Voted the friendliest place in the world for living a plant-based lifestyle, London has over 400 veggie food places to eat. So, here’s just a handful of the best independent fully vegan restaurants in London. Featuring nutritious health-focused eateries, fast-food-like places and Michelin-style quality dining restaurants.
Vegan hotdog at Trafalgar Square, London - Photo by unknown on Unsplash
Where to Eat at Plant-Based Restaurants in London
Whether you’re a resident looking for restaurants near me to eat or just visiting, you can’t get bored with eating out in London – especially when seeking a plant-based menu. Restaurants serving vegan fare in this city offer diverse flavours and cuisines.
According to a 2022 study, London was praised for being the friendliest place in the world for living the plant-based lifestyle, with it being home to over 400 vegan restaurants, most of them to be found in Tower Hamlets.
From the family-run neighbourhood Japanese joint that’s been around for years to the more Michelin-style grandee, where you can sit at a counter and watch chefs at work, to the fast-food-like kitchens. London’s restaurants are diverse, creative, and always exciting, made all the better for being unique and independent of the city.
Here’s just a handful of the top-rated vegan food places in London to choose from, where you can eat and drink from culturally rich and health-focused menus that are sure to tempt your taste buds.
1. Unity Diner
If you’re a plant-based activist, I’m sure you’ve heard of Unity Diner, founded in 2018 by Ed Winters, most well-known as Earthling Ed and his other vegan educator friends. This non-profit located on Wentworth Street in the trendy Spitalfields neighbourhood is home to London’s largest fully plant-based eatery and cocktail bar in the city.
All profits are being used towards their animal rights efforts and the Surge Sanctuary – an animal rescue shelter they’ve opened in the English countryside to house all living beings they can save from slaughter. Unity Diner is undeniably a vegan food place in London that should be supported.
Not only that, but they also have some of the most amazing and innovative plant-based meals you’ll ever get your hands on. Such as their award-winning tofish and chips and the mind-blowing Redefine Meat that is only available at a small selection of places across the world, enabling you to eat 3d printed steak with realistic taste and texture.
2. Mildreds Soho
Based on the ratings and the greatest number of reviews, Mildreds Soho is considered one of the top-rated vegan restaurants in London, located on Lexington Street in Carnaby – the birthplace of the swinging 1960s.
Opening in 1988, Mildreds is a 100% plant-based diner offering a more colourful, health-focused menu using fresh seasonal ingredients. Their shiitake tempeh noodles, plant nourish bowls and tempting home comforts with a nutritious spin are sure to get you coming back to this Instagrammable food place in London.
With six restaurants in hot spots around the city, there’s sure to be one near you to visit. Their mouth-watering brunches, breakfasts and plant-based cocktails are worth a visit itself let alone their tasty all-day menu and affordable chef-set dining offer.
3. Farmacy
Another top-rated vegan restaurant in London with thousands of reviews is Farmacy, located on Westbourne Grove, not too far from the iconic Portobello Road Market or Kensington Palace if you are coming from near the Hyde Park area.
This fully plant-based restaurant has a bohemian, trendy vibe and an innovative speciality menu to match its upscale offering. It’s a destination for afternoon tea, an à la carte menu and a picture-perfect brunch and dessert menu.
With classics such as pizza and burgers, but with a natural, colourful and health-focused approach, as well as tasty earth bowls, you’re sure to discover something you fancy from the many dishes they have at Farmacy.
Besides the beautiful food and interiors, what appeals most about Farmacy is that the founder and its talented chefs treat food as medicine – hence the clever name. Farmacy understands the powerful healing abilities of wholesome natural foods, so it's wonderful to see their passion for human health and sustainability by creating a space where diners can educate themselves on it, too.
4. Holy Carrot
To change how people perceive vegan food by creating internationally inspired cuisine with a strong focus on nutritionally healthy meals that are tasty and comforting, while being sustainable too. Holy Carrot is certainly considered an avant-garde restaurant on the London plant-based food scene.
This cosmopolitan restaurant with Michelin-style quality dishes can be found inside Urban Retreat in Knightsbridge. The dreamy, vintage-like chic interiors create the perfect environment to enjoy top-notch dishes of ‘sexy tofu’ and steamed Asian dumplings.
Despite the fancy interiors and beautifully displayed plates of innovative meals, its menu and prices are refreshingly laid-back and relaxed, just like their hip restaurant name and naming of dishes.
5. Vegan Yes Shoreditch
Vegan Yes is an independent eatery located on iconic Brick Lane in Shoreditch's hipster street art neighbourhood. This dine-in and takeaway place offers an Italian and Korean fusion of food in a relaxed, all-embracing environment, with dishes such as pasta and kimchi gracing their flavourful menu.
Used for centuries, Kimchi is a fermented Korean cabbage with probiotic benefits, helping the gut health of diners. This traditional ingredient takes the star place on most Vegan Yes dishes. If gut flora benefits are not for you, then Italian-inspired dishes such as Toppognocchi or mushroom gnocchi with seaweed and a creamy vegan cheese mixed with potatoes might just be.
There we have it, just a handful of some of the best vegan restaurants in London that are highly rated by locals and visitors from far and wide, that are a must-visit when you're hungry in the city.