1 November 2014 | Food | By: Sejal Sukhadwala

In this series, we review restaurants from an entirely vegetarian angle. While some restaurants will be specifically vegetarian, others will be mainstream. Well be tasting everything from veggie burgers, to posh meat-free menus. Along the way, well try to find out, as far as possible, whether chicken stock, cheese made from animal rennet, gelatine, fish sauce and so on are not lurking in the supposedly vegetarian dishes.

Aloo Scotch Egg

How long should one wait before visiting a new restaurant? This is a dilemma faced by all reviewers at some stage. Wed been eagerly awaiting the arrival of Ethosfor months after all, a new vegetarian venue opens in London only once every few years. According to reports, the entrepreneurial owner Jessica Kruger wanted a place that was deliciously different after being disappointed by vegetarian offerings on the high street: an attitude that matches our own experience. We were so excited we could barely wait. Then, after giving the self-service venue over a week to find its feet, we turned up one late afternoon only for several of the staff to rush over to the entrance and say: You cant come in! Weve run out of food! Eh?!

The staff then went on to say that the restaurant only serves lunch until 3pm and dinner after 6pm, so wed missed the boat. Its website clearly states that it serves food from breakfast through to lunch, dinner and everything in between. (Subsequently two other food writers told us that Ethoss food supplies were dwindling when they visited outside peak hours, with only watery salads at the bottom of the bowl and leftover-looking dishes left). Our second visit, nearly a month later, didnt start well either. We waited a long time by the entrance to be seated, eventually flagging down a staff member and asking if it would be okay to just go in and grab a seat. This time wed arrived at the tail end of the lunchtime peak, and the place was buzzy.

Located in a side street between Oxford Street and Tottenham Court Road tube stations, Ethos launched at the end of September. Its certainly a beautiful looking space: bright, light and sparklingly contemporary. Theres a striking mini-forest of silver birch trees in the centre, sleek black and white marble-topped tables, shiny marble floors, large picture windows, and those pretty glass pendant lights that you see everywhere these days. Attractive bowls of food are placed on service pods to one side, with several dishes marked as vegan and gluten-free; and theres a dining area to the other, with charcoal and blue leather banquettes around circular dining tables, plus smaller tables at the back separated by retro glass screens.

While helping ourselves to the food, a waiter suddenly materialised and asked if we understood the concept the concept being that you, er, help yourself to the food. Then you take your plate to the payment counter at the back to have it weighed. Dishes cost 2.50/100g at lunch and 2.70/100g at dinner (takeaway prices vary). Theres nothing original about this idea: even before Tibitspopularised it a few years ago, some of Londons older vegetarian restaurants (now closed) had been doing it for decades. Neither is the idea of serving vegetarian dishes from around the world much-hyped in the trade press anything new: vegetarianism isnt a separate cuisine with its own cultural heritage so this is, in fact, what most veggie restaurants do.

So, then, after an unpromising start, we were relieved to find that most of the food was actually very good. Modern panzanella is a British take on the classic Tuscan salad, made with beautiful multi-coloured tomatoes, croutons and baby capers with a bright flavour and the distinct celery-like taste of lovage. Puy lentil salad with cooked kohlrabi and caramelised shallots also has a lively flavour that benefits from a punchy lemony dressing. Ribbons of green and yellow courgettes with crumbled feta taste fresh and vibrant. Butternut squash, baby spinach, feta and crunchy toasted pumpkin seeds is another winning combination like many of the salads, a great marriage of colours, flavours and textures. The quality of good olive oil shines through.

Among the cooked dishes, loubieh Lebanese-style green beans in roasted cherry tomato sauce with cinnamon and cumin has a good, rich taste. Seitan ribs spice-rubbed barbecue-smoked slabs of wheat gluten that are, to be honest, a little too large for self-service dining have a good meaty, non-chewy texture. Theyre enrobed in a wonderfully spicy, smoky tomato sauce. Thai sweetcorn fritters have an insistent flavour of lemongrass, lime leaves and red curry paste that might be too eye-wateringly hot and spicy for some, but theyre tastier than the bland specimen in many Thai restaurants. We also like the soft, fluffy grated courgette and feta cakes.

Dengaku nasu, pretty slippers of Japanese miso-glazed aubergines speckled with sesame seeds and mild red chilli slices, has a sweet, earthy flavour. The aubergine flesh is falling-off-the-fork tender, but the skin is leathery. Like many other self-service restaurants, no attempt seems to be made here to keep the hot dishes hot. Instead they languish under brightly lit lamps hanging down on them too close, so although aesthetically the dishes look good, they may eventually dry out. The signature aloo scotch egg a veggie take on the classic Hyderabadi nargisi kofta is the only (savoury) item separately priced at 2.50. Boat-shaped, bread-crumbed potato and pea cutlet with a soft-boiled egg in the middle looks attractive, but is completely lacking in flavour. The accompanying spicy-sweet fresh tomato ketchup improves it a little.

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Vegetarian London: Ethos Restaurant Review