Vegan London, part 1

[Marrers]

Oh, some more posts while I was typing!

I think Oxo might not be what RD is looking for as then the others will be tempted to order meat dishes. If my friends had agreed to go to a veggie place I'd be desperate to take them and show them how nice veggie and vegan food can be, including for special occasions!

eta Just rechecked the post and she did say vegan restaurants . . . that limits the choice!

[flying plum]

i don't know where you live, rebecca, but there's also the Riverside Vegetaria in Kingston. they are not too expensive, not completely vegan but they might consider doing a special set menu if you spoke to them?

i don't find manna to be particularly over-formal...the Gate, perhaps, although when i've been there, there was a very loud and jubilant 30th, so i don't think it 'has' to be formal. Manna certainly wasn't formal when i was there, mainly down to me :D

amanda

[flying plum]

Oh, some more posts while I was typing!

I think Oxo might not be what RD is looking for as then the others will be tempted to order meat dishes. If my friends had agreed to go to a veggie place I'd be desperate to take them and show them how nice veggie and vegan food can be, including for special occasions!

yes, i misunderstood the original post. i thought rebecca was just looking for somewhere that would be able to cater to her, not an exclusively vegan place. should read more carefully :D

amanda

[BlackCats]

i had another idea. what about the Oxo Tower Brasserie (not the restaurant, much more expensive in there). they do a set menu for £33.50 at lunch or £39.50 at dinner, and it's not exclusively vegan so would appeal to your family, but do very tasty vegan options (at least the few times i've been there).

(I've never been to the Oxo Tower, I just looked at the website and it looks really good though, I might have to try it. :))

I would vote for Mildred's also. I was at Mildred's the other day and I saw a photo of the private room and it looks very nice and the omni's I have taken to Mildred's definitely liked the food.

[flying plum]

(I've never been to the Oxo Tower, I just looked at the website and it looks really good though, I might have to try it. :))


i thought it was lovely :) if you do go, and you fancy something on the veggie/vegan menu that is not labelled vegan but looks like it 'should' be, make sure you ask why it's not vegan, as i wanted something that was very easy to veganise (the sauce they used had whey in it...they just made me a different sauce).

i've only been during the day, but i suspect the view is lovely at nighttime :)

they have a few vegan wines also, by the way, which is nice!

amanda

[Marrers]

should read more carefully :D
Me too - I misread it as veggie places.

Riverside Vegetaria is a good suggestion. (But again, not entirely vegan - whenever I take omnis there they always have one of the few very boring cheesey dishes which I find infuriating!)

[flying plum]

solely vegan is a bit more tricky, for sure. i can't think of many 'nice' places. i mean, i like the tai places, but they're not really what i would want to do for a nice Christmas family dinner...

i don't know if curry is the best option, since it's everyone's idea of he stereotypical vegan meal, but Sagar on Charlotte street is very nice, and has an extensive vegan menu (though not solely vegetarian). there's also Rasa in north london.

other than that, i can't think of too many other vegan-only restaurants, apart from Saf which, like i said, might be a bit to dear and a bit too scary for omnis...

this has, however, made me want to find a reason to go back to the oxo tower... i need a rich boyfriend, not a freelance photographer :D

amanda

[RebeccaDye]

Wow, thanks for all the suggestions everyone!! It's a great help.

Marrers - Thanks SO much for reminding me of Peking Palace!! I went there for my birthday last year and really enjoyed it! I had tofu in blackbean sauce with crispy noodles which was just divine! And the chicken curry was nice, it's all very reasonably priced too! All the mock meat dishes will probably appeal to my friends too. I agree with what you said about the decor and view though! I'm going to look round Mildred's too as you suggested; I've heard good things about it and it's very accessible! I think hiring out a room would be a really nice idea, it depends on costs though which I'll ask about. Also I forgot to say, I meant £30 for the food, exclusive of drinks and tips. So I guess around £45 in total?

Flying_plum - Thanks for the suggestions! I think I'll check out the Riverside Vegetaria and Manna too, I've looked at Manna's website and it looks lovely. I'm in South East London, in Lewisham if you know it, and we won't mind travelling if there's somewhere exceptional further afield! Also, I'm looking for somewhere completely vegan because I've been vegan for just over a year and I don't think my friends understand why or how I do it; so I want to show them by taking them out for delicious vegan food. That reminds me, I really want to go to Saf, but I'll probably have to go on my own, my friends wouldn't entertain the idea hah.

Harpy - Thanks for your suggestion, I'll ask them to compile a vegan menu if we decide to go there, that would be perfect! As Marrers said I bet my friends would choose a boring vegetarian dish if they had the option!

Blackcats- Thanks, I think Mildred's looks really promising! Exciting stuff
:D

[flying plum]

there are a few places in Crystal Palace, but i've never been to them and I don't know what they're like - i think Marrers might be more around that area? it's called Spirited Palace or something?

if you're excluding drinkies from that £30 a head, then manna might be nice, though i still think the food looks less exciting compared to their normal menu. but they have a little room at the back which is sometimes part of the restaurant that they sort of partition off for parties. but it gets a bit hot, so i'd ask for a table in the main restaurant to be honest if you decided on it.

it's also, although vegetarian, quite 'vegan' and i think the christmas set is all vegan...but perhaps you are not obligated to have that menu.

aaaaanyway, just thought i'd add that in. i think we've bombarded you with quite enough information! it's a great idea, by the way - my brother and I are thinking of taking each other out to dinner instead of buying gifts this year as well. i ahve the reverse problem to you though - i need to find somewhere that does omni AND vegan food :D

amanda

[RebeccaDye]

Yeah Crystal Palace is so close! And I've been to Spirited Palace which is brilliant! Delicious food but sadly it's crampt and it's more like going to your friend's house than going to a restaurant so it wouldn't work!

