I live in Glasgow and I am well and truly spoiled for vegan restaurants but you can’t always eat at a vegan place. I work in an office where I am the only vegan in the department so I’ve done a bit of research to make sure I know what I can eat in chain restaurants. This is the start of a series of posts listing vegan options at big chains. 

First, Nando’s. Who doesn’t love a cheeky Nando’s eh?

For being a chicken restaurant Nando’s is v vegan friendly. The staff are always very happy to go through their giant allergen menu with you if you’re ever unsure. Have you seen the allergen menu in Nando’s? It makes me so happy, it has everything that you could ever dream of asking about the food in there, but let’s face it, that’s a ball ache. Which is why I thought I’d get in touch with their customer service team to firm up a list of the vegan options that Nando’s provide. There’s more than you’d expect.

• all vegetarian burgers can be made vegan by removing any mayonnaise and yogurt dressing. Just be sure to ask when ordering. All burger patties can be in pitta/wrap/burger bun as these are also vegan
• All bastes (the flavouring that you ask for) are all meat, egg and dairy free)
• Chips
• Peri chips 
• Chargrilled veg 
• Supergrain salad ( WITH NO DRESSING) 
• Sweet potato wedges (WITH NO YOGURT DIP) 
• Garlic bread 
• Houmous & pitta 
• Quinoa salad (NO FETA) 
• Mediterranean salad (NO FETA) 
• Peri Nuts 
• Corn on the Cob 
• Mixed leaf salad 

You might be fooled by the spicy rice, you’d assume that was vegan but that actually contains milk – boo. BUT with all of this choice, who needs the rice! Here is my go to order at Nando’s:

Sweet potato and butternut burger, with chips and garlic bread. I’m not usually mad keen on sweet potato in anything but a brownie (trust me, it works) but because I get the medium spice on it, the spicy flavours offset the sweetness to create the most delicious burger. It does however so a bit mushy so the last few mouthfuls are a little messy, if you’re not about that messy fingers vibe, get it in a wrap and it’ll be a self contained wrap of tastiness.

GARLIC BREAD 

That’s right people. Nando’s garlic bread is vegan. I am not being dramatic when I say that this has changed my life. VEGAN GARLIC BREAD on the high street, in a chain restaurant where your non-vegan buddies can eat chicken. This is monumentally exciting, well it is for me anyway because I believe that the more demand us pesky vegans create, the more business’s will cater for that demand (yes to make more money, that’s the business world that we live in) and the easier it becomes for people to consider veganism as an easy way to live a compassionate life. That’s the end goal, more vegans! I thought I’d get that in there before I get any militant vegans giving me grief about promoting a non-vegan company… *eye roll* I don’t claim to be a perfect vegan, we aren’t striving for perfection, I’m only attempting to help people find being vegan accessible. That turned into a mini rant – sorry babes. 

All information correct as of June 2018. If you notice anything change please let me know and I’ll update. If you have any further questions please get in touch and I’m more than happy to find out.