Our 7 Recommended Vegan Cafes  on the East Coast of Scotland

"The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way our animals are treated"

Mahatma Gandhi

Having just finished a 9 day tour of the east coast of Scotland we are delighted to say we found vegan eateries which we thought we would share with you as it’s not always easy to find places and a recommendation is worth its weight in gold!

Our 7 Recommended Vegan Cafes  on the East Coast of Scotland

Holy Cow - Edinburgh

This is a fully vegan cafe situated in Elder St not too far from Waverley train station. We had a fab organic vegan lunch and because we could eat everything on the menu we opted for a starter and main course: soup and burger.

Big mistake as we were full after the soup! No problem though we boxed up our burger and had it for tea later that day.

The food was really tasty and the service was great. If you could fit in dessert then the chiller cabinet was full of delicious looking treats. The cost was £57 for two including drinks.

Forgans - St Andrews

Eating in St Andrews is not a problem as there are lots of cafes and restaurants . For us to find a vegan lunch we went to a familiar dining spot called Forgan's on the high street. This is not a fully vegan cafe but serves delicous vegan food. The entrance is small and easily missed at this time of the year (March) as there are no seats outside but if you pass through the doorway and continue past the flower shop it opens out at the back into the restaurant. This was originally the St Andrews Old Golf Factory and the decor inside is industrial in it's layout with private booths or rooms for reserving if you have a larger party. The food (ours was vegan) was delicious and reasonably priced as we had one starter, two mains and two drinks for £45

Number 44 Hotel - Stonehaven

This hotel was a last minute booking for us and although our first impressions were it’s tired we couldn’t fault the service or the breakfast. The bar/ dining room was busy at the night time and we checked in late so didn’t fancy a cooked meal. There were vegan options on the menu and if the breakfast was a good example then we are fairly sure the evening food would be good too. Our room was £90 per night or £95 with breakfast for two, booked through booking.com

Our breakfast was a full vegan Scottish breakfast including potato cakes, juice and as much toast, jam and coffee as you wanted. The service was really hospitable and it was great to see a thriving little business. (We don't have a photo of our breakfast we were too busy tucking in! 😂)

The Davron Hotel - Rosehearty

When we stayed in our tent near Rosehearty we cooked the first night and we will share with you our typical menu when we are on the road in another post. We had been out walking and fancied a drink, a meal and a game of cards. Trying The Davron was based on a recommendation by Carole from Down on the Farm.

Well, again first impressions... we walked through the pub door and immediately felt like we had gone back in time to a gritty working man’s pub. The men lined the bar and were deep in putting the world to rights. Our first thought was this is not the relaxing pub atmosphere we hoped for! As they say though you shouldn't judge a book by its cover and so we still enquired about food and were shown into the restaurant of the hotel - chalk and cheese!!! We had gone into the wrong part of the pub for a meal 🤣.

The menu had a couple of vegan options which was great so we opted for a vegetable madras curry and a vegan burger. Then, unlike us, we opted to share a dessert of melon, fresh berries and sorbet. It was huge and definitely for sharing.

Playing cards when we are touring/on holiday is something we love to do in the evening. A great way to socialise and of course compete to win the most hands. We normally bring our cards from home but had forgotten them and so asked the staff if they had any behind the bar. The landlady asked for hers to be brought from home which meant we had a great evening just chillin’ playing 7 card rummy and I won't say who the overall winner was 😘. The meal and a couple of drinks cost £54 and the service was excellent.

The Royal Oak Hotel - Cullen

The walk from Portknockie to Cullen was beautiful albeit windy and so we were ready for lunch. We stopped at this award winning hotel and enjoyed a moving mountain burger (we don’t live on burgers honestly!). The hostess was really friendly and we washed it down with a coffee and a chilled glass of Sauvignon costing £48 for two. So glad we had a decent meal as the walk back to Portknockie was in driving rain and we were sand blasted with the wind like we’d had a facial scrub!

The Famous Star Hotel - Moffat

The Star Hotel in Moffat is famous and in the Guiness book of Records for being the narrowest detatched hotel in the world only 20' wide. This was another traditional restaurant/hotel. We were staying the night and so booked a table for dinner. I had a vegan roast dinner and Michael had a curry (not a burger in sight) this was after potato and cauliflower soup. The food was tasty and hot and went really well with a real ale. The dinner cost £55 for two including drinks .

We booked breakfast for £10 each which ticked the box but to be honest was just ok. Although the restaurant had been full the night before the dining room only had us in for breakfast and so felt a little lacking in atmosphere. There are so many other eateries in Moffat I would recommend trying another place for breakfast.

Brodies a cafe in the town has a full plant based menu which we only found out later.

We hope you enjoy our 7 recommended vegan cafes  on the east coast of Scotland We know it's not a comprehensive guide to all vegan eateries but these are the ones we found along the way on our 9 day tour of the east coast and ones we think you will enjoy. We found quite a number of cafes which either didn't offer vegan food or which were closed because the season hadn't really started.

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