Saf Restaurant and Wholefoods Market, Kensington High Street

visited on the 13th February, for a recharge

Being in London is always quite an intense experience, and fills me with excitement about all the veggie possibilities available to experience. When I found out I was going on a work trip, I frantically and excitedly started googling vegan restaurants. As with most capital cities, there are a lot of non-meat places to eat, so it was important that I made the right choice and planned my whole day around lunch. Yes, I am obsessed with food; especially things that I don't have to cook myself, or things that I can learn to cook myself,

After copious searching, I found the perfect venue. The office I was visiting had a veggie restaurant and organic supermarket within a mile of each other. After carrying out work duties, it seemed perfectly reaosnable to visit both. However, fate dealt me a bum card and my work hours extended.

I had to choose between awesome lunch and stocking up for home. The sensible option was to visit the Wholefoods Market near Kensington tube station, and stock up with portable food instead of relaxing over a gourmet. It was disappointing, but that soon wore off once we entered the Wholefoods Market.

A small haul from the WholeFoods Market

This shop is worth visiting London for alone, and with Megabus costing £10 return on Wednesdays I have been tempted to do so for my weekly shop. Imagine your wildest vegan consumer dream- food, toiletries, vitamins, takeaway, fresh vegetables and more. They do sell meat and dairy products, but there's such a wide range of veggie-friendly products that you'll hardly notice. The first time I went there, I filled my basket only with things I've never tried before- vegan pesto, fishless green curry paste, mad tofu incarnations, cardamom chocolate... on this trip there was still more to discover. Wholefoods is an American initiatve with a couple of massive London outlets.

The Kensington shop is three floors of pure wonder and you'll probably want to set aside considerable time to look around. Due to a work crisis, my phone was severely suffering and my unfortunate priority became finding a plug socket. We found ourselves on the top floor food court which I hadn't known about. It was then that my friends pointed out the raw vegan counter which we hovered around with intent.

The raw vegan cafe was Saf (simple authentic food). They were very accommodating to our electricity needs and sat us on a table with a connection. With that problem solved, the menu was a pleasant surprise with it's 100% organic vegan selection and it was an exciting to read such a diverse and original menu.

Saf is a Turkish brand, promoting a healthy, plant-based diet with only the best ingredients. Continuing my trend of ordering things I've never tried before, I opted for the seaweed salad; kelp, beetroot, radish and carrot. My travel-buddies opted for a veggie wrap, marinaded tofu rolls and dolmades (stuffed vine leaves). It was all washed down with a fresh Elderflower cordial to die for.


Now, I could write for paragraphs abut how wonderful this food was but I think the pictures speak for themselves. You honestly can't go wrong here. Whilst it was perhaps a little pricey for a visitor, it was pretty reasonable in London terms. Everything is cooked and prepared fresh by a specialist cook in an open kitchen.

We finished with the extravagant pancakes which were rich and chocolatey. Our waiter answered all of our questions about the ingredients without having to check with anyone. There was a choice of (all vegan) fillings, and again they were made to order. Our waiter told us that the chocolate sauce was made from nuts which really gave it that sumptuous, creamy texture.

Saf appeared in the right place at the right time for us. The food was original and fresh, the service was outstanding, and I would definitely go again next time to try the cheese. Let's hope that places like this go on to grow and expand outside of London, challenging the perception of veganism and encouraging more places to think outside the box.