zilli green is an all vegetarian restaurant with a very vegan-friendly menu that opened in london earlier this year. it was started by aldo zilli, an italian celebrity chef who holds the world record for the most times a pancake has been flipped in one minute—117 times! of course we had to check this place out. i must say that after having some incredible meals at other vegetarian restaurants in london, this one left me feeling a little underwhelmed.

organic bread, extra virgin olive oil and hummus. ₤2.50

we started with an order of bread, which was lovely. the appetizer came with 3 types of bread, olive oil, and hummus. no complaints!

tofu sausage with spring onion mash, mushroom gravy, and mushy peas. ₤11.90

my husband and i decided to order 2 entrees and share them, beginning with zilli green’s vegan version of the british classic bangers and mash. this came with two tofu sausages, spring onion mashed potatoes, mushroom gravy, and mushy peas. i just gotta say, it sounded a lot better than it tasted…and wasn’t really worth nearly ₤12! the sausages tasted like store-bought redwood foods variety (which is great, but not at a fancy restaurant). the mash was really good, but the gravy was way too sweet. overall, this dish was just kind of meh.

our next entree was a seasonal item which isn’t on the zilli green menu at the moment: a tofu cake with greens, crostini and sauteed vegetables. i’m pretty sure this was around ₤12 as well, and i must say it was way better than the sausages. it was covered in a super creamy and delicious sauce, and the tofu cake itself was wonderful. my only complaint is that the vegetables were limp and tasted as though they’d been frozen and reheated. at these prices, i want fresh vegetables, dammit!

inside, zilli green is like most upper scale restaurants in london…packed! the tables are little and close together, and if you go in the evening, you should definitely make a reservation. it’s got a great location in soho, but with mildred’s so close by…i don’t think i’ll ever go back to zilli green as a tourist. maybe when i live in london someday, i’ll give it another shot!

zilli green
41 Dean Street, Soho
London W1D 4PY
Tel: 020 7734 3924
Monday – Saturday
12 noon – 11:00pm
Sunday
1.00 – 10pm

PS: don’t get zilli green mixed up with the other zilli restaurants. i’d hate for you to wind up at zilli fish by mistake!

are you gonna be in england over thanksgiving? if you are, i highly suggest you get over to manna for their holiday meal. not only is manna the oldest vegetarian restaurant in london, but it’s the probably the best. as you already know, we are huge fans of the place and i’m considering booking a trip to the uk in november just to eat this.

more details on manna’s thanksgiving after the jump.

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as far as i’m concerned, when in london, inspiral lounge in camden town is a MUST VISIT.

the all vegetarian cafe is almost entirely vegan (they have normal milk available for coffee), and offers a huge selection of entrees, sides, and desserts. we have dined out on their main courses before (the tofu tarragon parcel and vegan lasagna were to die for!), but this time we decided to go with the “pick & mix” option. pick & mix is great because you choose a dish size for a set price, and then pick out as many sides as you want and tell the inspiral employee to keep filling up your bowl until nothing else will fit.

full disclosure: we actually didn’t plan on eating a meal during this trip to inspiral. we’ve heard people go on and on about their famous tiramisu, and since that’s mr. meaner’s favorite dessert, we had to check it out. on our recent trip to london we went to inspiral 4 (yes FOUR) times in search of vegan tiramisu with no success. we were always just missing it, it had “JUST sold out”. argh. on our last failed attempt we thought we should at least get some food, and even though we had eaten recently, we decided to share a small “pick & mix” bowl for £3.95. there was lots of stuff to choose from…

not only was there a full on hot bar with ALL VEGAN items (potatoes, curries, vegetables!), but also a salad case with lots of appetizing dishes.

in the end, we settled on a little bowl filled to the brim with steamed quinoa, roasted potatoes, cabbage salad, and chickpea curry. it was nothing short of divine. the potatoes and curry especially were so perfectly cooked and seasoned.

i could eat this kind of food 7 days a week, no problem. simple ingredients, but so well executed and beyond tasty. the more intricate entrees at inspiral are just as good, but sometimes it’s nice to get back to basics.

on top of having fantastic food, inspiral’s view is the dog’s bollocks! you sit overlooking regent’s canal and camden market…so lovely!

