Comments for Veggieopolis

Comment on The Wedge by Jo

Jo — Sun, 06 Dec 2015 09:08:56 +0000

I was a student in Coventry from 1985 to 1988 and lived there for a while afterwards. I loved the Wedge both for the bookshop and the cafe. Their tuna and cucumber sandwiches were a regular takeaway lunch once I started work. I don’t remember it being smoky at all but that was probably because everywhere was.Even offices allowed smoking well into the 90s.

Comment on The Wedge by Catherine Guy

Catherine Guy — Fri, 12 Jun 2015 08:24:34 +0000

They used to give spare food away at the end of the day. It was a brilliant place. We found our housemates on The Wedge’s noticeboard

Comment on The Wedge by Mohan

Mohan — Thu, 07 May 2015 11:24:18 +0000

I remember going into the Wedge in October 1988. Our A level law lecturer had ordered us a text, which was only available there. I was amazed that they also served food! Great blog and comments.

Comment on The Magic Cafe by Ian

Ian — Sat, 17 Jan 2015 12:04:58 +0000

Since last year it’s changed hands and is now owned run by two women, Jahan and Deki. Jahan was the cook since 2010. Mains now cost £5.70, soups £3, desserts about £2, and coffee £1.50. It’s been repainted but otherwise seems much the same as ever.
I was last there on 16/1/15

Comment on The Wedge by Paul

Paul — Sat, 06 Sep 2014 08:25:59 +0000

I was in Coventry 1976-84 and remember The Wedge with fondness. Great baked potatoes but my favourite was the egg mayo and cress sandwiches on gorgeous wholemeal bread. A different world.

Comment on The Wedge by Simon

Simon — Wed, 06 Nov 2013 15:01:24 +0000

I used to love the Wedge when I was a student in Cov. If anyone from the staff back then is looking at this then I’d love some of the recipes, esp the kidney bean flan mentioned above.

Comment on Parmesan cheese is NOT vegetarian by veggieopolis

veggieopolis — Fri, 06 Sep 2013 18:13:10 +0000

Thanks for your comment Connor.
This post was about the limited choice of menu items offered to vegetarians:- menu items that are advertised, labeled or indicated to be “Suitable for Vegetarians” – and how the use of Parmesan cheese means that these items are NOT Suitable for Vegetarians as so offered, advertised, labeled or indicated.
I have edited the post in italics to make this a bit more clear.
Peace Out.
Mark

Comment on Parmesan cheese is NOT vegetarian by connor rennie

connor rennie — Fri, 06 Sep 2013 11:10:08 +0000

To be honest I find your opinion to be frankly quite disgusting. It is not up to anyone other than you to ensure that you are eating vegetarian foods. This is a life choice you have made and restaurants should have no obligation to cater to your particular requirements. You have a right to be a vegetarian but remember that doesn’t mean everyone else should have to pander to your needs.

Comment on The Wedge by Jon

Jon — Sun, 25 Aug 2013 16:09:07 +0000

This is Jon, who used to work in the Wedge! In answer to Tina’s post, I did move north, back to my South Yorkshire roots to be exact, and ever since I’ve been working as a ticket clerk on the railway.

However, I’m reminded of working there every day, as in 1982 I met an Exchange student from Germany who was one of our customers. We drifted apart as young people separated by distance often do, but by the wonders of google I managed to contact her again in 2007. Ingrid and I were married a year later.

If I could have moved that shop with me up to Sheffield I would have done.

Comment on Parmesan cheese is NOT vegetarian by Andy

Andy — Thu, 16 May 2013 23:22:39 +0000

I understand the frustration but there’s no need to be rude. You just make the rest of us vegetarians look bad.

Comment on Browns Independent Bar by Paddy

Paddy — Wed, 27 Jun 2012 17:00:57 +0000

Won’t serve soldiers in uniform. This place should be avoided under that principal alone.

Comment on Browns Independent Bar by veggieopolis

veggieopolis — Wed, 27 Jun 2012 14:07:19 +0000

Allan, Sorry to hear you had a bad experience. The vegetarian food is good but they are also known for their very erratic door policy.

Comment on Browns Independent Bar by Allan

Allan — Wed, 27 Jun 2012 13:43:59 +0000

Yoiu also get refused service if you serve yopur country even if you are attending the funeral of a fallen comrade. Disgusting.

