Tea on the Green, Cathedral Green

Visited on Saturday 7th September 2013 for a lovely lunchette

I started this blog full of enthusiasm to tell my dietary comrades about the best places to eat in and around Exeter if you don't happen to like a rotting carcass alongside your food. Now, six months later, I have finally found somewhere that won't make me sound like a miserable, moaning old herbivore! The fact is, most eateries don't know how to cook a good veggie meal and usually display any number of culinary ignorances; veggies only eat salad, tofu is tasteless and impossible to cook, any veggie meal MUST contain goats' cheese, veggies must have their plate piled high with carbs or they'll die. The chefs at Tea on the Green however, seem to actually know their stuff and prepare tasty, nutritious and original food for vegans, without making a meal of it. Well, strictly speaking they do make a meal of it, and that's what makes the experience so very pleasant.

I'd been to Tea on the Green some time ago, so when it was suggested, memories of their lovely Lebanese panini sprang immediately to mind. We entered tentatively; Saturdays tend to render the place rammed so we regarded the waitress's face sheepishly to gauge her reaction to our presence. Today our luck was good and we were assigned our very own table and chairs.

Alright, alright, so there was another reason I decided to ignore my dwindling bank account and go to the ever so slightly pricey TotG; their self-pouring teapots. At £2.60 for one cup's worth it's a little steep (ha ha), but worth every penny. They do provide a pot of hot water of you want to eek it out.  I opted for the Japanese rice tea over my smoky old favourite Lapsang Souchon, purely because the rice tea self-poured; all you have to do it place the pot on top of the cup! The rice tea was probably one of the most lovely things I've ever ingested and you can pick yourself up a bag from their shop for under a fiver. They also offer a range of English-grown teas, produced in Cornwall.

I found my Lebanese wrap on the menu and sat poised to place my order. However, whilst waiting for the other half to decide whether he wanted dead fish or dead cow, I discovered that I has been a bit over-zealous and overlooked the two (yes, two!) other vegan options! The butternut squash wrap was something I'd never seen before so my mind was re-made up.

The wrap was truly beautiful. The butternut squash wasn't warm enough to wilt the salad, nor did it have that fridgey un-freshness that can make root veg crumble like chalk. I'm infinitely grateful to the poor sod that had to peel the pomegranate and release those little balls of fruity flavour; the combination of the sharp fruit with sweet balsamic onions was unexpectedly good. The accompanying portion of chips was just the right size.

On the way out I asked about the teapots and teas, and received a way more in-depth answer than I had expected. I now know when their deliveries come in and how many cups of tea I can get out of one bag. I can't praise this place enough and will definitely return. Don't let the name fool you, tea is just the beginning of great things here...