honestly, i think i will visit inspiral every time i go to london. it’s just so comfy, delicious, and charming…not to mention, in a great part of town. i wish we had somewhere like this in los angeles—a cute little cafe with a mix of healthy and decadent food, killer desserts, alcohol, and coffee. all vegan.

i fucking love inspiral!

inspiral lounge
250 Camden High Street
Camden, London NW1 8QS, United Kingdom
020 7428 5875
Mon-Thu 10:00 – 22:00
Fri-Sat 10:00 – 2:00
Sun 10:00 – 23:30

there are tons of vegan buffets popping up all over london, but let it be known that 222 veggie vegan’s is the best as far as we’re concerned. the latest craze in england’s capital city seems to be vegan asian buffets…they are ubiquitous, in the same kind of way vegan thai food is here in los angeles. anyways, if you are looking for an all you can eat feast in london, skip the mock meaty chinese-inspired cuisine and opt for 222’s lunch special: a fresh and healthy buffet for only £7.50 (or £5.50 per takeaway box).

we have been to the 222 veggie vegan lunch buffet twice, and i can safely say that their clean and tasty dishes are like a breath of fresh air. everything is well prepared and flavorful, and the restaurant promises that all dishes are low-fat and never fried or microwaved. a typical lunch consists of several hot dishes as well as a salad bar. hot dishes include chickpea curry, grilled potatoes, eggless quiche, and sauteed vegetables (all pictured above).

the salad bar is impressive as well…with everything from mixed greens, to chopped vegetables, as well as marinated beets. and make no mistake, it’s all ridiculously crisp and fresh.

inside 222 is extremely comfy and spacious, in fact, it’s a crime that the restaurant wasn’t more busy when we were there.

you see, WE HAVE NO VEGAN BUFFETS IN LOS ANGELES. the fact that london has one with insanely fresh and delicious foods offered EVERY DAY makes me overwhelmed with jealousy and pretty insulted that more people aren’t takin’ advantage of it! if you go to london, DO NOT MISS THIS.

222 veggie vegan
222 North End Road
London W14 9NU
Neighbourhood: Earls Court
020 7381 2322
Lunch buffet 12:00-15:30
222 also offers a la carte dinner in the evening times. 17:30-22:30

heyo, time for another field report from dadatamonkey! though his recent posts have been from barcelona, this one is about benito’s hat, a mexican restaurant in london. for a little back story, you may wanna check out his quite negative review of london’s chipotle. let’s see how this place measures up!

The branch in Covent Garden. Very, very cool!

On a quick visit back to London, I went to my fave places.. And was either disappointed or they had closed. Didn’t realise I spent that much money on eating out in London! Which meant I had to find new places to munch! Well, through twitter I’d heard good things about Benito’s Hat, and despite my reservations (largely due to my experience with Chipotle) I decided to give it a go. Now I know my Chipotle review caused a little bit of consternation over the pond, so I also know this one may too. So the UK cannot do decent Mexican food yeah? Dream on. This place blows Chipotle out of the water! Read on and see why people…

Simple menu system but much clearer than the others.

The menu is the classic multi-choice/stage type, but is really clear as to what’s veggie (actually vegan unless its cheese or sour cream). Instead of being over the serving area it was MASSIVE on the wall upon entry, which helps if long queues build up I guess. I like this. Style. Not sure why but I got to add in as much as I wanted from all the selections vegans can eat, but more on that shortly.

Wow. This is uber cool. Beetles heaven. As in VW, not music!

So first things first. It was a dead night in London, and I needed cheering up coz it was raining cats and dogs (virtually the whole time I was there). Walking in I just went “OK, this is cool. I feel at home.” Perhaps it was the fact the ladies working there were all speaking Spanish (Barcelona ladies are the best), but mainly the massive mural at the end of the restaurant with my first love. The VDub Beetle!

Watch you don’t prick yourself now! These little cacti are cute as and a great touch!

Now I am a bit of an aesthetic (I blame it on Alexander Baumgarten), and they’ve got this joint spot on. The high seats have tables that fold out, so if you need to fit on more food you can. They also have these cute cacti dotted about all over the place. Sad, but true. I love Cacti! You can probs guess by now I was slightly taken with Benito’s. But the important thing is the food. And as a very long serving vegan (30yrs), how it was served. i.e. Was cross contamination an issue?

