The Guardian
Grace Dent was very taken by the “second sprouting” (boom-boom) of a vegan outfit from Notting Hill, which this time round has modified its stance to be merely vegetarian. Not, Grace hastened to add, as in “junk-food veggie such as Lewis Hamilton’s beleaguered Neat Burger”, or retro Cranks-style “where you end up knee-deep in pulses, nut roasts and elderflower claret”.
Instead, there’s an “elegant, classic restaurant vibe – some tables even have tablecloths, for example. Yes, tablecloths are back in restaurants” – and a menu of dishes that takes in the “real beauty” of a British king oyster mushroom vol-au-vent with buttery peppercorn and dulse sauce; a fresh and pillowy Georgian-style khachapuri that “may well be Spitalfields’ best new brunch dish”; “sexy” tofu croquettes with smoked carrot XO and mustard greens; and a tempeh and smoked tofu schnitzel served on a lake of aromatic Café de Paris butter and topped with celeriac remoulade.
“This is serious plant-based dining… as good as it gets on my side of the leafy, cruciferous fence.”
Grace Dent - 2026-04-19The Times
Jay Rayner was baffled and disappointed by a vegetarian bistro whose “dishes read well” and whose kitchen is overseen by an accomplished chef in Daniel Watkins (ex-Acme Fire Cult).
Unfortunately, much of the cooking missed its mark, such as a special of oyster mushroom ‘wings’ with a ‘Buffalo sauce’. This “uses the language of a meat dish to make a promise, which it then breaks. The crispy, deep-fried mushrooms are fine. But Buffalo chicken wing sauce should make your lips pucker and your eyes widen. This one just waves politely at you as it passes by.”
There was worse. Flatbreads were “doughy and soggy”; Roman-style globe artichokes were “soft and oily”, and arrived with a salad that was “just a mess of vegetal matter”; a no-waste lemon posset came with a “foaming globule of rank ‘meringue’, made with potato starch tortured in ways it did nothing to deserve”.
Jay Rayner - 2026-06-01
