The best vegan restaurants London has to offer
How to embrace the vegan diet in London: plant-based dining that carnivores will love too
Here, we've rounded up some of our favourite vegan restaurants, cafés and takeaways, but first...
Why all the hype?
It's now hard to avoid the torrent of delectable plant-based dishes on Instagram. But with growing evidence of the skin-glowing, energy-boosting, planet-saving benefits of an animal- and dairy-free lifestyle, we think this is one trend that is more than worth paying attention to. To help you out, here is our list of top London spots that are making veganism interesting.
The pandemic effect
London’s vegan restaurant scene has been hit hard by the pandemic, with detox bar Redemption, the Made in Chelsea alumni-run restaurant Tell Your Friends and the relatively new Kalifornia Kitchen among a spate of notable closures. So, when better to head on out there and dip a toe into the vegan lifestyle than at a time when you'll be simultaneously supporting the hospitality sector?
THE NEW FAVOURITE
Facing Heaven
1a Bayford St, London E8 3SE
Chef-restaurateur Julian Denis was quick to earn acclaim for his pint-sized, plant-based, pocket-friendly restaurant Mao Chow. Then in 2022, roughly three years after the 14-seater Sichuanese joint opened on Mare Street, Denis shut up shop to grow the concept just around the corner. His new offering, Facing Heaven, sits 28 diners and while still entirely vegan, the menu incorporates Cantonese, Shaanxi and Yunnan dishes, as well as flavours and techniques Denis picked up while in LA, Portugal and Puerto Rico.
Click here to book
VEGAN FINE DINING
Mallow
1 Cathedral Street, London SE1 9DE
From the team behind pioneering plant-based restaurant Mildred’s, which has been serving a vegan menu since the 1980s – long before the plant-based diet was cool, comes Mallow, a Borough Market outpost taking the comfort-food classics of its predecessor and elevating them. In the Roots Room, diners can peer into the open kitchen and see their chosen dishes created, while the Floret dining room offers a more formal set-up. Those after drinks and light bites, meanwhile, should head to the Petal Bar, where cocktails and small plates are the order of the day.
The menu has been created by Mildreds’ head of food development Sarah Wasserman, with star dishes including a plum plant chicken burger; banana blossom tacos; and kumquat lemon meringue pie.
Price: around £70 for two excluding drinks
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Holy Carrot
2-4 Hans Crescent, London SW1X 0LH
Upmarket vegan restaurant Holy Carrot has special occasion plant-based dining covered – and the drinks to wash it down with, including cocktails muddled with the only certified Vegan aperitivo, 'Savoia’. Book in for brunch, a sumptuous afternoon tea or venture through the all-day menu that spans comfort food classics like burgers and shepherd's pie (with black beans and lentils) and fancier fare, including a Japanese maki set and truffle celeriac risotto. Whatever you order, do pay a visit to Holy Bar, adjacent to the dining room. Taking inspiration from a smörgåsbord of real and fictional wacky characters – Salvador Dali, Peter Pan and Lewis Carroll among them – it offers crystal therapy and tarot readings as well as the chance to sip by candlelight.
Price: around £70 for two excluding drinks
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Gauthier
21 Romilly Street, Soho, London W1D 5AF
Price: £110+ for dinner for two excluding drinks
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Itadaki Zen
139 King's Cross Road, London WC1X 9BJ
Europe’s first organic and vegan Japanese restaurant, Itadaki Zen is a quirky eatery serving classic dishes from spring rolls and sushi to tempura made with seaweed and hotpots that use plenty of fashion-forward fermented products.
Price: £40+ for dinner for two including drinks
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Manna
4 Erskine Road, Primrose Hill, London NW3 3AJ
Strewn with pretty fairy lights and gorgeous plant-inspired wallpaper, Manna looks like a recent addition to London’s vegan scene but it has in fact been around for 50 years – a real trailblazer. The most famous dish speaks for itself: 'fennel and pumpkin seed sausages on a bed of parsnip & carrot mash served with cavolo nero on a red wine, leek & thyme jus'. Salivating yet?
Price: £70+ for dinner for two including drinks
Click here to book
VEGAN COMFORT FOOD
Mildred’s
Locations in Soho, King’s Cross, Camden and Dalston
While not strictly vegan, Mildred’s is a vegetarian restaurant with a simple, healthy and wide-ranging menu, with lots of choice for vegans. Taking inspiration from across the globe – dishes from Sri Lanka, Thailand, China and Mexico all feature, along with some modern British favourites – Mildred’s was ahead of the vegetarian game when it opened in 1988. Today, each of its four outlets are almost always busy with diners chasing the now popular plant-based diet.
