"The UK's first vegan Michelin star, eight courses from Kirk Haworth on Old Street — book it for a herbivore's first date."
Kirk Haworth opened Plates on Old Street in July 2024 with his sister Keeley, and in February 2025 it became the first vegan restaurant in Britain to win a Michelin star. The cooking is plant-based by conviction rather than compromise: a maitake mushroom lacquered in black bean mole, a mung and urad bean lasagne, a raw cacao gateau to close. Two menus only, eight courses at £109 or eleven at £130, served to around forty covers on the Shoreditch edge of the City.
Kirk Haworth is the son of Nigel Haworth of Northcote, and trained in classical Michelin kitchens before a Lyme disease diagnosis pushed him toward plant cooking. Plates began as a supper club and a Great British Menu run; the permanent room at 320 Old Street opened in July 2024. The technique is lifted straight from fine dining and pointed at vegetables: fermenting, lacto-pickling, nut and seed dairy, long-reduced vegetable stocks that stand in for meat glace. The maitake mushroom with black bean mole is the dish that won over the Michelin inspectors, dense and savoury enough to read as a main course; the mung and urad bean lasagne layers spiced pulses where pasta would sit; and the raw cacao gateau closes the meal without dairy or refined sugar. Even the bread butter is plant-based, whipped and sometimes tinted with spirulina. Two tasting menus run the kitchen: the eight-course Signature at £109 and the eleven-course Discovery at £130. Plates sits on our guide to the best vegetarian restaurants worldwide and our pick of tasting-menu restaurants worldwide, and tables open a few months out.
Plates is a small, pale room of around forty covers, with an open kitchen along one side and the cooks plating in full view. Sound holds at a hum even when full; lighting is daytime-soft rather than candlelit; tables are spaced closer to bistro than banquette. There is no dress code, and the crowd skews curious rather than formal, a mix of vegans and skeptics there to see what the star is about. The pass is close enough that you hear the dishes called. Ask for a seat along the kitchen if you want the show.
Book Plates for a first date when you want a talking point built into the table, for three reasons. The menu does the work: each of the eight or eleven courses lands with an explanation, so there is always something in front of you to react to. The room stays quiet enough to hear each other, unusual for a tasting counter. And the all-plant format is a quiet read on how your date handles a night outside the steak-and-claret script. Take the early sitting, order the Signature menu at £109, and let the maitake course carry the conversation. For more rooms that keep the talking easy, see our first date guide.
Not for a committed carnivore who wants the option to opt out: there is no meat or fish anywhere on either menu, and no a la carte to retreat to.
Yes, if you want to see how far plant cooking can be pushed by a classically trained chef. Plates is Kirk Haworth's Old Street tasting room and the first vegan restaurant in Britain to win a Michelin star, awarded in February 2025. The eight-course Signature is £109 and the eleven-course Discovery is £130. Order it for the maitake with black bean mole and the raw cacao gateau, and treat it as a tasting menu first and a vegan one second.
Book through the Plates website, where tables open in monthly blocks a few months ahead and require a per-head deposit. Since the Michelin star landed in February 2025, weekend sittings have gone within hours of release, so set a reminder for the drop. Weeknights and the lunch service are easier. The room seats only around forty, which is why it disappears fast. See our London dining guide for tables you can book on shorter notice.
Take the menu rather than improvising, because there is no a la carte. The eight-course Signature at £109 is the core experience and the eleven-course Discovery at £130 adds three more plates. Across either, the maitake mushroom with black bean mole is the dish to anticipate, the mung and urad bean lasagne the one that surprises, and the raw cacao gateau the close. Add the wine pairing if you want to test how plant food reads against a glass.
Yes, it is one of the better first-date tasting rooms in east London. The forty-seat room stays quiet enough for conversation, the courses give you a constant supply of things to react to, and the plant-only format makes for an easy talking point. Book the early sitting and the Signature menu at £109 to keep the night from running too long. For other rooms built for the occasion, see our anniversary dining picks.
Tables open in monthly blocks on the Plates website and need a per-head deposit. Weekend sittings go within hours.
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Plates leads our vegetarian and vegan guide as the UK's first plant-based room to hold a Michelin star, Kirk Haworth's tasting kitchen on Old Street.
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