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Sisters Gabriela and Lucia Evangelou may be identical twins but they have started a business like no other – a vegan restaurant in a building that was once used to store dead bodies.

Gabriela and Lucia run the Cosmic Kitchen pop-up every Monday at the Old Morgue, the tucked-away bar, in a building once used as a wartime mortuary, just off bustling Union Street.

The twins, both experienced chefs as well as vegans, serve delicious wraps, salads and hot dishes from noon to 9pm at the first-floor venue, in Manor Street, just opposite the Palace Theatre.

On the menu are jackfruit or Caribbean curry wraps, “Scotch eggs” made from tofu and potato, hot dishes of the day such as lasagne, moussaka or spinach parcels, or patrons can partake from an all-you-can-eat style salad bar, with coleslaw, hummus and potato salad. There are sweet treats, chocolate truffles and peanut butter cups, too.

(Image: Penny Cross / Plymouth Live)

“We call it good mood food,” said Gabriela, elder of the two by all of eight minutes.. “And it’s been going down well.”

The 28-year-old sisters are qualified chefs who returned to their native Plymouth after working in the up-market Four Seasons hotel in Cyprus.

They ran The Vauxhall Quay Italian restaurant, at Sutton Harbour, before moving into front-of-house jobs.

“But now we are back in the kitchen,” said Gabriela.

And they are loving it.

The sisters went vegetarian and then made the jump to being vegan, with Gabriela explaining: “We did it for the animals – it’s inhumane.”

Lucia said a vegan friend had helped to convert them and added: “The more research you do, the more you learn.”

Scroll through a gallery of pictures inside Cosmic Kitchen below.

“More people are opening their eyes to it,” added Gabriela. “Plus a lot of people are becoming more health conscious.

“You are what you eat so you may as well fill yourself with good things. And a lot of people are doing meat-free Mondays so we thought we would try opening on Mondays.”

Cosmic Kitchen only started serving in April 2019 but has already proved a hit – with vegans and non-vegans.

“It’s a strong community, everyone is so nice,” said Gabriela. “We get a mix of people coming in, a lot of non-vegans that want healthy food.”

Plymouth has only one totally vegan restaurant, the “vegan junk-food” Samphire Brasserie, though many others are now putting vegan somewhere on the menu.

(Image: Penny Cross / Plymouth Live)

But Gabriela said nowhere has an offer like Cosmic Kitchen’s and added: “We are doing food that is not being offered in many other places, we thought we’d open and see what happens.”

The twins are friends with Andy Downey, owner of the Old Morgue and the neighbouring Escape Rooms, and thought it would be the ideal location. They both live nearby in Stonehouse too.

“At the moment people are coming in casually to eat,” said Gabriela. “There’s a takeaway option too and all our packaging is 100 per cent eco-friendly. Trade is steady, we get people in throughout the day.”

The twins already have plans to expand the business and will be running a pop-up eatery at the Freedom Community Festival, on June 1 and 2 at Freedom Fields Park.

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To contact William Telford: william.telford@reachplc.com