The serving area is really well designed, and keeps things totally separate so no cross contamination at all. I like this.

Well, compared to Chipotle, someone had obviously put some thought into how the serving area was arranged. The meat and veg are totally separated. New gloves were used without asking (doubt this would happen at peak times, but the ladies said they will always change gloves if asked, and said it very, very nicely too). I went for the classic burrito, with loads of fresh coriander (cilantro) and lime rice (yup, I’ve been turned, me like now), refried beans (the black beans are also vegan), Guac, and grilled veg. I kinda noticed that they were really packing in the choices here. This was gonna be one big boy of a burrito. The smile was widening as I smelt everything…

Here’s the Big Boy of Burrito’s (my name for this beast). Truly MASSIVE ATTACK! £5 Negra Modello £3-50

As they rolled my BBB I noticed it was never going to form the traditional shape and totally enclose. Gotta say, I didn’t care. The smell of the grilled peppers, courgette in parsley, olive oil and garlic was getting the juices flowing so sod the shape. The menu online says it contains Chayote, but I didn’t see hide nor hair. Not that I was worrying by this stage. Add in the Salsa Brava with fresh habanero and I was away with the pixies. I ordered a Negra to go with it and thought.. Yup, I am gonna be very happy. Then the young lady started filling up my tray with freshly fried tortilla chips.. OK, my mouth was as wide as the moon by this stage. Time to pig out!

Now that’s what I call a Burrito. OK, I’m a rice man now too.

Biting into this baby just confirmed everything I had suspected, The tastes were superb. The courgette was pretty chunky, but cooked to perfection. Still crunchy, but not to much bite. The peppers were juicy and slightly smoky. Rice? Oh yeah. Fresh, limey (no Brits were harmed in it’s cooking ok!) and just the right bite back. Now I love coriander, and wow did they stuff it full of really fresh coriander for me.

This was by far the biggest burrito I’ve seen, and the best I’ve ever eaten in London. OK, maybe I was lucky that night (I was), but something tells me this place is about customers. While I was munching one of the owners came in, and was obviously interested to see how the place was going as it had only just opened recently. I was pleasantly surprised by his attitude. I was even happier about the burrito. I ate the whole thing in minutes, and most of the vast number of tortilla chips too. If an American ever says to me that the UK cannot “do,” Mexican food again, I’ll happily take them to both Chipotle, then here. I know who will win. Benito’s hands down. I take my hat off to these guys, well actually, gals! This is near on as good good as my version of Mexican food, and I am not being big headed there. Just honest.

So. Do I really need to summarise? Oh yes. And this is where I guess I’ll get a mouthfull of not food. Please, America, keep Chipotle. We do not need ya. The combination of Spanish staff and really good, fresh ingredients cooked to almost perfection means I will never walk through Chipotle’s doors in London again. Sorry if I offend any Americans. But I say it as I see, well, eat, it! Marks out of 10? Err.. Love to give you a ten, but mine is a 10/10. So, 9.5/10. I’m mean like that. That’s chefs for you!! If you are in London pop in and enjoy. You will, I reckon. ☺

Benito’s Hat
19 New Row,
London
WC2N 4LA
Tel:020 7240 5815
Opening times: Sun – Wed 11:30-22:00, Thurs – Sat 11:30-23:00

time for yet another vegan field report! this one comes from operative rachel, who is stationed across the pond in london. she covers one of my favorite companies, secret society of vegans (SSOV) in this entry…so READ UP! here goes:

I walked down Euston Road, passed the beautiful St. Pancras Station and then made a left on Caledonian Road. I proceeded along the road and from a distance I saw something beautiful for my vegan eyes….Vx, home of the Secret Society of Vegans. There is nothing quite like Vx, and I’m glad I was able to go here this summer, just a few months after the store opened. Having visited SSOV’s previous Camden Town location, I was thrilled to see a larger space with more room for not only clothing, but also for food.

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hi everyone, time for another vegan field report from across the pond. this one is written by rachel, who is staying in london for the next few weeks! she has lots of great reports in store, so stay tuned and enjoy this one.

