Vegan London, Part Three

[Marrers]

I would say the acoustics and layout at Mildred's make it one of the noisiest places in London to eat when it is busy. Tibits manages to be large and busy without being so intrusively noisy, although of course it is veggie not totally vegan.

I highly recommend Manna (Chalk Farm tube) which is also 100% vegan. I tend to get the mezze where you pick three starters as your main as the starters are the star for me here. The ravioli is fantastic and can be a starter or a main. Last time I was there they had a light, airy and delicious blood orange cheesecake.


On a separate note I was shocked to see inSpiral cakes are now £3.99 a slice at Wholefoods. For a while it was cheaper to buy their cakes at Wholefoods but now it is cheaper to buy from inSpiral.
Cat and The Cream cupcakes (available at Wholefoods) are now all both vegan and gluten free. Unfortunately this seems to have affected the texture and they are now harder and more dense than the vegan ones used to be. Also the Camden branch are stocking two flavours I haven't seen at Soho branch.

[begreendee]

Marrers....You are probably right. I have been in crowded and noisy restaurants before but was never as perturbed. Inspiral, for instance, is rather small and crowded but I felt I could breathe in there.

Manna is excellent, yes. Great choices of good food. The owner is very pleasant and very committed.

[Troutina]

Manna is such a nice restaurant; we went there for our anniversary last year and it was perfect. Brilliant food, lovely service and a romantic atmosphere :heart:

[harpy]

Even 222 gets noisy when it's crowded, in my experience - restaurants used to be quieter when they had curtains, carpets, wallpaper and stuff like that to absorb the sound (but those did have their disadvantages too). Must go to Manna again, haven't been since it's been vegan. It seems a long way from here but I know it isn't really :o

[Mymblesdaughter]

Harpy I think you could be right, I wondered if it was lack of things like carpets. We went to a Moroccan restaurant last year in Covent Garden and although it as really big and packed with people it wasn't loud. It was full of carpets wall hangings etc. The fashion now is to have big open spaces with tiles or hard floors which look great but don't absorb any sound.

[victoriangirl]

On a separate note I was shocked to see inSpiral cakes are now £3.99 a slice at Wholefoods. For a while it was cheaper to buy their cakes at Wholefoods but now it is cheaper to buy from inSpiral.


I just had to mention that I am totally and completely in love with InSpiral's tiramisu! I've never been a huge cake/cookie/dessert eater, but I do like to try interesting vegan desserts at times. I was in Inspiral last Friday so I had to try the tiramisu there and I am so glad that I did because their tiramisu was simply DIVINE! The best tiramisu I've ever had! I was glad to find it the next day in the Whole Foods in Soho - I went from someone who barely eats desserts to someone addicted to the Inspiral Tiramisu!!!!

[victoriangirl]

Indeed, same here!! How long are you over for Victoriangirl?

So Rainbow, joining us at the next Vegan Drinks then? ;)


Sorry that I am posting so late. I was in London for only 2 days and am now back in snowy & much colder Istanbul. My weekend in London was simply amazing - the Awolnation concert I was going to was cancelled but we decided to go see a musical as one should when being touristy in London! We saw 'Crazy for you' on Saturday, had lovely vegan food in Inspiral, Tibbits & Whole Foods, I bought all my vegan goodies (=spreads, nutritional yeast, candies etc.) and had the best time ever!

[Troutina]

Can anyone suggestion anywhere similar to Manna? We are looking for a romantic restaurant for our anniversary, but the menu at Manna hasn't really changed since we went last year!

[rainbow]

Manna do seasonal and daily specials so it would still be worth a return trip. Most other London restaurants fall down on atmosphere, the inclusion of non-vegan items on their menu or similar. I've only been to 222 veggie vegan for their lunch-time buffet but the ambiance was nice and the evening menu looks amazing (and all vegan) so that might be worth a try? I once went to Plant (the predecessor for 222 veggie vegan with the same chef) for an anniversary dinner and had a great time.

[Troutina]

Manna do seasonal and daily specials so it would still be worth a return trip. Most other London restaurants fall down on atmosphere, the inclusion of non-vegan items on their menu or similar. I've only been to 222 veggie vegan for their lunch-time buffet but the ambiance was nice and the evening menu looks amazing (and all vegan) so that might be worth a try? I once went to Plant (the predecessor for 222 veggie vegan with the same chef) for an anniversary dinner and had a great time.

Hi Rainbow, thanks for the response :) I think we probably will return to Manna, we had such a lovely time last year. And you're right, there are specials! Just wondered if there were any restautants that I'd missed. I've been to 222 during the day, but I think we're looking for something a bit more 'restaurantey' for the evening, if that makes sense!?

