Vegan London 2019
Most of us know that London is one of the best cities in the world for vegan food. Here are three absolutely top notch fully vegan eateries I was lucky enough to visit on my recent trip there.
Love pizza? This place takes the vegan pizza game to another level. Purezza is an all vegan pizza restaurant with a few branches in Southern England. We visited the one in Camden. It’s a deservedly popular and fairly small restaurant so would definitely advise booking. The menu is exhaustive and includes different kinds of pizza bases including raw and gluten-free and many different creative mixes of toppings. The cheese tastes amazing and almost a bit too ‘real’ for my liking! The staff are nice, the prices are reasonable and they have vegan alcohol. We went for a birthday meal, no-one was vegan (apart from me) and everybody enjoyed it immensely. I cannot recommend it enough. We even treated ourselves to a chocolate fudge dessert which was rich and decadent, it finished the meal off perfectly.
Brixton must be the vegan-friendliest part of South London. There are a number of all vegan restaurants as well as dessert shops and many other restaurants are also vegan-friendly. The last time I visited this restaurant it was just vegetarian although mostly vegan. Now it’s all vegan! The dishes featured are very original and tasty and they are certainly not tight on the portion sizes. This time I got a chilli which came with corn bread, rice and salad. We also tried the mac and cheese which was equally delicious. Although I was so full from the main meal, we still managed an amazing dessert. The atmosphere at this place is so lovely. The building is attached to a church and is very unique and quaint, with seating over two floors. They also now sell alcohol. The prices are very reasonable for London too.
We’re sure you’ll have already heard about this restaurant since it is owned by famous YouTuber, activist and speaker, Earthling Ed (Ed Winters.) I had wanted to come here ever since I heard about it’s opening last year. It’s conveniently located a short walk from Old Street station. The restaurant is a little small and cramped but nicely designed especially with their ‘The Future is Vegan’ lit wall mural. On our visit they had lots of Veganuary specials and I thoroughly enjoyed my vegan cheese toastie with chips as well as tofu ‘fish’ bites. The menu has interesting and creative dishes from around the world. Prices are not cheap but since the profits all go to animal sanctuary we certainly wouldn’t complain. We are told that Ed himself is often at the restaurant, chipping in and working just like everyone else. Unfortunately we didn’t get to see him on our visit. Maybe next time!
As much as I would love to visit a pure vegan restaurant for every meal, I stayed in a suburb where there are none. This meant visiting chains with extensive vegan options quite frequently. Here is my summary of some of the major ones, listed in order of preference.
CHAINS:
We heard that Frankie and Benny’s had introduced extensive vegan items this year so we gave it a go. We weren’t sure what to expect but were very pleasantly surprised. Although they don’t provide a separate vegan menu, they have tons of clearly marked vegan items in the main menu. We tried the burger and the hot dog which were both great and you can swap for sweet potato fries at no extra cost. They had a selection of three different desserts and the Oreo sundae was both unique and delicious. The decor is funky American diner style. This chain was probably the most enjoyable for us as we were so impressed with the variety of options, the uniqueness of the dishes and the flavours of them.
Marstons pubs introduced a separate vegan menu last year. They also have additional vegan items throughout the main menu as well which means they probably have the widest variety of options out of all the chains that we have visited. The dishes are typical British pub fare and not the healthiest but all the dishes we tried tasted pretty good. We tried the Moving Mountains burger, the aubergine bake, the pie, buffalo cauliflower and the rhubarb pudding. We’d recommend any of them.
Chef and Brewer very recently introduced a separate vegan menu. We have tried the burger which comes with vegan cheese and is great, plus the tofu ‘fish and chips’ which was another very tasty meal. Portions are huge and are particularly good quality. These pubs are also usually very homely and pleasant.
Barons Pubs have a separate vegan menu which is not huge but includes some quite unique dishes. They also have vegan cheese. The dishes are good but could be a bit bigger considering they are quite expensive. We have tried the pie and the vegan cheese enchiladas as well as the sundae for dessert.
The Loungers chain were one of the first ones to start offering a separate vegan menu. They have since further improved it. They have several options for breakfast, lunch, dinner and dessert. The soup is always very good and filling for the price with the half a ciabatta that is served with it. The pulled jack fruit burger is also excellent, as well as the full English vegan breakfast. They also have lattes in different sizes with choices of plant milks. They have a great atmosphere although they can get a bit too busy in the evening.
Lot’s of Italian restaurants are now offering a separate vegan menu. I believe Zizzi’s was the first and has always been and remains to be our favourite. They offer a variety of pizzas with vegan mozzarella and you can choose vegetable toppings to add. They also have vegan pasta, salad, starters and a few desserts. We particularly like the chocolate torte. Other Italian chain restaurants have tried to follow suit but none others match Zizzi’s in our opinion. We like how they bring dishes up with the vegan sticker on the plate so there’s no need to re-confirm it’s vegan.
Vintage Inns pubs pop up all over the country especially in rural areas. The dishes they offer on the separate menu are fairly standard and they can often run out of stuff, but they can be very useful if you are going to a particular area that doesn’t have many vegan options around. You’re bound to find one of these not too far away. Major downfall is they don’t stock any plant milks.
Ember Inns introduced a new separate vegetarian and vegan menu. A step in the right direction but there needs to be way more vegan items on the menu and the portions are quite measly.
Everybody knows the Wetherspoons chain as there is bound to be one in the area you live. I’d guess that no matter where you are in the UK, you probably aren’t that far away from a Spoons. They adapted their vegetarian and vegan menu in late 2018 which was an improvement. However, they still have a long way to go. Almost all of the dishes require adaptations or omissions and we’ve never tried anything that rates any higher than just doing the job. They’re really only useful in emergency situations. On the plus side, you can get cheap alcohol and if you’re feeling lazy you can even order from your seat via their phone app. Just don’t make the mistake of ordering to the wrong Spoons.
For more vegan and vegan friendly restaurants in London, visit HappyCow Vegan Guide!
