The Peacock

Nottingham is currently excelling in its vegan options: Alley Cafe, The Natural Food Company, The Angel, Annie’s, Hartleys, Oscar and Rosie’s, and the brand new 100% vegan Amala Living Foods, to name but a few. Now, The Peacock.

One of DH Lawrence’s old haunts, the pub is the first pub in the city to go 100% vegan for food. Excellent. Note that their alcohol is not in that 100%, however, they do have the choice of a few lagers, including Amstel and Birra Moretti, and a craft ale or two on the way.

I pored over the extensive menu with my carnivore companion, spoilt for choice. We opted for a couple of starters – three generously sized samosas with mango chutney (£2.50) were some of the best I’ve ever had, but crikey, they were packing a lot of heat. Since my friend and I are both wimps when it comes to spice, it’s a testament to their great taste that we actually finished them. We also shared a ‘vork’ pie (£3.50). There were three varieties on offer – butternut squash, piri piri and sweet potato – and we went for the latter. The taste as well as the design of the pastry was perfect, the filling rich in flavours.  

Already pretty well fed, I went for the battered sausages with chips, beans and curry sauce for my main (£5.95). The chippy-style sausage is not something I’ve had since I was a meat-eating nine-year old, but my non-veggie friend concurred that it was pretty darn great. Good, well-browned chips too. My companion went for the more grown-up main course of asparagus, minted pea and caramelised onion pie with mustard mash and vegetables (£7.50). The pie itself was a pot pie, with the pastry top and filling possessing just the right amount of mint to complement the vegetables. And the mustard mash – wow. A minor niggle with this dish was the strangely mismatched cold side salad and lack of gravy but, overall, awesome.

So, dessert. The large portions of the previous course had done us in, so we opted for the sticky toffee pudding (£3.50) to share. The cake was, quite frankly, gorgeous with the right amount of sweetness and vanilla ice cream on the side. It would definitely have fooled any non-vegan into thinking they had just consumed all the animal products. Desserts vary day to day, but cheesecake is often on offer.

The pub will clearly be very inviting for vegans, as there is so much choice (‘fish’ and chips, sandwiches, creamy ‘cheese’ tarts, and burgers) but it shouldn’t put off vegetarians or meat eaters; they’ll be surprised if they brave it. Vegan Sunday roast, anyone? Harry Wilding

11 Mansfield Road, NG1 3FB. 0115 947 2152 11 Proper Pubs in Nottingham City Centre The Peacock website