Join Me at Temple of Seitan: London's First VEGAN Fried Chicken Shop 🍟 🍗

Hey guys, sadly I've been a little lazy on the cooking front this week so I haven't got any tasty homemade dishes to share with you, BUT I did visit a new vegan restaurant that I've been dying to try and I just have to share with you!

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Temple of Seitan has built itself quite a reputation in London already, with it's first location in Brick Lane, East London reportedly attracting queues of people which stretched all the way down the street in the days following it's opening. Rumour has it they were so overwhelmed by the demand in the beginning, the restaurant had to enlist the help of workers from neighbouring shops to deal with the high demand!

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The shop is the brainchild of Melbourne couple Rebecca McGuinness and her husband Pat O’Shea. Ms MsGuinness used to work in KFC and had always missed fried chicken since becoming vegan 10 years ago. She started making it with seitan and launched a street-food stall, Temple of Seitan, on Brick Lane in East London last year.

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The business was also on the receiving end of some harsh criticisms about their name in it’s early days, with some going as far as to claim they were promoting the occult due to the name's play on word ‘Satan’- but you know what they say- all publicity is good publicity!

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Come on people, it's wheat protein!

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Now, while this may well have been simply some genius marketing and media hype to create interest (if so, kudos to them- it worked!), I also read some reviews from meat eaters raving about how great the fried 'chicken' was here, and after seeing how insanely good the food looked on Instagram, I just had to check it out for myself.

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And I'm glad I did!

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I visited their new location, Temple of Camden (nothing to get offended about here). It's located a little way out of Camden Town, along the canal, and though a little tucked away this new premises is pretty great.

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It's nice and light and modern, nothing pretentious- with plenty of indoor seating as well as some benches outside in the courtyard.

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I really liked the minimalist decor and animal themed illustrations on the walls and packaging.

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Looking at the menu, it was a little hard to chose - everything sounded so good!

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In the end, between two of us we went for:

• The Temple Burger

Fillet, Ranch Mayo, Bacon, Cheese, Lettuce, Pickles

• The Temple Spicy Burger

Fillet, Chipotle Mayo, Coleslaw, Cheese, Jalapenos, Sriracha

• Mac 'N Cheese

• BBQ wings

• 2x Fries

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And man, did that end up being a lot of food!

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The fries turned out to be absolutely huge! We definitely didn't need to order a large each- 1 was more than enough for 2 people.

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The Temple Spicy Burger was definitely the best of the two burgers, with much more flavour and a nice spicy sauce.

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The highlight for me however were definitely the BBQ wings- Oh my were these good! Such a sweet, sticky BBQ sauce, my mouth is watering just thinking about them! They actually reminded me much more of BBQ spare ribs than chicken wings, both in flavour and in texture.

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The Mac 'n Cheese is also definitely worth a special mention! For sure the best vegan Mac I've found in a restaurant- great cheesy flavour but not artificial as some vegan cheese substitutes can be. It also had a nice crispy topping with a sour cream like sauce on top- delish!

The chips were also really good (and plentiful!). I discovered the beauty of Chicken Salt here, something previously unknown to me- and thankfully 'chicken' in name only, not in ingredients. It is really great as a seasoning for fries, adding a really nice subtle spicy flavour.

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Temple of Camden also sell a range of sweet treats including brownies, cookies, and a whole range of bakery goods including pain au raisin and croissants- vegan heaven!

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I didn't try any sweet stuff on my visit here- in fact, we only managed to finish half of the food we ordered and took the rest home for dinner!

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I was really happy to have finally tried this vegan sensation and would definitely recommend, BUT a little word of warning to potential visitors! Seitan is made of wheat protein, and though I am not gluten intolerant, the combination of chips, macaroni AND seitan was a little too much for my digestive system to handle!

I was extremely bloated after this meal but I did order far too much so I brought it on myself. The portions are also very generous, to be honest the Mac 'N cheese could easily be a meal in itself, so don't get carried away like I did!

That said, I can't wait to go back and try the chicken wrap and the popcorn chicken!

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It made me so happy to see how this business is thriving. It was busy the whole time I was there, with a constant stream of people coming in to get takeaways. It's great to see a fully vegan business become pretty much mainstream- with omnis and vegans alike choosing to eat plant based versions rather than going to KFC, long may seitan reign!

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I hope you liked this post, if you did please upvote. comment, resteem and follow me on @lolzwithlisa for more vegan food and travel posts.

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