The Luxury Travel Magazine
The Luxury Travel Magazine
Tasting menus have long satisfied the palates of Londoners. These palate pleasers are carefully curated by top chefs to showcase their culinary talents. For the diner, especially those of us who read the menu and want everything on it, they are a fun way to sample the most desirable dishes the menu has to offer. A recent phenomenon of London’s award winning, top chefs is to join the vegan revolution. A delicious addition to the London dining scene is the vegan tasting menu, much to the delight of plant-based dieters, and even the pleasantly surprised carnivore. Gone are the days when vegans need opt for fries whilst their meat eater friends order course after course.
The tables are turning and London is carrying the torch. Award-winning chefs are busy crafting and evolving their vegan tasting menus, proving that a plant-based diet has a bright and delicious future. Veganism has arrived, and trailblazing chefs are showing us what they can do with it. These are the vegan taster menus from top chefs in London’s finest restaurants, that are leading the vegan gastronomic revolution. If you’re eager to be part of this delicious adventure, explore the exciting vegan opportunities that await you in London’s vibrant food
High-profile restaurateur David Moore decided to step up and help pave the way for the vegan movement at his elegant French restaurant Pied a Terre. The restaurant has received two Michelin stars since its opening in 1991 and boasts the number one Vegan Tasting Experience in the UK. If that is not enough to convince you to try it, dishes are each individually crafted with seasonal freshness. Guests can choose from three to ten courses for their vegan London lunch, or eight to ten courses for dinner. Wine ‘flights’ selected by their sommelier can also be added to complement your menu. The basmati rice and collard greens dolma is Greek chef Asimakis Chaniotis’ speciality, inspired by his homeland. Pied a Terre also prepares a Michelin quality ‘Vegan Feast’, that you can cook up at home. It arrives at your door chilled with easy to follow instructions, the perfect night in for two.
The grand arched ceiling and stone pillars of Spitalfield’s 19th Century St. Botolph’s Hall is home to the third restaurant from chef brothers Chris and Jeff Galvin. The Michelin star restaurant gives you a feeling of walking into a vintage movie set when entering through the flower-garland gateway, and the satisfaction of having your expectations exceeded when you leave. The luxurious grade II listed building, originally a school, is adjacent to the artisan Spitalfields Market, an area popular with City workers. Their seven course vegan tasting menu is a, “Natural extension of the polished, classical French style,” and lives up to the reputation. The team serves up tomato tartare and black olive caramel and delicate desserts like the roast pineapple sorbet. The additional sommelier recommendations accent every course with panache from their exceptional wine cellar. The Galvin brothers use the finest ingredients fresh from Covent Garden Market every day, promising ‘No two days are the same.” Great news for vegan London.
Overlooking London’s expanse of skyline and the meandering River Thames, Bokan 37 is the sky high restaurant adjoining their summer terrace bar. With an exquisite vegan tasting menu with a view from the 37th floor at Canary Wharf, Bokan is set to impress. Whether diners book for a milky sunset or a glittering twilight, the views are sublime. Each dish is artfully presented and almost too pretty to devour. Executive chef Guillaume Gillan prepares the European inspired menu, and all ingredients are sourced in Britain. Get in touch for the vegan tasting menu as being fresh and seasonal, it can vary from day to day.
Michelin star chef Alexis Gauthier has taken the leap to turn his chic Soho restaurant into a fully vegan affair. French gastronomy is normally at the other end of the spectrum to veganism, but Gauthier is breaking the mould. The seven course taster menu changes seasonally, rotating creations such as turnip and black truffle pithivier with creamed morels, and fondant swiss chard and seaweed. The restaurant is set in a regency Georgian townhouse in the midst of Soho, a little calm away from the chatter of the streets below. The restaurant won the Best Vegan Menu Award for their imaginative dishes and the tasting menu has the option of wine pairing from their in-house sommeliers. Finally vegan flavours and fine gastronomy are compatible in central London.
This Michelin starred flagship restaurant of industry tycoon Jason Atherton has the sort of vegan menu that gives your meat-eating companions serious food envy. The cosmopolitan diner serves up British grown seasonal produce with a flourished at-table presentation and flavours of plant perfection. The tasting menu has the option of a matching wine flight for each of the ten courses. The evening’s atmosphere is always buzzing and their next level vegan options keep diners going back for more. Just be sure to try their flamboyant cocktails like the morel mushroom negroni or the matcha and peach tequila Matcha Peachu.
This modest Seven Dials restaurant punches well above its weight with a depth of flavours on their vegan tasting menu and wine matching. Chef Chantelle Nicholson sources all veg from organic and biodynamic British farms and ensures 50% of the entire menu is plant-based. The location is ideal for pre-theatre reservations and exploring the buzz of Soho. Tredwells won the Green Michelin Star Award in 2021 for their continuous effort and focus on sustainability, and many of their dishes cleverly uphold a ‘no waste’ policy. Their plant-based cheese board is as enticing as their fig leaf panna cotta. The inviting vintage decor has a hint of Art Deco design, a fitting ambience for an evening in theatreland.
The rise of veganism has presented a welcomed challenge to the most innovative of top chefs. Plant-based choices have moved away from the bland and towards the enticingly colourful. With this gastronomy revolution, London is planting the seed, and watching it flourish.