The sign for Tibits you'll see when you turn onto Heddon Street

Located on a side street just off Regent Street, Tibits offers a pay-by-weight vegetarian (but MOSTLY vegan) buffet, which definitely satisfies after a busy day of shopping. When I first came here last summer, an employee happily told me how Tibits works- you simply start piling onto a plate all the items you want, bring it to the cashier counter where you place your plate on a scale. The prices are: for breakfast it is £1.50 per 100g, lunch is £1.90 per 100g, and dinner is £2.10 per 100g.

The food boat

The prepared hot and cold food are centrally located on, what Tibits like to call, a boat. Each selection has a description, and all of the vegan options (which was the majority, except the yogurt and butter I X-ed out) are marked as so. There are complimentary vegan rolls, but unfortunately there was no vegan margarine to accompany. Although I did not get any drinks, Tibits also has a bar offering cocktails, wine and beer.

My plate

Everything I tried was delicious. As shown in the photo, what I had included carrot salad, pasta with tomatoes, aubergines, green beans and quinoa- all of which were prepared and seasoned wonderfully. Inside the bowl is freshly cut fruit (and not just the boring cut melons you see most in fruit salads…it had grapes, kiwi, strawberries, and pineapple.) It was very refreshing since it was my first meal after a 9 1/2 hour flight where I didn’t eat anything because my “vegan” meal had cheese in it.

Tibits interior

The interior of Tibits is really nice, brightly colored furniture and walls give it a bohemian feel, and inside is very spacious. It was never very crowded the times I’ve been there, but I assume that around dinner time, the restaurant is packed.

The next time you are shopping on Regent Street, definitely check out Tibits.

Tibits
12-14 Heddon Street
off Regent Street
London W1B 4DA
Telephone
+44 (0)207 758 4110
Fax
+44 (0)207 734 0428

Mon – Wed
09:00 am – 10:30 pm
Thurs – Sat
09:00 am – midnight
Sun
11:30 am – 09:00 pm

hey everyone, time for another field report from our qg correspondent across the pond! check out dadatamonkey’s review of pho cafe in london. enjoy!

Phở Cafe opened in Clerkenwell in June 2005, and was London’s first Vietnamese “street food” restaurant, and has since grown to three cafes around London. The number of places selling Phở has since rocketed in London, however very few are truly suitable for vegans. Phở Cafe is different. They fully understand. I visited the Titchfield St branch, slap bang in the middle of ad agency land dahling.

Not surprisingly, given the name, they specialise in serving Phở (plus Goi & Bun), and very little else. Despite the short menu there is enough selection to keep you coming back for more, time after time. Well, actually I eat the same things every time after working through the entire menu over time!

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The UK is littered with Chinese restaurants called “Peking Palace”. There were two in the small town I grew up in, and one a few feet away from my house in London. Although they’re not related to each other as some kind of chain, the menus are almost all the same as are the red flock wallpaper and white tablecloth interiors. Back when I was a vegetarian, the only “safe” thing to eat at one of these types of restaurants was steamed white rice – even vegetable dishes and noodles were made with chicken stock.

On my last trip home, though, I was delighted to discover the best Peking Palace of them all, nestled on busy Holloway Road in north London. Proudly adorning a “100% Pure Vegetarian” banner on the outside, Peking Palace is actually entirely vegan, as it’s one of the Supreme Master locations in London.

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this is just a short, sad post to commemorate what was once a very awesome pub. the george in brighton has been a beautiful, traditional, yet entirely vegetarian pub for years…and up until recently, they had loads of vegan options.

the george burger: a beanies veggie burger in a floured bap with mayo, salad and tomato, served with a salad garnish and chips. £6.25

burgers, nachos, pub food, ice cream…you name it, they had a vegan version of everything. we ate their george burger just a few months ago, and were extremely impressed. however, now the george is under crappy new management and they are rapidly deleting all the vegan options off the menu.

