A VEGAN restaurant has launched a new plant-based menu as it ditches “fake meats” and aims to offer healthier options to its customers.

The Oaktree Restaurant, in Leigh Road, Leigh, has brought in a new menu for 2024 and launched it to coincide with people giving up eating meat for “veganuary”.

Owners said this was a “bold step” by the business as they dropped the majority of “fake meats” in a bid to showcase how amazing vegetables can be as a centrepiece of a dish.

Jim Anderson, and his wife, Samantha Anderson, first opened the Oaktree as a “small deli-style eatery” serving just 12 people a day in 2013.

Over the last ten years it has since expanded and grown from strength to strength and is now rated within the top ten best restaurants in Leigh according to TripAdvisor.

Jim said: “We specialised in ‘fake meats’ and ‘junk food’ showing people that they could enjoy all the good they knew and loved without the cruelty.

“However, on a personal level, we have always really enjoyed more plant-based dishes; food that really showcases how amazing vegetables can be when they are made the centrepiece of the dish.

“So, on January 1, 2024, we took the bold step of dropping a lot of the processed ‘fake meats’ and releasing a plant-based menu.

“This allows our incredibly talented chefs to show everyone how great food can be when the focus is more on fresh, natural flavours, and vegetables.”

Jim and Samantha did open a second branch in 2017, The Acorn. However, like most businesses, Covid hit the couple hard, and they made the decision to close it and Oaktree in 2020.

However, they managed to later re-open The Oaktree, but The Acorn remained closed ever since, with the focus just on The Oaktree.

Jim added: “Veganism has become something of a trigger word for some people, something I have never really understood.

“But hopefully people will appreciate our evolution of our restaurant, our ethos, and enjoy the new style just as much if not more.

“It has been really, really positive so far. At first, people missed their old favourites, but they have really embraced the changes.”