spacious, stylish, modern and has a really cool menu with vegan options clearly marked.
Is it enough to have vegan options marked on the menu?
Most people would think it would be. However, it depends on how you define whether something is vegan or not.
If the ingredients are vegan but they’re cooked in the same pan that non-vegan items were made in, do you think that’s vegan? Well…some of the items that are marked on the menu as being vegan are actually fried with non-vegan items.
How should you work out what to order?
A member of staff spoke with the chef and sent me the image of their menu below. She’s ticked the vegan items that aren’t cooked with non-vegan products and she’s put a cross against the other ones.
What we ordered before we realised how they cook their food
What do I mean by how they cook their food? They either use utensils that are used for non-vegan items and/or they use the same oil for vegan and non-vegan foods.
I’m not happy that we had some items which weren’t ‘fully’ vegan but I know what to do if I go there again.
What’s your take on it?
Do you think it’s sufficient that they have clearly marked vegan items?
Do you think they shouldn’t be marked vegan because they’ve been cooked in pans, or using oil, that was used to make non-vegan items?
“I`m a vegan, but you can be really unhealthy as a vegan, too. Vegan just means that you don`t use animal products, so you don`t wear leather, you don`t wear wool, and you don`t eat animal products. But you can eat french fries and stuff like that all day long.”