Price: around £35 for three courses
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Wulf & Lamb
243 Pavilion Road, Chelsea, London SW1X 0BP / Chiltern Place, 66 Chiltern Street, London W1U 4EJ
In the smart foodie enclave of Pavilion Road, sleek, buzzy Scandi-style Wulf & Lamb is setting new standards for plant-led comfort food. Standout dishes include the well-spiced Thai green curry and the incredibly moreish vegan mac 'n' cheese made with cashew cream, turmeric and mustard. There are also burgers, open burritos and other guilt-free versions of comfort-food classics. Superb desserts include the coconut rum cake and warm peanut butter brownie with cashew-based honeycomb & toasted pine nut ice cream, dipped in coffee caramel. Heaven.
Price: £40+ for dinner for two including drinks
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The Spread Eagle
224 Homerton High Street, London E9 6AS
An entirely vegan pub you say? Surely not. But yes, this Homerton hotspot opened in 2018 as London's first fully vegan pub (even the candles used are vegan) and it's been doing a roaring trade ever since. The Sunday roast is the star of the show here (greetings, beet wellington!), but come any day and its menu of 'little' and 'big' plates plus freakishly meat-like burgers will leave you sated. Do sample the vegan beers on tap, or something from the pub's impressively dedicated cocktail list.
Price: around £20pp excluding drinks
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Farmacy
74-76 Westbourne Grove, London W2 5SH
Farmacy in Westbourne Grove has proven a bit like Marmite since it opened: some love it, others deem it overpriced and pretentious. The ethos here is that the food we eat has the power to be transformational and, because of this, we should make a concerted effort to eat consciously. Whether or not you buy into its philosophy, Farmacy’s airy, foliage-adorned dining room – often populated with willowy, athleisure-wearing, yummy-mummy types – is the place to head for grainy salads, ‘earth bowls’ and a smattering of comfort-food classics (burgers, pad Thai and the chef’s special curry). Celebrating? You can follow up your juice with a cocktail from Farmacy’s extensive list.
Price: £70+ for dinner for two including drinks
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Purezza
45-47 Parkway, London NW1 7PN
The UK’s first wholly vegan pizzeria has expanded from its hipster heaven in Brighton to Camden, and ups the game with homemade mozzarella (from fermented brown rice milk – it tastes better than it sounds), toppings such as shaved seitan and smoked beetroot, as well as a black truffle base. If a cheesesteak calzone or an Oreo pizza cannot fulfil your junk food cravings, nothing can – you might even need that green detox juice afterwards.
Price: around £10.50 for mains
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The Vurger Co.
Unit 9, Richmix, Avant Garde, Cygnet St, London E1 6LD / The Wharf Kitchen, 2 Lower Mall, Jubilee Place, London E14 5NY
Vegan burgers are two a penny in London, but mini chain The Vurger Co. (with branches in Shoreditch and Canary Wharf as well as further afield in Brighton and Manchester), is the real deal, committing to fully plant-based offering that mimics its meaty counterparts. No breadcrumbed vegetables here; the menu of sloppy, meaty knockoffs includes BBQ Pork and a New York Melt, and all come served in American-style brioche buns. Just as much attention is paid to the sides (the truffle chorizo fries with scrambled tofu look especially appealing) and there's a decent menu of vegan milkshakes too, topped with plant-based whipped cream.
Price: around £15-£20pp excluding drinks
Click here to book
VEGAN TAKEAWAYS
Temple of Seitan
Locations in Hackney, Camden, Brixton, Wembley and Kings Cross
It's no surprise that vegans crave fast food too. Here to
cater for their wants is Temple of Seitan in Hackney, a ‘vegan fried
chicken shop’ (yes, really). The menu features typical end-of-night
favourites, from burgers with all the toppings to ‘chicken’ pieces and
chips, and popcorn bites. Sides of slaw and mac 'n' cheese also feature
on the menu, completing the joint’s Southern vibe. The best bit? It
really does look and taste like authentic fried chicken (especially
after a few glasses of vegan wine). Proving a success with the local
crowd of young, hip eco-warriors, Temple of Seitan has now opened a
second outlet in Camden. The team certainly know where to find their
market.
Price: Burgers from £4-£6; full meals for around £10
Click here to book
