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Ok. This was a part of food adventures in London. Do not as me what i had because i can't remember those names. They were mostly good. Coconut icecrea…
Apoorva Chandra
Vanilla Black
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This is the kind of vegetarian restaurant where its OK to wear leather, in fact you dont have to be a non-meat eater to enjoy the food here. There are…
Rebecca Williams
Vanilla Black
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Amazing experience! 5/5 for flavours and presentation. This is a must try even for carnivores :)Prices are quite high but it's worth the whole experie…
Prashanth Malur
Vanilla Black
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Vanilla Black is open for Casual Dining. Vanilla Black serves Contemporary dishes. Incorrect or missing information? Make a report, or claim the restaurant if you own it!Details
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8 Reviews on “Vanilla Black”
This is the kind of vegetarian restaurant where its OK to wear leather, in fact you dont have to be a non-meat eater to enjoy the food here. There are no mushroom burgers, mung beans or pasta bakes on the menu in Vanilla Black, a rather plain looking restaurant in the city of London, but then again looks are deceiving.You might be interested to know, or not, that Andrew and his partner Donna Conroy are both vegetarian and moved their restaurant from York to the capital seven years ago and theres a lovely story about how they found the current premises. After a couple of visits looking at property, they were deciding on their final choice and loved the Tooks Court site right in the heart of Londons legal district. Home in York, Andrews A-Z cover had a highlighted section of London. Guess where? Tooks Court. In effect, hed had his finger on it all the time.I was keen to visit Vanilla Black because I was sent the cookbook. Vanilla Black, Fresh Flavours for your Vegetarian Kitchen is their first and I got a little hooked on the Marmite Jersey Royals recipe. I struck up a social media relationship with Andrew (@vanillablack1) and threatened to visit. When I meet him I realise hes got an incredibly dry sense of humour and that the cookbook doesnt reflect the food I see on the menu. A technically challenging book just wouldnt have been popular with regular home cooks but its got a great selection of savoury and sweet recipes, nonetheless. The restaurant is large, no downstairs and has grey walls, filled with art and a cornucopia of mirrors, dark wood and muted lighting.So, as meat eater and a pretty good cook, what do I choose from a menu to challenge the kitchen? Im on my own, but seated with my back to the rest of the diners so feel less obvious Im actually Billy No Mates on my day off. What there isnt here are dishes that rely heavily on pasta as their main ingredient, heavy spices or meat substitutes. There are six starters, all playing on your imagination, a carrot cake, ice cream and a toastie. The six main courses included a sponge, sea asters, seared seaweed and hay-baked artichokes. A slate of butter arrived, smoked, salted, whipped and creamed with a hint of lemon, along with basket of bread with warm poppy seed and sourdough and fennel and raisin.I love a toastie but as I expected my Yorkshire Blue Cheese toastie with crisp wheat, puffed rye and crushed wheat had been nowhere near a Breville, thankfully. This generous log of baked cheese came with sweet black grapes which were soaked in Sauternes wine, croquantes of puffed wheat, with a wheat cracker and a delicate cucumber gelee.For my main course it was the cornmeal, beetroot and horseradish with aged garlic oil, artichokes in hay, caramelised chicory and hazelnut milk.The garlic oil was dehydrated and was pungent but not overpowering, in fact it melted in my mouth like a savoury popping candy.The cornmeal (fine, Italian) was so light it was pudding like, cubed and dotted with an earthy beetroot lid and grated horseradish. The hay-baked artichokes were simply delicious with deep nutty and toffee notes and the chicory added a sweet and bitter bite. The hazelnut milk dominated the plate but was merely a gravy to bring the plate together. I inhaled it and wanted another. Not because I was hungry, I was greedy for that delicious artichoke and could have eaten a bowls. No dessert for me as I was stuffed to the gills. That said, Andrew wouldnt take no for an answer. Up came a plate of caramelised milk, black sesame ice cream, and yogurt crisps with a blueberry and sheeps yogurt. Andrew came up too and we chatted, about music, food, sourcing the produce and his cookbook.Vanilla Black has to be one of the best vegetarian restaurants Ive been too. Ever. The service is brilliant, the staff know the menu back-to-front and it shows. Im dragging the meat-eaters back, kicking and screaming. Michelin Guide-recommended but Im not sure whats keeping the inspectors from coughing up a one star.Vanilla Black, 17- 18 Tooks Court, London, EC4A 1LB
Amazing experience! 5/5 for flavours and presentation. This is a must try even for carnivores :)Prices are quite high but it’s worth the whole experience.
Disappointing. The bread saved the night; food was pretentious but very average not many options. Service was slow, but friendly. Considerably expensive for what we have got – 45 per person.We wouldn’t go back again unfortunately.
Vanilla Black.. Considered as one of the best Vegetarian restaurants in London. Beautiful design, quite too dark in some areas of the restaurant. First thing I realise when reading the menu is how creative the dishes are.. This is how a vegetarian restaurant should be.. Creative and Original. Showing that vegetarian doesnt mean that you cant have high quality and realisation of dishes. We can find elements from Seared Seaweed to Cauliflower Mille Feuille.. I have to say that I usually dont eat vegetarian, I am a meat and fish lover.I went just because I was curious about it. The more you try, the more you expand your knowledge. We had the Whipped Jacket Potato and Crispy Onions (8/10), and the Brie Ice Cream(5/10) and Poached Blackberries as starters. Both of them very interesting. The Brie Ice Cream unfortunately too cold, pretty hard to enjoy it without having your genitives hurting. The Jacket Potato instead with superb!As main course we had Salted and Ash Baked Celeriac and Foraged Sea Asters (6/10) and Goat Cheese and Toasted Cauliflower Mille Feuille (8/10).The Mille Feuille was seriously impressive. Nicely balanced and simple. Pure taste. The dessert instead wasnt unfortunately too interesting. Maybe weve just got the wrong one ;)To summarise, a restaurant good for an experience and for discovering vegetarian cuisine. 4/4
What a terrible surprise,. After reading all the great reviews, my son took me out for a special night at vanilla black on our London vacation. The staff was rather rude and certainly lacked skills. Our waitperson thought Chardonnay was a red wine! The food was terrible, from the starters to the overly sweet dessert. Basically we paid a high price for a bowl of mashed potatoes and a small souffl. The worst was the indigestion that lingered hours later. Avoid this place and try the wonderful vegetarian food in chalk town
Tasty and inventive. As an omnivore I did enjoy my experience at this vegetarian restaurant.
Blow me away, afraid not.. I was looking forward to this restaurant, it has a certain intruige to it, off set from the main streets and a cool name. But unfortunately the food wasn’t mind blowing. The service was great and the wine was crisp and excellent. My friends really enjoyed their food, and I must say the celery shot was delicious and attractive to look at as was the general food presentation, but taste it ultimately lacked.