Best vegetarian restaurants in London

SAF
Celebrity vegans Woody Harrelson and Alicia Silverstone can't get enough of SAF, brainchild of famed "raw chef", Chad Sarno. The menu is 100 per cent botanical with no animal products, dairy, refined or processed ingredients — as Chad explains proudly: "It's the perfect intersection between gastronomy and health." The starter of beetroot ravioli (£6.50) will have you craving more and the mains of pizzette-roasted onion flax crust, artichoke pâté, mushrooms and tomato purée (£11), or wild mushroom farinata (chickpea crêpe with artichoke, mushroom, roasted tomato and tarragon aïoli, £7), are simply nothing short of miraculous. Most of the dishes are cooked at temperatures below 48C to preserve optimum nutrition and even the tap water is ionised in order to help your body's alkalinity achieve a healthier pH level.
152-154 Curtain Road, EC2 (020 7613 0007, safrestaurant.co.uk)

Tibits
This chain hails from Zurich and opened its doors in London's Heddon Street last month, while another branch launched at Westfield last week. Diners can eat in the Designer's Guild-furnished interior with its flock wallpaper and striped velvet banquettes, or take away. Just weigh your container, which you're bound to have filled to bursting from the venue's burgeoning central "food boat", and you're off. Choose from seasonally changing salads and hot dishes including ginger apple tofu salad, pumpkin stroganoff and Masaman Thai curry (£2/100g to eat in or £1.60 to take away). Tibits is family-friendly and has a dedicated corner for children downstairs. Family visits to McDonald's are dead — long live Tibits!
12-14 Heddon Street, W1, and Westfield(tibits.co.uk)

The Gate
Brothers Adrian and Michael Daniel had no formal cheffing experience when they opened 20 years ago. However, they were both vegetarian and grew up with their grandmother's gorgeously flavoursome Indo-Iraqi cooking. They learned as they went along — "We worked on the basis of would we want to eat this?'" laughs Michael — and now have two cookery books to their names. The Gate is located in the gallery space above an old artist's studio and boasts floor-to-ceiling windows. Its simple décor and superb food have stood the test of time. Firm faves include their Indo-Iraqi potato cake starter, mustard-seed cake filled with spiced vegetables, served with mango yogurt and tamarind sauce (£5.75), and the rotolo main (butternut squash, goat's cheese and basil rolled in thyme-infused potato, served on a bed of French beans, £13.50).
51 Queen Caroline Street, W6 (020 8748 6932, thegate.tv)

Rasa
With its garish pink façade, Rasa may look like your typical curry house, but that's where the similarity ends. Indian food lends itself well to vegetarian dishes, but Rasa is authentic and unanglicised. There are now nine branches across London but N16 is the original and the only one that's exclusively vegetarian. Begin with vadias (deep-fried lentil batter with curry leaves, ginger and chilli) or banani boli (fried plantain, sesame, peanut and ginger sauce, both £2.75). Then go for cheera curry (home-made curd cheese, spinach, garlic, peppers and tomato) or thakkali curry (tomatoes cooked in yogurt with ginger, onion and coriander, both £3.95). And you must try lemon rice (£2.25).
55 Stoke Newington Church Street, N16 (020 7249 0344, rasarestaurants.com)

Madder Rose
Now unless you happen to be a yoga buff you probably won't have heard of this place — until now, that is. The yoga and transcendental meditation brigades have done a great job so far of keeping this little gem of a veggie café, set in Primrose Hill's trendy Triyoga centre, well and truly under their mats — but not for much longer. Come by for a spot of yoga before you indulge, but it's not compulsory. Opt for the house salad including baby spinach, red chard, alfalfa, cucumber, red pepper, celery, toasted seeds and honey-mustard dressing with some raw onion bread on the side (£5). Or how about a toasted sarnie of mozzarella, basil pesto or portobello mushroom, goat's cheese, lemon, rocket and mustard on sourdough, for £5 Organic "living" pasta may sound a bit weird but this blend of courgette noodles in a tomato sauce is extremely virtuous and tasty. You may even catch a glimpse of Nicole Kidman, who is also a fan.
Triyoga Unit 4, 6 Erskine Road, Primrose Hill, NW3 (07949 882 540)

Blah Blah Blah
Situated off the capital's beaten track on Goldhawk Road, Blah Blah Blah has attracted hordes of veggie-loving celebrity fans to its doors over the years, from Beatles legend Sir Paul McCartney to Australian superstar Kylie Minogue. Blah Blah Blah's owner, Majip Panesar, encourages all his diners to draw on their paper tablecloths while they are in the restaurant, and he then keeps the best efforts in his private archive. The food on offer here is truly international and though the menu may look a little bit chaotic, each individual dish is well turned out. A starter of plum and mozzarella torte (baked filo pastry filled with leek and oregano purée, tomatoes and melted mozzarella cheese, £5.95) comes highly recommended, as does the vegetable tagine with herb and pine nut couscous and yogurt and pomegranate dressing (£10.95). The décor is an eclectic mix of
mirrors, fairy lights and disco balls, and there are even some old studio lights which were bought from an auction at the nearby BBC.
78 Goldhawk Road, W12 (020 8746 1337)