Wingerworth vegan café owner tempts customers with new Veganuary menu and special offers

Rowan Adlington, who runs Figaro in Wingerworth, is supporting the Veganuary initiative which flags up the advantages of adopting a plant-based diet.

She said: “Given the climate emergency and the health benefits, awareness of the vegan lifestyle is gaining pace. Documentaries and press coverage are urging us to save our planet by eating less meat, doing less shopping, cycling and recycling!

“The events of the past few years with unusual weather patterns, deforestation and of course Covid are encouraging people to take notice and try to do their bit to sustain our future, whether it’s by having a few meat-free days, reducing travel, buying from charity shops etc. Every little bit makes a difference and we all only need do a little bit!

“More and more people each January try to introduce vegan foods into their diet, so we have a devised a new menu for January to tempt everyone and some vouchers to encourage people to give us a try!

"Our Veganuary offers will change weekly to inspire you to try us at different time of day and include: a free hot drink when you purchase breakfast, a free dessert when you purchase lunch, a free glass of wine or beer when you purchase an evening meal, a free hot drink when you purchase a cake! Vouchers can be downloaded from our website where you can also view our full menu.

“Discover for yourself our delicious vegan dishes: wild mushroom linguine, pesto and sundried tomato tart, jackfruit curry to name a few!

"If we can encourage people to come along and try our delicious italian inspired plant based food during Veganuary it might be something they decide to stick with! Hopefully we'll find everyone’s temptation by the end of the month!”

Rowan launched her vegan café, next door to her Arkadia Too hair and beauty salon on Allendale Road, during the summer of 2021.

She admits that the timing could have been better because hospitality was just beginning to reopen after a difficult period. Her cafe had been due to launch in 2020 but its opening was delayed by the Covid pandemic.

However, she has been delighted at the response to her new business. She said: “We have been pleased to see that people travel long distances for good vegan food!” she said. “It’s really difficult to find somewhere as a vegan that you can eat everything on the menu! It’s great to have an entire menu to choose from if you are avoiding dairy or gluten and so refreshing not to have to choose the one token vegan dish.”

As well as working in her hair salon, Rowan does a couple of shifts in the cafe. She said: “It’s a really great atmosphere to work in and I love ensuring that all of our customers have the best experience during their visit! Variety is the spice of life!

“Figaro has a lovely buzz about it and I'm so happy to have brought a warm, welcoming meeting place to the village that I love.

"I have a great team of people working with me, few of whom are vegan or vegetarian but we all agree on one thing and that is that our food is delicious! Our coffee is single origin and is from Peru, our cakes are baked locally and we use an Italian wholesaler to bring us the finest quality ingredients for our pizza and pasta dishes.

“Our head chef, Stephen Cameron, loves trying out new specials alongside our regular menu and has even started making his own artisan breads in house.”

Licensed to sell ia carefully curated selection of wine, spirits and beer, Figaro offers a Mediterranean inspired menu full of pizza and pasta dishes, along with cakes and sandwiches, and can accommodate 32 customers.

Quiz nights on Thursdays have been well attended while a couple of music nights at the café have been such a hit that Rowan is looking at introducing monthly live events featuring musicians and comedians.

Her plans for 2022 include expanding the takeaway side of the business and increasing the outside seating provision at the café which is on Allendale Park.

Rowan, 54, said: “As a vegan and a lover of good food and dining out it’s been an amazing experience (and a lot of hard work) to create the wonderful space that is Figaro and I'm looking forward to seeing where this journey leads! I think there will be a great many challenges to come in 2022 for the hospitality sector but I hope we will continue to grow and build up our client base."

Figaro is open for breakfast and lunch Wednesday to Sunday and in the evenings until 10.30pm on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.

To find out what’s on the menu, visit the website [email protected], look at the tasty dishes on the café’s instagram page @figarowingerworth or call 01246 601163.

*Eateries serving vegan dishes in Derbyshire include: Chesterfield – Bottle and Thyme, Sorbo Lounge, Thyme To Eat, Quoozies; Matlock – Stones restaurant and Sin Carne Cantina cafe; Belper – Vegan Revelation at De Bradlei Mill.

READ THIS: The best places to get vegan food in Chesterfield

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