Union of Genius

Union of Genius - Scotland's First Soup Cafe

Union of Genius - Scotland's First Soup CafeUnion of Genius | Scotland's First Soup Cafe

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Union of Genius | Vegan Edinburgh

If you want soup, there’s only one place you need to go in this city: Union of Genius café.

As well as their café on Forrest Road, Union of Genius also have the Dumbo Soup Van on George Square and supply many other cafés, spreading their soupy goodness around the length and bredth of the capital.

The menu changes every day at Union of Genius – but there are always six soups to choose from, and at least two or three will be vegan.

The soup café uses a traffic light system, so any options marked green are good for vegans.

The raspberry, coconut and vanilla traybake is my personal favourite.

Zizzi Italian Restaurant Review | Vegan Edinburgh

This Italian restaurant has lots of branches across the UK, with four in Edinburgh alone, so it’s fair to say that Zizzi has plenty of experience catering for people with dietary requirements.

In fact, when Mr B and I arrived and told them we required the vegan menu, we were handed a book that outlined the menu for every diet under the sun: gluten-free, dairy-free, low calorie… You name it, it was there!

To start we had a paddle of vegan garlic bread, which was so big we shared it between us.

For the main course, I had the lentil ragu while Mr B had the Rustica pizza with caramelised balsamic onions, mushrooms and pine nuts.

Get snobby about chain restaurants if you like, but Zizzi have absolutely nailed their vegan menu.

Union of Genius (8 Forrest Road, Edinburgh) | The List

Get rewarded with complimentary soup for returning or using your own packaging, or purchase a suspended soup/coffee for someone in need, and enjoy supporting a community enterprise that donates hundreds of litres of soup monthly to charity.

Union of Genius is Scotland's first soup café, providing six different home-made soups with matching artisan breads every day.

The soup can be taken away or eaten in and all packaging is recycled and compostable.

Guaranteed minimum of one vegan soup every day and usually at least half of the soups are vegetarian or vegan.

Nearly all soups are gluten-free (never thickened with flour or corn starch) and there are various gluten-free alternatives to bread available.

Union of Genius: 'Arabian Nights' spiced lentil and coconut soup ...

Soup of the Arabian Nights draws on an array of Elaine’s best-loved Middle Eastern spices to create a delicious and harmonious broth filled with veg, rice and lentils.

The idea for Arabian Nights came from a “Soup Swap” event that Union of Genius ran in early 2013.

Guests brought portions of soup they had made and swapped them with other soup lovers to try new flavours and ideas.

Someone brought something similar to Soup of the Arabian Nights and Elaine loved the idea of it.

This is essential with this soup, as the flavours develop over time.

Union of Genius recipe: Celtic Kelpie chicken soup - Scotsman Food ...

Elaine Mason, founder of premium soup cafe Union of Genius, shares their recipe for Celtic Kelpie, one of Union of Genius’ own creations from a repertoire of well over an hundred soups.

Celtic Kelpie is a light cream of chicken broth with almonds and seaweed - perfect for spring, should it ever arrive.

It’s very popular at both the Union of Genius cafe on Forrest Road and at their soup van on George Square.

Remove the chicken and allow it to cool slightly before shredding the meat and adding it back into the soup.

Celtic Kelpie is a gentle soup, mild and creamy but savoury from the seaweed.

Union of Genius: you need more soup by Elaine Mason — Kickstarter

In just two years, thanks in large part to the Kickstarter we have:   increased the independent cafes we supply from 10 to over 30; donated 3,000 litres of soup for free to the Edinburgh Care Van for homeless people in Edinburgh since April 2013; started a suspended coffee and soup scheme to provide free soup and coffee for those that need it; helped The Real Junk Food project get established in Edinburgh by providing our cafe free of charge on Sundays so that they can offer intercepted food on a pay as you feel basis for their pop-up; diverted tonnes of waste from landfill through using Vegware compostable packaging exclusively  established a low-carbon delivery system for our soups using our custom made electric cargo bike  and taken our soup on the road with Dumbo, our classic Citroen soup van.

To whet your appetite, here's some of what's on the menu this week Potage Crecy: a classic French spring carrot soup Celtic Kelpie: chicken with almond, kale and dulse (seaweed) Dan Dan Noodle: Szechuan-spiced pork and peanut noodle soup Chorizo y adobo: sweet potato and chorizo soup with adobo spicing  The Soup of Ezo the Bride: a hearty, vegan paprika broth with bulgar wheat and mint.

the Kickstarter to ensure that the money we raise is reinvested not just in the business but in our customers and the wider community through the suspended soup pledge.

You can choose any soup, salad or even Dumbo’s vegan chilli from the menu for free when you come to Dumbo or the cafe.

Some of you may remember the “soup maestro” reward from the last Kickstarter.

Top 10 budget restaurants, pubs and cafes in Edinburgh | Travel ...

It specialises in yakitori, grilled skewers, and ramen noodle bowls, with perhaps its best bargains to be had in the afternoon, when you can grab a bento box of three skewers, rice, salad and a side (£5 takeaway, eat-in £6.90) with miso soup and dessert.

Union of Genius supplies a number of local outlets with soups and salads, including nearby third-wave coffee shop, Brew Lab (6-8 South College Street, brewlabcoffee.co.uk).

Daily, it also produces grand bacon and cheese croissants, soups, salads and posh sandwiches (porchetta, smoked mackerel, mozzarella in spelt and honey), all, naturally, served on Manna's own rustic breads.

From dense, chewy Scots morning rolls, filled with good things at breakfast, through a lunch menu of cheese, smoked fish and deli platters, upmarket sandwiches and salads, the Larder delivers – and just a stone's throw from the Royal Mile, too.

The menu travels far and wide, from breakfasts of Mexican eggs, US pancakes and a fry-up that includes venison lorne – an unusual take on the Scottish square sausage – through to north African flatbread meals and a ramen soup.

Union of Genius | Restaurants in Old Town, Edinburgh

The menu at this friendly little café is dedicated to soup, with six homemade world-inspired flavours to sample It’s a mighty fine woman who can take the humble bowl of soup, and make it a star.

A small scale café with a big heart and bigger ideas, this friendly little space offers up six homemade soups every day – all presented with a large wedge of suitably dunkable artisan bread (from local bakery, Dough Re Mi).

You won’t find your bog-standard tomato or lentil soup at UoG, though: the menu promises something altogether more exotic, with taste combinations from around the globe.

A playful lime green exterior hints at the laid-back atmosphere inside, where the soup is warm and the welcome warmer still.

And, if you’re in the George Square area on weekdays, look out for UoG’s pop-up soup van – the cutely named Dumbo – which can be found in the north-west corner from 10.45am.