Quite close to me is a very lovely restaurant, called Messapica. I walk pass it twice a day and I always wandered what they have to offer. Then a while ago I got a take away menu of them in the door and I saw very nice potential vegan pizza’s on there. I couldn’t only walk pass it now, so I decided to go in and ask about their vegan options. About that I want to mention that I got treated super nicely and they are very helpful. We looked at the menu together and I could ask questions. I wish every restaurants or cafe would be as helpful as they are here. They had a reasonable amount of vegan options, but nothing very different form other places though.

They offer a lot of juices and smoothies, which are (apart from one with whey powder) all vegan. They are very happy to take the whey powder out, but it might be just easier to choose one of their other flavours. They have avocado on toast and they offer a few types of bread you can choose from (sourdough, white, wholemeal). It originally comes with cheese (what is not clear on the menu), so make sure you mention you want a vegan version. You can also have toast with jam (they have several flavours) or marmite. They als do porridge and they are happy to make that with a plant based milk (they have almond and soy). The porridge comes with a fruit compote, which is vegan. I chose the Breakfast smoothie and the avocado on sourdough toast. It arrived quickly and it looked very good. One big downside is that the smoothie comes in plastic, event hough it’t not a take away. The smoothie was nice though, a little milky, but that does make it very soft. The avocado toast came with very fresh rucola and lime juice. That was a very nice combination. The lime really gives it something extra, very fresh. I really enjoyed my breakfast and I’m very happy to recommend it. For lunch and dinner you can also go to Messapica. They do salads with dairy every day, but there are always 2-3 vegan options. After 17:00 they also do pizza’s. I’m really curious to try them and I will soon. Note that they don’t do vegan cheeses and that the gluten free pizza is not vegan, it has egg in it. Something else I really liked, but what is not very clear on the picture, is the cutlery. The forks are quite big and unusual to see, loved it!

I really really love their interior. Especially the chairs, the white painted wooden walls and the floor. The whole style is slightly industrial, so lovely. At the till you can see all the salads you can choose form and they also sell some cakes etc. but unfortunately they don’t have any vegan cakes. They do sell 3 flavours of the ichor chocolate though, what was surprising and very nice. They also sell the ‘Eat Real’ crisps (love this brand!), several drinks including ‘Mangajo’, but also olives and really cool big pasta’s. All yum! After a little chat I recommended them to offer Oatly Barista too and I was really pleased how serious they took this.

I want to thank Messapica for my lovely breakfast!

WHO? Messapica.
WHERE? 109 Chamberlayne Rd, NW10 3NS.
CUISINE? Italian.
VEGAN? No! (omni)
OVERALL? 8 (Few good and tasty vegan options, very  helpful staff and a lovely interior.)

Did you already know Messapica? Or are you planning to go here now? Please tell me about your experience! You can do this by leaving a comment below, but you can also show me by tagging me on Instagram or by using #PlanetManel. Thank you! X