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I live in Southern California where we have perfect year-round temperatures, palm trees and sun-drenched beaches. A Beach Cafe here looks like THIS:

Paradise Cove Beach Cafe. Malibu, California

(picture courtesy of flickr)

Whereas a beach cafe in my home country of England looks, shall we say, a tad less exotic, especially on a rainy, blustery October day. However, while the Paradise Cove might LOOK attractive from the outside, what’s inside it is positively ugly. Tanks of dying “fresh seafood” – lobsters, crustaceans and even fish waiting to be plucked and cooked in boiling water.

VBites, on the other hand, is a wonderful and entirely vegan cafe on the “English Riviera” at Hove, just west of Brighton on the South Coast. Yeah, there’s no sandy beach outside the door or palm trees waving in the wind but what’s inside will warm you right to your soul on the coldest of winter days.

Once you walk through the doors of VBites, it’s like being transported to a city-center cafe like you’d find in London or New York. Bright colors adorn the walls, and everything is light wood, concrete, stainless steel or funky plastic. Right away, you know you’re somewhere different as the first thing you see is a large bar dining area with a “cupcake conveyor belt” rotating, you guessed it, many varieties of vegan cupcakes past your nose as you eat. It was off hours when we went there, so sadly the belt was not operational which is a pity.

To the left of the bar is a children’s play area with soft mats and toys – a real boon to vegan parents who can pop their toddler in a safe environment and keep an eye on them while they eat. What a great idea!

Towards the rear of the restaurant is the dining room which has a long bar down one side and comfortable tables along the other. Funky music, cool lighting and bright decor really did make me feel very urban, not at all like I was sitting a few feet form the beach.

The huge menu is delightfully varied, and has to be one of the best I’ve ever seen at an entirely vegan restaurant. You can start the day with a tofu scramble or vegan full English breakfast, then eat your way through plenty of lighter options such as burgers, hot dogs, nachos, sandwiches, and salads. If you choose to go for a romantic dinner in the evening, there’s also a full-on lunch menu, and a long list of entrees (Italian, Indian, you name it!). Additionally, there’s a “build your own vegan pizza” option with tons of toppings, all baked on dough specially brought in from Italy.

Nachos with soya melted cheese, salsa and guacamole. £4.75

We opted for some down to earth comfort food: nachos followed by bangers and mash. The service was very fast and attentive, the food arrived extremely well presented, and didn’t hang around long on the table. The nachos were awesome – home baked chips, salsa, guacamole and cheezly cheese topped off with jalapenos and a lime.

Soya bangers and mash with onion gravy. £6.95

The traditionally English “bangers and mash” sincerely blew us away. Creamy, buttery mashed potatoes (probably the best I’ve had since becoming vegan) topped with three hearty VBites sausages and smothered in a rich, creamy onion gravy. I know my description sounds like something off a menu, but those adjectives are all highly accurate, I can assure you!

Our only regret when we visited VBites is that we were on the south coast for just a few hours, and had to get back to London for the evening otherwise we would have tried far more things on the menu. On the way out there are fridges full of VBites food items (VBites is the brand formerly knows as Redwood Foods) so you can get many of the ingredients to take home and prepare. The bangers, cheezly, fake meats, burgers etc. are all available at the same prices you can pick them up in a supermarket.

Oh, and talking of prices, VBites is remarkably inexpensive considering what you get. The portions are large, the prices are low and you’d usually expect to pay a heck of a lot more considering the beach location and standard of decor and service.

Finally, there’s one more contrasting fact between our English version of a beach cafe and what exists in America: NO BEACH VIEW. Yeah, due to the crazy winds on English Channel there’s a large storm wall and built-up promenade between VBites and the sea.

That’s not a bad thing, though, as our beaches are a lot less picturesque than the ones in Southern California. Just ask Holly Walsh who made this great video just a mile or two from VBites:

I hate the seaside – Watch more Funny Videos

Our friend Lex, at Vegan-LA/Vegan-Europe described VBites as “… like finding the gingerbread castle in a fairy tale. You’ll rub your eyes in disbelief.”. So true!

