Vegan London: Part Three

Finishing my blogging about my adventures in veganism in Western Europe... I give you Vegan London: Part Three. Part's One and Two are posted from 2009. In 2007, I lived there for a time. It is hands down my favorite city in the whole wide world, plus it is super vegan-friendly! 

My first night, I went to my favorite vegan-friendly restaurant in London, Mildred's. It is located in the always fun Soho district. For starters, I had the special vegan salad, the quinoa salad. It was really good! For my entree, I decided to try something British - mixed mushroom, porcini, and ale pie served with fries and mushy peas. Mmm! For dessert, I had a real chocolate-y delight: raspberry chocolate truffle.


On Sunday, I went to Spitalfields Market. It is a vintage and one-of-a-kind mecca. I <3 Spitalfields. They have, literally, arena size marketplaces with all sorts of neat DIY vendors and vintage stores all around. Near the markets is Brick Lane which is a famous Indian and Bengali neighborhood. Therefore, it is super vegan friendly! I had a cheap lunch in a restaurant on Brick Lane and spent the afternoon in Spitalfields and walking down Brick Lane, trying street food as well. Those cupcakes and yummy desserts are not vegan, but boy were they cute to look at!


Covent Garden is a very touristy area of London. Trying to find Neal's Yard in Covent Garden is a bit like trying to find a needle in a haystack. It's hidden somewhere in the midst of old cobblestone side streets and between tall buildings. After much searching, you will find it tucked away and be inspired by its vegan and organic goods! In Neal's Yard, there is the famous Neal's Yard Salad Bar, World Food Cafe, and Neal's Yard Remedies. Neal's Yard Remedies has many great vegan, organic skin and hair products, soaps, oils, etc. I use them myself and I love it. I first found them when I lived in London and have been using it since. They have sellers in the United States too. When I lived in Japan, to my surprise, I ran into a Neal's Yard Remedies store in Shibuya!



I love having lunch in the park. It is especially fun in one of London's many beautiful parks. I chose to have some Japanese take out (Wasabi - it is a popular chain in London) and eat my lunch on a park bench in Green Park. I had curry tofu and noodles.





While wandering around Soho trying to find a good veggie place for dinner, I ran into a newer vegetarian restaurant that was not there three years ago. It is called Zilli. There was the restaurant and they have a smaller cafe next to it. The food was really good, but the service was awful. To begin, I had organic bread with olive oil and hummus and a mixed green salad. For entree, I had tofu sausage with spring onion mash, mushroom gravy, and mushy peas. To finish, I had organic tofu & limoncello cheesecake with chocolate ice cream. 

Afternoon tea is a must in London. I was determined to find a vegan afternoon tea place. The Flemings Hotel was just across the street from me and guess what? They had vegan afternoon tea! It wasn't that great, but it was a good start.


The last vegan restaurant I tried was 222 Veggie Vegan Restaurant. It wasn't the easiest place to find or get to by the tube. I had to walk 15 minutes each way from the tube in the pouring rain. The food was homey and good, though! To start I had cream of asparagus soup with bread and garlic bread. For my main dish, I had seitan stroganoff. 

 I <3 London!

Vegan London: Part Two

By far my favorite restaurant in London was Eat and Two Veg. It has a modern throw back to a retro diner plus cocktails! What can get better? Also - it is not too far from Piccadilly Circus and all the hub bub. I went a couple times and I had a burger and the Thai Satay for an appetizer. While it is a bit pricey, most of London dining is.

The picture is of the Apple and Sultana Crumble made vegan. And me awkwardly eating it, haha.

A really interesting find is The Place Below. It is in the crypt of a church, St. Mary-le-Bow. Lucky me, I was taking an architecture class and my tutor took me right to the church! No searching for me. Anyways, it's a vegetarian cafe/restaurant in the crypt of this very old church. Creeppy! Guess we should not praise seitan then, huh?

Their menu changes daily, so get ready to be surprised!

For fast food, there is Wagamama. London LOVES Wagamama. They are in every direction. And delicious! I just browsed the website and found out they have them in the USA, two in Boston and one somewhere near Harvard. Interesting. Anywho, I recommend the miso soup, yasai itame, yasai yaki soba (without egg), and the yasai nasubi salad. I think I went there like a good half a dozen times when I lived there. One time was quite hectic, I thought I lost one of my diamond earrings! Thankfully, I did not and found it. Hoorah.

