I was so excited to see Taste Tibet launch their online shop, delivering to homes around Oxford on Thursday-Sunday evenings. They will be a familiar face to anyone who’s visited Gloucester Green market, and they’re also a staple on the festival circuit around Oxfordshire and beyond. I have fond memories of inhaling a bowl of their curry at Victorious festival in Portsmouth, crouched on the ground behind the accessible seating platform, desperately trying to protect ourselves from the sheet rain and aggressive sea spray. We will forever be grateful for that dal, and we are grateful now that Taste Tibet are coming through once again during tough times!
I treated myself to a ‘vegan feast for one’, ordered for delivery on my birthday. You have to pre-order your food in advance through their website, and it will be delivered on your chosen day cold, with instructions for how to best reheat found online. For the feast, I put it in the oven for 20 or so minutes until I was confident it was piping hot all the way through, and we pan friend the vegan momo on the hob. I would’ve like more thorough reheating instructions honestly (what temperature? how long? I just had to use my best guess) particularly when there was rice in the meal, which we know has to be reheated properly to avoid food poisoning. Luckily my best guess seemed about right and I wasn’t unwell the next day – phew.
The food itself was properly delicious. The feast costs £11, plus delivery, and your order has to be at least £20 – which was fine as there are two of us. At least if you’re self-isolating on your own, the benefit of it arriving cold is that you can keep a meal in the fridge for the next day, if you’re inclined to order two for yourself. The vegan feast consists of rice, their staple Tibetan dal, spinach and chickpea curry, a momo, and their vegan special – this week’s was a tofu and greens stir fry. They really do keep things fresh every week so I’ll probably be ordering again to try some of their future specials too!
The lentil dal was mildy spiced, creamy and nicely seasoned with salt. It’s proper comfort food and I could eat bowls full of it on its own. The chickpea and spinach curry goes down well alongside it, equally mild, and you can tell this is quality fresh home-cooked food with the chickpeas being soaked overnight rather than coming straight from a tin. The special had some more aromatic flavours, with sweet caramelised onion, and then a chilli heat coming through at the end of your mouthful. It was all a joy to eat. 
Because of the way it’s delivered all in one pot – understandably so – when we dished up our food and to ensure every grain of rice was heated through, it was difficult for us to prevent the different dishes from merging together, so the flavours did slightly blend together as one. It would’ve been nice to taste them more separately but at the same time it was all so delicious that it didn’t seem to matter too much. The vegan momo was full of flavour and fresh greens, and topped off the meal nicely with its crispy outside from the frying.
The whole meal felt like it was quite healthy as takeaways go, nothing was swimming in grease, the ingredients all seemed high quality and the meal wasn’t too heavy or stodgy. The rice was nicely cooked and still good even after being reheated in the oven – the only thing was there was quite a lot of it in comparison to the curries and it would’ve been nice to have a bit more sauce vs rice, but that’s probably a personal preference. I also felt *so* full after eating this, and thought the portion size was just right for a particularly hungry adult. All in all I really enjoyed my meal and can’t wait to support Taste Tibet with another order soon. I’m also loving seeing the amazing work they’re doing to feed the NHS and contributing to the Oxford community in the best way they know how to. Thank you Taste Tibet 🙂
Vegan Eats Oxford 
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