Vegan London, part 1

[flying plum]

does anyone know if Plant still exists? I wanted to go there for my birthday, but the phone number i had doesn't seem to be working :(

amanda

[Gorilla]

a friend of mine told me it closed down a while ago.

[flying plum]

booooooo :( haven't been there for ages, but i always liked it :( got to find someplace else now. i think curry is on the cards :D

[harpy]

I thought 222 was supposed to be a sort of replacement for Plant, with some of the same people involved in running it?

[flying plum]

that's a bit far west...was looking for something central. i don't suppose, actually, anyone knows of anywhere decent in the SE1/London bridge area, do they?

i'm going to a gig down near guy's hospital on sat, and a large group of us were going for dinner first cos it's my birthday.

edit - oh...but wow, the menu at 222 sounds good! definately for another occasion!

amanda

[harpy]

Re Indian restaurants again, we went to Sagar in Hammersmith last night; had been before but not for a while. The food was jolly nice although it always amazes me that you can have a vegan meal in those S. Indian places without consuming any actual vegetables. (I had bhel poori followed by an uttapam.) It only came to 20 quid/head inc. tip and that was after some people had had puds, coffees etc.

They now have a separate vegan menu in there (i.e. a selection of what's on the main menu) - you have to ask for it.

[harpy]

Tas have a branch near London Bridge. It's omnivorous, but good for veggies.

[flying plum]

oh yes, i forgot about them...might give them a ring :) i should have planned this ages ago. but i'm a bit pants at stuff like that!

amanda

[Marrers]

Shame not to make everyone eat veggie though since it is your birthday and you get to say where to eat.

[flying plum]

marrers - well, exactly. that's what i wanted to do, but i think there will be about 12 of us, so it's going to be hard to find somewhere that could accomodate us - so many veggie restaurants are so small. originally i was going to book mildred's private room, but they're booked now :( tis my own fault for being disorgnaised (and partly people being slow about getting back to me as to whether or not they could come *growl*)

maybe i'll just cook something massive and have everyone over mine.

amanda

[Marrers]

What about one of the Tai buffet places?

[harpy]

In Tas they do have a set menu which is veggie and can be made vegan - think it's called Yaz. So perhaps you could force everyone to have that. I can see why you'd prefer an all-veggie place though.

[gertvegan]

Whole Foods Market opens first European store in London on 6 June, see http://www.newconsumer.com/news/item/1725/

[alisont]

Might have to nip out of the London vegan festival to visit this - 3 floors of organic shopping, im guessing a lot of vegan options too.

Can see need for big rucksack that weekend!

[Marrers]

I wonder how much 'american' stuff they will be selling - I'm hoping for some US vegan ice cream!

[caitlin_:)]

hurray!!!! I'm going to flying to london on friday!, can't wait!...only staying for 3 days though, going down to somerset on monday...anyway, I really fancy treating my self to a nice meal in a good vegan/veggie restaurant, any recommendations?
(I've been to the vegan tai buffets and to the organic vegan place on wardour street before)

[Marrers]

Most of our London meet ups have been at Vita Organic (74 Wardour Street) recently so you might like to try that.
Edit - oh, just realised maybe that is the place you say you've been to before. I'll leave the info in just in case it's not though.


(From earlier in this thread)
. . . they have the selection behind the glass counter and you tell them what you'd like (and they serve it onto your plate straight away).

At Vita Organic it is charged per size according to how many scoops you have (I think you can have 3, 5 or 7 scoops but you don't have to have different things - I usually get the 7 scoop plate and have 3 scoops of the curry with 4 other different things). You can take away or eat in, the place has a good atmosphere. You order hot food or salads at the counter by the door and drinks at the cubbyhole at the back. You pay at the cubbyhole after your meal.

There is also a menu of wonderful juices and smoothies, plus cooked to order stuff if you have time to wait (and if the chef is on duty, might be evenings only). Cakes too, served with coconut cream if you eat in.

The food is tasty but healthy because they don't heat anything above a certain temerature, to retain the goodness. I think there is some raw food dishes on the proper menu too. Everything is vegan.

And it describes the food in terms of its Ayurvedic qualities, with a brief explanation of what it all means - I don't follow or know much about that sort of thing but what a bonus for people who do!

http://www.vitaorganic.co.uk/

Mildreds (Lexington Street) is good. It's a sit down and order sort of place.