Vbites
Hove Lagoon, Kingsway, BN3 4LX
01273 933757

heyo, readers! time for another vegan field report! this one comes to us from all the way across the pond, by da datamonkey in london! here’s a very humorous review of mango tree, a super vegan-friendly thai restaurant that i can’t wait to visit:

Let me start off by saying, I’ll give full disclosure! Mango Tree is my favourite Thai restaurant in London. I’ve been lucky enough to have been eating here for years, having found it by chance one day! What a good day that was. The menu is taken from all over Thailand – the milder cooking of the North (often influenced by Muslim curries), the spicy but simpler food of the East, the fiery heat and complexity of Southern dishes, to the Chinese/Thai style of the Central regions – and hand crafted into the refined “Royal Court Cuisine” style of Bangkok Palaces, with street influences in there too. Add in a slight Western take from Mark, the executive chef, and it really rocks. Be aware that MT is often fully booked from opening through to closing, so booking ahead can be essential (300 covers a night is not unusual). If you can, book using toptable and get 50% off your food bill (but not booze sadly). But even at full price it’s still great value! Suffice to say I normally eat here once a week and get severe withdrawal symptoms if it goes beyond 12 days…

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When I dined at Saf a few weeks ago it was all I could do not to move back home to London on the spot.

You see, Saf has not only some of the finest vegan cuisine available in Europe, but also one of the continent’s first organic cocktail bars, designed and occasionally hosted by internationally renowned mixologist, Pursip. We took advantage of a lazy, sunny Sunday morning in late-Autumn to hit up Saf and enjoy their popular “Pure Sundays” vegan roast, and one or two innovative organic cocktails.

From the moment we walked in the door, we knew we were somewhere special. The expansive space, large tables and looooong cocktail bar were teetering on the outer edges of understated grandeur, while at the same time being intimate and homely. A cheerful server welcomed us, offering “any seat in the house” (one of the privileges of being a jet-lagged early-arriver) and recommended we start off with a special cocktail. We ordered the “VIOLET and TONIC – an ultimate refreshing take on the G&T”, which turned out to be organic gin, french tarragon, pear juice, violet liqueur, lime, fever tree tonic water, with an edible pansy flower plopped on top.

I think this is one of the best cocktail photos I’ve ever taken, yet it really doesn’t do justice to this subtly stunning blend of spirits and mixers. Organic mixologists like Pursip will be the chefs and DJs of the next decade – with mysterious creative powers that make you feel awesome.

Anyway, to the FOOD. As it was around noon (a little too late for breakfast, marginally too early for lunch), we opted to go straight down the middle with our dining options, lending a breakfast-stye vibe intersected with a Sunday roast to our table. Go figger.

I opted for the “Country Breakfast”, a scintillating pile of tofu scramble all mixed up with sun dried tomato, basil and caramelized onion,with three hunks of fresh baguette drizzled with olive oil. The baby greens and potatoes (not shown in the picture) added some volume and delicate textures to the robustness of the scramble, leading to a most satisfying meal.

The other meal at the table was the absolutely stunning “Sunday nut roast”, with roast potatoes, parsnips, kale and apple sauce and red wine gravy doing their best to cover a huge chunk of tasty nut roast – just oily enough, but firmly healthy-tasting.

Both meals were gone in seconds – food this good doesn’t hang around on a plate for too long, and goes down so well that one can easily fill up rather quickly. As did we!

If you’re ever in the Shoreditch area of London, or have a couple of hours to spend, take the tube to Old Street and walk to nearby Saf where you’re pretty much guaranteed a warm reception, cold cocktail and hot meal in a totally vegan restaurant you’ll never forget. Saf will be on my itinerary every time I visit London from here on out.

If, like many readers of this blog, you live in Los Angles, I wanted to take moment to say that Saf is really what Real Food Daily should be – after all, there are many similarities: A three letter name, being out of the way but in a cool part of town, modern decor with nice ambience, seriously organic, entirely vegan etc.

The crushing difference, though, is that Saf manages to pull off the most difficult of feats: to be a trendy, happenin’ and hip restaurant while at the same time giving truly personal service and astounding food in an un-rushed environment with KILLER cocktails.

Ann should go and pay Chad a visit: she has much to learn.

Saf Restaurant
152-154 Curtain Road
Shoreditch London EC2A 3AT
+44.20.76130007

I cannot lie. I’ve found myself wandering, hungry, around the West End after a night on the town more than once over the years. On the most recent occasion, as I was walking back to Camden Town from Leicester Square, I happened upon Joi Buffet on Percy St., right off Tottenham Court Road. There was a large board outside with the word “Vegan Food” written on it in chalk, and somehow I found myself inside and seated semi-automatically (vegan restaurants have a habit of sucking me in) on the verge of a very interesting dining experience.

