London has been on a health kick, and many delicious cafés and restaurants are happy to accommodate. Anyone can mix together some veg, but we’ve tracked down the best of the best bowls of goodness for you.
Making salads and vegetarians cool again, Yotam Ottolenghi and his chain of veggie-focused restaurants are still going strong after years in the cooking game. Pop in for a delicious light salad at lunch, and you’ll leave feeling totally full. Try the roasted aubergine with tahini miso, almonds, chilli and herbs.
The secret to The Culpeper’s amazing salads? Keep it über local. Most veg is grown on the pub’s roof, and the menus are built around what’s in season. It’s a proper pub with rooms upstairs all done out with minimal fuss. The menu changes weekly, but expect a few decent salads as we move into summer.
With three local outlets, this Aussie healthy eating chain has introduced London to its light and lovely approach to salads with an Asian flair, and we’re all the better for it. Pop by Granger & Co in King’s Cross, Notting Hill or Clerkenwell, and order up a poached salmon and greens, with green goddess dressing and watermelon radish.
Nama in Notting Hill focuses on raw cooking, which means plenty of veg and inventive salads that all taste delicious. Try the seaweed salad with dulse, wakame, nori, kohlrabi, cucumber and carrot with ginger and sesame dressing. Nama is among the healthiest places to eat in London.
Vegetarian restaurant chain Mildreds is always packed, whether you pop into their Soho, King’s Cross or Camden outlet—and with good reason. Meat isn’t missed on their menu, and their salads are superb. We love the detox salad: organic beetroot, carrot, baby spinach, fennel, sprouting beans, sultanas, coriander and toasted seeds in a lime and ginger dressing with marinated tofu or goat’s cheese.
Detox Kitchen is both a home delivery service and a deli—or rather, it’s a few delis. It’s become popular for its focus on seasonal, fresh and healthy salads that are the perfect pick-me-up come lunchtime. You can mix and match two or more salads and add one form of protein. No matter your choice, you won’t go wrong.
Hidden away in Seven Dials is the veggie-friendly, raw-focused Wild Food Café. Long communal tables become packed pretty quickly at lunchtime as locals pour in for a dose of informal dining and yummy salads. Try the wabi-sabi kale salad with squash, sunflower seed sour cream, homemade kimchi, chestnuts, activated tamari almonds, wild mushrooms and wakame.
West London’s healthy deli, The Good Life Eatery is all about raw, cold-pressed juices; healthy snacks; and filling, fresh salads. Pop by for a Venice quinoa salad with red and white quinoa, lambs lettuce, vegan almond pesto, mixed bell peppers, edamame, cherry tomato, pickled red onion, omega seeds, alfalfa sprouts and lemon dressing.
