Review: Live Life On The Veg - The Highfield

Photo:  Word In Veg Ways

I like The Highfield.  You know what to expect as soon as you walk in the door.  I’ve been many times over the years both in a blogging capacity and as general diner and have had the same smiley experience from them on all occasions, so I know that their approach and welcome is genuine.

Photo:  Word In Veg Ways

Last month, I visited The Highfield in my guise as a blogger to check out their Tuesday night special ‘Live Life On The Veg’ menu.  A new concept for them, responding to the rise in vegetarianism and the spike in veganism, they are offering a menu that allows non-meaters variety as opposed to a just couple of menu choices which is the norm.

Photo:  Word In Veg Ways

How it works is that you can either have a dish on its own or you can have a taster of each one via the Tapas Style offer.  As I was dining with my flexitarian Mother, we thought it made sense for us to have the tapas style so that we wouldn’t miss out on anything.

With my horrendously inconvenient chilli allergy, I had to discuss with our waiter Joe if the dishes were suitable for me.  Sadly, the Courgette Fritters weren’t as they had a chilli base, so we were offered the Aubergine, Roast Pepper & Onion Tart instead and also the Summer Vegetable Salad, Orange & Toasted Cashews with Oriental Dressing (which are on the menu as a standard items).

The Kitchen
Photo:  Word In Veg Ways

One thing that I applaud The Highfield for is their flexibility.  They’re very keen to adapt their dishes to ensure that allergies and preferences are catered for.  This is very important for vegetarians (and for non-chilli eating veggies like me!) who may feel that all that is on the menu is all you can have when it isn’t the case.  This is one thing I think that The Highfield need to promote on their menu and elsewhere as appropriate, to ensure that people have the confidence to ask for changes if needs be.

Okay, so here’s a roll-call of what we had:

Photo:  Word In Veg Ways

Aubergine, Roast Pepper & Onion Tart – a light, flaky pastry base with shredded aubergines and peppers on top.  The vegetables were lightly fried, and the dish wasn’t as heavy as it sounds.  If purchased as a main course, it would need some green vegetables to pad it out with.  Overall, very enjoyable.

Photo:  Word In Veg Ways

Cherry Tomato Rigatoni, Garlic Crumb, Ricotta & Basil – although pasta is the epitome of go-to-veggie-food, this was delicious.  Very buttery, crunchy, with a bit of punch from the garlic.

Photo:  Word In Veg Ways

Vegetable Bimbap, Fried Egg & Gochunjang Sauce – I would describe the bimbap as a light, fancy, stir-fry.  The gochunjang sauce was replaced by soy sauce for my portion to avoid any exposure to chilli/spice.  When splitting this up for Mum and I to eat, I gave the egg to Mum which was speckled with nigella seeds.  Again, a very light dish, with a little salty edge from the soy sauce.  Mum said that the egg really complimented the stir fry and with a slither of the sauce (which she could have) it made it tangy.

Photo:  Word In Veg Ways

Caramelised Goats Cheese, Confit Shallot & Pumpkin Seed Salad – beetroot and goats’ cheese are great partners anyway and again in this dish, they worked well.  The cheese was baked slightly to soften it and its sharpness when dipped into the balsamic glaze around it, brought a collective of all the flavours together.

Photo:  Word In Veg Ways

Sweet Potato & Black Bean Burrito, Avocado & Coriander – the different textures worked well together, it had a little kick, but it was pleasant and probably wouldn’t have been noted by someone not sensitive to spice.

Photo: Word In Veg Ways

Summer Vegetable Salad, Orange & Toasted Cashews with Oriental Dressing – fresh, crunchy, with a mixture of textures with a little hit of citrus  and ideal for those watching the calories.

Hendrick's English Garden Cocktail (left) with Hendrick's Gin, Elderflower & Apple Juice
Country Rose (right) with Apple Juice, Cranberry Juice & Elderflower Cordial
Photo:  Word In Veg Ways

Even as served in tapas style, the portion sizes were good and for £30.00 for 2 people it is an ideal option for mid-week eating and a great affordable price to dine out on.

Pink Grapefruit, Lime, Soda
Photo:  Word In Veg Ways

What’s very inspiring is that The Highfield team are working and training with Mildred’s team in London.  For those that know their veggie food, Mildred’s is a renown vegetarian/vegan restaurant near Soho which have an avid and almost a cult-like following down in London.  So working with Mildred’s, it clearly sends a positive message about how serious The Highfield are about creating a quality vegetarian offering.

Equally, what is great about Live Life On The Veg is that their menu changes weekly so that you know it won’t be a predictable cycle of the same dishes.

Chocolate Cake as dessert - fabulously fudgy!
Photo:  Word In Veg Ways

It was great to see other diners enjoying the Live Life On The Veg menu and Joe was explaining that more and more Tuesday night diners are opting for it which is fabulous all round to hear.  My only suggestion would be that it would be good to see the boundaries pushed on the options and to move away from easy choices like pasta and burritos.  I think that with the know-how from Mildred’s, the sky’s the limit.

Lemon Posset as dessert - fresh, taste of real lemons comes through!
Photo: Word In Veg Ways

I shall be going back, and I definitely recommend it.  So, swap Meatfree Mondays for Tuesday at The Highfield, take a friend and go tapas style.

PS:  Tuesday 23 October is a Live Life On The Veg Special with Daniel Acevedo from Mildred’s.  See here for details.

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Disclosure:    This post has been written following a complementary invitation to dine from the Life Live On The Veg menu .  This review was conducted honestly without bias and I was not required to produce a positive review.  For further details of my PR policy, please see the Press, PR & Food Writing page of this website.