For vegetarian foodies who love to travel, London does not disappoint. The bustling city offers a vast variety of options that go beyond salads and squash. The next time you find yourself in town, do yourself a favor and check out these outstanding London vegetarian restaurants. Some of the places on this list are strictly vegetarian, while others offer vegetarian offerings on their menus. Here are our picks for the best vegetarian restaurants in London.
Elystan Street
Chef Phil Howard (formerly of The Square) has a new Chelsea-based restaurant which offers fine dining. Elystan Street is not a London vegetarian restaurant, however, the chef’s relentless pursuit of the freshest seasonal fare provides an abundance of vegetable-centered options to choose from. Excellent meat-free options on the menu include an appetizer of buffalo mozzarella with wilted radicchio, blood orange, chargrilled bread crumbs, and olive oil.
Farmacy
Farmacy operates under the Hippocratic notion that medicine is food and food is medicine. The Notting Hill restaurant is open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The offerings support both a vegan and a vegetarian diet making this one of the best vegetarian restaurants in London. The menu consists of delicious plant-based dishes using ingredients from all over the world. The offerings are free from dairy, refined sugars, additives, and chemicals. Try one of their Earth Bowls with grains and lots of superfoods.
222 Vegan
Chef Ben Asamani is an international vegan chef renown for his high quality, nutrition-rich vegan dishes. Chef Ben and his staff make all of the dishes at 222 Vegan to order. They only use fresh natural ingredients with their honed techniques for preserving the nutritional value of the products used. In essence, it is like a home cooked meal prepared just for you. The level of personal attention provided means that diners can make special requests and specific dietary requirements can be met easily. The menu items are all low in fat, low in sugar, GM-free, and organic as much as possible. This is also one of the London vegetarian restaurants that offer a lunch buffet which is an excellent option for vegans on the go.
The Gate
The Gate dubs themselves “plant-based pioneers since 1989”. Brothers Adrian and Michael Daniel were certainly forerunners in making vegetarian and vegan cuisine accessible to the public. Their goal is to make inspiring food that will appeal to both vegetarians and non-vegans. The Gate enjoys sharing the multiple ways diners can experience and enjoy plant-based food. Their menu items are also all sustainably grown. Currently, there are three of these vegetarian restaurants in London: Marylebone, Islington, and Hammersmith. A fourth restaurant will open in March 2019 in St John’s Wood.
Vanilla Black
“Apologies in advance, no pasta bake or vegetable curry” is not something the owners of Vanilla Black thought they would put on their website, but they did. The owners are vegetarian foodies who enjoy dining out but don’t love the monotony of vegetarian options usually on the menu at fine restaurants. They set out to change that in 2004 with their own restaurant. Their point was not to create a vegetarian restaurant, but rather to create a dining establishment that smashed stereotypes. Their food is forward thinking, different, and delightfully unique. Try the fried shiitake with pine nut purée and crispy enoki to see for yourself.
Do you have any other London vegetarian restaurants you would add to our list? For more outstanding vegetarian restaurants in London, see our article about the top seven England brunch hot spots.
