• Has a separate vegetarian menu.
• Items are labeled as vegan on the menu.
• Restaurant.

An historic hotel & restaurant in central Thame, the pretty Oxfordshire village north of Reading.

We first heard about this hotel when they contacted us with their National Vegetarian Week 2006 menu. Discussions with them have shown they are open to ideas and versatile in their menus. Don't be put off by their lack of mention of things veggie on their website.

Vegan Options

Graham, the assistant manager, is really hot on ensuring the vegetarian options are truely veggie, such as free range eggs and non-animal rennet cheese. Plus there are even veggie options on the kids menu. Graham is also keen on welcoming vegans. Not only do they now have vegan options (yes, choice!) on their standard veggie menu, but they also have our veganising guide on their kitchen wall, so should be pretty versatile too! Phone ahead if you'd like a vegan dessert as well.

When we organised a special T3V event here for a small group of us (10), The Spread Eagle came up with a superb vegan buffet, including spicey home-made pizza with Cheezly & roasted peppers, lentil patties, tofu salad, satay kebabs and lots more. For dessert we had Summer pudding, vegan custard and tropical fruit kebabs with dairy-free ice cream. Which all goes to show they are not afraid of pulses and vegan dairy products! It was one of the best meals we've had.

Other facilities

We are also encouraging good veggie and vegan options for breakfast for guests, so watch this space for news on developments on this. Soya milk is already always available.

The Spread Eagle has a wedding licence for ceremonies, as well as banqueting and conference facilities and outdoor spaces. The suites look lovely for a wedding night!

It is currently the only place we know of in the region which is veggie-friendly with such facilities. Several years ago we attended a friend's wedding in the golf club in Woodley, Reading, and were served good vegan dishes there, though generally veggie food at wedding venues is highly uninspired.

Their recent National Vegetarian Week menu is linked to here.

Reviews

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Ann 2006-09-06 11:10:11

Travelled to Thame with my daughters one lunch time, telephoned them to book and tell them we were vegan as we left. We were put on hold then asked for our number so they could ring us back while they checked if they could cater for us (vegan). They rang back and said yes. We arrived about an hour later and ws given a warm welcome and shown to our tables. We were given the veggie/vegan menu and chose our starters. However the spinich dal on the menu was not available but were told that the soups of the day were all suitable for us which we chose. We chose our main courses and sat back and waited. And waited and waited! Eventually our soup arrived, however it was absolutely delicous obviously homemade with good ingredients. Things were looking up! However after another over long wait (no one wants to be rushed but there is a limit) our main courses arrived. We were all a little disappointed mine and one daughters was a sort of patty but it was terribly oily my other daughter had opted for baked avocado dish to be veganised. However it was very dry and would have benefited from a dressing of some sort. The accompanying veggies were however fresh, high quality and perfectly cooked.

The staff were friendly attentive and did apologise for the wait. I think the problem is that although they have a vegan/veggie menu they are not prepared to cater at short notice. It is disappointing as a vegan to be offered a menu have a choice and then be told it is unavailable.

They were so nice I would try the Spread Eagle again but give plenty of notice.

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