Veganuary isn’t boring at these three London restaurants
Increasingly, through events like Veganuary and Dry January, diners (and drinkers) are choosing to experiment with partial abstinence, rather than go for it full-throttle.
If you aren’t ready to cut meat out for a month, or if you just fancy learning something new about your palette, here are three Veganuary restaurants to book that we think are great.
Kolamba
These modern Sri Lankan restaurants feel incredibly demure of an evening, with expensive-feeling design credentials that bring glamour to a night of meat-free dining. In Kolamba, the idea is to encounter new flavours that make you forget you’re not eating meat. In the Shoreditch branch, Kolamba East (there’s also one in Soho), they mix ingredients that seem unmixable: roasted pineapple as a centrepiece for the table; jackfruit hopper biryani, moorish spinach dahl; and Idli with Sambar, a savoury rice dish with lentil dumplings served with sweet and spicy chutneys.
Everything’s colourful; nothing fits the mould and everything suggests restaurants should more often challenge us more. Set non-vegan three-course menus are available for £35 per person with non alcoholic cocktails thrown in. Try the one with guava. Let the waiters order for you; they are full of ideas for how to construct an unusual meal and their passion suggests that the staff training is as considered as the cooking. kolamba.co.uk/kolamba-east, 12 Blossom St, E1 6PL.
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Veganuary restaurants to book: mix veg with a little meat at Delamina
Kin
Here’s one to try if you’re staying fully on the vegetal wagon this January. Kin Cafe in Fitzrovia has long been a stalwart of vegetarian cooking, but executive chef Shayan Shams is elevating her Cafe dishes at new opening Kin: a meat-free restaurant next door to the original.
Expect thoughtfully cooked classics that provide an education in the best ways to eat meat-free: sweet potato with vegan parmesan; ponzu-roasted cabbage; crispy broad bean croquettes, courgette and pistachio spaghetti with burrata and heirloom tomatoes; miso-glazed aubergine; cauliflower steak with butter bean purée. There’s also a gorgeous brunch, and cocktails using otherwise wasted ingredients, with profits going to the Born Free Foundation. kinlondon.com, 21 Foley Street, W1W 6DT.
Delamina
Morning Wire ran a series of articles predicting food and drink trends for 2025, and Delamina – the trio of Mediterranean restaurants – are backing the idea of reducing meat intake, rather than cutting it out entirely.
Their menu has always championed this approach. For an excellent meal we’d recommend the angus beef tok tas cooking pot with spiced carrots, onions and chickpeas to keep the carnivores sated, then add the house shawarma with dates and pine nuts, charred cauliflower with creme fraiche and pomegranate and the smokey aubergine with tahini and pita. delaminakitchen.co.uk, 151 Commercial St, E1 6BJ.
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