NOT being a vegan myself, I was pleasantly surprised by how delicious and tasty I found the Veganuary Meal at Reading's Comptoir Libanais.

The restaurant focuses on different 'flavours of the month', and fittingly, January's specials were the Lebanese vegan flavours - which were wholesome, packed full of taste and representative of the very best of the Western Asian country's cuisine.

The restaurant itself stands out, overlooking The Oracle's Riverside and presenting a sea of vibrant colour amongst the many chains and variations of dining options.

Stepping inside gives one a strong 'holiday vibe', with Middle Eastern decor providing a perfect setting to sample some exotic dishes.

We were offered the Vegan menu, which consisted of baked aubergine with coriander dressing; hummus with falafel and harissa sauce and slow-cooked vegetable tagine as the main.

Reading Chronicle:

Myself and my colleague really enjoyed the whole experience.

The two starters were full of fresh tastes which complemented each other well; the hummus was smooth and the falafel was cooked perfectly.

The baked aubergine came with pomegranate seeds, red chilli, fresh mint, coriander, pistachio and molasses dressing.

Both of these dishes were innovative and combined vegan friendly foods to create a substantial starter which left us both wanting more - and because it was vegan we could eat guilt-free, with the food light enough to leave us looking forward to the main.

The slow cooked vegetable tagine was made from tomato, pepper, aubergine, onion and chickpea stew, served with couscous, quinoa and rice.

It was easy to forget I was eaten vegan food based on my assumptions of it, because I didn't feel that anything from the dish was missing - it was tasty enough to enjoy exactly as it is and introduced me to new flavours I otherwise wouldn't have tried.

While meat-free, there was certainly no compromising on flavour, with Lebanese food lending itself well to veganism as a lot of dishes are based around fresh vegetables, herbs and chickpeas.

We also both thoroughly enjoyed a Comptoir Cosmo - a blend pomegranate juice with vodka, lemon juice and orange liqueur. The simple cocktail was fresh and elegant.

The friendly staff were on-hand to provide information about the food, and were happy to help with recommendations.

Again, all the food was hearty and warming, and if I could guarantee every dish would be as good, I would seriously be considering going vegan myself.

But whether you are a vegan, are considering becoming one or are just trying to cut back on your meat intake, I would highly recommend the menu at Comptoir Libanais.

The flavours were excellent, portion sizes perfect and prices (£5.25 for the baked aubergine; £4.95 for the hummus and falafel and £11.45 for the slow-cooked vegetable tagine) very fair.