Vegetarian Meals Out in April – Toby Carvery and Carriages Afternoon Tea

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I’ve eaten out well this week! Starting with a lovely Toby Carvery with my family, followed by a gorgeous afternoon tea with my friend. I was pleasantly surprised with how both catered so well for vegetarians.

My Mum and Dad invited me to the Toby Carvery, and my Mum said “but what are you going to eat?” Toby Carvery is no longer strictly for the carnivorous type! There are a variety of plant based and fish alternatives to the usual meat offerings. There is also a salad option but who would go to the carvery and order a salad?

When you get seated at your table, you get the option of ordering from the menu or going straight up for the carvery. I ordered the melt in the middle roast, because who can resist a melty, cheesy option! My parents went straight up to the meat carving area whilst I waited for my dish to arrive. It came pretty quickly and then I was able to join the queue for the best bit in my opinion; all the veg, roasties and don’t forget the Yorkshire pudding!
I went for the classic paxo style stuffing, mash, roasties, cauliflower cheese, dauphinois style potato and butternut squash and green beans. Surprisingly, everything was cooked beautifully and I went back for seconds of the dauphinois and roasties! You cant see my melt in the middle roast in the picture but it really was lovely. I’d call it a vegetable bake that had a coating similar to stuffing with breadcrumbs and nuts perhaps. Then the star of the show was the Camembert centre! It didn’t scrimp on the Camembert either. The vegetarian options are included in the carvery price, which differs from midweek to Saturday and Sunday. Also, for those with a Blue light card – they offer 20% discount during the week.

I would give the melt in the middle roast an 8 out of 10 and the dinner as a whole an 8.5 out of 10. I love a roast and it’s nice to know that there are tasty veggie options. There is also the option of paying less and just getting yourself a plate of the vegetable and potato selection.

Afternoon tea at Carriages in Cambridgeshire was an absolute delight. Not only is it a lovely location and executed at such a high quality, the food was bloody gorgeous too. I recommend booking in advance as it is very popular and space is limited. They have 3 train carriages and we were in the Lancelot carriage. We were warned at our booking that this carriage was dining tables and chairs only, and not plush train seats. However, we were not disappointed! The decor is still so fancy and you feel transported back to vintage train travel.

Upon booking, I specified that I was vegetarian and my friend was not. We were presented with the prettiest array of petit-fours, 2 scones each and a variety of sandwiches. I’m not exaggerating when I say that everything was delicious! The petit-fours consisted of an extremely light and zingy slice of lemon cake, a lemon macaron, a very fresh raspberry tart and I am still unsure of what the lovely sweet cream filled puffs in the middle were.

There were the usual scones, a fruit and a plain one each. I’m not usually a fan of scones with raisins in but there weren’t too many raisins and the scones were super fresh and warm. No where near enough cream or jam came with the scones for 2 people, but they were happy to get us some more.

They kept the sandwiches nice and simple. I had 2 coronation chickpea sandwiches, I love chickpeas, so this was great. I also had a cheese and coleslaw and an egg mayonnaise. I swapped the egg mayo with my friend for her cheese and coleslaw – winner!

I’m weird and I don’t drink tea or coffee, so I went for a Diet Coke with my afternoon tea. There were plenty of fancy teas and coffees to choose from though. Alcoholic drinks including a variety of cocktails were also available.

I will definitely be going back, I think I fancy going at Christmas time. I imagine it feeling like a scene from the Polar Express movie. Ambience and attention to detail 10/10, food 8/10.