In a nod to Veganuary, Mindful Chef teamed up with Comptoir V in Kensal Rise to present their tasting menu. Working with the Moroccan and Lebanese chefs at Comptoir V, I was looking forward to see what creative dishes they put together. Their 3 course set menu was very creative, with unexpected flavours in a good way and delicious.
Mindful Chef is a healthy food delivery service that encourages people to eat less processed food and refined sugar. I like the way they source their products from hand picked ethical suppliers. For every meal that they sell, they donate one school meal to a child living in poverty.
Comptoir V is the vegan outpost of their original restaurant around the corner. Said, one of the co-owners, started this when he started eating a vegan diet. He designed the menu to use the best ingredients and cook plant-based food with lots of flavour and they do deliver.
While waiting for my friend, I had an order of their Jackfruit nuggets, one of the top selling dishes at Comptoir V. It’s crispy battered pieces of jackfruit glazed with a soy, maple chilli concoction. It’s utterly delicious and if you have not had jackfruit before, these are young jackfruit (probably tinned) which have a white flesh that is not unlike meat.
Jackfruit Nuggets
Unlike a ripe jackfruit that you find sold on street stalls in Asia, it is not yellow, is not sweet and does not have that unique Jackfruit smell. (I have noticed that a lot of vegan menus now include jackfruit as the non-meat option but none of these chefs have paid heed to the fact that a lot of people are allergic to jackfruit.)
From the Mindful menu, our first course was a very colourful platter of spicy harissa cauliflower, herby lentils and tahini dish. Piled high on the plate, roasted cauliflower with fragrant rose harissa served with a crunch of rainbow carrots, sweet pomegranate seeds and nutty lentils, drizzled with coriander and mint dressing. This dish alone could be a meal in itself.
spicy harissa cauliflower
herby falafel, shakshuka with turmeric drizzle
Moroccan tagine
The next course was a herby falafel, shakshuka with turmeric drizzle. As you can see, it was a very generous serving. The baked chickpes and corander falafel were soft and nestled in a rich harissa spiced tomato sauce with a scattering of flaked almonds. Since I am not a fan of peppers in the Shakshuka, I opted for the Moroccan tagine of the day which was a potato and vegetable stew.
Cardamon black rice puddding is not unlike our Malaysian rice pudding. It is served cold with a creamy coconut yoghurt, pomegranate and crushed pistachios. Again, this was quite a large portion but quite delicious.
Black Rice pudding Mindful Menu
Golden spice turmeric latte
We both really enjoyed our vegan meal and we followed their Mindful recommendation of putting the phones away and be mindful of what we were eating and enjoying each others company. It certainly made the meal more enjoyable.
If you want to taste the Mindful menu, head on to Comptoir V or order one of the Mindful Chef recipe boxes.
Comptoir V
Keslake Mansions,
12 Station Terrace,
London NW10 5RU
EatCookExplore was a guest of Mindful Chef at Comptoir V.
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