Vegan American-inspired diner opens in Gateshead

A vegan American-inspired diner Grumpy Panda has opened today in Gateshead. During the previous four years, proprietors Beth and Phil Towers—who conceived the diner’s concept during a road trip across California, Arizona, Utah, and Nevada—gained a following by hosting regional pop-ups and local catering gigs.

To set the tone, Grumpy Panda will be decorated with license plates the couple gathered on their 2,500-mile American road trip. The duo will also host an American-style eating challenge they call “Release the Kraken” in which guests are encouraged to consume a number of menu items in less than 15 minutes.

North East vegans, you are in for a treat! @grumpypandafood is going to be your new favourite – blog post up now! 👉🏻teaonthetyne.com👈🏻 🐼🍔👌🏻

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What’s on the menu?

The diner will serve American-style dishes such as pancakes, waffles, hot dogs, sandwiches, and burgers.

Diners can also tuck into full fry ups featuring ‘Pigless Pudding’, ‘Baecon’ and ‘Eggz’ as well as waffles with a variety of animal product free toppings.

Fry up anyone? 🍳🍳 Our fully stocked fry up will be on our new menu, available ALL DAY, EVERY DAY! ✌ Baecon, Pigless Pudding, Eggz, mushrooms, beans, tomato and thick cut toast. All ‘meats’ and cheez are handmade on site by us and are 100% vegan! 😍😍 #vegan #veganfoodshare #veganfryup #fryup #breakfast #veganbreakfast #foodshare #instafood #foodbloggers #nevegan #bacon #eggs #whatveganseat #veganjunkfood #gateshead #newcastle #localbusiness #handmade #vegandiner #americandiner #healthy #fitfam #plantbased #plantbaseddiet #diet #crueltyfree #dairyfree #meatfree #friendsnotfood #happycow

A post shared by 🍕🍔🌭Coffee Bar & Vegan Diner🍕🍔🌭 (@grumpypandafood) on Apr 30, 2017 at 4:30am PDT

It also sells ‘The Mac ‘n Stack’ (vegan mac ‘n cheese), ‘Chikin ‘n Waffles’, ‘Chili Cheez’ hotdogs and ‘Pastramee’ grilled sandwiches. The wacky names are thanks to the fact that they make their own ‘eggs’ ‘cheese’ and ‘meats’ on site, so they know exactly what’s gone into them.

“It’s not grass and beans and lentils!” Phil said when describing the diner’s comfort food menu.

🐙 RELEASE THE KRAKEN 🐙 Feeling brave? Take on our (sea) Monster food challenge! 15 minutes, one HUGE tray of food. Can you beat the Kraken and earn your place on our Wall of Fame? Or will you be forever cursed on our Wall of Shame? What’s in it? 1 x Grilled Reuben Sandwich, 1 x Quarter Pounder Cheezburger, 1x 8″ Frank Furter, 1 x Basket of Dirty Fries, 1 x Mac N Cheez side and a whole heap of coleslaw. #vegan #veganfood #veganfoodchallenge #veganmanvsfood #veganjunkfood #veganfoodshare #instavegan #veganrecipe #foodshare #instafood #nevegan #manvsfood #foodchallenge #gateshead #diner #plantlife #HappyCow #veganburger #reuben #dirtyfries #diet #fitfam #crueltyfree #dairyfree #friendsnotfood #kraken #releasethekraken

A post shared by 🍕🍔🌭Coffee Bar & Vegan Diner🍕🍔🌭 (@grumpypandafood) on May 12, 2017 at 5:09am PDT

The coffee bar

However, whilst the food might be vegan it’s important to note that their coffee bar is vegetarian rather than vegan friendly, as they offer cows milk in drinks, but are keen to stress that they keep prep areas, fridges and equipment separate to eliminate the chances of cross contamination.

Please do let Grumpy Panda know that there are plenty of dairy-free milks available, including barista style drinks that are perfect for hot drinks like lattes and tea, and that they do not need to serve cows milk.

Where to find Grumpy Panda

You can find Grumpy Panda at 14 Regent Terrace, Gateshead, NE8 1LU, and diners can even bring their dogs along to join in the fun.

For more information, please visit www.grumpypandafood.com.