RFK Cuisine · Vegetarian · London
Best Vegetarian Restaurants in London 2026
Vegetarian & vegan · London · 7 tables ranked · Updated June 2026
Compiled by the Restaurants for Kings editorial team · Published June 27, 2026 · Updated June 27, 2026
Britain's first vegan Michelin star was awarded in February 2025, to a Shoreditch dining room with barely two dozen covers. That moment confirmed what London had been building for a decade: a vegetarian scene that no longer reads as a compromise or a health project, but as some of the most inventive cooking in the city. The range runs from a 1988 Soho stalwart that fed the first meat-free generation to a Mayfair tasting room plating mushrooms like a two-star kitchen plates langoustine. These are the seven we send people to in 2026 — vegetarian and vegan both — ranked on the cooking, the room and what it costs, with the dish to order and who each is for.
1.Plates
Britain's first vegan Michelin star and one of London's hardest tables — book months out for a landmark plant-based meal.
Plates, on the edge of Old Street, made history in February 2025 as the first fully vegan restaurant in the UK to win a Michelin star. Chef Kirk Haworth — who trained at The French Laundry, Restaurant Sat Bains and Northcote before turning to plant-based cooking after a Lyme disease diagnosis — cooks a tasting menu that treats vegetables, nuts and ferments with the precision of a classical fine-dining kitchen. Since his Great British Menu win, it has become one of the most difficult bookings in the city. The room is small and the menu changes with the season. For the single most significant plant-based meal in Britain, book Plates as far ahead as the calendar allows.
Book months ahead the moment slots release; the full tasting menu, no substitutions needed.
2.Gauthier Soho
A classically trained Michelin chef who went fully plant-based — book it for tasting-menu technique without a scrap of animal product.
Alexis Gauthier ran a starred French kitchen for years before turning his Soho townhouse entirely plant-based, and Gauthier Soho is the result: multi-course menus that apply rigorous classical technique to vegetables, pulses and his own vegan foie-gras substitute, "faux gras." Spread over the floors of a quiet Romilly Street house, it is the most formal vegan room in London, with proper service and a serious wine list. The cooking is rich and worked-over rather than fashionably raw. It proves plant-based food can carry a full fine-dining structure. For tasting-menu polish with no animal products on the plate, Gauthier Soho is the grown-up choice.
Book online; the tasting menu, and the 'faux gras' for the trick it pulls off.
3.Mildreds
The Soho stalwart that fed London's first meat-free generation — go for a buzzy, no-fuss dinner that still delivers.
Mildreds has been Soho's vegetarian anchor since 1988, long before plant-based eating was fashionable, and the Lexington Street original is still packed nightly. The menu roams the world without dogma — Sri Lankan curries, gyoza, burgers, big sharing salads — cooked generously and priced like a neighbourhood restaurant rather than a destination. It does not take itself too seriously, which is exactly its appeal. Branches have spread to Camden, King's Cross and Dalston, but the Soho room keeps the original energy. No reservations at the flagship means a wait at peak. For a reliable, affordable, genuinely fun vegetarian dinner with zero pretension, Mildreds remains the default.
Walk-in at the Soho original or book the newer branches; the mushroom gyoza and a sharing salad.
4.The Gate
The Hammersmith original that has cooked ambitious vegetarian food since 1989 — go for the aubergine schnitzel and the history.
The Gate opened in a former Hammersmith artists' studio in 1989, founded by brothers Adrian and Michael Daniel, and it has spent more than three decades making the case that vegetarian cooking can be a proper restaurant proposition rather than a side option. The menu carries Indian and Middle Eastern influences from the family's background — the aubergine schnitzel and the rotating curries are the orders — plated with care in a calm, grown-up room. Branches now run in Islington, Marylebone and St John's Wood. It predates the current wave by decades and still holds up. For long-running, internationally inflected vegetarian cooking in a relaxed setting, The Gate is a dependable pick.
Book ahead; the aubergine schnitzel, a seasonal curry, and a glass from the organic list.
5.Bubala
The Middle Eastern table no carnivore clocks as meatless — book it to win an argument about vegetables at dinner.
Bubala is the crossover star of this list: an all-vegetarian Middle Eastern restaurant good enough that meat-eaters routinely fail to notice the absence. Chef Helen Graham's menu, served in Spitalfields and Soho, gives vegetables grill-cook swagger — oyster mushroom skewers with smoked paprika, halloumi in black-seed honey, burnt aubergine, laffa bread thick enough to eat as a course. The "Bubala Knows Best" set menu is the easy way in, and the rooms are small and lively. It belongs as much to the Middle Eastern category as the vegetarian one. For plant-forward cooking with real swagger and no sense of sacrifice, Bubala is the smartest table here.
Book online; the set menu, the oyster mushroom skewers, and extra laffa.
6.Tendril
The Mayfair room that turned a market-stall pop-up into clever plant cooking — go for the cheese fondue and the value.
Tendril began as a market pop-up and grew into a small Mayfair restaurant, chef Rishim Sachdeva — ex-Oberoi and Heston Blumenthal's Dinner — cooking a mostly vegan, globally roaming menu that does not announce itself as virtuous. The vegan cheese fondue is the signature, alongside dishes that pull from India, Italy and the Levant without settling anywhere. Prices sit well below the Mayfair norm, which makes it one of the better-value plant-based tables in central London. The room is compact and unflashy. For inventive, affordable plant cooking from a chef with a fine-dining CV, in a part of town where that is rare, Tendril is worth the trip.
Book ahead; the vegan cheese fondue and whatever the chef's specials are pushing.
7.Farmacy
The Notting Hill room for polished organic plant-based food and a clean-living crowd — go for brunch or a light dinner.
