Review: Vegan Afternoon Tea from The Fat Carrot

A couple of weeks ago I turned 34 and to celebrate I organised a little alfresco Afternoon Tea for a small group of my close friends and family in the garden at my new house.

I am the only vegan in my circle of close friends and family so when looking for somewhere to go out to eat I usually try to find something that mostly caters to omnivores with a couple of vegan friendly dishes on the menu but when it came to my birthday I decided that I would throw caution to the wind and find somewhere that could cater for an all-vegan menu and what is more festive than afternoon tea?

I am a member of several vegan Facebook groups which are really handy for connecting with other like-minded people and to discover vegan-friendly businesses and one fortuitous day I spotted a post from The Fat Carrot – a vegetarian and vegan caterer in the South East who provide everything from packed lunches to full 3-course dinners!

For my afternoon tea garden party I decided upon afternoon tea; a selection of sandwiches and savoury scones/pastries, cakes & scones with jam from £12.50/head. The lovely people at The Fat Carrot were very friendly and accomodating – particularly when I requested not too many cucumber sandwiches as I hate cucumber!

Of course, not everything works out as you’d like and the day of my birthday and garden party was super rainy! Luckily my parents were able to lend me some gazebos so we could still sit outside despite the bad weather! I was very excited to see the food and it arrived at the perfect time.

My afternoon tea platters were made up of:

• Sandwiches: Vegan smoked cheeze and red onion chutney, cucumber and cream cheeze, mushroom pate, roasted pepper and garlic hummus. With a combination of white and wholemeal bread.
• Mushroom and walnut slice – like a sausage roll!
• A selection of crudities: cucumber, carrot, peppers, tomatoes and cauliflower along with 3 different flavoured hummus: black olive, roasted garlic, lemon and coriander.
• Cake: coconut and pineapple, chocolate and beetroot, blackcurrant mousse and peach, pecan and cinnamon flapjacks.
• Selection of fruit scones with strawberry jam.

It’s safe to say that we were amazed at the array of goodies which were supplied, with everyone digging into the sandwiches, scones and cakes as soon as they were laid out on the table AND there were no complaints that it was all vegan because it was all so tasty no-one missed the animal products.

I particularly loved the smoked cheeze and red onion chutney sandwiches, the mushroom and walnut slice and the pecan and cinnamon flapjacks.

I can’t recommend The Fat Carrot enough – they are such a fab local small business and they produce really great food, catering for a range of dietary requirements. If you are thinking of having an event or even just a night in with some tasty treats check out the catering page on their website.

I award the vegan afternoon tea from The Fat Carrot 5 out of 5 stars and will definitely be ordering from them again soon!