Best vegetarian (and vegan) food in London

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London is a buzzling city with many things to do. You can visit one of the free museums or see a show on West End. And there are many, many restaurants. It might be difficult to find healthy, vegetarian options when there’s so much to choose from. That’s why I’ve listed my favorite vegetarian food spots in London on this page. All hotspots listed offer healthy vegetarian and vegan dishes.

Mildreds

Mildreds is probably my favorite restaurant in London. I know that it’s quite a statement considering that there are so many nice places to eat. But Mildreds serves really good vegetarian food and they have many vegan and gluten free options. I don’t want to oversell it but it’s really good food! They have veggie dumplings as a starter for example and a vegan burrito or red beet burger with vegan mayonnaise and vegan cheese as a main dish. They’re located in SOHO in a nice area with many bars and restaurants. Mildreds is really popular so expect to wait for a table, or try their second branch near King’s Cross/St Pancras station. They also have a cookbook with vegetarian recipes, including some of the dishes from their menu. It’s for sale at the restaurant.
Around the corner from Mildreds is My Place, nice bar for drinks after dinner. Don’t forget to write a post-it when you go to the toilet downstairs.

Leon

Leon is what I’d like to call a ‘healthy fastfood’ restaurant with around 25 branches in London. You can go there for breakfast, lunch or dinner. They’ve got many wheat free, gluten free, dairy free, vegetarian and vegan options. And everything is tasty and good for you. One of my favorites is the Sweet Potato Falafel hot box, their take on the classic Middle Eastern dish. Pictured above is a great vegan option: the ‘superclean quinoa salad’. This salad was both vegan as gluten free.

Ottolenghi

Yotam Ottolenghi stole my heart. This Israel born, England based chef is a man after my own heart. He likes Middle Eastern food and vegetables as much as I do. He has three deli’s and one formal restaurant (NOPI) in London. I went to the one in Spitalfield where the sweets are out on display but you can also order a healthy savory meal. I resisted the temptation of the cakes and ordered scrambled tofu with rose harissa and avocado on sourdough bread. Ottolenghi also published several cookbooks of which Plenty and Plenty More are my favorites. In these books vegetables are the star of the show, so each dish is healthy and most of them are vegetarian.
I created my own version of his famous aubergine dish, you can find the recipe here: http://annetravelfoodie.com/aubergine-with-yogurt-sauce/

The Attendant

This must be the most unique restaurant in London. To enter the Attendant in Fitzrovia you’ll have to go down the stairs into a public toilet! And not just any kind of public toilet, it dates back to Victorian times. Luckily they’re cleaned well and no longer in use. There are tables created in between the old toilets so you can enjoy your brunch in this unique setting. It’ll be a once in a lifetime experience to eat your avocado toast with poached eggs in a public toilet!

Guilty by Olivier

Guilty by Olivier shows that you can also have a vegetarian cheat meal. This colorful restaurant with playful desing is located at the NHow hotel in London. On the menu are all kinds of satisfying dishes like nacho’s and pizzas. The vegetarian cheese burger is a real recommendation.
If you’ve still got room for dessert, you can go for one of their sweet treats.

The Thin White Duke

The Thin White Duke is not a restaurant, but a cocktailbar. But it’s really a great spot, so I’ve added it to this list anyway. It’s a small bar with a beautiful interior. Don’t forget to check out the bathrooms for interior goals too. Their Queen Bitch is my favorite cocktail at the Thin White Duke. They’ve also got tasty bar food with flavors from the Domincan Republic. Pictured you see their nachos Dominican style.

OXO Tower Restaurant

The restaurant located on the 8th floor of the OXO tower in South Bank serves high quality dishes. Most more upscale restaurants don’t have that many good vegetarian options but OXO tower is an exception. They’ve got multiple very tasty vegetarian dishes on their menu, like this Beet Wellington. Your veggie dinner comes with beautiful views over the Thames and St Paul’s Cathedral. A perfect restaurant in London for if you’ve got something to celebrate.

