Chigwell, Vegetarian Restaurant Guide

Das Sreedharan’s famous bright pink Stoke Newington Keralan has won a legion of fans over the decades – “it was the first veggie restaurant I ever went to about 30 years ago and I didn’t miss meat one bit”. Various spin-offs have opened and closed in that time, most recently Rasa Street across the road. No longer with the rarity value it once enjoyed, its ratings remain very respectable all-round. Top Menu Tip – “lovely masala dosa”.

“They succeed in making vegan food interesting!” at this successful chain, founded in Soho in 1988 and which is no longer merely veggie but since 2021 fully plant-based. “While packed and buzzy in set-up, it’s nevertheless a good destination for a healthy stopover” according to the many who commented on it in this year’s annual diners’ poll: “as a meat-eater, I was taken under sufferance but impressed!”. In May 2024, they added a new branch near Victoria coach station.

“A table on the terrace with the beautiful view of Tower Bridge is a fabulous experience” at this veteran riverside restaurant – one of the late Sir Terence Conran’s restaurant and design masterpieces when it opened as part of his ‘gastrodome’ development in 1991. It’s fallen into obscurity since the days when the Blairs entertained the Clintons here, but a jump in ratings this year, backed up by reports of “improved” and “surprisingly good” meals, suggests that – just possibly – it’s starting to get its mojo back after years of mediocrity in the D&D London stable. On the menu: a wide array of modern French dishes with plenty of steak and seafood, all backed up by a broad, high-quality wine list.

“They succeed in making vegan food interesting!” at this successful chain, founded in Soho in 1988 and which is no longer merely veggie but since 2021 fully plant-based. “While packed and buzzy in set-up, it’s nevertheless a good destination for a healthy stopover” according to the many who commented on it in this year’s annual diners’ poll: “as a meat-eater, I was taken under sufferance but impressed!”. In May 2024, they added a new branch near Victoria coach station.

“Flavours that transport you to the Middle East” inspire adoration for fans of Sarit Packer and Itamar Srulovich’s “interesting” café, which moved to Bloomsbury (to the former site of Cigala, RIP) in 2022 having been a major media sensation when it first touched down near Warren Street 10 years earlier. The “brilliant range of eastern Med tapas” is “fresh and delightful” and acclaimed by many for their best meal of the year: an impressive achievement for a relatively humble operation. If there’s a criticism, it’s that some reporters feel the raves are overdone, judging the performance “enjoyable but not exceptional”. Top Menu Tips – “The Falafel starter is magic (and I am comparing it with a number of experiences in the Middle East)”. “Slow- cooked lamb is smooth, tender and tasty, and the stuffed aubergines are a flavour and texture sensation”; “finally onto cheesecake… unlike any previously experienced!”

“They succeed in making vegan food interesting!” at this successful chain, founded in Soho in 1988 and which is no longer merely veggie but since 2021 fully plant-based. “While packed and buzzy in set-up, it’s nevertheless a good destination for a healthy stopover” according to the many who commented on it in this year’s annual diners’ poll: “as a meat-eater, I was taken under sufferance but impressed!”. In May 2024, they added a new branch near Victoria coach station.

“A really interesting menu” of “modern Israeli food” (including “loads for veggies”) is found at this lively railway arch venue on the South Bank from ex-Ottolenghi chef Eran Tibi – “highly recommended”. Top Menu Tip – “the dumplings with date jus are fantastic”.

“It’s virtually impossible to spend more than £15 a head” at this “old-school Indian restaurant serving very high-quality vegetarian snacks”. Established in 1971 and “still going strong”, it’s a star of the Drummond Street enclave by Euston station known as ‘Little India’, and has shown major staying power over the decades (including “hanging on through HS2 works and the station redevelopment”). The dated interior is showing its age, but anyone interested in what the 1970s really looked like should pay it a visit.

