V Rev Vegan Diner – Manchester

Dearest Blog Readers,

Sometimes good things can happen to good people.

As Morrissey once crooned, “there are brighter sides to life, and I should know because I’ve seen them, but not very often”. How right he was.

Once upon a time many years ago, my lovely friend Vicki and I wibbled along to a gathering of the Cake Liberation Front, a delightful coming together of vegans and baked goods and a nice brew, in Manchester city centre. Before we went along we popped in to check out new kid on the then-block, V Revolution, a record store/vegan grocery shoppe. Not long after that day, I rudely foisted a selection of my very-amateur vegan cakes onto owner Dom and persuaded him to buy my wares for quite a while, actually, before life got in the way and proper professionals took over. Remember vegan pizza day you guyz? I made cheezly calzones and some verrrrrry rubbish pizza biscuits…

Over time Dom, joined by partner Faridah, morphed the space into a very impressive wee vegan diner along with booths, checkered floor, burgers in baskets and loads of lovely vegan products that were previously impossible to buy over the counter. It was perfect for that Twin Peaks themed potluck we had that time which was just a big pile of donuts loooooooool.

V Revolution became a victim of its own success before too long, outgrowing (and outdoing) the space it was housed in, and plans to move to bigger premises were very long in the making.

But, my blog chums, THE DAY CAME. That day was two days ago when I was at work which was a very sad affair. My good pal Emil was there to test run the new place on the day of its opening, but I had to wait until tonight. May I let these photos speak for themselves? Yes, I may.

Oh yas there was also food AND BEER.

I tell u what folks, LISTEN, I know that I have seen V Rev grow their itty record store into a classy vegan burger joint through probably more blood, sweat and tears than any of us could imagine. I know that owners Dom & Faridah have given everything and more for a long, long time. I know their staff has grown from Dom-and-a-pal through to a comparatively huge team of really able and lovely folks (our server was only on her first day today, and was an absolute 100% champ). I know V Rev’s ethics go far beyond plant-based eating. I disclose my bias upfront, but I still think they have created something proper magical, and I am so pleased for the whole team. I’ll kinda miss buying my Violife in the olde shoppe, but V Rev in its new incarnation is a special, special place and makes Manchester a destination really worth travelling to from far and wide for truly innovative and exciting vegan grub.

V Rev is at 20-26 Edge St, Manchester: Website | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram

Follow me:

Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest | Mailing list