Dinerama

Shoreditch is a great neighborhood to go out at night. There are many nice bars close to each other. A great place to grab a bite before a night out is Dinerama. This Steet Feast is open Thursday to Saturday from 5pm onwards (admission is free before 7pm). This industrial food court has a handful of different stands and two bars. They’ve got all  kinds of food like barbecue and Thai. Unfortunately for me there are many meat options. But I was able to find several vegetarian options when I was there, I went for roasted sweet potato from Lagom and a tofu soft steamed bun from Yum Bun. There’s also a pizza stand with vegetarian pizza’s and for dessert you can have donut bites with ice cream from You Doughnot.

Please note that the Street Feast Markets come and go, so make sure to check their socials for the latest updates.

Tomtom Coffee House

Tomtom Coffee house is a great spot for breakfast. It’s located on Elisabeth street, opposite Peggy Porschen cakes. You can get a great cup of cappuccino together with one of you all time favorite breakfast staples like French Toast, pancakes and this multigrain bread with mashed avocado and poached eggs. It’s served with feta cheese and homemade sweet chili jam.

The Real Greek

The Real Greek has several restaurants in the UK, of which the majority is located in London. We went to the one near Covent Garden (at Long Acre) after we saw a West End show. The Real Greek has a menu that is made for sharing, you order 3 to 4 mezes per person and see how you’re entire table is filled with delicious mediterranean food. Pictured is the falafel but they also have great pita bread, spicy walnut & red pepper dip, spinach tiropitakia (filo pastry) and much more.

Giraffe

Giraffe calls itself a ‘world kitchen’ and you can see why; their dishes are inspired by food from all over the world. As a ‘travel foodie’ I share their passion for traveling around the world dish by dish. Every region has its own unique recipes and ingredients. Giraffe has many vegetarian options, like the meze platter pictured above with hummus, falafel, feta and halloumi cheese. But they also have a falafel burger or a spiced roasted aubergine dish. They’ve got multiple locations throughout London, including restaurants at Gatwick and Stansted airport.

The Canvas Cafe

The Canvas Cafe is a café and creative venue in one (with a small garden in the back). They serve sandwiches, salads and cakes but are mostly known for their vegan ‘Freakshakes’, bringing your milkshake to a whole new level. The vegan freakshakes are made with coconut milk and almond milk and they have different varieties. Check out the chocolate freakshake that I had. Looks good right? Also nice: they let you write your answers to several questions like ‘what made you happy today?’ on their walls.
Please note that The Canvas is temporarily closed.

More Vegetarian Food spots in London

At most pubs in London you can now also get great vegetarian food. I got this delicious vegetarian burger at The Ganton Arms in Soho. But I saw nice vegetarian, and sometimes even vegan, options at mosts pubs in the city. 

vegetarian rainbow wrap at M&S (Marks and spencer) london

There are several supermarkets in London that have plenty healthy and vegetarian options. At M&S they have this vegetarian ‘super rainbow wrap’ with beetroot falafel, carrots, quinoa and edamame soybean salad for example. American healthy supermarket chain Wholefoods also has several outlets in London. Here they also have plenty healthy and vegetarian options. Like a falafel/baba ganoush box and a vegan rainbow sandwich.

vegan hippo London, vegan deli and take away
Besides the regular shops and restaurants, London has many street markets selling all kinds of food. There are fresh fruit stalls and quite a few vegetarian or vegan options. On Berwick st in SOHO I saw vegan cakes and Jerusalem Falafel selling vegan falafel. On Thursdays to Sundays there’s the Real Food Market at Kings Cross where you’ll find Popina selling vegan savory rolls.
In SOHO you’ll find Vegan Hippo; perfect for take-away. They’ve got wraps, buns and juices. All vegan. They also sell small selection of vegan groceries like vegan cheese

I hope this blog will help you to eat healthy and deliciously whilst in London!

Click here for my top 10 spots to satisfy your sweet tooth in London.

Click here for all my travel blogs in Europe. 


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