An “amazing lunchtime buffet” and a good choice of “reliable vegetarian dishes” pull in a regular crowd at this “stalwart” of the ‘Little India’ enclave behind Euston station.

“If you like dosas, idlis and uttapams”, these “cheap and cheerful” but “spotless and well-run” canteens in the West End (plus Hammersmith and Harrow) are “an excellent choice for very good South Indian vegetarian food” – they’re also “a top option to take a crowd because they’re not fazed by large tables”, and “even carnivores don’t complain” when they try the “tasty food”.

This “good-value” contemporary Indian in Bloomsbury offers “reliable” cooking from Tamil Nadu on India’s southern tip. Like its neighbour Sagar, it offers a selection of dosas, but here the menu isn’t vegetarian with many options ‘From our butchers’ or ‘From our Fishermen‘s nets’ and chicken ‘From our Farm’. (If you’re up Leicester way, they also have a branch not far from the De Montfort Hall).

“The location and setting are the stars” at this spectacular venue – the flagship restaurant of the Brutalist Southbank arts centre, with plate-glass windows offering “wonderful views” over the Thames. Part of D&D London, the restaurant has long struggled to do its surroundings justice, with an often-“mediocre” offering that leaves even supporters regretting the “well done, if rather unimaginative menu”.

It’s “always a pleasure to eat the tasty, well-spiced and reliably classy Keralan food” at this “very good value” veteran in a basement near the Telecom Tower. There’s “friendly service in the compact dining area”, although the interior is not going to win design awards any time soon. Top Menu Tips – “love the fritters!”; dosas here are a perennial favourite too.

“The perfect place to eavesdrop and/or bring a lover… it just screams (murmurs?) romantique!” – this “legendary Soho institution” has navigated the sad loss of its owner and founder in September 2022, and remains one of the Top-20 most commented-on destinations in our annual diners’ poll. Set in a “super-cosy”, Dickensian townhouse, its effortless charm bewitches all of the many who comment on it; and “long may its handwritten menus, its candles in bottles on the table, its tiny tables in the wood-panelled room and charming service continue”. “The range and quality of their legendary wine list at exceptional prices for London is the main gastronomic attraction, but their modern British food is pretty good too”: “never fussy, but always very well done and incredibly tasty”. “The church pew seating can get uncomfortable over a long sitting… nothing that another bottle of wine won’t solve!”. “I was worried it would decline after Andrew passed away, but the staff are doing his memory true service, continuing the Edmunds tradition of real hospitality: it is better than ever!”

“They succeed in making vegan food interesting!” at this successful chain, founded in Soho in 1988 and which is no longer merely veggie but since 2021 fully plant-based. “While packed and buzzy in set-up, it’s nevertheless a good destination for a healthy stopover” according to the many who commented on it in this year’s annual diners’ poll: “as a meat-eater, I was taken under sufferance but impressed!”. In May 2024, they added a new branch near Victoria coach station.

“You’ve read the cookbook, now try the restaurant!” – Chef Imad Alarnab lost everything when he was forced to flee from war-torn Damascus 10 years ago, taking to the road and cooking for fellow refugees. In a heartwarming and much-told tale of triumph over adversity, he has rebuilt his life and business, and is now in his second, bigger premises in Soho’s Kingly Court, universally acclaimed in many reports as a “fun, flavoursome joint, rammed with folk relaxing and having a good convivial experience”…; “a special place. The atmosphere. The story. The simplicity but tastiness of the food”.

“Rishim Sachdeva’s ‘mostly’ vegan food is consistently thrilling in its creativity, ingenuity and presentation” and long-time supporters welcome his graduation from a pop-up to this permanent site in July 2023 near Oxford Circus. Rishim “magically roams the globe drawing from many cuisines which somehow harmonise”. The “smart (for a vegan restaurant)” interior mostly pleases, but “can perhaps seem a little hard-edged at times”, but fans say “I would enjoy Rishim’s food on a bed of nails – it is brilliant!”