Have you tried any of these yet? Photo: The Lincolnite
Meat-free items can divide opinion, but with ‘Veganuary’ currently underway more vegan delights worth checking out have been put through The Lincolnite taste test.
Today we tried even more vegan meat replacements from top takeaways, with the latest offerings from Subway, KFC, Pizza Hut and Burger King.
Here are the scores from The Lincolnite team.
Subway’s Meatless Meatball Marinara
Subway’s Meatless Meatball Marinara. Photo: The Lincolnite
The new Meatless Meatball Marinara has plant-based meatless meatballs smothered in a marinara sauce and topped with vegan cheese.
A footlong is £5.79 in Lincoln (40p more for extra cheese) and has 690 calories (without the extra cheese). A six inch is priced at £3.69 and has 354 calories — compared to the original which has 438 calories.
It has a nice texture with a good flavour to the sauce. Although it was generally enjoyed in the office, some said the meatballs themselves lacked flavour.
It had an average rating of 3.1/5. However, our vegetarian reporter said the meatballs were suspiciously meaty — in a good way.
KFC’s new Vegan Burger has a ‘very chicken-like texture’. You can enjoy it without the guilt, but with the full taste of KFC spices. What’s not to love?
The burger is priced at £3.99 on its own (meal deal is without fries, as they’re not vegan, but you can choose beans or corn).
It’s quite plain in appearance, but certainly tastes good with the spices and plenty of flavour to earn a rating of 3.5/5 from the team.
At 456 calories, it provides a meat-free alternative to the classic chicken fillet burger (475 calories). It replaces the usual chicken breast fillet with a Quorn alternative (made from Mycoprotein), coated in the Colonel’s secret blend of 11 herbs and spices.
It is served with vegan mayonnaise and iceberg lettuce in a soft-glazed bun. It is fried in vegetable oil before it comes to the restaurants, where it is finished off in the ovens.
Pizza Hut’s Vegan Pepperphoni Pizza
Pizza Hut’s Vegan Pepperphoni Pizza. Photo: The Lincolnite
This pizza is topped with tomato sauce, Violife vegan cheese (made from coconut oil) and meat-free Pepperphoni (made from pea protein).
The Pepperphoni itself is tasty and spicy, but the cheese did not go down too well in the office. The cheese was described as tasting rubbery in texture and quite sour and overpowering. It also sticks to your teeth.
Pizza Hut Lincoln said it is only available through Deliveroo and Uber Eats – not its own collection or delivery services. We could not find it on Uber Eats at the time of writing, but we had it via Deliveroo.
An individual regular pizza is priced at £12.29, with a larger sharer available for £20.89 — plus delivery charges. The nine inch is a pan base and gluten free and the 11 inch is a thin base.
The pizza is available for Veganuary only so far, but could join the vegan menu permanently if the topping proves popular.
Burger King’s Rebel Whopper
Burger King’s Rebel Whopper. Photo: The Lincolnite
Burger King is cheating a bit. Its patty is 100% plant-based (soy), but the whole burger itself is not vegan because it’s cooked on the same broiler as the meat whoppers to deliver the “same unique flamed-grilled taste”.
So this one may be better suited for flexitarians or vegetarians who don’t mind animal fat ‘contamination’. The Burger King fries however are vegan — though you should check with your local branch before ordering.
The burger, priced at £4.99 on its own, is served with sliced tomatoes and lettuce, pickles, onions, mayo and ketchup on a toasted sesame seed bun. The new menu item has 596 calories.
It is not obvious from the taste that it is vegan, so it is a good alternative with some in the office saying they would happily order it again. It was given an average rating of 3.2/5 but our office vegetarian did not want to try it due to it being cooked on the same broiler as meat.
Burger King’s Rebel Whopper is exclusively available on the BK App on January 6 and 7 and will become available in most stores nationwide from Wednesday, January 8.
New vegan delights now available at various food outlets in Lincoln. Photo: The Lincolnite
Coming up on Wednesday — Nero is launching its own vegan sausage roll, so we’re going to pit it against Greggs’ popular alternative. Stay tuned.
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The Lincolnite welcomes your views. All comments are reactively-moderated and must obey the house rules. Please stay on topic and be respectful of other readers.
The new roundabout at the A46 Dunholme and Welton junction is nearly ready, and will be fully open next month.
The project began in July and, subject to weather, will be complete and fully open to the public by the end of May.
As well as the roundabout, Horncastle Lane and northbound Lincoln Road will also reopen during the week commencing April 19.
Final preparation works will mean that five nights of road closures are needed to lay the final layer of road surfacing on the A46 between Deepdale Lane, Nettleham to Lincoln Road, Dunholme.
