Restaurants

Popular with the locals, this small no-frills caff serves hefty old-fashioned vegetarian staples such as stews, casseroles, bakes, quiches, jacket potatoes and cakes. There's a blackboard of daily changing specials, but no written menu. Garlic mushrooms and pitta bread came with fresh mixed salad; a carrot, celery and aubergine stew was pleasantly flavoured with coriander and cumin. Homity pie, which was once a beloved dish at the now-defunct chain of Cranks restaurants, has all but disappeared from London's vegetarian dining scene. Here it makes a nostalgia-inducing appearance and is at least as good as the classic Cranks version (but with thinner pastry). We recommend the desserts; own-made carrot cake was beautifully moist and topped with a simple drizzle of sugar syrup, rather than the more ubiquitous icing.

Time Out Cheap Eats in London Guide 2007