Top 10 vegetarian restaurants outside London

Terre à Terre, Brighton

“Still Mecca for vegetarians” – this “creative and superb” Lanes legend provides cooking that’s “refreshingly different to the usual boring veggie dishes” and is arguably “the best non-meat cuisine in the country”. “When I first heard about it, I wasn’t particularly excited, but all aspects of our evening were amazing – I’ve eaten at the Connaught but our experience surpassed that!”

 

Acorn Vegetarian Kitchen, Bath

“The food has gone from strength to strength in recent years at this longstanding vegetarian destination (which used to be Demuths, long RIP)”. Nowadays it offers “fine dining for veggies”, with “delicious dishes that are surprisingly filling considering the elegant, colourful, but not over-large helpings” (examples include “exquisite cashew purée” and “cucumber three ways”). “Good choices of organic wines and beers” too.

 

Hansa’s, Leeds

“Vegetarian heaven” rewards souls who make the trek to Mrs Hansa Dabhi’s city-centre stalwart – a smart restaurant and cookery school turning out Gujarati food “at its best”, from curries to special thalis.

 

Prashad, Leeds

There’s no let-up in the praise for the “exceptional”and “fresh” veggie cuisine offered by this stalwart Gujarati (a former Ramsay’s Best Restaurant finalist); “shame about the relocation out of Bradford” a while back, but by all accounts the roomier venue is worth the schlep.

 

Food for Friends, Brighton

“One of the must-try places if you’re up for a guilt-free meal in this leftie-Mecca of a city” – this Lanes fixture “has matured over the years into a sophisticated, not-to-be-missed veggie paradise”serving food that’s “always interesting and challenging”; and staff are “welcoming and very chatty too”. “Trying to go there without making a reservation means you can write off most of your day: it’s super busy and you’ll need to wait for at least an hour!”

 

Jyoti’s Vegetarian, Birmingham

A “buzzy family-run” Hall Green veggie that’s “still streets ahead of other South Indians at not much more than half the price”; “what it lacks in ambience (“pity about the strip lighting” and Formica-topped tables) it makes up for in delicious food… who needs meat with vegetarian cooking this good?”

 

Fellini’s, Ambleside

A “brilliant vegetarian restaurant attached to a cinema”; the “usually enterprising Italian dishes”are “very tasty” and the “menu changes regularly”too.

 

Iydea, Brighton

“Staff are great, the music’s cool, and you always end up having a nice chat with fellow diners” – so say fans of this “always busy”, “cheap ’n’ cheerful”North Laine veggie cafeteria: “the essence of Brighton”.

 

Cafe Roya, Nottingham

“Roya is a wonder!” – a “vegetarian spot where you never miss the meat!”; the “delicious food combinations would rival any restaurant”, and there’s a “new menu every month”. Reserve ahead – though rambling over two floors, it “gets booked up”.

 

Zeffirelli’s, Ambleside

“Just an absolute joy” – a “superior vegetarian restaurant in a spacious and interesting room under the cinema of the same name” (and where, like its nearby sibling Fellini’s, there are “great deals” to be had if you opt to combine food and a film).

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