The token gesture of going veggie

10 April 2012

Now that the New Year is getting into its stride, it's time to address those oh so sensible resolutions made in a moment of drunken enthusiasm as the year 2000 slid inexorably into 2001. Yes, we were all going on a diet. Yes, we were all going to take more exercise. Yes, we were all going to be teetotal for January. Yes, yes, yes.

All could be looking pretty dismal by now if we allowed it to. Here is a compromise suggestion: how about if we set ourselves the formal target of 'trying to be a bit healthier this year?'

You know the kind of thing: eat less red meat, drink less spirits, get out more. Broad generalisations and good intentions do not have the power to chill the marrow of the hedonist quite as thoroughly as those inflexible New Year resolutions. You don't have to be a dietician (just think what their soul-searching sessions must be like!) to realise that you should temper your worst excesses.

One way of moderating our intake is to diversify, so instead of an ocean of high octane capirinhas, and sandwiches made with white crusty bread, thick butter and double bacon, why not switch to the occasional glass of medicinal red wine and the occasional visit to a vegetarian restaurant?

We would probably all benefit from the trace elements in the wine and from the fibre at the veggie eateries, and even if it makes little actual difference to your lifespan, think how virtuous you would feel.

Vegetarian restaurants have bungled things badly. Whether they deserve it or not, everyone has a sneaking suspicion that, from a dietary point of view, vegetarian restaurants are encamped on the moral high ground. From time to time, even the jolliest diners wonder if it might be healthier to eat more vegetables, grains and pulses.

But still London has only a scattered handful of decent vegetarian restaurants, and those are tarnished fatally with an image that is all tweed garments and 'socks worn with sandals'. What a lost opportunity for the marketeers - where is the chic, upmarket French vegetarian restaurant, the designer Italian vegetarian restaurant, the nightclub with a slick veggie private room? Here are some vegetarian restaurants where you can imagine yourself to be healthier, and more sensible - as befits someone living in the year 2001.

Click on links for previous Evening Standard/ThisIsLondon reviews.

MANNA VEGETARIAN RESTAURANT

Manna is set back, just up a side street from Regent's Park Road which has for some time been Primrose Hill's restaurant alley, and it certainly looks like a vegetarian restaurant.

Inside, you'll find a boarded mint-green ceiling, tables that are Seventies laid-back functional, and plenty of leaflets offering everything from 'person-centred counselling' to aikido. There is a sense of worthiness in the air, one that is subtly echoed by the waiting staff who seem untroubled by the passing of time.

The customers do not seem to mind, but the business of dining can take quite a while here. This is often the way in vegetarian restaurants (perhaps due to the fact that vegetables grow so slowly - you would be foolish to try hurrying a carrot to maturity). The food is well-cooked, and dodges round all the usual shortcomings of vegetarian dishes bar one.

Perhaps owing to an overdeveloped conscience, vegetarian chefs often send out humungous, over-facing portions. This chef's conscience-factor comes into play when any cook tries to square the ingredient costs (vegetables are still mercifully cheap) with full-on prices.

A vegetarian main course priced at £10.95 (as at Manna), and working to the kind of food-cost percentage you'd expect in non-vegetarian restaurants, should contain nearly £3 worth of ingredients. That's six bunches of carrots, or a box of leeks, or a sack of spuds. Despite this cavil, dining at Manna only involves you in a bill that is small-ish by central London standards and the food, when it comes, is good.

The opening-move breads are served with either butter or olive oil and attract a surcharge. They are solid and interesting although they could do with a tad more salt and cooking in a somewhat hotter oven. The menu changes regularly, but starters may range from a decent cheddar cheese and horseradish fondue with chunks of rosemary bread and mushrooms to dip into it, to gyoza pansticker dumplings, well-made, well-seasoned and tasty.

There is always a soup of the day and a pasta of the day. Salads are good and imaginative. Mains come as large helpings, and great efforts have been made with the presentation. 'Double artichoke stack' not only combines mini globe artichokes with the Jerusalem variety, but also a rather good cream cheese mash, topping everything off with a spurious filo pastry hat - this is a well-flavoured dish that works well. While the wild mushroom tarragon, cr?me fraiche and black truffle tart is a triumph of filling over pastry (it seems a general rule that pastry is an Achilles heel for vegetarian restaurants).

