Figurati! A Vegan Dining Extravaganza

Vegan. Definitely a word that can start a heated debate. Whatever your views it is something that restaurants are now regularly including in their menus and Figurati restaurant in Southampton decided to recently hold their own vegan dining extravaganza.

Figurati is located in Ocean Village, overlooking the boats and yachts moored in the marina and offers an Italian style menu. I was invited to sample their vegan dining extravaganza complimented with paired wines in partnership with Elegant Wines.

We started with Marinated Baby Aubergine, served with a parsley crust, San Marzano tomato, crispy capers and a herb oil. The paired wine being a Miopasso Fiano (baby Gavi di Gavi) from Sicily. It was served cold, but being quite a thick hunk of aubergine personally I think it would have eaten better if it had been served warm.

Next was a Beetroot Risotto which came with roasted and pickled baby beets and a kale pesto, paired with an Olifantsberg Chenin Blanc from Breedekloof in the Western Cape of South Africa. The risotto was not seasoned, I am assuming this was intentional as the kale was salty and eating it together gave the missing balance. The baby beets reinforced the beetroot flavour of the dish.

Figuarti Vegan Gnocchi was next and by far the best dish and wine pairing. The Gnocchi was fried to give a crisp coating. Served with wild mushrooms, mushroom ketchup, a shallot confit and crispy leeks. The wine pairing was a Piedra Negra Arroyo Grande Organic Malbec from Uco Valley in Argentina. The mushroom ketchup gave a real umami flavour and the malbec rounded the whole dish off.

Dessert was soon after. Coconut Panna Cotta with rhubarb and candied nuts. This was more of a palate cleanser. The panna cotta was light as a feather and the rhubarb cut through it nicely.

We finished with a Cashew Nut Tiramisu accompanied by espresso gel and dark chocolate crackling. The wine was Vin Santo del Chianti from Tuscany. Aquafaba (water from a tin of chickpeas) was used to thicken the tiramisu. Aquafaba has a unique flavour of it’s own, one that I am not overly a fan of. However, the use of cashew nut was a clever one, it married with the aquafaba very well and cashew was the overriding flavour. The dish could have done with much more of the espresso gel, as the classic coffee flavour of a tiramisu was lost amongst the other flavours.

The dinner was orchestrated by Figuarti Head Chef, Nick O’Halloran. The wines were hand picked by Lucy Gray of local independent wine supplier Elegant Wines. Live music and songs were performed by local acoustic artist Dannii Murphy.