Saf

Gourmet vegan dining finally came after a two-hour wait for the main course since 6.30pm on a Mon eve in a near–empty restaurant. Good job they serve raw food: if it had needed cooking, we’d have still been there for breakfast!

Over-priced, small portions & poor service – the staff tried to push the £50 per head 7-course Chef's tasting menu, refusing to let us have the regular web-advertised 2-course set meal at around £20 each; the kitchen randomly changed menu ingredients without informing diners their food would be altered & allowing them to check if they could eat the different dish (my mother couldn't, so had to leave her meal); feeble excuses for delays whilst all those around us had been served & left; & a disappearing manager who (eventually & reluctantly) gave a meagre £15 discount – ie £3 per head & less than our round of drinks – for a ruined birthday night out

We've been visiting vegan & vegetarian restaurants in London & Brighton for over twenty years & this was a huge disappointment after all the hype.

The food was tasty – eg sharing cashew cheese platter; mushroom dumplings in dipping sauce; Buddha Bowl; jalapenos stuffed with cashew cheese – but small portions for the price (eg £7 starter / £13.50 for the sharing starter; £14.50 mains; £5 per small soft drink) & limited choice compared with other similar eateries (only about six starters & six mains on the menu). By the time we'd eaten our main courses, it was too late to even attempt dessert.

Far bigger choice, better value, superior food – including organic & raw – & service in many other restaurants in London – eg try 222 Veggie Vegan Restaurant in Fulham for gourmet vegan dining instead until this place gets its act together.

Saf – you were naff & we won’t be back!

Ignore what preconceptions you have of ‘vegan’ restaurant and you will love it as much as I did. This is simply a restaurant that has a lovely laid back atmosphere whilst still feeling you are definitely on a night out. Music is there without being over-bearing. The staff were borderline messianic in wanting to tell you about the choices on the menu. What a refreshing change from waiters who look blank when you ask what animal the sirloin steak came from.

I wasn't drinking alcohol that night, but I could not help noticing an impressive cocktail and wine list. Instead I stuck with some of the tastiest mocktails I've ever had. The food itself was amazing. It was my first foray into the raw food world and was introduced to fabulous techniques, textures, and combination of flavours. The highlights was my pad thai coated with a stunning almond dressing. It was all I could do to stop myself from licking the bowl. Usually I skip desserts because I thankfully don't have a sweet tooth, but this time I made an exception just to see what they can do. I had a cashew cheesecake that managed to be light and rich at the same time. My dinner partner had the chocolate torte that was so indulgent that it should be illegal.

As a committed carnivore, I cannot wait to try Saf again.

Mixed feelings.
The food was actually good very inventive and beautifully presented.
But on a saturday lunch we (party of 3) were (most of the time) the only guests. However the service did not manage to be very helpful and/or friendly. My partner orderd a yellow thai curry with rice noodles.
Along with the curry came a plate with some white rice but the noodles were nowhere to be found. So we asked.
The waitress then explaind that they had just changed it into a red curry with rice instead…
Nice food-really a shame for the service!

we got an emai from saf that they will organise a wine and dinner evening, it was so much fun. 21 of us was sitting in two large table, chef and mixologist explained every single food and drinks(for me it was 14 different course) . it took 5 hourse and 15 minuit to finish 14 course. but we naver new it was so long, chef anupom was very profetional, but more then that he had amezing amount of knowldge and great sence of humer. we paid £70 per person but it was the chepest and finest 14 course meal i can dream. it was unbeliveble what could be done with vegan food. for both of us (me and my partner) this is the best restaurant in london. will wait for the next one

Sublime! From the moment you walk in the door you know you're in for a treat. The staggering thing is that every time you go your expectations are exceeded. recently they have changed their menu which is fantastic for a regular like me and my partner, the food was wonderfull, even after finishing 4 course we never felt we had enough, they got a brand new organic wine celler which is choosen by their master mixologiest, also got a beutiful garden in the back which is perfectly decorated

i never thought that raw food can be so tasty, my wife had crisps dips i took raw papaya salad, they were just out of this world for main i got raw spaghetti meat balls and she had thai curry, best meal in our 18 years marrige, the bar was serving freshly made cocktails served by very well trained american server alex the experience was great

Saf is one of the very few places I've walked out of feeling a very undecided diner. The concept I get – raw food served to maintain maximum nutrition in an environment where there isn't a single hairy armpit or flower power sign in sight and with Paul McCartney's latest manifesto – everybody should be a veggie once a week – this place should be booming now more than ever. You really do want to like a restaurant as gutsy as Saf to try and make vegan food cool and hip and what better location to do this in, then Shoreditch. BUT and here is the big but…in order to make this kind of statement, the food has to deliver on taste, value and innovation and unfortunately here is where I was let down.

Indeed first impressions make this effort seem quite promising. We opted for a drink at the bar whilst our table was being dressed, a good decision as the cocktail menu seemed quite enticing (the Kiss me Kate was a thirstquenching and unusually concocted delight). At the table and upon sight of the food menu, the dishes were not quite so eyecatching. Not being a spontaneous diner of any sort I had already mentally pre-ordered my dishes before hand (having had a look at the website) and chose the chive caviar for starters followed by the root vegetable tart. Both dishes were laden with a rich creamy yet bland mixture I couldn't quite make out – a mix between sour cream in the first dish and a cashew cream in the tart (nutritious though they claim to be, I can't help but wonder what the fat content of those must be!), together with the stodgy and starchy sweet potato in the starter and ample dry buckweat in the main, the dishes were ironically too rich and I got through about four forkfull's of the onion, cream and buckwheat mush before I gave up. Even with our attentative waitress' great efforts to personally describe each dish (without taking a breath to stop), as soon as she'd gone you were left instantly baffled by the ingedients on your plate.

Meat eaters shouldn't be let down with such stodgy meals and there is relatively little salad in sight so at least that perception is not realised. Saf doesn't scrimp on the portions either, fellow diners also had ample on their plate, but again that creamy mix in some of the other dishes made it impossible for them to finish off their plate too. As you can guess there was no space for dessert (at least not for me) and to stop me keeling over I opted for some mint tea, which with the cocktail I had to begin with were the only two highlights of the evening.

Interesting concept but lacking in substance. Though set in Shoreditch it doesn't really matter as people will still keep coming back for the cool factor. However if you're more in to food and care for stomach and tastebuds than ‘being seen’, you won't go back.

For London Saf is an entirely new concept. The mostly raw, vegan food is served not to ageing hippies in a homely vegetraian cafe but to the hoxton set in a spacious, airy room attired with gorgeous photography and a mix of natural and man made textures. Now, most of you have probably stopped reading, what with the raw and vegan, but if you've got imagination or an open mind you might be more curious. The food is healthy, deliberately and carefully healthy and the point seems to be about opening flavour and drawing nutrition from the ingredients, without heat. The cocktails use mostly organic juices and mixers and the wine is also organic and vegan. It probably isn't for everyone but even my meat and dairy addicted companion found the flavours, presentation and concept compelling and would come back with me. Having spent a lot of time in California, I found it to be bang on trend for the health conscious global food movement as well as sophisticated and well priced. Highly recommended.