My hands are numb. My boots are soaked in slush. I feel like a waif in Victorian England, just looking for a place to rest my head. And a bit of food, guv. I'll be out of your way by morning, I promise.

Relief comes in the shape of a cosy Mediterranean front room. This is Squeek, a snug little vegetarian burrow in the chill, wind-whapped streets of Hockley. Normally you don't associate vegetarian restaurants with home-comforts. Spartan, stringy-beaned cuisine, yes. The foodie equivalent of sackcloth and ashes. Taking the moral high ground should, after all, entail a little bit of suffering on the way.

Squeek is veggie food without the persecution complex. Right from the off, you can see it's a celebration of life minus meat. It has a warm lemon-and-turquoise frontage. Inside, it's like the front room of a beloved holiday cottage. There are wooden beams bedecked by souvenir Spanish plates, mismatched tables and chairs and a blast of warm air to greet you.

"It's not too warm, is it?" asks front-of-house, rushing out to greet me. I'm shown to my table, a dancing candle is placed in front of me, I'm given a menu, I'm made a fuss of. It feels as if I'm his guest rather than a diner in a restaurant. Which is just as it should be.

I slowly drip-dry and study the food.

Just so you're aware, the menus at Squeek have two sides. The first is a list of vegan options, the second vegetarian.

The two menus are basically variations on a theme but one comes with fresh cream and cheese. No offence to any vegans but my friends and I all choose veggie – because we can.

First up is a raspberry and mango smoothie. "It will take a few minutes to make," wonderful front-of-house man tells me. He whistles off and I hear the noise of a blender. It is, indeed, being made from fresh fruit. It comes back, a gleaming ruby concoction which tastes gloriously zingy. My friends opt for organic cherry beer which they say is equally good. Also on the menu are fairtrade, organic vegan wines and vegan lagers. Getting sozzled never felt so virtuous.

We're musing over starters but we're a bit time-pressed. We get a complimentary plate of wholemeal pitta and hummus which we can't stop digging into until we get to the last one, which we leave out of mutual politeness. Starters sound good: pumpkin and sweetcorn chowder, mushroom and spinach pate, a Turkish salad with roast peppers and (if you're not vegan) feta cheese, a homemade crumpet topped with beans and beetroot (again, with cheese for non-vegans).

But we end up sticking with a main each. The menu is small but beautifully-formed. There are two kinds of tortilla (Spanish and Mexican), a Stilton and pecan cheesecake (spinach for the vegans) and parsnip cannelloni. Already I love the creativity, the crazy-paved trail of flavours. Parsnips? Cannelloni? Who'd have thought?

I go for the cheesecake. It has an oaky, nutty crust surrounding a soft whip of cheese and the whole thing is soused in red wine gravy. There's basil mash, a few carrots and a shallot. It's a Sunday roast experience for meat-snubbers. I wouldn't say the flavours are distinctive but they all meld together. It's a big, comforting duvet of a dinner.

Across the table, my mates are in an equally "mmm"-making mood. They have both chosen the Spanish tortilla. It has an interesting texture – the potatoes have been sliced, wafer-thin and piled en masse, giving it a lot more substance than your average eggy scraping. The apples and leeks don't exactly shriek their presence but the whole thing melds together with a covering of cheese. There's a carrot and chickpea salad on the side to lend bite.

Puds also look good, if a little chocolate-based. But we call it a night because we're all feeling a bit barrel-sized. Back we go into the driving rain. But with a distinctly rosy glow.

Squeek

23-25 Heathcote Street, Nottingham NG1 3AG

Phone: 0115 955 5560

Fruit smoothie (two): £5

Cherry lagers (two): £6.60

Main courses: £11.95 each

Total: £47.45