[Risker]

Saf?

[Troutina]

Saf?

We've been there before and weren't very impressed! Didn't think the food was that nice, but the bill was pretty hefty! Also, the dessert portions are ridicolous! Good atmosphere though!

[harpy]

There's the Gate, but the tables are rather close together for romance, and it's not all vegan of course.

[Troutina]

There's the Gate, but the tables are rather close together for romance, and it's not all vegan of course.

Ooh that's a good suggestion, I've never been there before! Maybe for lunch the next day!

[harpy]

I haven't been there recently, but when I have the food has always been nice and quite well presented If you order a "vegan option" dish make sure you emphasise the "vegan" bit.

[Troutina]

I haven't been there recently, but when I have the food has always been nice and quite well presented If you order a "vegan option" dish make sure you emphasise the "vegan" bit.

Ah ok, will do! I've heard very good things about The Gate from veggies.

[Gwydion]

Haven't been myself yet (was planning to on valentines day, and then...err, yeah. Anyway..), but Vanilla Black (http://www.vanillablack.co.uk/) is supposed to be pretty special. You do need to pre-warn them that you are vegan though.

Edit: If a hefty bill needs to be avoided, probably best to not head to Vanilla Black :)

Was personally rather disappointed after a recent visit to Manna (my first time), I put it down to a guest chef or something. Will need a re-visit. Have always had excellent food @ Saf, but haven't been for a while.

[rainbow]

I've heard that Vanilla Black isn't great for vegans, but haven't been there myself so can't confirm. Valentine's Day is a pile of over-rated twoddle. There are better days ahead! And when they come, give Manna another try - hopefully next time you will get the experience that we have all been raving about.

[Gwydion]

^ For certainly for sure on all counts :) Will do and Thanks!

(sorry to post intrude Troutina. Good luck and let us know the outcome / review?)

[Troutina]

Haven't been myself yet (was planning to on valentines day, and then...err, yeah. Anyway..), but Vanilla Black (http://www.vanillablack.co.uk/) is supposed to be pretty special. You do need to pre-warn them that you are vegan though.

Edit: If a hefty bill needs to be avoided, probably best to not head to Vanilla Black :)

Was personally rather disappointed after a recent visit to Manna (my first time), I put it down to a guest chef or something. Will need a re-visit. Have always had excellent food @ Saf, but haven't been for a while.

Vanilla Black looks quite nice - money isn't so much of an issue, just rather enjoy food that is worth the bill! Terre a Terre (Brighton) is my favourite restaurant so we're looking for something fairly similar, really. Do you have to pre-order the vegan options? Seems strange for a veggie restaurant not to have a wide variety of vegan options!

[Gwydion]

Aye, know what you mean. Terre a Terre is due another visit and all!


Do you have to pre-order the vegan options? Seems strange for a veggie restaurant not to have a wide variety of vegan options!

I am not sure if you have to pre-order as such, but rather make them aware so that you will have at least some options :-/ Yeah, pretty poor show! If I catch up with anyone who has been in the meantime, I will update you.

[Troutina]

Aye, know what you mean. Terre a Terre is due another visit and all!

I am not sure if you have to pre-order as such, but rather make them aware so that you will have at least some options :-/ Yeah, pretty poor show! If I catch up with anyone who has been in the meantime, I will update you.

I see - thanks very much! Terre a Terre is amazing, one of a kind! Which is a shame, I would like something similar in other areas of the country!!

[Marrers]

http://www.safrestaurant.co.uk/shoreditch

The main Saf restaurant in Shoreditch closed down on Monday. I'm very surprised noone seems to have heard about this beforehand - were they keeping it quiet? :confused:
I'd have loved to fit in another visit to enjoy the food and the fab cocktails. The branch in Kensington Wholefoods remains and there will be a new outlet in Harvey Nichols but for me it was all about the class and ambience of the main location, it was somewhere many of my omni friends loved going.

I've been to the Wholefoods Saf only twice. Very noisy obviously as it is in a food court, I wouldn't be in a rush to go back and it's not somewhere I'd arrange to meet anyone for a meal.

[Risker]

It is a shame. I'm not sure I believe the positive spin they've put on the news on their website. I can't imagine they'd have closed it if they were doing good business. I also notice that their opening hours were evening only which isn't a good sign for a restaurant I don't think.

[harpy]

Oh no, what a shame about Saf. I only went there once, a couple of years ago I think, but it was pretty busy back then. OTOH I quite often go to the Kensington one and it's not usually that busy, but it may be the time of day I go at. I didn't know that they had a branch in Harvey Nicks, suppose that's something