The International Guide to Great Vegetarian Restaurants
As a long time vegetarian visiting, new cities and countries and trying to find a good vegetarian restaurant is on the one hand really exciting but on the other hand often a very trying and oh so disappointing experience. These experiences range from restaurants with bland uninspired dishes, to restaurants where they ‘accidentally’ have meat in a dish, to that great discovery that you wish you would have had time to visit again. However, these great discoveries are in the minority, and a lot of the time vegetarian websites do not really help in finding these gems, because most of them provide you with either all or a seemingly random selection of the vegetarian restaurants in town, and in the limited time you usually have you just have to figure out which one could be the best.
The idea of a list with only good vegetarian restaurants therefore seems so obvious but unfortunately hard to find. And a list with the world’s best vegetarian restaurants seems non-existent. In order to solve this gap, I have started my own list of worldwide vegetarian restaurants that I think that are so good, that when you visit any of these cities and only have one day, you should try one of these restaurants. I realize this is subjective but with every choice I have made an effort to describe why the restaurant is so special. All
restaurants in the list are 100% vegetarian / vegan and no vegetarian-friendly restaurants are included in the list, simply because these restaurants still serve meat and or fish.
For now the list mainly has restaurants in the US and Europe, but comments on other great restaurants in other part of the world are welcome and will be added once tried and approved:
1. San Francisco, CA - Millennium
2. Edinburgh, Scotland - David Bann
3. New York - Candle Cafe
4. London, UK - The Gate
5. Amsterdam, The Netherlands - De Waaghals
6. Fort Lauderdale, FL - Sublime
7. New York, NY - Vegetarian Dim Sum House
8. Washington D.C. - The Vegetable Garden (Rockville, MD)
9. Portland, OR - Veganopolis
9. Lisbon, Portugal - Jardim doSentidos
Follow the links for reviews of these restaurants.
While thinking of my best experiences, I also had to think of those cities I visited or lived where not one vegetarian restaurant was noteworthy. To prevent you from getting your hopes up while visiting these cities, here are the cities where my culinary senses were not enticed.
- Boston, MA
- Geneva, Switzerland
- Paris, France
- Philadelphia, PA
- Rome, Italy (although there are plenty of non-vegetarian restaurants with excellent vegetarian pizza and pasta dishes)
In the next few months I hope to visit two recently opened restaurants in London that sound promising. The first is Saf, where most dishes are cooked below 48°C to preserve optimum nutrition and flavor and the other restaurant is Vanilla Black, which supposedly offers upscale vegetarian dining.
San Francisco, CA - Millennium
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September 2008 update: My recent visit to Millennium was rather disappointing. The two times I have been before I always had one of their special menus, but this time I ordered a la carte and was kind of disappointed with the entrees. The flavors were still special, but unfortunately the presentation was not as sophisticated as I remembered. For example one of the entrees came on top of a pile of lettuce, which is something I would have expected in an average vegetarian restaurant but not here. So although Millennium is still on top of my list, this experience did make me wonder if Millennium has lowered its standards, if the special menus are just far superior or if it was just a one-off. I hope the latter and unfortunately will have to wait a while to verify this.
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On top of my list is Millennium in San Francisco. Where do you find an upscale vegetarian restaurant offering creative and tasty vegetarian food in a sophisticated setting? This is so rare that you are willing to forget that it’s one of the more expensive vegetarian restaurants in this list.
The menu is influenced by the flavors and styles of many cultures, which makes for nice dishes such as Stuffed Truffled Roulade or Maple Glazed Smoked Tempeh. Unlike a lot of vegetarian restaurants that do seem to exclude ingredients such as tofu, seitan and tempeh from their menu, Millennium integrates these ingredients nicely into their dishes resulting in inspiring and well-balanced flavors.
Just make sure that you make a reservation when you’re in the area. The last time I went it was fully booked and you don’t want to be disappointed. However, should you be by yourself without reservation, they may have a space at the bar where the same menu is offered.
Edinburgh, Scotland - David Bann
To visit a city without expectations and walk into a great vegetarian restaurant is something that should happen more often. In Edinburgh this happened when we walked into David Bann and, although full that night, we managed to get a reservation for the next evening.
David Bann offers delicious and unpretentious food in a sophisticated and a sleek setting. From appetizers that include ravioli of roasted squash with homemade curd and purple sprouting broccoli with poached egg and watercress soup to mains that include chilli and smoked cheese tortilla tartlet with chocolate sauce and pistachio, roasted carrot and chick pea cake with coconut cauliflower, and desserts such as fresh strawberry pannacotta with chocolate whisky liqueur.