Comment on Parmesan cheese is NOT vegetarian by Andy

Andy — Thu, 21 Jun 2012 20:03:42 +0000

A simple substitute for Parmesan is Old Winchester. It is cheaper and equally as delicious as Parmesan, plus it is vegetarian!

Comment on Summersault by CovOx

CovOx — Sun, 20 May 2012 09:39:57 +0000

It is a good few years since I visited Summersault. It has or had a good layout and ambience for a cafe targetted at a mainstream audience. It could have done with having more vegan options though, so I’d concur with the comments about ‘cheese dependency’. I wouldn’t say that the street it is in is ‘dreary’; the pedestrianised centre of Rugby is more pleasant the pedestrianised centre of Coventry! Does Summersault open in the evenings? There is nothing on its website detailng its opening hours.

Comment on The Wedge by CovOx

CovOx — Mon, 14 May 2012 16:18:26 +0000

Thanks for uploading my posts. I can see how the Wedge would have had a niche in the 80′s, as it had a ‘radical’ bookshop upstairs didn’t it? When I first strolled into it in 1995, the menu wasn’t even predominanty vegetarian and because the place was so small then you couldn’t escape the cigarette smoke. Most vegetarian cafes, at the time, if they weren’t fully non-smoking, tried to cater for non-smokers by setting certain tables aside (though granted the smoke would waft over).

I suppose people get nostalgic for the Wedge in the same way as they do other independent businesses that no longer exist. In the mid/late 90′s there were two independent record shops in town weren’t there, one of which was Spinadisc, the other of which I’ve forgotten the name?

Comment on The Wedge by veggieopolis

veggieopolis — Mon, 14 May 2012 11:02:18 +0000

Thanks for the comments CovOx.

Yes, you’re right, The Wedge wasn’t fully vegetarian: they served the Tuna and Potato salad, Ham Sandwiches and Tuna and Cucumber Sandwiches – but it was predominantly vegetarian. …and wasn’t everywhere smoky in the 90′s : – )

Comment on The Wedge by CovOx

CovOx — Sun, 13 May 2012 20:30:54 +0000

The Wedge was open when I first moved to Cov back in the mid-90′s but it was neither vegetarian nor non-smoking. It was a smoky omnivorous cafe that was only one step up from a greasy spoon!

Comment on The Warehouse Cafe by CovOx

CovOx — Sun, 13 May 2012 20:27:02 +0000

Although this place is only a short stroll from Digbeth (the bus route to Cov) and the glitzy new Bull Ring it is still tricky to find for those who don’t know their way around Brum, being located in a back street as it is. That it is located in a building owned by FoE (who are also the landlords for the One Earth Shop) unfortunately means that it gets ghettoised for those seeking an ‘alternative lifestyle’. The good thing about the Warehouse Cafe is that it is cheap, the bad thing is the ‘alternative’ setting, which is off-putting to anyone who doesn’t share the eco-evangelical ideology peddled by FoE.

CovOx, Coundon

Comment on The Magic Cafe by CovOx

CovOx — Sun, 13 May 2012 20:14:32 +0000

As a native of Oxford who lives in Coventry, I’m not sure about the ‘nucleus of hippy culture formed in a supportive 60’s Oxford environment years ago’. A stereotypical and inaccurate view of my former home city. The Magic Cafe wasn’t there in the 80′s never mind the 60′s. When I visited it a few years ago, it was definitely laid back though. I asked for something vegan and it was like, ‘er well yeah, the soup might be’. How can you resist an offer like that?

The one thing that hasn’t changed on Magdalen Road is Giovanni’s barber’s shop which must be run by his grandson by now; it was run by his son why I used to get my barnet cut there. The Inner Bookshop used to be located on the Cowley Road, which has always been a bit of a dive – a ‘multicultural’ dive in modern PC parlance – but still a dive. Still it used to have a half-decent second hand record shop called (I think) Vinyl 3345, where I built up my collection of Buzzcocks records.

Yes, the Iffley Road, just up from which I went to secondary school, is also part of the ‘bohemian’ slumlord-owned bedsitland. Think the bottom end of Earlsdon and you get the picture of the area. This ‘mystical triangle’ – the first time I have ever heard it as that – is not as bad a place to live as Blackbird Leys, but I much prefer living up here in Cov, as it is a much better place to live in terms of the standard of living you can get for the same money, re housing costs etc.

CovOx, Coundon