Farmacy, on Westbourne Grove in Notting Hill, is the most lifestyle-driven entry here, founded by Camilla Fayed around a fully plant-based, organic menu and a no-refined-sugar, no-additives philosophy. The cooking is broad and crowd-pleasing — "earth bowls," wood-fired pizzas, mushroom dishes, cocktails built on botanical infusions — served in a bright, plant-filled room that draws a west London health-conscious set. It is more accessible than ambitious, which suits its purpose. Brunch is the standout service. For a polished, sceney plant-based meal that works as easily for lunch as for a light dinner, Farmacy is the Notting Hill option.
Book online; the brunch bowls or a wood-fired pizza, with a botanical cocktail.
How London eats vegetarian
London's vegetarian scene has split cleanly into two halves. One is affordable and long-running: Mildreds since 1988, The Gate since 1989, plus a wide bench of Indian vegetarian kitchens in Tooting and Wembley that have always cooked meat-free as standard. The other is the new fine-dining wave — Plates winning a Michelin star, Gauthier Soho going fully plant-based, Tendril bringing technique to Mayfair — that treats vegetables as a serious medium rather than an apology. Cutting across both is the city's Middle Eastern and Mediterranean cooking, where dishes are vegetable-led by default; Bubala and Ottolenghi belong to that overlap.
A few practical notes for 2026. Distinguish vegan from vegetarian before you book: Plates, Gauthier Soho and Farmacy are fully vegan, while Mildreds, The Gate and Bubala are vegetarian with vegan options. The fine-dining rooms — Plates above all — need booking weeks or months ahead; the casual stalwarts take walk-ins but queue at peak. Prices span a wide range, from a £25 dinner at Mildreds to a £100-plus tasting at Plates. For the wider city, use the full London dining guide, and for the vegetable-led overlap see our Middle Eastern in London list.
Where not to look for it
Skip these for a serious London vegetarian meal
The mainstream restaurant with a token meat-free main, if you actually care about the food. London is now deep enough in dedicated vegetarian kitchens that there is no reason to settle for the single sad risotto on an omnivore menu. Book a kitchen that cooks vegetables as the headline, not the afterthought, and the gap in quality is obvious.
Plates, if you want a casual walk-in dinner tonight. It is a destination tasting menu with a long waitlist, not a drop-in. For a spontaneous vegetarian meal with no planning, point yourself at Mildreds, Bubala or Farmacy, all of which can absorb a walk-in or a same-day booking, and save Plates for a date you put in the diary weeks ahead.
Frequently asked
What is the best vegetarian restaurant in London?
Plates, in Shoreditch, is our top pick and a genuine landmark: in February 2025 it became the first fully vegan restaurant in the UK to win a Michelin star, under chef Kirk Haworth. For classically structured plant-based fine dining, Gauthier Soho is the alternative, while Mildreds and The Gate lead the affordable, long-running end of the scene. Bubala is the standout for vegetarian Middle Eastern cooking. Plates needs booking far ahead; the others are more accessible.
Which London restaurants are fully vegan versus vegetarian?
Plates, Gauthier Soho and Farmacy are fully vegan, with no animal products at all. Tendril is mostly vegan. Mildreds, The Gate and Bubala are vegetarian, meaning they serve dairy and eggs but no meat or fish, each with clearly marked vegan options. It is worth checking before you book if you have a strict requirement, but every restaurant on this list can comfortably feed both vegetarians and vegans — the distinction is about dairy and eggs, not about the quality or ambition of the cooking.
Does London have a Michelin-starred vegan restaurant?
Yes. Plates, on the edge of Old Street in Shoreditch, won a Michelin star in February 2025, becoming the first fully vegan restaurant in the UK to do so. Chef Kirk Haworth, who trained in classical fine-dining kitchens including The French Laundry before moving to plant-based cooking, runs a seasonal tasting menu there. Following his Great British Menu win, it has become one of the hardest tables to book in London, so plan well ahead. Gauthier Soho, also fully plant-based, is the other top-tier vegan room.
How much do vegetarian restaurants in London cost?
The range is wide. A relaxed dinner at Mildreds or Farmacy runs roughly £20 to £40 a head, The Gate and Bubala sit around £30 to £45, and Tendril offers Mayfair cooking at a lower-than-expected £35 to £50. At the top end, the tasting menus at Plates and Gauthier Soho run from about £95 to £125 before wine. In other words, London's vegetarian scene covers everything from a cheap, cheerful weeknight to a special-occasion fine-dining meal, so the cost depends entirely on which tier you choose.
Where can I get good vegetarian Middle Eastern or Indian food in London?
For Middle Eastern, Bubala is the standout, an all-vegetarian menu in Spitalfields and Soho built on oyster mushroom skewers, halloumi and laffa bread; Ottolenghi's salad counters are also vegetable-led. For Indian vegetarian cooking, look beyond the centre to Tooting and Wembley, where kitchens have served meat-free South Indian and Gujarati food for decades. Our best Middle Eastern restaurants in London guide covers the Levantine overlap in detail, and the wider London dining guide maps the rest of the city's vegetable-forward options.
More vegetarian and London dining
More from RFK
Browse the full London dining guide, compare the field on the best vegetarian worldwide, read the verdict on Michelin-starred Plates, cross over to Middle Eastern London for the vegetable-led overlap, plan a table for a first date, or open the full RFK cuisine index.
Restaurants for Kings is reader-supported. Some reservation links are affiliate links with OpenTable, Resy or Tock; we earn a small commission at no cost to you, and a link never buys a place on a ranking. Editorial scores and ranking order are independent of any commercial relationship. See our ranking methodology.