Edinburgh seems an out of the way city when you travel around Europe, but the vegetarian food at David Bann is so surprisingly good that you would almost make a detour for it.
New York, NY - Candle Cafe
New York is a great place for vegetarians offering a wide variety of vegetarian food from Venezuelan food at the Caracas Arepa Bar to, of course, Mexican (try the great vegetarian burritos at Burritoville), to great southern Indian food at Dimple (located at 11 W 30th St). But for some of the more creative vegetarian food in New York you have to go to Candle Cafe.
Candle Cafe is a stylish, but unpretentious, restaurant that serves uncomplicated vegetarian food. The appetizers include salads and soups and such dishes as the crystal Roll, which is a combination of cucumber, cabbage, avocado, rice noodles, cilantro, and barbecue grilled seitan wrapped in rice paper with a spicy peanut sauce. And the farmer’s market provides entrees such as the Paradise Casserole, which consists of layers of sweet potato, black beans and millet over steamed greens with country gravy and burger & sandwiches, including a Cajun Seitan Sandwich; pan-seared seitan, steamed greens, caramelized onions and avocado, served on toasted focaccia.
There is also a second location called Candle 79, which supposedly is the upscale version of Candle Cafe. Unfortunately, I have not visited this restaurant yet, but will definitely do so next time I am in NYC.
Tip: On a different note, should you happen to live in New York the VegOut New York City restaurant guide is a must-have. It is one of the best and most complete vegetarian guides I have ever owned. The reviews of restaurants are on the spot, there is a handy map that shows all the restaurants, and there is an alphabetical index, cuisine index, and an index by neighorhood. It is also in a practical format, so you can easily carry it around.
London, UK - The Gate
English home cooked food and traditional English pub food leaves a lot for vegetarians to wish for, but at the same time the UK has a strong vegetarian and organic tradition and in London this shows in the number of vegetarian (friendly) restaurants and great farmer’s markets around town.
My favorite restaurant in London, after having tried a long list of vegetarian (friendly) restaurants, is the Gate. It draws on a wide range of ethnic cuisines with clear Middle Eastern influences, and generally the courses are light and not as filling as the carb based dishes you usually see in the English kitchen. On a recent visit we enjoyed the 5-course Wild Food Festival menu which, as the name says, focused on the use of wild foods in every course. The courses included a woodland salad of morels, roasted hazelnuts, watercress, wild rocket and a sorrel mousse, delicious soft wild garlic gnocchi pan-fried with St. George’s mushrooms and Jack-by-the-hedge in a light white wine cream sauce and a very smooth elderflower cheesecake, with a chocolate top layer and wild strawberry sauce.
The location may be a bit out of the way, but you should definitely give it a try. Unless you are looking for a carb-loaded dish, you will not be disappointed.
Tip: The Borough Market deserves special mentioning here. It is one of London’s oldest food markets, situated on the South Bank close to London Bridge, and its merchants sell great local cheeses, vegetarian ready-made foods, wholesale fruit and vegetables, great (vegan) cakes and desserts, etc. Just make sure you arrive early in the morning, because it does get busy.
Amsterdam, The Netherlands - De Waaghals
Having lived in Amsterdam for years, I started thinking about my culinary experiences there and I must say it was hard to think of really good vegetarian restaurants. Somehow restaurants that came to mind largely focused on salads, soups, ‘veggie’ dishes or quiches, and these can be very nice, but in order to make it to this list a restaurant has to offer something more.
What makes the Waaghals special is the fact that they combine a lot of small dishes into a one-plate offering, and who doesn’t like to have several different things to try? They generally have four dishes including the Waaghals Classic, which usually is the most comprehensive plate combining traditional Dutch and European dishes, and a Dish of the Month, which as the name says changes monthly and each month focuses on a different country. An example of such a Dish of the Month was a Moroccan plate including such dishes as couscous with almonds, French beans, saffron and stewed vegetables, and poached egg on Moroccan farm bread.
With a regularly changing and a rather inexpensive menu it is a nice place to visit regularly. And even when you are in Amsterdam on a short visit, it is nice to share two of these plates with a friend guaranteeing you a wide range of creative Dutch inspired and International creative dishes.