Joi has, by far, the largest vegan self-serve buffet I’ve ever seen. I stopped counting the number of dishes when I got to 70, and there were many more to go – probably in the order of 90-100 or so food items from every kind of fake meat and Asian-influenced cuisine you can imagine (Chinese, Thai, Indian, Indonesian and Japanese) to vegan staples like meat loaf, roast potatoes and gravy as well as salads and 8 different kinds of hot sauce! About the only food item missing was pizza, but that was more than made up for with several kinds of pasta and sauces. Also, new dishes kept coming out from the kitchen every few minutes. It seemed like when one dish was empty it wasn’t always replaced with the same thing, so the food item turnover during a typical dining interval added to the sheer amount of stuff you could feast on.

And feast we did. Buffets are always difficult for me — I act like a starving man in some post-apololyptical food oasis, filling my plate to the brim on each of way too many visits. And dining at Joi wasn’t an exception. I ate food from all eight continents (the 8th, by the way, was the buffet table itself – somewhere between the size of Antarctica and Australasia).

There were way too many food items to take pictures of them all, or even remember which ones we ate, but we were delighted with our nice table, friendly waitstaff (who were not in the slightest bit bothered that we kept asking if everything was 100% vegan) and huge selection.

Now, many people think that a vegan diet is healthy – and indeed it can be – but eating this kind of food every day will be anything but healthy. Everything tastes great, because it’s cooked in plenty of oil with little to no regard for calorific content. I can vouch for that as I’ve rarely been so stuffed after leaving a restaurant (only myself to blame, of course), and I probably didn’t eat a thing for 18 hours afterwards.

Bottom line: Joi Buffet is conveniently located, has great opening hours and an unparalleled choice of vegan food, of which you can eat as much as you like. Just don’t eat there three times a day, and be prepared for some decompression time and extreme exercise to work off the thousands of calories you’ll undoubtedly consume unless you’re very diligent with what you eat.

Oh, and the whole place is excellent value – the “all you can eat” option which includes every food item in the place is only £6.50 (around $10), and you can also fill up a to go box for just £3.50.

one great thing about london is that there’s no shortage of all you can eat vegan buffets. on our recent trip, we hit up 3 of them, my favorite being at 222 veggie vegan. 222 has an entirely animal-free food menu, and the only non-vegan item in the restaurant is the choice of skimmed milk for coffee. by day, 222 operates as a lunchtime buffet, and by evening they are an a la carte eatery.

the buffet menu when we went was on the simple and on the healthy side, with a large focus on vegetable-based dishes. it was a great deal for all-you-can-eat at just ₤7.50 per person, and we did eat absolutely all that we possibly could. take a look at our spread:

starting in the upper left and going clockwise, we had a small lentil veggie patty, a slice of quiche, some stir-fried vegetables, roasted potatoes, rice and channa dal. all of it delicious. here is the same plate again from the other side:

while i loved every single thing pictured, my two favorites were the quiche and the channa dal. i went back for multiple servings of each.

slightly burned with a soft fluffy texture, this was definitely the best vegan quiche i’ve had anywhere.

along with hot foods, 222 also offered a huge cold salad bar. here’s what i took away from there:

a mix of cold soba noodles, marinated vegetables, a bean salad, and several types of leaves. this really hit the spot.

if you are looking for a tasty, nutritious, affordable lunch in london, 222 veggie vegan is your place. this is the kind of vegan food we SHOULD be eating—vegetables, grains and noodles rather than loads of fake meat. i can’t wait to return.

check out this dude, he liked his lunch! and lemme just say that it’s a crime this restaurant wasn’t PACKED.

222 Veggie Vegan Restaurant
222 North End Road
West Kensington
London W14 9NU
Hours: lunchtime 12:00 – 15:30 evening 17:30 – 22:30

PS: on a previous london trip, we had a bad dinner experience at 222. after this amazing lunch though, i can’t wait to give their dinner another try!

Tel: 020 738 12322