As a vegan I love having the opportunity to eat at veggie restaurants. It’s so nice to not have to make a fuss when choosing a meal: not having to ask for one thing or another to be removed or added to a generic salad, or being faced by yet another stuffed pepper. It’s also nice to know that the chef empathises with my views and that the food I’m being served is 100% animal product free.

However, with lots of omnivorous friends I’m anxious not to push a veggie-only meal on them unwillingly. What does help to mitigate this is the number of amazing vegetarian restaurants in London, which serve the most delicious meat-free food. So, with the help of my omnivorous pals, I’ve created this shortlist of vegetarian havens in the city. If I go to any of the following restaurants I am pretty confident that whether I’m accompanied by fellow vegans, meat eaters or by a mixture of the two everyone will enjoy their meal.

The Gate

The Gate is one of R’s favourite vegetarian restaurants and the place we take our parents when they are in town. With beautifully presented dishes inspired by Italian, French, Indian and South American cuisine, there is always plenty to choose from, plus they have great wines and a good cocktail menu.

This is a restaurant to push the boat out at and on our last visit I went all in with three courses: for starters I had the three lentil pate terrine – red lentil with smoked paprika and sun dried tomato; green lentil with fresh sweet basil; beluga lentil and olive served with our homemade red onion marmalade and crispy bread. For the main glazed and grilled teriyaki aubergine, stuffed with horseradish, coriander pesto, roasted pepper, shiitake and ginger, with crispy noodle salad with peppers, flat beans and carrots, and mango and coriander salsa. And for pudding a vegan coconut ice cream.

Rasa N16

Tucked away in beautiful Stoke Newington there are two versions of this restaurant, one of which is totally veggie. Rasa serves the best vegetarian Indian food I’ve ever eaten; the food is mouth-wateringly good and we always over-order! The street snack starters with an array of chutneys are delish, as are the starters, which include plantain with a peanut and ginger sauce and black bean cakes served with a coconut chutney. For the main we usually order two dishes and one rice to share – normally one of the dosas and then a curry. The prices are rock-bottom too, so you can over-indulge without stretching your purse strings too much!

Bonnington Café

Don’t be fooled by the website, this super cosy cafe is a veggie collective serving the most delicious dishes.

You need to book in advance by emailing the chef for the relevant night and Thursday is vegan night. The menu is different every time you go, which makes coming to a decision on what to order all the more tricky!  It’s BYO booze, and meals, despite being hearty and really tasty, come in at less than £15 for three courses. A delicious bargain!

The Black Cat Cafe

A new discovery in Hackney following on from a recommendation from the Fat Gay Vegan. Like the Bonnington this is a veggie collective, BYO restaurant with hearty delicious food and next-to-nothing prices. The menu changes daily, depending on what is available and seasonal, but on our trip I had an amazing savoury mixed vegetable pancake, topped with cashew cheese and served with quinoa, beetroot and mixed leaf salads, while R had a smoky vegan burger with chips. It was so tasty that we are definitely planning a return visit.

Ethos Restaurant

A relatively new find, I stumbled upon the Ethos Restaurant when looking for a brunch venue with my pals the Twins in Trainers. We ate from the breakfast/brunch menu – enjoying a delicious kale and sweet potato hash, sautéed in coconut oil with scrambled tofu and turmeric and a superfood smoothie – but we lingered so long that we ran over into lunchtime and discovered an amazing array of hot and cold salads, which you pay for by weight, as well as delicious sounding cakes such as the vegan chocolate peanut butter bomb and the vegan ‘healthy’ black bean brownie.

We didn’t get to sample any of the lunchtime menus so we will be going back!

For more of my favourite vegan-friendly restaurants in and out of London visit the Eat page on my blog and if you have any recommendations to pass on do let me know.