Kosmonaut

Last Sunday morning as part of my Cornerhouse Membership we got invited to a free marketing test screening of a film before it went on general release. It was a secret until we got there and it turned out to be a Chilean film called Gloria. We decided to carry on the relaxed vibe by going out for Sunday lunch afterwards. For a long time there hasn't been anywhere in Manchester doing a vegan Sunday lunch then three come along at once! We hadn't tried any of them at this point but after my friend Andrea of the blog Chocolate and Beyond had Facebooked a photo of the offering at Kosmonaut on Tariff Street the other week we decided to try it out first.

Do you remember how I said in my intro post how the Northern Quarter often stands in for the East Village in films, well Kosmonaut carries the New York feel through to the interior with it's white subway tiled walls and wide range of American craft beers. I recognised several that I definitely know are vegan. If you've not come across it before then Barnivore is a great resource for checking if you're not sure. The menu has both vegetarian and vegan versions of the Sunday lunch. At first glance it looked like it might be that disappointing thing where the vegan version is just the vegetarian choice minus the cheese.

However...... we were wrong! The cauliflower cheese from the vegetarian lunch was replaced by a fantastic mini shepherd's pie type thing with spicy beans under a mash topping served in a little ramekin.

You can't really judge the scale from the photo but these were BIG plates. As well as the mini Shepherd's Pie thing there was also roast potatoes and a separate serving of mash. That's three servings of potato which made Matt a happy man. In addition there was half an aubergine stuffed with a butternut squash and chickpea mixture, broccoli, butternut batons and some of the nicest chanteny carrots I've ever tasted. I think Kosmonaut score extra points too for thinking outside the box and providing something different than the usual option of nutroast or something wrapped in puff pastry.

My only minor thing was that next time (and there will definitely be a next time) I will ask for extra gravy as I am a total gravy fiend and always use twice as much as a normal person. The piece de resistance though was the home made Yorkshire pudding. A Yorkshire pudding, a vegan Yorkshire pudding!!!! It must be about 10 years since I last had one and it totally made my day. Oh, and if you're wondering where the other two Northern Quarter Vegan Sunday lunches that we have yet to try can be found they are at Bakerie and Simple.