You can get nice vegan cake at Beatroot (on Berwick Street market) and Ray's Jazz Cafe (inside Foyles bookshop on Charing Cross Road but has its own entrance staircase direct from the street too).

[Marrers]

There is also 222 Veggie Vegan - popular with the forum meet ups!
http://www.222veggievegan.com/

Or Food For Thought (Neal Street, Covent Garden).

[alisont]

222 is fab - cheaper to go in the day for that wonderful buffet! I nearly got lost finding it tho - do take a map!

Mildreds and Beatroot also very good:D

London is so good for vegans:)

[refinnej]

Another thumbs-up to 222 here. I've very much enjoyed Beatroot for the salads and "main dishes", but the deserts have been sub-par each time I've been there so far. They were what omnivores fear about vegan cake...dry, mealy and bland. Blech. But, the neighborhood around Beatroot is awesome, so that's a plus.

wrt Whole Foods...I'm wondering if it's going to be that different than Fresh and Wild. I've only been to the one near Piccadilly, and it was not so large, but very well stocked. I wonder too, if some of the "American" items just aren't available from suppliers here. I know we've run into this a couple of times with our local HFS, mostly with toiletries. My favorite is that you can't buy Clear Conscience contact cleaner in the UK, even though it's manufactured here!

I'm curious how y'all feel too, about the impact of Whole Foods on independents, but maybe that's too off-topic for this thread?

Thanks for the advice about our Sunday lunch, btw. We ended up just going to Bella Italia because it was close by, the uncle wasn't too adventurous :), and the s.o. and I knew there were some vegan safe things there. It was quite good, but also sad that we walked past a Lebanese place, several Thai restaurants, and one with Moroccan fare. (drool)

[Marrers]

I've very much enjoyed Beatroot for the salads and "main dishes", but the deserts have been sub-par [...] dry, mealy and bland.
I think that is a perfect description of their chocolate cake. I never order it now (though it is okay with custard). I spoke to them about it ages ago and dropped in a couple of recipes but they said it was very popular. :confused:

At Beatroot I always have the passion cake which is nice and moist. The bakewell slices are nice enough too.

But with Ray's Jazz Cafe not far away I tend to go there for cake now. Vita Organic also do cakes but it is a bit 'wholesome' for my taste - I like 'bad-for-you' type cakes with lots of frosting!

[flying plum]

ok, re my earlier question about places in london for sat...

basically, it's my birthday. originally, we were going to use mildred's private dining room, but they don't open it until seven. the problem is, dinner was meant to be early-ish, because we're going someplace else after.

the girl i spoke to today at mildreds, after running out of options, suggested that if we turned up at five, we might be ok for a table. however, there could be up to 12 of us, and in my experience of mildreds, that's going to a) freak them out and b) they won't ahve enough space, even at 5.

what does anyone else think?

i'm starting to think this is a little hopeless...maybe it'll just have to be drinks down the pub, or potluck round mine. shame veggie restaurants tend to be so small :(

amanda

[Marrers]

What about one of the thai buffet places? Would you not want to go there? They usually allow you to book for large groups and at least one of those on Greek Street has a hidden room in the basement.

Although Mildred's may have space at that time ( . . . tho on a Saturday?) it is unllikely to be all in one place - unless they know in advance and are willing to try to keep as many tables free together as possible.

[Marrers]

Also you might consider Mantra, 48 Dean Street. I haven't been there but someone has posted a review somewhere (in this thread I think) a while back.

And Hummus Bros, 88 Wardour Street. I haven't eaten there but did enquire and there is a lot of stuff for vegan. They have big bench tables which would be great for a large group but you'd have to see if they take bookings.

And I've heard you can eat vegan at Wagamama (Lexington Street but there are other branches) though again I haven't been myself.

[alisont]

222 do bookings and tables for 12 but its not central as others - not sure what time they open for evening meals but foods so good there!

I wouldnt risk Mildreds as they get so busy and yes the staff seem to get stressed! - the tai buffets are good or the Indian buffets in Drummond street are good value and quieter earlier?


Wagamama do cater for vegans think the menu is on their website but not go link to hand...