The reasonably priced wine list has a few interesting bottles on it, and there are serious puddings for anyone who hasn't given up sugar and chocolate for January - panettone and white chocolate pudding, organic ice creams, or that quintessential favourite on vegetarian menus, the 'organic fruit crumble'.

For someone seeking to temper the excesses of day-to-day life with a gentle detour into vegetarian grub, Manna may not have come direct from heaven, but it still does a pretty good job and manages to teach you patience into the bargain.

4 Erskine Road, NW3 (020-7722 8028). Mon-Fri 6.30pm-11pm, Sat & Sun 12.30pm-3pm & 6.30pm-11pm. ???

FICTION

No sooner was the restaurant called Fiction set up in darkest Crouch End (taking over a book shop called Fiction), than someone came along and opened a hairdresser's shop called Pulp just opposite. Fiction is a Modern British restaurant that just happens to be vegetarian. Good use is made of herbs and some dishes seem positively self-indulgent, like a 'pate' made from black truffle, and the triple chocolate terrine. This place has a strong local following which makes booking essential.

60 Crouch End Hill, N8 (020-8340 3403). Wed-Sun 6.30pm-10.30pm. ???

THE GATE

Another restauranty type of restaurant, bucking the trend for fringe-ist, conviction veggie eateries. Hidden away behind the Hammersmith Odeon (yes, it may now be called the Labatt's Apollo, but for a certain generation it will always be the Odeon). A glance around the tall dining room gives away its past as an artist's studio. The food is unfussy and well-seasoned and makes admirable use of seasonal ingredients.

51 Queen Caroline Street, W6 (020-8748 6932). Mon-Fri noon-2.45pm & 6pm-10.30pm, Sat 6pm-10.30pm. ???

CARNEVALE

At first sight, the location of Carnevale - behind the stalls of the street market - may make the heart sink, but preparing yourself to withstand a heavy dose of hippie chic is mercifully unnecessary. Carnevale is close to being a Mediterranean vegetarian restaurant (with the occasional diversion into laksa and the like), and the standard of cooking is high. Good pasta and good puddings.

135 Whitecross Street, EC1 (020-7250 3452). Mon-Fri noon-3pm & 5.30pm-10.30pm, Sat 5.30pm-10.30pm. ??

WOODLANDS

In London a chef's first priorities when ordering supplies are the butcher and fishmonger - but in India the first port of call is the vegetable market. This should not be so surprising as 75 per cent of Indians are vegetarians! All of which explains why Indian vegetarian dishes often have the edge over their Western counterparts. The Woodlands chain of vegetarian restaurants has the added distinction of having a number of branches in London and India. Good, plain, cheap, mainly South Indian food - dosas, dals, veg curries. No frills, smaller bills.

77 Marylebone Lane, W1 (020-7486 3862). Mon-Sun noon-2.30pm & 6pm-10.30pm. ?

BLAH BLAH BLAH

A veggie's vegetarian restaurant. On one memorable occasion, a chum had the seminal experience of hearing Sir Paul McCartney ask for the music to be turned down. Fancy a Beatle finding the pop music too loud? Portions are large and stay on the right side of stodgy. Although this restaurant is unlicensed, the corkage charge is minimalwhen you bring your own bottle, and staff are helpful.

78 Goldhawk Road, W12 (020-8746 1337). Mon-Sat 12.30pm-2.30pm & 7pm-11pm. ???

KASTOORI

A restaurant that has merged two disciplines - on the one hand, it offers South Indian vegetarian dishes, and on the other, it gives them a welcome belt of East African chilli spiciness. You'll find corn, mogo chips and snake beans as well as all the usual favourites. Look out for the simple dishes like tomato curry and the prosaically named 'beans of the day'. Good friendly service.

188 Upper Tooting Road, SW17 (020-8767 7027). Mon & Tue 6pm-10.30pm, Wed-Sun 12.30pm-2.30pm & 6pm-10.30pm. ??

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