Vanilla Black

This is the most serious, "correct', imaginative vegetarian food I think I've ever eaten. And I've been here twice for lunch recently. I can only agree with the Squaremeal review (for once). Portions are laughably tiny, though, and the price is high considering the raw material cost. BUT the textures are good and the flavours just what one needs to dispel the conventional wisdom that veggie is boring and “grey”. This is anything but – so management, increase the portions a little and in return I'll visit often.

We had a team dinner here last night and everyone was so impressed with the food, service and ambience in the restaurant. Every single dish was amazing (all plates were cleared for every course) and everyone commented on how delicious and creative the food was and I may add, there were some diehard carnivores in the party who were completely converted! The service was attentive without being intrusive, nothing was too much to ask and everything was done with a smile – compared to the dismal service that seems to be the norm in London restaurants, this made a wonderful change and all of us said that we would come back again. The ONLY thing I could fault the restaurant on was the fact the lighting was a bit dim in places, but a tiny and very trivial gripe which definitely did not spoil the evening.

Hidden away on a tiny cobbled street behind Holborn's bustle, Vanilla Black is a cultish vegetarian oasis more in the mould of laid back Michelin starred food emporia Arbutus than the often holier than thou High Veg of somewhere like Saf. There are no opinions shoved at you, and no ethos that you have to subscribe to, they just want to serve you good ingredients, cooked well, in a calm friendly atmosphere. That those ingredients happen to all be vegetables, seems a coincidence.

This approach is unlike San Francisco's Ubuntu or New York's Dirt Candy, two other great, high end, vegetarian experiences this committed carnivore places in his top dining experiences of recent years. Both of them celebrate individual, specific veg in their dishes, with Ubuntu (where all of the food is grown within 20k of the kitchen) offering Cauliflower cooked four ways and a wonderful Carrot Gnocci and Dirt Candy (an all together grittier, East Village experience) presenting Corn, Mushroom and Pumpkin as the stars of their own dishes. I digress.

One chatty server took pity on me while waiting for the Vole (once again…) The friendly staff are a contrast to their severe black uniforms but fit nicely in with the clean grey-green and white walls. When she finally arrived, we settled down in the quieter front section of the restaurant – the fact that someone called Dharma was enjoying their birthday revels in the rear section was the only hint of hippie that we saw all night – the rest of the clientele were smart, though not overly dressy and given it's location, there were more than a few suits floating through the celebratory groups.

An amuse of ‘fresh tomato with celery salt’ was as nice a shot of Virgin Mary as I've had and a good palate cleanser. If I admit to not being overly impressed with a starter of Sweet & Sour Glazed Beetroot with Wasabi Cream it was only due to a severe food envy. This was suffered from my (single, solitary!) taste of The Vole's Puy Lentil Dhal braised in red wine and served with a potato puree, curry oil and a crunchy moorish spice mix – one of the best variants on a, quite frankly often plain, dish I've tasted.

A perfectly subtle and lovely Ozzie gewurztraminer (from a little boutique producer in Clare Valley called Skillogalee if you're interested…) perfectly chimed with our mains. It was now The Vole's turn to suffer food envy. Her Asparagus and Chervil Pesto Crumpet with a leek tagliatelle was perfectly executed but my Ribblesdale cheese pudding was one of the tastiest dishes I've eaten this year. It arrived with a side of tart pineapple puree that seemed initially incongruous, but set off the creamy soft set cheese pudding perfectly. A dish of two halves, it came paired with a poached ducks egg sitting resplendent on a stout and expertly prepared smoked potato cake. The two worked together well. Too well for me to let the Vole have more than a morsel.

If the deconstructed carrot cake I had to finish had a flaw, it was only in it's size. The elements all came together as expected, though the carrot ‘halwa’ was more of a puree.

We were pretty much the last to leave at 10 and while the restaurant had been full during it's 8pm sitting, I definitely thought they could, and should, have been busier. Every now and then remember that it's not all about the steak or the burger and give Vanilla Black a go. You won't miss the meat (for a night anyway).

To say Vanilla Black is ’good for a vegetarian restaurant’ is to do it an injustice. It's a really great restaurant in its own right, and one of my favourites in London. It just so happens that it’s also vegetarian.

The food's delicious, creative and elegant without being pretentious and fussy, the atmosphere is sophisticated but relaxed, and the staff excellent. Really good value – would highly recommend.

Fabulous Fare

Excellent Service

Quickly finding a reason to return.

One of the nicest main courses I have eaten for some time, and a lovely desert.

A hidden gem.

I visited the restaurant just last week and was amazed at how lovely the food is. I'm a meat-eater and always thought vegetarian meals were about lentils and beans but my friend encouraged me to give it a try and I was intrigued by the menu as it looked so unusual. The food was absolutely delicious! I particularly loved the Sweetcorn Creme Brulee and the Poached Duck Egg and Ribblesdale pudding. The restaurant itself looks very stylish and the staff are all so friendly. I really didn't miss the meat at all. It is one of the most creative menus I've tried. I would urge anyone, vegetarian or not, to give it a try.

I totally disagree with the last reviewer. I am a vegetarian but not one who likes bland ‘wholemeal’ style food. I like strong and interesting flavoures. Vanilla Black absolutely delivered. I agree portion sizes aren't enormous, but one course is a light lunch or delight your taste buds with a three course meal! I met a friend for lunch here who is not a vegetarian and he was also impressed by the food.

It was just a shame to see it rather empty.

My visit to Vanilla Black was actually during the cold clutches of November 2008 not long after it had opened but for some reason I never got round to writing up the review. Upon arrival though I do clearly remember friendly and almost homely service from two rather nice ladies which ensured a smile and thankfully it was also warm so I was no longer shivering. Unfortunately the food did little to fill up my winter hunger and this is not because I wondered in as a curious meateater but that there was genuinely nothing that filled me with even mild excitement as I browsed through the starters options. So as I watched the rest of the party curiously munch on their starters I keenly awaited the main of beetroot and red onion tatin served with fennel/orange curd and chive pancakes – the only mildly interesting dish that wasn' t a curry or a deconstructed dish of sorts. This did actually please the tastebuds to some extent but as I was hungry and it was rather moreish, it did go down rather too quickly. To top it off the dull greyish interior and library-like silence (it wasn't overly busy) did nothing to lift spirits either, so to say it was a bit of a culinary let down would be an understatement.

The point is that vegetarian food when done correctly can be great, innovative and downright tasty despite what passionate carnivores (and Gordon Ramsey) will tell you. But when its dressed with the pretence of haute cuisine status, it loses its attraction and almost always, its taste. Importance should be placed on source of ingredients, as well as combinations and textures that really work rather than dishes that desperately scream of Heston Blumenthal but on a bad day. I do plan to go back though when the menu changes, (interesting to see that certain dishes are still unchanged even though two seasons have passed since my visit) for genuine curiousity but I just hope I don't end up feeling like a glutton for food punishment when I do.