Fort Lauderdale, FL - Sublime
Sublime is a rare find in Southern Florida, where like California the weather is sunny year round; but unlike California, a healthy lifestyle is hard to maintain.
Sublime offers the South Floridian vegetarian a variety of flavors, from Italian, Thai, and Mexican inspired dishes to Sushi and American dishes like Mac ‘n’ “Cheese.” Perhaps not all dishes are as creative as some of the other restaurants in this list, but the flavors are excellent, and the ambiance is nice with its cascading window waterfall and exotic trees.
Expect large platters so sharing dishes is a good idea, so you can leave some room for one of their copious deserts.
New York, NY - Vegetarian Dim Sum House
Sometimes you just want a good inexpensive meal that is served quickly and ambiance is of no importance. On those occasions the Vegetarian Dim Sum House in Chinatown is a great choice.
The service here is impersonal, the interior is nothing special, but the dim sum is the best I have ever had. I think I almost tried everything on their dim sum menu, from the sweet and salty dumplings and spinach dumplings to vegetarian mock roast pork buns to, my personal favorite, rice flour rolls filled with white fungus and golden mushroom Every dim sum order has around three or four dumplings so you can afford to order several and share with friends.
I would advise to stay away from the entrees and the fried dishes , they just are not as good as the dim sum and don’t worry even without these, there is still plenty to choose from.
Tip: While living in New York, I found this great website called MenuPages.com. It has an extensive list of menu’s from various restaurants around the city and it is a great resource if you want to try a new restaurant but before you go want to make sure they serve something you may like, especially for those restaurants that do not have their own website.
Washington D.C. - The Vegetable Garden (Rockville, MD)
The Vegetable Garden is a hole-in-the-wall place in Rockville, MD, one of the suburbs of Washington, DC. Its menu offers a strange mix of both macrobiotic cuisine, sandwich & burgers, Italian pastas, and Chinese mock cuisine. This last one has always been the reason for me to visit this restaurant.
The mock meat dishes, such as lemon chicken and beef with pecan, have a delicate flavor and are served in relatively large portions. Unlike some other Chinese mock meat restaurants, their dishes have been not overly deep-fried. And combined with the hot and sour soup and some brown rice this makes for a nice, down-to-earth, satisfying meal.
The Vegetable Garden is a place where you go for a hearty meal. You do not come here for the ambiance, but if you would like to try a good try good Chinese mock meat cuisine this restaurant is definitely worth the trip into the suburbs of Washington, DC.
Portland, OR has a reputation as one of the most vegetarian friendly cities in the world. Unfortunately I only spent a few days there, but did manage to find Veganopolis, a great place to go to for breakfast or lunch.
For lunch they offer soups, salads, a lunch buffet and grilled sandwiches, but they also have great vegan desserts, including floats, sundaes and shakes. I only managed to visit them once, but the soup and sandwiches were unbeatable. The sandwich menu includes various vegan burgers, smoked barbecue tofu sandwich, a Mediterranean sandwich and lots more. And salads offered include a Bolshevik beet salad and a blue pear salad, which includes vegan blue cheese, which I unfortunately have never tried.
Veganopolis is a nice casual place to go for lunch or breakfast. And I wish more cities had a place like this.
Lisbon, Portugal - Jardim doSentidos
Portugal used to be on my list of vegetarian unfriendly countries, as its kitchen is mostly known for its meat and fish dishes, but after my latest visit to Lisbon I have had to change my opinion. Lisbon has really improved over the past few years and has become a much more vegetarian friendly city with not only more vegetarian (friendly) restaurants but also a local chain of health food stores, Celeiro Dieta, that offers a wide range of (unique) products for vegetarians and vegans and the larger stores of this chain also have their own vegetarian lunch buffet.
Jardim doSentidos stood out during my visit. On arrival we were presented with a couvert of olives, bread and three different spreads, which were very delicate and full off flavor and were almost an appetizer in itself. Starters include the usual daily soup, but also such dishes as the mini vegetables crepes and soy kebabs.
Main dishes are presented with rice and depending on the dish a side salad and include such dishes as Tofu a Braz, using a traditional Portuguese way of cooking, Vegetarian Strogonoff, which was a nice combination of coconut milk, vegetables, seitan and dried fruits and nuts, and Tofu Triangles.
The flavors of the dishes were simple but tasty, all presented in a nice Portuguese atmosphere, and supposedly when the weather is nice you can enjoy your dinner outside in a beautiful garden.