The Cornish Vegan

This September heralds the opening of Cornwall's second pure vegan restaurant, and this time it is in Truro; a mere 12 miles from Driftwood Vegans headquarters.  The Cornish Vegan is situated opposite Archie Browns health store on Kenwyn Street.  It opens on Tuesday 13th September and aims to offer a local, seasonal, organic, and ethically sourced menu.

Paul and Dawn are at the helm of this venture and their journey to The Cornish Vegan began with a transatlantic love story.  They met in 1996 as pen pals; Paul from the UK and Dawn from the USA.  They fell in love, married, ran businesses in Florida and then London, before feeling the draw of the West country and quitting their jobs to move to Cornwall. They both became vegetarian in 2011 and then vegan in 2013 and their move to Cornwall from London highlighted to them the lack of purely vegan options within the county.  It was from that point that The Cornish Vegan was born.

Initially The Cornish Vegan will be opening Tuesday to Sunday from 10am - 4pm but once they settle in Friday and Saturday evenings will be offered.  Paul and Dawn have put a lot of thought into the kind of food they want The Cornish Vegan to offer and they even ran a survey to determine what their customers would most like (still available on the feedback page on their website).  If you have been following their Facebook page you would have been teased with kitchen experiments that ranged from home style favourites to worldwide delights.  Vegan fish and chips, French onion soup, sushi, BBQ pulled jack fruit, Cuban black bean soup, paella, lasagna, raw pad Thai salad and chocolate torte have all featured as a taster.  Thought has also gone into the basics.  They plan to make their own butter to avoid the use of palm oil and also homemade tomato ketchup to accompany their meals.

Careful consideration of the ambiance of the restaurant has also been made.  This city centre location belies the peaceful garden setting at the back of the restaurant.  Animal friendly commissioned art work from Sophie Poore adorns the walls and dog carers will be delighted to learn that their four legged friends can bring their humans too.

So it is with much anticipation that we await the opening of The Cornish Vegan on the 13th September.  Knowing the vegan community in Cornwall, it will be very much supported and celebrated.  Take a look for yourself at 15 Kenwyn Street, Truro, TR1 3BU and it may be wise during the initial few days of opening to book a table in which case ring them on 01872 271540.  You can also check out their full story on their website thecornishvegan.com and their progress on The Cornish Vegan Facebook page.