London's best restaurants for vegetarian food
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By Guy Dimond and Natasha Polyviou
Posted: Tue May 13 2008
The top ten | Haute cuisine | East African | Indian | Thai | West End fast food
Best vegetarian haute cuisine
Gordon Ramsay’s restaurants used to do special vegetarian menus, but these have now been dropped. So sod him. You’ll eat better at the places below.
Morgan M
A rare delight, Morgan Meunier’s vegetarian tasting menu sparkles with innovative, complex creations such as aubergine caviar with red pepper sorbet, strawberry soup with toast and fresh strawberries and ethereal apricot soufflé with a subtle rosemary ice cream counterpoint. At £39 for six courses it’s a gourmet bargain.
Morgan M, 489 Liverpool Rd, N7 8NS (020 7609 3560/www.morganm.com) Highbury & Islington tube/rail. Open Tue 7-8.45pm (last orders); Wed-Fri 12.30-1.45pm, 7-8.45pm; Sat 7-8.45pm; Sun 12.30-1.45pm. Meal for two with drinks and service: around £100.
Pied à Terre
Chef Shane Osborn’s fine dining venue in Charlotte Street creates elaborate, intricate vegetarian dishes such as caramelised endives with hazelnut vinaigrette and semi-dried grapes, followed by dill pasta in cucumber nage (broth) and cauliflower couscous, in addition to an extensive non-veg menu. And booking is never a problem, despite the handful of tables.
Pied à Terre, 34 Charlotte St, W1T 2NH (020 7636 1178/www.pied-a-terre.co.uk) Goodge St tube. Open Mon-Fri 12.15-2.30pm, 6.15-11pm; Sat 6.15-11pm. Meal for two with drinks and service: around £130.
Feature continuesAdvertisementRoussillon
Now here’s a rare thing: an haute cuisine French restaurant in Belgravia that does a full vegetarian menu and a great kids’ menu. Chef-patron Alexis Gauthier also has a ‘flower menu’ in honour of the Chelsea Flower Show, comprising a five-course tasting menu scented with various petals and floral essences (available May 19-23).
Roussillon, 16 St Barnabas St, SW1W 8PE (020 7730 5550/www.roussillon.co.uk) Sloane Square tube. Open Mon-Fri 12noon-2.30pm, 6.30-10.30pm; Sat 6.30-10.30pm. Meal for two with drinks and service: around £150.
The top ten | Haute cuisine | East African | Indian | Thai | West End fast food
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6 comments
The reason i posted was I was new to london and had huge difficulties finding nice restaurants where I (veggie) could eat with by best friend (total carnivore). I was hoping to get suggestions of specific places, which I didn't make very clear, because I literally had no place to start.
To expand on this there is a pub in Forest Hill which delicious food and was great for both of us. Ironically i can't remember the name but will post it later. i just tend to find that very meat centric restaurants can be quite dull for veggie choices and I would not want to impose my vegetarianism on my best friend.
I agree that a focus on veggie dining pretty much means that you actually force people into a niche of eating only in designated spots rather than having nice veggie food available elsewhere and totally agree that an article on sustainable/ethical dining would be interesting.
Thanks for the suggestion of Wahaca. I love mexican food.
The reason i posted was I was new to london and had huge difficulties finding nice restaurants where I (veggie) could eat with by best friend (total carnivore). I was hoping to get suggestions of specific places, which I didn't make very clear, because I literally had no place to start.
To expand on this there is a pub in Forest Hill which delicious food and was great for both of us. Ironically i can't remember the name but will post it later. i just tend to find that very meat centric restaurants can be quite dull for veggie choices and I would not want to impose my vegetarianism on my best friend.
I agree that a focus on veggie dining pretty much means that you actually force people into a niche of eating only in designated spots rather than having nice veggie food available elsewhere and totally agree that an article on sustainable/ethical dining would be interesting.
Thanks for the suggestion of Wahaca. I love mexican food.
Sorry to be picky, I don't general have an issue with meat eaters eating meat while enjoy my veggie food, and I ate meat for years, but if you guys bother doing a feature on veggie fine dining, which is great, it might be good to also include some thought on animal welfare more generally, which for me includes not recommending a place that also serves foie gras - like the Morgan M.
Have you tried eating just at a vegetarian restaurant, maybe? Or are the non-veggies adamant that they must have meat at every meal? If so, Most Indian, Chinese and Thai places are your easiest bet, as they generally have the most non meat dishes as well as a large sleelction of meat ones.
Perhaps Wahaca near Trafalgar Square / Covent Garden?
do you have any reccommendations for restaurants where vegetarians and non vegetarians can both eat well and eat happily together?