222 Veggie Vegan Restaurant, London, UK
On one of our last days in London, we reflected on our list of things to do, see and eat. We found one important item unchecked. We hadn’t taken the long tube ride out to west London to eat at the 222 Veggie Vegan Restaurant. I’d read a bit about it online, including posts by Quarry Girl and Vegan in Brighton, and really wanted visit and try their crazy looking pancake dessert.
Organic Bangers and Mash at Manna, London, UK
London vegans may seem like they have it all but there is one department where I found them to be lacking: vegan brunch. I did a little investigating online and found less than a handful of the many vegan and vegetarian restaurants in the city offering brunch on the weekends. One weekend, John was begging me to find him a good brunch so I took him to Manna, a fancy vegan restaurant in Primrose Hill. Technically, they serve lunch on the weekends. Luckily, they had one very brunch appropriate and delicious sounding dish on their menu: organic bangers and mash.
Rock 'n' Roll Cones by Tofutti
We spent two weeks in London, which sounds like a long time but it went really, really fast. Almost everyday, we discovered vegan treats we’d never come across before. It got to the point where we could no longer buy every new and interesting thing we saw, we had to exercise some willpower to save our budget and waistlines. One of our best finds, in my opinion, was the Rock ‘n’ Roll cones by Tofutti. In Canada, we have a similar treat called Drumsticks made by Nestlé. As an omni kid, I loved eating these in the summer. It was a cold and rainy day when we found the Tofutti cones at the Holland & Barrett near Camden market, selling for about £4.00 GBP ($5.86 USD) for a box of four, but we enjoyed them all the same. This was only one of many sweet things we found in London. Those London vegans sure are lucky!
Vitao, London, UK
After a morning of touring London, seeing Big Ben, the London Eye, Buckingham Palace and Saint Jame’s Park, we’d worked up an appetite. We headed to Vitao for a cheap and healthy lunch. Everything they serve is vegan, and most of it’s organic.
Ms. Cupcake, Greenwich Market, London, UK
After stopping by Vx, home to the Secret Society of Vegans, and trying one of Ms. Cupcake‘s whoopie pies with strawberry filling, we knew we had to meet this special lady in person. On a Friday afternoon, we made our way to London’s Greenwich Market and did just that. We found Ms. Cupcake smiling behind a table of her colourful creations. We were delighted to discover she was as charming and as sweet as her cupcakes.
RootMaster Vegan Restaurant, London, UK
Before visiting London, when I thought of the city, the two images that came to mind were the London Underground symbol and the red double decker buses. The Routemaster was the first model of the iconic red bus, which hit the streets in the late 1950s. We had a lot of fun touring the city from the top level of the modern day double decker but found ourselves wanting more. We couldn’t help but cave in and do the ultra touristy thing. Despite the mixed reviews, we decided to check out RootMaster, a vegan restaurant inside an old Routemaster bus.
Borough Market, London, UK
As we neared the end of our time in London, we found ourselves going back to the guidebook to make sure we’d seen all of the major sights of interest. In the book we referenced, we were surprised to see Borough Market ranked as the number one thing to see. Number one out of EVERYTHING in the city. Our Couch Surfing host insisted it wasn’t all that great, certainly not deserving of the top spot, but we love markets and decided to check it out anyway. It was packed! So packed it was on the verge of being uncomfortable to navigate. We endured the chaos and left victorious, with full bellies and a loaf of artisan bread to take home.
Saf, London, England
When researching places to eat in London, Saf Restaurant & Bar stood out in the pretty food category. However, after eating there I can tell you that pretty doesn’t make up for taste and certainly doesn’t ease the pain of paying more than you think a dish is worth. We went to Saf for an early dinner with Sasha and Mitsu of the To Happy Vegans blog. The food was hit or miss when it came to flavour and portion size, but at least we were in good company.
Vx, London, England
Vegans are spoiled with options in the wonderful city of London, England. There are lots of restaurants, cafes, food stalls and health food stores offering up vegan grub. But London has something very special, something that can’t be found in any other city in the entire world: Vx, The Secret Society of Vegans store.
The Cross, Woodbridge, England
From New York, we were scheduled to fly to Dublin, connecting through London Heathrow. We had to adjust our plan when the volcano in Iceland flared up and our flight got cancelled. Rather than stand by for the next day and hope it cleared up, we rebooked for two weeks later. This actually worked in our favour, allowing us to avoid coming back to London before heading off to the Netherlands. The last minute change left us without a Couch Surfing host. Luckily, we knew someone living in Leiston, a small town in Suffolk, England, about 90 miles northeast of London. We stayed in Leiston for a few days and drove to Ipswitch and Woodbridge one afternoon. In Woodbirdge, we stopped in for dinner at The Cross, a fine dining vegetarian restaurant and cocktail bar.
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