I’d heard about Annie’s Burger Shack in Nottingham but I knew it had moved from its original location at the Old Angel pub. Lots of the information on the internet still refers to the old location, and at the time of writing their website isn’t up and running. I had heard that vegan burgers were to be had though so I decided to give it a go.
The new home of Annie’s is called The Navigation, conveniently for us located just down the canal from our hotel (Jury’s Inn) and very close to the train station. The menu has 24 different burgers, along with a few side items and a dessert specials board. It says at the top of the menu that all burgers can be made vegan, but even in some of the best reviewed vegetarian restaurants in the world I’ve been disappointed when the method of making something vegan is just leaving off half of the ingredients. I went to the bar to ask, but no problems there. Annie is rightly proud of the fact that for any ingredient listed, there is a vegan equivalent. So, whether it be cheese, fried egg, Yorkshire pudding or king prawns, if it’s on the menu it’s going to appear on your plate.
I can’t remember the name of the burger I chose but after 20 minutes of blind panic about how I was ever going to choose, I ended up going for the biggest burger on the menu – burger, chicken, sausage, cheese and bacon. Matthew went for the roast dinner- 2 different burgers, roast potatoes, Yorkshire pudding, stuffing, vegetables and gravy. They came with a choice of wedges, curly fries or fries. Yes, you read all of that right.
Iphone pic of my burger
Matthew’s
Another dreadful pic because I wanted you to see Matthew’s vegan Yorkshire pudding more clearly.
My burger was a mixture of store bought subs and home made, while Matthew’s seemed to be all home made. If there’s a particular store bought meat or cheese which you really hate, it’s probably worth checking it won’t appear. Some of the subs clearly think outside the box a bit – the vegans on the next table had the all day breakfast burger, where the fried egg appeared to be chinese style puffy fried tofu. The wedges were the better of the potato options, by the way. The Yorshire pudding was fabulous and better than any of my attempts, and the stuffing ball nestled inside it was excellent. Along side my burger, the horseradish sauce packed some punch.
These portions were so huge that not only could we not enjoy the freshly baked lemon drizzle cake or the chocolate brownie, we didn’t even finish our burgers. It was like a vegan version of Man v Food.
If I had to, I could make 2 small criticisms. Firstly, the actual burger itself, while tasty, was a bit crumbly. And second, really picky now, the boards that they were served on were a bit small and resulted in an overflow onto the table when trying to cut the burgers. But, really, that’s picky to the millionth degree and wouldn’t have mattered at all if I hadn’t greedily ordered the biggest burger on the menu! Annie’s – we’ll be back.
Cooking the Vegan Books 
I looked at the boards and wondered if they’d served meat burgers on them before the vegan ones, you just can’t get wood really clean, I’m not a big fan of it in restaurants for serving things (at home I know it’s only ever had vegan stuff on it!). Those burgers were silly in their size, I can’t imagine anyone could eat a whole one, I think it would have served me and both my kids!
I want you to spy on them and find out how they make their Yorkshire pudding — I have yet to find a really satisfactory vegan version!
They’re easy, but you need to whisk it till it whirls into space and the oil is especially hot and bubbling….whisk till you get bubbles in the batter,… its 3 parts plain flour, 1 part gram flour, about a pint of unsweetened soy milk, good pinch o’ salt, pinch of pepper, tiny pinch of baking powder…go for it! Bake high for about 20 and resist opening the oven door…. They’re lovely!
As for the comment about the wooden trays above, the wooden boards are H&S passed for restaurant food, they’re not just regular boards and believe me they are cleaned properly.. I serve meat dishes, yes, however, my kitchen has always been kept VERY separate..I even have a veggie fridge and a separate vegan fridge…and four sinks…my head chef has been vegan for 26 years and in my old kitchen you used to order at my kitchen door so you could watch me cooking….
As far as the size of my burgers, those pictures ARE the biggest ones. Yikes, they do look silly. I call it comedy gourmet.. They’re not all like that! I You CAN be vegan and have a place thats fun to eat…! Good luck on the Yorkies! Annie X
Anna, most of the burgers weren’t so silly, just us being greedy and not knowing how big they would be!
Oh man, that place looks incredible!
I recently found out they’ve got an Annie’s in Oxford! I’m going to have to check it out, even if it’s not really my thing, to take a few omnis and show them that you don’t have to miss out on authentic style burgers as a vegan!
I don’t think the Oxford one is related. I asked and it was all a bit weird. I think it started as a partnership but ended up not working. Anyway, they aren’t connected now.
Oh boo 😦 Thanks for letting me know anyway.
I did open that for a while and it was mine but I stopped….they shouldnt be using my name…. I hope they have stopped using it because I cannot back up what they buy in….sorry!
Oh my gosh. Wow.
As you know, we loved Annie’s. I think we went there thrice, when they were at the old location. My favourite was the Drunken Bastard – best burger I’ve ever eaten in my life! I’m glad you liked it!
Rachell! The Drunken Bastard is now The Thin Lizzy! And I have the Vegan version as well! X
I’m very impressed. The food looks fabulous.
I’d love to know how they/you make Yorkshires without milk and eggs?
😉
David,
I’ve tried a few recipes and none have been perfect – all edible though. I’m going to try this one next time http://www.maplespice.com/2009/09/vegan-yorkshire-pudding.html
Oh my gosh! I’d heard about them before but assumed there wouldn’t actually be vegan subs for everything. So glad there is. Must plan a trip to Nottingham soon.