Wicked, thanks. And that's great about you and your brother's gifts, I wish mine would be up for something like that! Good luck with finding a restaurant, sorry I have no suggestions as I don't go to them often!

[flying plum]

second reason why i should read more carefully - the whole time i've been thinking this was a family affair, hence why i suggested 'posh' places like manna and the gate - to impress the parentals ;) for a group of girlies, mildred's is defiantely funness :D i'd ring 'em sharpish though, because they do get booked up. i remember asking them once for my birthdya (end of april) in something like january and they hardly had any availability left!!!

for mates i also think the riverside vegetaria might be a good idea, as kingston has some good places to go out in, though they might have got a bit stricter on I.D.ing since i grew up around there :D

also rebecca - was it you who had that course at UCL over the summer? how did it go? i was at the library so often, we really should have met up for a coffee....

amanda

[matt35mm]

Becca, where's our invite!!?? Aren't we your friends??

I see how it is.

[RebeccaDye]

Haha, yeah I'll definitely look into both restaurants! And Kingston sounds good, if all else fails I've got fake I.D. :bigsmile2:

Yeah I did go to the UCL thing! It was brilliant thanks, we had about 15 lectures on all kinds of things; anthropology, Slavic studies, film studies. And then there were discussions with current students and stuff. Really nice uni, I thought, and I managed to get a vegan lunch from the refectory every day! Damn, yeah we should have met up, I'd have loved vegan company!

[RebeccaDye]

Matt...

[Marrers]

- my brother and I are thinking of taking each other out to dinner instead of buying gifts this year as well. i ahve the reverse problem to you though - i need to find somewhere that does omni AND vegan food :D

amanda
I do that with one of my brothers for birthdays and Xmas but I'm lucky that he will go to Riverside Vegetaria with me (even though he usually orders the cheesey dish! :))

[flying plum]

becca - doh! although, i probably wouldn't have been much fun. my dissertation took over my life, and i wasn't really able to talk about anything other than positive obligations of Council of Europe member states :D

[Troutina]

Mmm the Riverside Vegeteria is so good, I'm going tomorrow night, YES!

[flying plum]

oooo, i forgot about Greenote. Camden is maybe a bit far from lewisham, but i think they do cater for parties. and they ahve cool jazz or blues so that might make for a fun evening :D

it's tapas-y type food, so i don't know if that's exactly what you're looking for, but here's the website anyhoo:
http://www.greennote.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=category&sectionid=1&id=4&Itemid=5

amanda

[Ruby Rose]

Ok, so you're all going to be open-minded about this one, because vegan-world is diverse. Ok? You're not going to see the S word in the next sentence and make any prejudgment, ok?

I just bought the most fantastic lunch at Selfridges food hall. They have a raw and raw-ish counter now, tucked away in the corner. I had the most amazing (not raw) cornmeal roti with spicy sprouted chickpeas, some amazing raw sprouted hummus, and a piece of rainforest gateau (I reckon raw choc, banana, dates, lots of nuts and who-all-knows what else). Absolutely wonderful. Also bought some raw sweets (beetroot and coconut for my OH). The salads looked amazing, and the dressings and other dishes were beautifully colourful. The wrap cost £3.95, the cake £2.50 for a massive slab, the hummus £1.50 for a tub - in my view, favourably comparable to lots of the local non-vegan sandwich joints in that block. Also the take-away cutlery is compostable! :)

[Marrers]

Ooo very I interesting RubyRose! Was it all labelled vegan or did you have to work out what was ok for yourself?

[Ruby Rose]

All the ingredients were labelled, and the chap on the counter was knowledgable and helpful (he told me about composting my cake fork after use!)

[BlackCats]

I just realised that Green Note was closed yesterday as it is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, it might have been helpful if I had read the website properly yesterday.:rolleyes: I think I will give it a try next week.:)

[Zero]

Ok, so you're all going to be open-minded about this one, because vegan-world is diverse. Ok? You're not going to see the S word in the next sentence and make any prejudgment, ok?

Why would buying anything from Selfridges be any worse than... say from Sainsburys? Or anywhere else that sells products that aren't vegan?

:)

[Ruby Rose]

^ No difference in my mind. It was more the fact that people assume that Selfridges is some sort of ponceteria, and anyone who goes in there would be a hooray wanker.

[bradders]

^ No difference in my mind. It was more the fact that people assume that Selfridges is some sort of ponceteria, and anyone who goes in there would be a hooray wanker.
ponceteria, mind if I nick that one?
I do go to that place sometimes, either for ideas for things and get them cheaper elsewhere, to have a laugh, play with gadgets or get weirded out by the strange exhibition in the basement