Vegetarian restaurants that have come and gone

[Sherwil16]

I saw the thread asking about restaurants in London and started thinking about veggie restaurants in London from the 70s onwards when I first became vegetarian. These sprang to mind immediately
Manna in Erskine Road
Raw Deal off Baker Street
Food for Thought Neal St
Some more will come to me, but I'd really appreciate any that you can recall. Most of the old ones have closed or turned into vegan pretend meat places.

@Chipsintheair I used to get dragged to Earth Exchange every weekend, too! So many barrels of brown stuff…

I bloody loved Manna.

Pippins in Hampstead was a regular destination for us in the 70s, too. Canteen-style, and all a bit brown and worthy but quite jolly. Apparently Annie Lennox was a waitress at one point.

A big favourite of mine in the early 90s was Vegetarian Cottage (!) on Haverstock Hill - a veggie Chinese restaurant that did an amazing “all you can eat” menu on Sundays. I still mourn its passing.

I was sorry when Vanilla Black, Tibits and The Place Beneath shut up shop.

There used to be an amazing vegetarian cafe on Brewer street before it was modernised, my ex and I used to go there all the time but I can’t for the life of me remember what it was called. They did amazing huge mixed salad and stew boxes for £3 (2006/7/8-ish)

Also remember Food for Thought in Seven Dials. It was actually pretty bland and everything tasted mostly the same but it was quirky - and cheap!

Cheap seems to be the resounding takeaway: we were students, afterall.

There's one in Exeter (Herbies) I was taken to 45 years ago that is still there now. My then boyfriend got luncheon vouchers from his workplace so took me there, and I remember having a very 'worthy' wholemeal veggie pizza. It's still going but I imagine it has probably updated itself several times since then.

I used to like Country Life in Warwick Street. The decor was rubbish but it was a buffet with loads of stuff, and they used to weigh your plate to work out how much to charge you. This was mid-2000s.

Carnevale has gone in the refurb of Whitecross Street. What an interesting and intimate place it was, with some lovely food combinations. One really good place I went to very occasionally was Stones at Avebury ( rival to Stonehenge). It served the usual hearty plates/bowls of veg stews, soups and always chunks of wonderful bread. I was so sorry when it closed.

Anyone remember Oodles? I had a look for it last time I was in London. It was about 30 years since I was there!

The Egg Cafe in Liverpool was lovely.

Cranks just off Tottenham Court Road. I still have a couple of Cranks cookbooks (though I’m not a vegetarian) and still use the odd recipe.

I forgot Vanilla Black!

Also sorry to hear Carnevale is no more…

Does anyone from Belfast remember the Spice of Life??? Oohhh the food was so good

Rainbow Café in Cambridge (off King's Parade, down a passageway and downstairs) was excellent. Closed 6 years ago, after 30 years of business. 😥

ETA Anyone looking for vegetarian meals in Cambridge these days could do worse than Thrive Café in Norfolk St.

We often use Mary Ward House on Tavistock Place for work meetings. The catering is excellent, but I think it's bought in. It's not exclusively veggie either.

I also really like the vegan Seed Cafe in the Quaker centre opposite Euston Station, but it's only open on weekdays.

Was it a veggie Indian place on Ha way Street? Can't remember what it was called now, but I loved their Thalis.

Cranks? I loved it.

I loved the Good Earth back in the 80s. Glad to see it is still going

I noticed yesterday that The Gate in Angel has closed.

I loved Cranks near Goodge street. Used to get their salad bar and a spinach muffin for lunch when I worked near there.

Mildred's is different now. My mate bought me some stuff from there recently, a curry and some lovely bread and dips. But it was really expensive!

I don't remember the name but we used to go to health food cafe in Machynleth, Wales in the late 80s. I always wished they sold chips. And I remember all these posters about vivisection and fur coats covered in blood and stuff all over the walls. Nearly made me not eat meat. I did go veggie for a couple of years in my teens so maybe it worked!

I was just about to mention Stones at Avebury. Such fabulous food. Was sad when it closed. It moved into Marlborough but wasn’t as good. I still have their cookbook, Stones Spells for Magic Feasts, some lovely recipes.

There was a great one in Bethnal Green, I think it was called the Cherry Orchard. I also remember one in Nottingham, possibly Windmill (?), and one off Bold Street in Liverpool up some steep stairs...hidden away a bit, you had to know where to look for it.

The Cherry Orchard, of course! I used to love that place. Such tasty food, great cakes and other desserts. This has made me want to remember all of the places I went to. I can't renember the name, but there was a very traditional veggie restaurant near Bond Street in the 70s . It ran things on the meat and 2 veg line, with a good pie ( lentils, veg, beans) as the meat sub. Always a treat. Wish I could recall the name. I think it began with M

Absolutely loved veggie perrins - so glad it's still open! It was the first place I tasted paneer and it's never been bettered!

A friend and I tried to book about a month ago and it was gone! We were horrified. Really odd, as it was always busy. The one in Hammersmith is still going, but that’s not very handy!

What was that crazy Indian vegetarian place in a basement on Hanway Street?

Govinda's ? I think it's still there.