The Vegan Guide to Oxford

Kake, 12 May 2001 (amended 20 May 2002)

This Chinese "vegetarian and seafood" restaurant offers a wide range of mock-meat dishes, most of which are suitable for vegans. Vegetarian dishes are clearly indicated on the menu, and those which aren't suitable for vegans are marked with a hash (#).

The prices here are pretty steep for the area -- a meal for two with drinks can set you back up to £40--50 if you're not careful -- but the "All You Can Eat" (AYCE) menu at £14.50 per head is good value for larger groups. The number of different dishes that you get increases drastically when your group goes from 4 to 5 people, so it's best to try it out with a group who are all happy to eat vegetarian. The way the AYCE aspect of it works is that once you've had all your courses, you can start again from the beginning! Last orders for extra AYCE dishes are at 11pm. There are also five set menus, two of which are vegetarian (£12 and £14). [Prices as of May 2002]

The vegetarian satay here is good; mock beef or mock chicken in a tasty, peanutty sauce. I also like the "Pink Giraffe style" dishes, with long green beans, Thai basil and a chilli sauce. Last time I was here I noticed that the vegetarian choices now include mock crispy duck with pancakes, which I must get around to trying at some point.