Norwich has had a pretty decent vegetarian and vegan scene for a few years now, especially compared to cities of a similar size, but it's taken a bit more time for street food to really take off in the city. Norwich's Feast on the Street - a celebration of excellent local food taking place monthly on the first Wednesday of the month - has helped to popularise the street food concept in the city and Bia Vegan Diner has built on that by recently setting up permanently in Norwich Market.
The menu is instantly appealing; although there are only five or six choices at any one time, they all sound both interesting and delicious. When we visited the options were a breakfast bap made with scrambled tofu, sausage pattie and baconnaise; a spicy bean burrito with guacamole and Mexican rice; a Po' Boy made with mushrooms in a Southern-fried coating; a sweet beet burger; and pulled jack fruit - the vegan version of pulled pork - in barbeque sauce. We all struggled to make our choices but Mr Vegan Man ultimately plumped for a sweet beet burger (WOTVM's friend chose the same) with a side of caulifire bites - beer battered cauliflower florets served with a spicy buffalo hot sauce and blue cheese dip - whilst WOTVM plumped for the burrito.
Everything is cooked to order but it is worth the few minutes' - and it is only a few minutes - wait as the food arrived looking fresh and just inviting us to tuck in. The serving boxes are really cute too, with a Gingham pattern lining giving a real street food diner feel. It was a beautiful day in the fine city so we sat in the war memorial garden at the top of the market to eat our lunch.
The sweet beet burger was fantastic. The burger is made with beetroot, carrot and dill with the dill flavour coming through impressively strongly without being overpowering. The amount of flavour in the pattie itself was a really pleasant surprise - veggie burgers can be hit and miss in terms of actual taste, but this one really delivers on big flavours. The burger is topped with an onion ring and garlic aioli and these complimented the veggie pattie really well; the aioli had a decent punch whilst not leaving a strong aftertaste of garlic and the onion ring added a nice crunch as well as the addition of sweet onion flavour. The bun was more like a crusty roll and held together really well and had a good crunch to it.
The caulifire bites were amazing and ended up being shared between the three of us. The batter was light and crispy, the cauliflower melted in the mouth, and the spicy buffalo sauce had an excellent kick of chilli heat. The blue cheese dip was a good counterbalance to the heat coming from the hot sauce and we were all amazed at how you could make a vegan dip that was so creamy. Mr Vegan Man generally isn't a fan of blue cheese but the dip was not overly cheesy and complimented the spicy cauliflower bites perfectly. We could happily have a portion of these just on their own - simply divine.
The burrito was also a delight. The sauce had a good kick and was sweet and smoky along with the heat, giving it a rich and well-rounded flavour. The beans retained a nice bit of bite and texture, and the perfectly cooked rice added substance and body to the burrito. The guacamole was well-made and provided a touch of richness as well as a cooling balance against the spicy sauce. The burrito had been finished off on the hot plate once constructed and this gave the tortilla a nice hint of crispiness to the outside.
Overall, the three of us were hugely impressed with our lunch and we will definitely be back to try some of the other dishes on offer. The food is so fresh and tasty but also really satisfying and we felt nicely full after we'd polished off our lunch. Prices are very reasonable, ranging from £3.50 to £4.50 for the main dishes and £2.50 for a portion of caulifire bites. A range of soft drinks, including cold brew coffee and iced tea are also on offer, as well as a selection of vegan energy balls.
You can visit the Bia Vegan Diner website here and they also have pages on Twitter and Facebook. Definitely well worth a visit and an excellent addition to the Norwich breakfast and lunch scene.
We are off on holiday to sunny Croatia for a week from tomorrow but we will endeavour to offer a blog on our experiences of Croatian cuisine while we're there so stay tuned!
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