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Maya Leinenbach, known for running the Fitgreenmind YouTube channel, recently shared a video documenting her 48-hour vegan food tour of London. The video is a review of what she believes are some of the best plant-based restaurants in the city, guided by recommendations from her followers on Instagram.
The London vegan food guide spans four restaurants, each showcasing incredible flavors, creativity, and fully plant-based menus or lots of vegan options. From Thai and Mexican to Syrian and Caribbean dishes, Leinenbach shows the wide variety of tasty vegan food options available in London.
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Mali Vegan Thai
Mali was the first stop on Leinenbach’s tour. The all-vegan Thai restaurant offers a large menu filled with curries, stir-fries, and street food-inspired small plates. She struggled to decide what to order but settled on Massaman curry, vegan fish filet, satay skewers with peanut sauce, summer rolls, and a betel leaf appetizer with coconut and peanuts.
“There’s literally nothing I would change about this,” she says after trying the curry. “The Spices are on point. It’s creamy, it’s not too spicy.”
Leinenbach rated Mali five out of five, noting the restaurant’s mix of familiar Thai dishes and new, unexpected flavors. “The menu has dishes you know from Thailand, like pad Thai and khao soi, but also new dishes like those betel leaves,” she says.
Club Mexicana
Next on the tour was Club Mexicana, which she visited on “Taco Tuesday.” Located in a neon-lit space with a club-like atmosphere, the fully vegan restaurant specializes in tacos that she says are so convincing that “no one would notice” they’re plant-based.
She tried the birria taco with spicy consommé, al pastor with pineapple and cilantro, a buffalo mushroom taco, and a fish taco. “The tacos were slaying,” she says, adding that she loved how each one had a completely different flavor profile.
Leinenbach wrapped up her meal with a plate of churros dipped in chocolate. As a self-declared member of the Churro Inspection Agency, she also gave Club Mexicana a confident five out of five.
Imad’s Syrian Kitchen
For breakfast the next day, Leinenbach visited Imad’s Syrian Kitchen. The restaurant isn’t fully plant-based, but she ordered every vegan item on the menu. The meal included date molasses with tahini, ful (cooked chickpeas), black chickpeas with lemon and olive oil, baba ghanoush, and hummus – all served with warm, fluffy pita bread.
She was especially impressed with the date molasses. “I didn’t expect it to be that good,” she says.
The dishes tasted fresh and homemade, and Leinenbach once again awarded the restaurant five out of five. “Really fresh, really homemade. Nothing I would change.”
Jam Delish
The final stop on her London vegan food guide was Jam Delish, a fully vegan Caribbean restaurant. Leinenbach said this was the restaurant she was most excited to try, as she had never been to a Carribean restaurant before.
She ordered Caribbean curry with vegan fish, jerk chicken with rice, seasonal greens, potato mash with Jamaican gravy, and was later surprised with an off-menu item: jerk fish served on a spinach pancake. “The vegan fish on top was absolutely mind-blowing,” she says.
The jerk sauce especially stood out. “It was like a barbecue sauce on steroids,” she says. For dessert, she tried banana cake and coconut panna cotta. “It was a vegan dream coming true.”
While she found the drink a little too sweet, she still gave the restaurant a 4.8 out of 5. “The food was absolutely amazing,” she says. “You absolutely have to go there.”
You can find more of Leinenbach‘s videos on the Fitgreenmind YouTube Channel.
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