Tipsy Vegan in Norwich launches sharing platters

In the last decade she and Michelle McCabe have been converting diners to the flavourful joy of eating a plant-based diet, one plate at a time.

Including how to make tofu enticing - the answer is to marinate it, says Cheryl.     

They started out selling burgers and burritos from a food truck which they would take out to events at weekends, then at their vegan diner Bia Kitchen on Norwich Market before opening their cosy award-winning restaurant The Tipsy Vegan on St Benedicts Street.

The pair opened a second branch in Cambridge just over a year ago, and their sights are now set on finding premises in London. 

Looking at the selection of dishes on offer, you don’t think ‘where’s the meat?’, but ‘that sounds delicious, let me at it.’

Imagine arancini balls, bao buns stuffed with coconut crusted tofu, and their new sharing boards, piled with the most delicious vegan sushi and their take on calamari.

“You’re only ever going to change people’s minds with food, aren’t you,” says Cheryl.

Michelle became vegan around nine years ago, after watching a documentary about the dairy industry, which she found eye-opening.

“It was an overnight thing for me,” she says. “I’ve always been in hospitality, and I was working in very non-vegan restaurants at the time.”

Cheryl admits that when she and Michelle met, she hadn’t even heard of veganism. 

“I came from Lowestoft, [growing up] I had the typical normal dinners that were prepared, you ate what you were given. 

“I’d heard of vegetarianism, so when Michelle said she was vegan and she couldn’t really eat a lot, in my naivety I said well, have a cheese sandwich. I think until you know the information behind something, you’re quite judgmental. So, I did all the typical jokes.”

But as she learned more, Cheryl too started moving towards a plant-based diet.

“I never really made an announcement, I just said this is how I want to eat from now on and that’s how it started for me,” she says.

Cheryl found that cooking vegan was a chance for her to be creative – and to show that eating plant-based didn’t mean missing out on the food she loves.

Says Michelle: “At the time Cheryl was a teacher and the get-around with her very beige diet...”

“I eat like a 10-year-old,” Cheryl interjects, laughing.

“And my inability to cook, was that she would cook for us, creating dishes and looking at ways we could eat together, but veganising them,” says Michelle. 

“It was very apparent from the off that she had a lot of skills in the kitchen, and it kind of developed from there.”

“So when it was a case of we were both wanting to eat a burger, I would come up with a way that we could still have that – the same texture, the same flavour, just not the same ingredient,” continues Cheryl.

Both Michelle and Cheryl had always wanted to work for themselves.

With her background in hospitality, Michelle could see that veganism was starting to become more mainstream. 

“I said if there’s a time we’re ever going to try it, the time to do it is now. So, we got our food truck and went out to weekend events, doing basic burgers and burritos,” says Michelle.

“The fact that we were calling them burgers and burritos was very new – when you thought of vegan food it was salads and it was lentils and it was pulses and here we were with bacon baps and katsu curries. So, people would think, okay I can still eat what I normally eat, but I can avoid animal products.”  

They ran Bia Kitchen on Norwich Market for two years and in 2017 – with Cheryl’s focus on the kitchen and Michelle’s on front of house - opened The Tipsy Vegan, which was a trailblazer on the city’s plant-based food scene. 

Both the menu and the vibe, a laid-back speakeasy style, were a world away from what you would perhaps expect from a vegan restaurant.

“We wanted to show the best sides of vegan eating and also make sure that it’s not very dissimilar from what you would have in any other restaurant - to create that environment that feels like a regular restaurant, that as a vegan I could take my mum to or my grandad to and they’d feel just as comfortable,” says Michelle.

“And it’s also just quite playful, in the name, in the environment, the style, everything’s just very casual. You’re cheerful, as soon as you come in you feel cosy, you want to stay a little bit longer, the staff are very, very attentive,” says Cheryl.

It’s a recipe for success – in 2021, The Tipsy Vegan was placed in TripAdvisor’s top 10 vegan restaurants in the UK.

When it comes to the menu, their ever-popular arancini and bao buns have been on the menu since the beginning - they regularly switch-up the flavours to keep things interesting.

“Who doesn’t love a deep fried risotto ball?” says Michelle.

They use some plant-based proteins such as tofu (soy milk which has been pressed into a block) and seitan (a wheat gluten meat substitute) on their menu – Sunday lunch options include sliced beef seitan with the trimmings. 

And their Veganuary dishes include a number rustled up with chef Neil Rankin’s Symplicity range of mince made from fermented vegetables - think chorizo and sweet potato burritos and cumin lamb mince flatbread. 

On February 1 the menu format is going to change – previously just focused on small plates, they will be incorporating larger dishes too.

They’re going to have a variety of share boards with their own vegan take on seafood, charcuterie and antipasti.

So, for example, the ‘fish’ board is bursting with deep, savoury umami flavours: calamari made with oyster mushrooms which have been cooked in stock before being dipped in a spice mix and deep fried, maki rolls made with sushi rice and tempeh, cucumber seaweed salad and beer pickled onions.

“One of the biggest comments we get on feedback, is that people say I’m not vegan or vegetarian but I didn’t miss meat on the plate, there was just so much flavour, and things I hadn’t had before, which is what we’re always trying to achieve I think,” says Michelle. 

“We’ve never done a poll, but if you just go by the reviews and feedback I would say at least 60 per cent of the clientele’s not vegan,” says Cheryl. 

“But I think we’re in a time where people area bit more conscious of what they’re eating and drinking, what they’re putting into their body, where it’s come from and the effect it might have on the environment, because we need to be, really.”

For people who are feeling inspired to embrace plant-based eating – perhaps they took part in Veganuary and want to continue – what advice would Michelle and Cheryl give to them?

Michelle recommends doing your research - getting hold of the Veganuary cookbook, available via its website, which also has a wealth of hints and tips, is a good starting point. She also finds Facebook groups a useful source of information. 

“We’re different in that you like digging for information whereas I’m more practical and if it was me saying to someone I would say don’t change what you eat at all, or certainly the meal,” says Cheryl. 

“Most people have an idea of what they want to eat during the week, whether it’s spaghetti bolognese or casserole - just note down what you want, and go to a supermarket, go to the vegan aisle and you’ll find it because there’s a huge amount of products nowadays.”

The Tipsy Vegan is at 68-70 St Benedicts Street. See thetipsyvegan.co.uk and follow on Instagram @thetipsyvegangroup