I’m not going to lie, I love a sweet treat. I’ve always loved to bake and have always found it difficult to pass up a piece of cake, biscuit, cookie or pastry. When I became vegan, along with finding vegan recipes for dinner, I also wanted to learn to make vegan baked goods.
As much as I like baking, it’s always nice to be able to get a really good vegan pastry out in the wild. Luckily, vegan cakes and brownies aren’t nearly as difficult to find in coffee shops and cafés as they once were. While places like Starbucks seem to have ditched their selection of vegan treats, there are other shops specialising in just that. Enter Okja Cafe, a vegan café in London specialising in pastries, coffee and savoury treats.
A Small Shop Full of Goodness
I keep a list of vegan places I want to visit. Okja Cafe was on it for quite a while before we finally got around to walking into their Toynbee Street location. Having just eaten lunch elsewhere, anything we purchased was being taken home for later.
To be completely honest, I don’t remember what we purchased on that first visit. It was likely a cookie and a pastry. What I can say is that it was good enough for us to be happy to visit again when we walked past their Liverpool Street location several months later, after another filling vegan lunch.
Both locations are on the small side, so don’t expect to eat in. But what the shops lack in size they make up for in fabulous flavours and selection.
The Hardest Part Is Choosing
If you have been plant-based or vegan for any amount of time, you’ll have had that experience of going into a restaurant or café and finding only one or two options. With so little on offer, deciding what to have is easy. You’ll also know the opposite feeling: walking into a vegan restaurant and having sooo many choices that you simply cannot decide.
That was me a couple of weekends ago, standing in front of the pastry case. My partner quickly chose the Citrus Pistachio Swirl. It’s a pistachio frangipane wrapped in flaky, buttery pastry, topped with a citrusy cream cheese frosting and toasted pistachios.
I was left with my eyes darting between one of their beautiful cookies and the two other swirl flavours they had on offer. I finally went with the Chocolate Hazelnut Swirl.
While we got them both boxed up for later, we were offered a sample of their coffee slush. Now, I love coffee and have read good things about Okja Cafe’s coffee. But I’d never had frozen coffee and, if I’m honest, was a little leery of it.
It took one sip from the sample cup to know that coffee slush needed to be a part of my life.
It’s a bit sweet, but on a hot summer day it really hit the spot. Unfortunately, I wasn’t feeling great from the heat, so I only finished about half of my small drink. Fortunately, my partner was happy to finish it off for me after drinking his as well.
Now back to those pastries.
Unsurprisingly, both were amazing. We both agreed that the Citrus Pistachio Swirl was the best of the two. However, the Chocolate Hazelnut version was pretty fantastic too.
The pastry is as described: buttery and flaky. While both fillings were tasty, the citrus pistachio was lighter. I think the chocolate hazelnut would be perfect with a nice cup of hot coffee in the winter.
What to Know Before You Visit
If you’re around Liverpool Street Station or Shoreditch, I’d add Okja Cafe to your list of places to visit. Although I have focused on their sweet treats, Okja Cafe does have savoury offerings as well.
As I’ve mentioned, neither shop is very big. The Liverpool Street location has very little room even for waiting, so be prepared to take your sweet or savoury treats away with you.
Their website does seem to indicate that they offer delivery and pickup from at least one of the locations. So if you want to explore either option, check out the Okja Cafe website.
Browse more of my vegan and plant-based restaurant recommendations.