1000 Tiny Birds

The Exchange

Bristol, 2023-02-12

Lunch. The requirements? “The vague, vague vicinity of Temple Meads”. My friend suggested the Exchange, a gig venue where in 2015, I saw Alden Penner of The Unicorns and Michael Cera of, well, Michael Cera play together. I thought it was a weird choice - both this as a lunch option, and indeed Alden Penner and Michael Cera playing a gig together - but it worked. Turns out, the bar is also a café, and that café also serves vegan hot dogs. I went with the classic NYC, with ketchup, mustard, and fried onions. Alasdair believes they’re the Moving Mountains ones. I’ll take their word for it. I suppose the benefit of a vegan hotdog is that, really, you are unlikely to be able to tell the difference. No complaints on the texture or flavour from me. The bun, that being said, was a little dry, but honestly, if that’s the level we’re going to, fair enough. We split a s’mores brownie and praline brownie between us - obviously the s’mores one was better, come on, you didn’t need me to tell you that, but neither were as good as a proper brownie could be. My mission - as the baker of the best brownies in Bristol, and I stand by that - is to make a better vegan brownie. I reckon I can.