• lunch on a vegan double-decker bus!

    13
    January 30th, 2009quarrygirllondon, more restaurants (not LA)

    UPDATED JAN. ’11: apparently rootmaster is now closed/on hiatus as of this month, which is very sad. let’s hope they don’t go the way of eat and two veg (RIP vegan full english breakfast!), and shut down completely. it’s always gutting to see a meatless restaurant close its doors. we’ll miss you, double decker bus restaurant! please come back soon. x

    recently, my husband and i took a trip to the uk and realized that london is overflowing with vegan-friendly restaurants. the selection in london is even better than it is here in los angeles, and most of the food there is out of this world. while we tried a lot of places, none were quite as special or uniquely british as rootmaster in elys yard. the 100% vegan restaurant cooks and serves its food in a disused double-decker routemaster bus, with the seating upstairs and the kitchen below.

    root-master-ext

    an important piece of london heritage and introduced in 1956, the routemaster was an open platform bus that passengers could board and alight in between stops. however, due to safety concerns and a bunch of lame excuses, the iconic bus was discontinued in 2005. luckily the folks over at rootmaster preserved one of the old buses really well and inside it they gave me the chance to do something just as cool as ride around london: eat vegan food!

    root-master-table

    everything the rootmaster served up was absolutely fantastic. the menu isn’t that huge, but i was happy knowing i could eat anything on it because it’s all animal-free. we started off with some edamame, along with a portion of bread & oil.

    edamame: blanched in the shell, lightly sprinkled with coarse sea salt. £3

    edamame: blanched in the shell, lightly sprinkled with coarse sea salt. £3

    bread & oil: fresh bus baked bread accompanied with extra virgin olive oil & balsamic vinegar. £2.5

    bread & oil: fresh bus baked bread accompanied with extra virgin olive oil & balsamic vinegar. £2.5

    i never imagined in my life that would eat something called “bus baked bread”, and that it would be so flippin’ tasty! they actually baked that bread fresh, right down stairs in an oven in the little bus kitchen. absolutely amazing. it was so crispy on the edges, and fluffy and warm inside, really top notch. good, fresh bread is hard enough to come by in normal restaurants; now i know those places have no excuse. if a freaking bus can do it, they should be able to as well! the edamame was also lovely. warm and salty goodness, all around the table on a cold london day.

    as a main, we wanted to try the burger, but the waiter told us it wouldn’t be ready for around 30 to 40 minutes. oh well, at least the guy was honest! some places will just make you sit there for an hour and never tell you there’s a delay in the kitchen. we didn’t feel like waiting, so we went with the picante tofu and teriyaki stir fry instead.

    picante tofu: large chunks of organic tofu with broccoli in a spicy tomato and rich creamy sauce. served with organic brown rice. £6.5

    picante tofu: large chunks of organic tofu with broccoli in a spicy tomato and rich creamy sauce. served with organic brown rice. £6.5

    the picante tofu was great, although it’s mostly covered up by rice in the photo. underneath all that fluffy rice, there are huge chunks of tofu and broccoli covered in a really spicy tomato sauce. it was so creamy as well…it reminded me of the sauce on penne ala vodka. the vegetables were really fresh and crisp, and the tofu was thick and juicy. it really shows when restaurants use high quality ingredients. the dish was so good in fact, it made me glad there was a delay on the burger.

    root-master-picante-tofu-cu

    the teriyaki stir fry was also excellent. again, rootmaster used really fine ingredients and fresh vegetables, making for a most delicious meal.

    teriyaki stir fry: asian market vegetables, cashew nuts & locally made organic tofu, wok seared in an a la carte teriyaki sauce. served with organic brown rice. £8.5

    teriyaki stir fry: asian market vegetables, cashew nuts & locally made organic tofu, wok seared in an a la carte teriyaki sauce. served with organic brown rice. £8.5

    the asian vegetables were all very delicate and tender, and the tofu was soft and well-marinated, but crispy on the edges from being cooked up in the wok. they work fucking wonders in that bus kitchen, i’m telling you! they are baking up bread and wok searing vegetables, not to mention throwing together these amazing sauces! i mean, HONESTLY. how the hell do they make such good food on the first floor of a bus?

    so as you can tell, overall, our meal was awesome. the only bad thing about rootmaster is we only got to eat there once. seriously, i cannot wait to return. they also have a whole wine list and dessert menu we didn’t even get to try out! (when you are trying to visit 100 pubs in 14 days, drinking wine at lunch is forbidden.)

    i highly suggest that if you find yourself in london, you give this place a try. not only is the food delicious and entirely vegan, but you get to dine in a little piece of london history. the restaurant even moves a bit from side to side, just like a real bus, when the waiter brings your meal up the stairs. plus, it’s located in the old truman brewery, right across from rough trade east; so you can get the satisfaction of eating in an old bus AND where they used to make beer at the same time, then do some record shopping afterwards.

    everything about this place is lovely, charming, and extremely special. i feel pretty lucky to have eaten at rootmaster.

    root-master-interior

    rootmaster
    elys yard
    the old truman brewery
    hanbury street
    london
    e1 6ql

    07912389314

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12 responses to “lunch on a vegan double-decker bus!” RSS icon

  • For a minute I thought you were on the Long Beach double-decker… Those putt around town all the time.

    Your trip is much better though.

  • What a wonderful concept! You guys have seriously made me want to re-visit London.

  • Wow! How amazing everything looks. Sounds like a wonderful lunch that I would enjoy very much; even tho. I’m not vegan. Meat ain’t all that!

  • Wow that is some serious gourmet vegan food on a bus! FUN!

  • Wow! I need to get some of that bus baked bread…

  • this place looks great! So nice to know that London is a travel option for good vegan eats.

  • I can’t believe I went there, looked at the menu, said “ehhhh”, & decided not to dine there! UGH.

  • if anyone is planning on visiting this place i recommend u do the following:
    GO THERE ON A SUNDAY! thats when brick lane has its sunday market open where u can find the most amazing unique items and clothing for great prices, so after a day of browzing tons of miny stalls and avoiding the mouth-watering food stalls, head on over to rootmaster which is located just behind the market and enjoy a fab meal!!
    NB: when we went there we were told we had to wait 2o for our order of a single rootmaster summer burger,(everything is made freah) but unfortuntaley we didnt have the spare time and just as we were leaving the waiter calls us over and hands us a just-made- canceled order of the exact menu item in a to-go box! what luck right?! we ended up sitting on the curb since all the tables were taken but yummm the mango chutney! definately worth it 🙂
    moral of the story? when u can, try to reserve a place at any vegan restaurant, they will certainly almost always be packed.

  • This is the perfect place to eat after a busy day shopping at the Brick Lane markets. Get cupcakes by Ms. Cupcake then walk a short distance here for lunch…I will be sad if Rootmaster is closed for good, but thankful that I dined there several times.

  • How do they power all the cooking machinery? Cant be done on the bus battery surely?

  • Hi, I would like to know how to make a reservation.. could you help me? Thanks a lot. : )


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