A great place to read a book and eat, by the way. :]

Okay, so this is not an original to London place, but it is worth note. When I was living there, the city had its first large Whole Foods put in. They had a smaller one already in Soho. Anyways, my 20th birthday was while I was in London, so I went out in search of a vegan birthday cake. I had one made at the Whole Foods in Kensington.

It was a pretty decent cake if memory serves right. It was also the only cake that I could get at Whole Foods that they could make vegan, just to note.

Two really great local natural grocery stores are Wholefoods Ltd and Chelsea Health Food Store. Wholefoods should not be confused with Whole Foods. I found that out the hard way. To my surprise, when I found Wholefoods, it was a quaint place. I ended up getting one of those recyclable grocery bages there so now I can proudly shop and let people know I appreciate this little place in London! Now, I'm not too sure about Chelsea Health Food Store. I lived on King's Road, so this was just up the road. It might have been a different establishment that I was going to, but this place was near it. I'd have to go look at my credit card statements, haha. Either way, go to the little place near Chelsea Heath Food Store!

Random Information: most convenience stores have vegan grub to go and it has labels stating it is vegan, there is a lot of Indian and Pakistani food in London (most can be made vegan or already is vegan), Cheezly Vegan Cheese is the best faux cheese ever created, and ANYTHING from Alpro Soya is absolutely grand and you should eat it all. Oh my goodness, Alpro... I miss you! Most chain grocery stores (Tesco, Mark & Spencer, Sainbury's) have vegan products, so it isn't too hard to keep up your lifestyle.

Caffe Nero is an excellent place to get coffee in London. Starbucks is not very good in the U.K. in my opinion, plus this is real Italian coffee! Who can resist? I have my punch card still in case I go back. :]

They are everywhere too. Think about how Starbucks are on every corner of America. Well, that's Caffe Nero in London.

Point taken! Those punch card's are awesome!

Basically, you will have no problem at all being a vegan in London. Go visit the Brits! God save the Queen!

Vegan London: Part One

During the summer of 2007, I lived in London, U.K. I was ultimately spoiled by this abroad experience because London is possibly one of the most veg and vegan friendly cities of the world. As such, this is going to be broken into parts. First, if you are going to London towne, I highly recommend this little book. While it is outdated (as I found out when I went exploring for several restaurants only to find out they no longer exist), it still is a must have to help you find some yummy veg food and natural grocery markets.

Of course, there is always Happy Cow but I have found that website does not always list the current or all the possible veg or organic places in town. Still, it is free and accessible to everyone on the internet. Anywho, here is Happy Cow's London list.

Let's explore Soho first, shall we? To start, there is a lovely little cafe called Beatroot. Small, quick, carry-out friendly, or just wanting a snack, this is the place to go. I picked up some food here several times to bring back to the dorms for dinner. Their menu may have changed a little in the past 1.5 years, but if memory serves me right, I had the tofu stir-fry and the curry of the day. I know I also got some form of cake there, but none of their cake's are listed as vegan on the website. I believe they rotate their food during the week too to different dishes. So, I do not think that menu is constant.

Mildred's is a somewhat pricey restaurant, at least compared to Beatroot. It was not as good as another veg place I went to (which I will talk about later), Eat and Two Veg. Their menu looks unfamiliar to me now, though I did go there on more than one occasion. From recollection, I had a salad one time and some sort of pasta the next time. I went with a friend the second time and he agreed with me Eat and Two Veg is certainly better.

The inside of Mildred's - this is the first time I went, for lunch. For dinner, we sat up front and it is much more chic looking. It's candle lit and the lights are dim, haha.

Soho is just full of veg places! Another restaurant to note is Govinda's Pure Vegetarian Restaurant. Never went, just walked by a couple times. This goes to show London's love for Indian cuisine!

Covent Garden is next on the agenda. Neal's Yard is definitely the highlight here. While I never ate there, it was still quite cool to walk through. You have to take this little tunnel side street, too darling. Also - it is home to Neal's Yard Remedies which I use daily and highly recommend their products. I'm a fan of the Chammomile Cleanser, the Palmarosa Facial Wash, and White Tea Enriching Facial Mask.

Another veg place in Covent Garden is Food For Thought. Again, I did not go but only because I could not find it!

Okay, that is all for part one. In part two, I will talk about the random other veg restaurants I found in London as well as the several natural, organic grocery stores.