Vegans can now join their friends in eating at Roadster Diner without having to settle for just fries. The food chain launched the addition of seven new vegan items to its official menu on Monday, November 5.
Launched during an entirely vegan tasting at Roadster’s Restos St. Nicolas Achrafieh branch, the new menu, which was initially announced on November 1, includes two burgers, two salads, one pasta dish, and two desserts.
The launch celebrated World Vegan Day with “Dear Vegans, time to come home” as a slogan, as well as “welcome home” and “leave a seat for your vegan friend” stickers scattered across the restaurant and the seats.
Organizers distributed hoodies with witty messaging like “I’m going to kale this workout,” “Broccoli doesn’t like you anyway,” and “Vegan and Fabulous,” on them to all arriving attendees. Vegans also chose between taking home rosemary, thyme, mint, or pomegranate plants on their way out.
“I really liked the food! They really went all out,” said Tara Ramadan. “I’m glad to see the vegan change come into the corporate world.”
The vegan menu offers a variety of dishes to sate different cravings. For their burgers, Roadster Diner veganized their take on the already-existing vegetarian mushroom patty in the “Vegan Mushroom Burger.” Their chefs also created a juicy, red “Vegan Burger” that feels and tastes like a meat burger that bleeds, according to many of the attendees.
An assortment of hearty garden vegetables came together with quinoa and chia seeds topped with avocado in the “Vegan Quinoa Salad”, while the “Vegan Avocado Salad” laid down cherry tomatoes, avocado, and chia seeds on a bed of lettuce and leafy greens.
Most attendees found it hard to choose a favourite among the savoury options, seeing as the variety of ingredients in each item are all not to be missed.
The “Lotus Mud Pie” was almost unanimously a winner in the desserts category, with many of the attendees preferring it over the brownie, which they considered to be crumbling.
“I’m just happy we have options now,” said Zade K, co-founder of Lebanese Vegan Foodies.
While vegan options are more abundant in the country now, the flavours in these newly-introduced items are unprecedented.
“Their chef is great,” stated Wissam Chidiak, founder of the local online database VeganLebanon. “He’s not vegan, yet didn’t think inside the box and do mjaddara or falafel like other chefs in the country.”
This is only the beginning for vegan food. Roadster’s marketing manager told Beirut Today to expect more vegan items to be added to the menu next year, but nothing is set in stone yet.