Follow the Root of all good
Stay healthy during the lockdown with a tasty vegetarian or vegan takeaway or veggie box from plant-based kitchen
What a time to open a business. I watched Root Candy take over the space most recently occupied by Gather, in Glasgow’s Hyndland Street, as coronavirus grew from a foreign news story to a national crisis.
I loved Gather, the grown-up sister of Cafezique at the other end of the block, but it struggled to survive beside its more casual sibling.
Now it has been replaced by a cheery plant-based kitchen that bravely opened its doors just as the rest of the hospitality industry prepared to close down.
Like the most resilient of the eating and drinking establishments, they are now putting a plan in place to keep feeding us in isolation. And, if my first brown paper bags are typical, they are the takeaway we need for these troubled times.
All the food is vegetarian, with lots of it either vegan or the option to be made that way. Unlike much of the vegan food that has appeared to meet the current mania for plant-based diets, it’s actually made from recognisable vegetables.
It’s very reasonable too. Not as cheap as cooking from scratch, obviously, but well priced for fresh, mood-lifting treats. All the burgers, sandwiches and main dishes are £5. Sides and desserts are £3.
There’s also the option to order essential household items and, for orders over £10, Root Candy will make a food donation to a foodbank in Maryhill.
Carb Boy’s Root Candy burger was a masterclass in why you don’t need meat.
It was a proper, tasty bean patty, peppily flavoured with smoked paprika. No one would have mistaken it for beef, but instead of being a spooky second rate imitation, it was delicious in its own right.
It came in a proper, substantial toasted burger bun, with cheese and a dose of sparky sauce. Plus a good portion of rainbow fries – regular skinny fries with some chunkier logs of beetroot and sweet potato to add colour.
With this available round the corner for a fiver, Carb Boy may stop eating at home.
My tacos were another treat – four flour tortillas stuffed with roasted sweet potato and sticky chilli sauce, topped with a slice of avocado and a sprinkling of feta.
They pulled off the tricky balancing act of feeling like dirty takeaway while actually being very nutritious.
And delicious – pillowy sweet potato with deep smoky hot sauce spiked with salty nuggets of cheese is never wrong. There was
even a pile of salad leaves tucked into the corner of the box.
That was a lot of food but it seemed a shame not to try some of the interesting side dishes. The halloumi fries, in panko breadcrumbs, were the size of fish fingers.
The Korean fried broccoli was also massive, a whole head of broccoli separated into skinny trees, battered, deep fried and then doused with a filthied up version of ketchup.
Owing to a mix-up about where the Teenager was social distancing on the evening in question, we had a spare macaroni cheese (non-vegan version) and portion of rainbow fries.
We also ordered two desserts that we had no room to eat. These made a very acceptable afternoon snack for three people sitting 2m apart in a garden the next day.
Biscoff cheesecake is a must for any 2020 menu, partly as it’s hard to get wrong. A straightforward cheesecake is transformed when topped with the caramelised biscuit spread that I refuse to buy because I’d eat it all straight from the jar.
The other cake, Root Candy high pie, was a version of the famous “crack pie” from the New York restaurant Milk Bar. It has an oat crust and a decadent toffee filling. Imagine a flapjack that married a piece of millionaire shortbread and you’re getting there.
Mrs Slocombe, who hosted our socially distanced tea party in her garden, approved enormously. It is, she said after a third of a slice, like someone boiled a lot of golden syrup in butter.
We finally finished our order the day after, when a single portion of macaroni made an acceptable working-fromhome lunch for three of us.
Hanging around in the fridge for two days did it few favours, and the vegan cheese sauce had become a bit oily.
It would have been served with more rainbow fries, if the Teenager had not found them in the fridge and scoffed them the night before.
So a Saturday night takeaway for two, a Sunday afternoon cake-out, a Fifa snack plus lunch for three, all for £30.
The Teenager, who is the anti-vegan and moans like a trapped deer if there is no bacon or chorizo present in his food, loved the chips and ate the macaroni without complaint.
If this is the future, I think we can get through this.