WE like Edge Street. Because it keeps a certain NQ edge with its indie start-ups. OK, some of you still haven’t warmed to the makeover of pioneer bar Common, but get over it. And, if around the corner the queues up the stairs at Almost Famous aren’t what they used to be, then take comfort – there’s always V-Rev.
Dom Moss’s diner was pretty popular when it was based on Oldham Street, being named UK’s Best Vegan Restaurant at London’s VegFest in October, but the public craving for its plant-based fake chicken, bacon and lobster (chkn, baecon, lobsta) dirty food offering is now in overdrive (a no reservations policy thickening the throng, they are even flogging their own vegan hot dog pin online, above).
Three times ToM, hoping to get a piece of the Veganuary action, turned up and chickened out (sic), eventually decamping across the road to Yard and Coop, who specialise in real poultry products.
This allowed us to compare rival dishes Y&C’s Buttermilk fried breast with buffalo sauce with (eventually, dead on noon) V-Rev’s Buffalo The Vampire Slayer. Not strictly like on like – a bun and a smattering of ranch dressing boosting the vegan option.
Truth to tell Yard and Coop’s beaky branding deterred us from their burgers with names such as Massive Cock Burger or Yippy Yi Kay Muther Clucka, the latter a £15 triple hit of cheese, chicken and bacon burgers. Shades of Almost Famous.
V-Rev is more restrained, offering showbizzy patties and sides along the lines of Fillet Seymour Hoffman, Jerry Zinger, Macaroni & Michele’s High School Reunion, all of which eschew flesh and dairy, mainly in favour of the Chinese chicken substitute Seitan (pronounced say-tan, like the devil you know).
Seitan is protein extracted from wheat gluten and some veggies avoid it because it is too meaty. So perfect then for the copycat hardcore carnivore cuisine on offer at V-Rev. So how did it fare, dipped in dairy-free buttermilk, breaded and deep-fried, then served in a greaseproof-papered basket nest (oops, slipped in)?
This Vampire Slayer came slathered in their take on a cayenne-hot buffalo sauce, which soaked into a decent bun and some lukewarm chips. The breaded ‘chkn' was knobbly, tough-textured, bland, the saltier ‘baecon’ better but limp, not crisp. The V-Rev website trumpets ‘All plants no pain’. We’d add ‘no taste’.
Perhaps it is unrepresentative of the menu as a whole, whose ethics we respect. Just as the feel of the new diner space is spot-on with its bright blocks of blue and yellow as shiny fresh as it young clientele. Service was on the dotty side but such popularity brings its pressures. Faultless, too, for the demographic is a superb beer list from Chorlton, Runaway and their ilk. My bottle of Cloudwater Mosaic (£4.25) was sublime.
So, accept no substitutes for real chicken? How did things compare over at settled-in Yard and Coop? We reviewed it after it opened 18 months ago and were impressed by the vibe, but hadn’t been back because there’s only so much chicken etc…
Rediscovered, once again the beer offering is also excellent, decor brasher, service slicker, while here the chicken burger costs £9. At the same price we settled for the breast and chips with an altogether tangier buffalo sauce, imported from the States. We liked the texture of the chicken, so much juicier, but regretted not ordering thigh meat for a touch more flavour. If a bird has to die on your behalf the sacrifice has to be worth it. The alternative – become a slave to Seitan. Or better still lose the chicken either way and sample much more imaginative food at the ambitious Allotment in Stockport (reviewed here recently).
V-Rev Vegan Diner, 20-26 Edge St, Manchester M4 1HN; Yard and Coop, 37 Edge St, Manchester M4 1HW. 0161 710 2570.