Top 5 alcohol-free

Sample some free-range delights with a clear head at Patogh

10 April 2012

If you have made the decision not to drink alcohol throughout January, unlicensed restaurants, or those not culturally drink-approving, make it easier to adhere to a good resolution. Fay Maschler reveals her top five restaurants for staying off the booze....

PATOGH8 Crawford Place, W1 (020-7262 4015). Mon-Sun £38 (BYO)***If you have made the decision not to drink alcohol throughout January and stuck with it, well done, you are nearly halfway there. Unlicensed restaurants, or those not culturally drink-approving, make it easier to adhere to a good resolution. The meats offered at this cave-like Iranian restaurant are freerange. Just as alluring as the scent of grilling kebabs is the huge disc of sesame seed-studded, freshly baked flat bread, which goes well with the various dips. If a clear head is becoming addictive, embrace dogh, a virtuous, yogurt-based drink.
WILD CHERRY241-245 Globe Road, E2 (020-8980 6678). Mon 11am-3pm, Tue-Fri 11am-7pm, Sat 10am-4pm, £34 (BYO)***This vegetarian restaurant is run by the London Buddhist Centre. That Buddhists have been known to drink - think Leonard Cohen - may explain the £1 corkage charge imposed should you bring along fermented grape or grain. Everyone queues for the food, which is home cooked and composed with an eye to colour and savour. Usually two hot dishes, one of which may be looking to the Orient for spicing, come with several imaginative salads. As often happens with vegetarian cooking, any sensuality is hidden in the cakes.

ALI BABA

32 Ivor Place, NW1 (020-7723 7474). Mon-Sun £35 (BYO)

FOOD FOR THOUGHT
31 Neal Street, WC2 (020-7836 9072). Mon-Sun (closed Sun eve) £28 (BYO)
***
It was when my daughter worked at this long-standing Covent Garden vegetarian restaurant (est 1974) that I first heard the expression 'bakes'. As well as these vegetable assemblies where cheese plays such a useful role as cohesion and topping, there are more exotic items such as stir-fries, tagines and curries, all freshly made and tantalisingly apt to run out while you are still in the queue. Vegans and wheat-avoiders can find sustenance here. It is a nugget of reality in a boutique world.

MAWAR

175A Edgware Road, W2 (020-7262 1663). Mon-Sun £30 (BYO)

Prices estimate the cost of a meal for two; the restaurants are unlicensed.

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