The closures will take place overnight between 7pm and 6am, starting from Tuesday, May 4.
The A46 will be closed from Deepdale Lane, Nettleham to Lincoln Road, Dunholme, with a diversion route via the A46 Nettleham roundabout / A15 Riseholme roundabout / A15-A1500 Showground roundabout / A15-A631 roundabout at Caenby Corner / either the A631 or A1103 back to the A46, and vice versa.
The diversion route for the A46’s closure at Deepdale Lane. | Photo: LCC
Lincoln Road, Welton will close from its junction with Honeyholes Lane to the new roundabout, with a diversion via Honeyholes Lane / right onto Ryland Road / right onto Lincoln Road Dunholme, which joins the main closure diversion on the A46 towards Lincoln.
The diversion route for Lincoln Road, Welton. | Photo: LCC
Finally, Horncastle Lane will be closed from the A15 to the A46, with access at the A15 end. The diversion route will be via the A15-A1500 Showground roundabout / A15 Riseholme roundabout / A46 Nettleham roundabout, and vice versa.
The diversion route for Horncastle Lane. | Photo: LCC
During these closures, Heath Lane to Scothern will remain closed, with a right-turn ban and 24/7 temporary traffic lights on the A46 until the end of the project.
The full A46 Dunholme / Welton roundabout project has been part-funded by the £2 million allocated to Lincolnshire County Council by the Department of Transport.
The remaining funding has come from a combination of the council themselves and third party contributions.
An “isolated” man downloaded thousands of indecent images of children, Lincoln Crown Court was told on Friday.
Nigel Deacon was caught after police received information and raided his home at Cranwell in July 2019.
Edna Leonard, prosecuting, said images had been downloaded onto laptops and two USB sticks which were later examined by officers.
The investigation revealed that Deacon had been downloading illegal images of children aged between nine and 15 years old.
Over 32,000 indecent images of children were found on the devices the vast majority of which were in the least serious category.
Seven images, including three videos, were in the most serious category.
Miss Leonard said: “The defendant was arrested and interviewed and made admissions.”
Deacon, 59, of North Road, Cranwell, admitted three charges of making indecent images of children.
He also admitted possession of 198 prohibited images of children and possession of 124 extreme pornographic images.
Leanne Summers, in mitigation, said Deacon had no previous convictions and has sought help following his arrest.
She told the court: “He isn’t able to explain his offending. He describes it as totally irrational thinking at a time when he says he was running away from reality.
“He has for many years lived an isolated life. He has been in what he calls a very dark place.”
Miss Summers said that Deacon’s business was on the point of collapse as he lost customers when details of his offences became known.
Deacon was given an eight-month jail sentence suspended for two years and ordered to complete 50 rehabilitation activity requirement days.
He was also placed on the sex offenders register for 10 years and given a 10-year sexual harm prevention order.
Roman Bank, one of Skegness’ busiest roads, will temporarily pause roadworks and reopen to the public for four months this summer.
The project began in September 2020 and was scheduled to take eight months, with the road being closed throughout to repair and replace worn out carriageways and footpaths.
Lincolnshire County Council has now confirmed that construction will be halted for four months in May, allowing for locals to move freely around Skegness as lockdown eases further.
Traffic management is expected to be removed by Wednesday, May 26, meaning residents will be free to use the area over the summer.
The project will then resume on Monday, September 20, before completing road and footway improvements from Muirfield Drive up to the junction with North Shore Road by spring 2022.
Before the reopening, work will take place to rebuild the Roman Bank section north of Muirfield Drive to Fenland Laundry, excavating 500 tonnes of old road in the process.
The project has seen one of Skegness’ busiest roads closed for some time.
As well as this, a road closure will be in place between Asda and Brancaster Drive for seven days, starting on Monday, May 17.
The diversion route for this will be via the A52/C541/A158 at the Gunby dual carriageway, and vice versa.
The road’s rebuild hasn’t been without its setbacks, with the council blaming Cadent Gas, suppliers of the gas pipes for the project, for delaying the project in March by asking to move one of the pipes.
Karen Cassar, assistant director for highways at LCC, said the date allows for businesses to trade easier and locals to utilise the town more.
She said: “This was the best of all the options we looked at since it means businesses can trade and take deliveries freely throughout summer, while residents and visitors can get around town and park without having to worry about road works.
“Once the school holidays are over in September, we’ll head back to town with Cadent so they can finish diverting the gas main between Muirfield Drive and Brancaster Drive ahead of us completing our road and footway improvements from Muirfield Drive up to the junction with North Shore Road in spring 2022.”