London’s best restaurants for vegetarian food

As you’d expect from the name, everything at 222 is 100 percent vegan. It’s also deliberately low in fat and salt. So if your fancy turns to almond cheese, kale and tomato salad with tahini dressing, seitan medallions with parsnip mash or banana cake with coconut whipped cream, this is just the place to get it.

A Scandi-chic veggie café serving a creative global menu and Climpson’s coffee in serene surroundings, Bühler + Co is primarily a brunch spot, serving gingerbread French toast, bulgur cakes and meatless fry-ups. There are specials and a lunchtime counter too, plus more ambitious small plates for supper (Thu-Sat) – think purple potatoes with dukkah and Penang sauce. A slice of the good life in Walthamstow.

Owned by well-connected glamour-puss Camilla Al-Fayed (of Harrods fame), Farmacy sells ‘clean indulgence’ to an eager audience of moneyed Notting Hillbillies and aspirational hedge-fund wives. It’s a happy, joyful, free-from kind of place (no dairy, no sugars, no additives), with plant-based treats ranging from clean curries to macro earth bowls. Even the most virtuous dishes taste luxurious, especially when eaten in such chic surroundings.

Located opposite Sadler’s Wells, this branch of veggie innovator The Gate puts on a breezy modern face with pendant lights, bare black tables and bare wooden floors. Share a meze platter (salty feta fritters, mushroom ceviche, featherlight artichoke tempura) or plunder the global carte for aubergine schnitzel, raw pad Thai or wild mushroom risotto cake. Outlets also in Marylebone, St John’s Wood and Hammersmith.

Café by day, wine bar by night, ‘east London’s answer to delicious wellbeing’ champions holistic dining, natural tipples and organic ideology without over-egging the eco issues. Apart from the odd slice of smoked salmon, the menu’s largely vegetarian and vegan, so expect superfood combos and tempeh sandwiches alongside rice and tofu tortillas, halloumi wraps, quinoa-based salads and raw cashew brownies.

Attached to the Hornbeam Centre (a thriving community hub), this cheery café keeps it local by buying most of its ingredients from the OrganicLea box scheme and growers in the area. Cakes and snacks feed the daytime crowd, while veggie and vegan lunches bring everything from tofu and chickpea patties to chard and potato pie. Also check out the Spice Box curry-house suppers.

Japanese, vegan… and organic? What’s not to love – and, rest assured, we do love this cool little miracle near King’s Cross station. Only the slurping of noodles disturbs the zen-like tranquillity, as punters dip into a virtuously healthy menu that homes in on a few key ingredients (expects lots of tofu and seaweed). Laid-back staff go with the flow, which helps to make Itadaki even more lovable.

With its offer of pleasantly retro veggie and vegan cooking served in quiet, soothing surrounds on Foley Street, Kin certainly has plenty to recommend it. Come here for pick-me-up breakfasts, coffee and cake in the afternoon or working lunches on the go – think salads, sandwiches, stews, quiches and veggie burgers (Friday only). Service comes with a smile – it’s all very safe and sound.

A slice of California in the City, Malibu Kitchen promotes guilt-free clean eating within the swanky surrounds of The Ned hotel. The menu favours veggie and vegan dishes over meat and fish, although there’s something for everyone, like vegetable and mango rolls with spicy nuts, poké bowls and zesty colourful salads. Wash it all down with some lip-smacking green juice for that full-on LA trip.

Forget leaden brown food and stone-age bread, Mildred’s is all about creative meat-free cookery – an idea it’s been peddling in Soho since 1988. Gyoza, black-bean burgers and Sri Lankan sweet potato curry get the juices flowing, with takeaways at the salad bar adding some extra healthy thrills. You won’t mind queueing for good stuff like this. Branches also in Camden, King’s Cross and Dalston.

Plants, plants everywhere… tumbling from the ceiling, sprouting from pots, lurking in corners. If that’s not enough, the menu at Hackney’s most colourful café (we don’t mean that as a euphemism) is loaded with plant-based possibilities (free-from options always available). Expect anything from avocado on toast topped with vegan bacon to spinach dhal, plus a host of cakes, cashew-milk mochas and colourfully jazzed-up coffees.

With its distinctive pink livery and dedication to Keralan vegetarian cooking, the original Stokey branch of Rasa broke the anglicised curry-house mould in 1997 – and it’s still going strong. Get stuck into the chilli and onion rava dosa, the beetroot and spinach achadi or the wonderful moru kachiathu (a turmeric-infused, sweet-sour yoghurt-based dish involving mango and green banana). Outstanding value.

Popular with students and aficionados of South Indian vegetarian cuisine, Sagar has gained renown for its keenly priced, homely cooking, with four outlets now running across the capital. The King Street original is an attractive, smart-looking venue serving a please-all regional menu spanning everything from steamed idli dumplings and bhel puris to dosas galore, uthappams (lentil pizzas) and assorted veggie curries.

An Ealing Road landmark, this huge canteen-style outfit is a real hit with local Asian vegetarians – and other streetwise punters. Gujarati and South Indian dishes abound, but top choices include vegan pani puris, masala dosas, punchy chilli paneer, Indo-Chinese hakka noodles and zesty sambar. There are loads of chutneys and salads too, while desserts such as creamy shrikhand finish things off nicely.

Proudly located within Persepolis – Peckham’s Persian delicatessen – this colourful, crowded and charmingly bonkers café is a shoo-in for local veggies. Meze and wraps form the bedrock, but the menu plunders Iran, the Levant and North Africa for inspiration (adding some local tweaks along the way). To finish, go for the hot paklava meltdown or the divine Turkish delight sundae with Afghan green tea on the side.