Veggie cafe puts down W1 roots

Doctor knows best, so they say. Add in a dentist and you have the perfect recipe for success - which is exactly what two Londoners are hoping for as they launch their gourmet vegetarian cafÈ today.

Dr Chidi Ngwaba and his wife Uchenna, who runs her own dentistry practice in Fleet Street, even tried out recipe ideas on patients before coming up with the definitive menu for Plant in Poland Street, Soho.

Breakfast includes watercress and wild rice pancakes with sour cream or a vegan tofulette sunrise wrap. For lunch you can try chickpeas in a cashew nut sauce, baked eggplant parmesan or spicy pumpkin soup.

Dr Ngwaba, 31, said: "I have always wanted to do something like this but it's only now that we find ourselves in the position to make our dream a reality."

His wife, also 31, added: "We wanted to open a funky cafÈ where you can relax and tuck into a healthy and tasty meal or get some fantastic food on the run."

Dr Ngwaba often works into the early hours at the casualty department of the Royal Free Hospital, but the couple plan to oversee the running of the cafÈ, and of course sample their own menu.

Cranks, providers of lentils and brown rice to Londoners for 40 years, would have been their closest rival but the chain closed its five branches before Christmas because of a downturn in the market. The Ngwabas are confident of success, however, and even hope to see their own patients at Plant.

Dr Ngwaba said: "It's not like I'm telling patients to come here on doctor's orders, but a healthy diet is the key to a better life. Neither Uchenna nor I are vegetarians - we just love the food."