The Orange Tree, Leicester

The Orange Tree, on Leicester’s High Street, is one of the best places in the centre of town to get a bite to eat and have a drink. It’s owned by the same people as the Lansdowne and while it does have a lot in common with its sister pub (The O Bar in the West End is in the same small chain, which also has branches in Nottingham and Loughborough) it’s quite a bit more low-key and the décor is a bit more rough and ready, and all the better for it. It’s also got arguably the best and hardest music quiz in town; you’ll need a very broad but deep knowledge to stand a chance against the regulars.

The Orange Tree actually has a special place in our hearts: it was where we had our first date and we regularly return there of an evening.

In terms of food it doesn’t do quite as well as the Lansdowne but in the last year or so its menus (they change every season) have included at least one marked vegan option each time and the specials do sometimes include something vegan. While the food is generally very good quality and delicious, it does tend to suffer from the same problem as the Lansdowne in assuming, for some reason, that vegans only ever want very small portions.

The last meal I had there, one of the specials, was aubergine and chickpea köfte* with toasted flatbread and vegan yoghurt with mint (pictured). It was great, if a bit oily, but it really wasn’t that much, and when you’re paying more or less the same as the pretty generous meat options, that’s definitely a drawback.

The Orange Tree, like the Lansdowne, will remain a regular watering hole for us in Leicester, but I just wish they’d make the vegan options a bit more substantial.

*Interestingly, there’s currently a ban in Turkey on traditional çiğ köfte made using raw meat (at least at street stalls) and they are now made with bulgur wheat instead, making them vegan. A Turkish friend of mine brought some of these back from a trip a couple of years ago and they taste fantastic. They’re made from bulgur mashed with tomato paste and spices and eaten with lettuce and lemon juice. I’ll try and get a good recipe and test them out for a future post.