Vegan Menu at City Spice, Brick Lane, London: Review

A couple of weeks ago I was invited along to City Spice in Brick Lane, London, to review their new vegan menu. As most of my readers will probably know, I am a vegetarian who regularly enjoys vegan food, and I took along with a friend who is vegan.

About City Spice

City Spice is a multi award winning restaurant in the heart of East London’s Brick Lane. Since being crowned as ‘The King of Brick Lane’ back in 2017, it has won several other awards and has a Certificate of Excellence from TripAdvisor.

Vegan Menu

City Spice also offers an extensive vegan menu; the first of its kind to grace East London’s famous Brick Lane.  It has 14 delicious dishes, perfected by owner Abdul Ahad, and recently won Best Indian Vegan Restaurant award at the
Bangladesh Caterers Association Award, decided by a vote from the 12,000 member restaurants of the Bangladesh Caterers Association.

Owner, Abdul Ahad, developed the menu following a huge demand from Veganuary last year. The menu has proved very popular; resulting in a 170% increase in bookings for the restaurant in the two months following the launch.

Ahad used his experience and expertise from around the globe to create his delicious range of vegan offerings. “Having been in the fires for some time, the new dishes were perfected following my humbling visit to Sri Lanka, inspired by tips, tricks and recipes from some of the world’s most talented and award winning chefs, including Michelin-star chef Rupert Rowley. It’s time to show the vegan community, and those who favour vegan dishes, what the King is capable of.”

Veganuary Founder, Jane Land commented: “2018 was Veganuary’s biggest year yet, with more than 167,000 people taking part, a whopping 100,000 more than last year – and that’s just the ones we know about! With societal eating habits changing, and forward thinking restaurants like City Spice reflecting this within their menus, it’s never been easier to go vegan.”

Review

We visited City Spice on a Wednesday evening. We arrived earlier than our booking but they were very accomodating and were able to seat us immediately. The staff were warm, friendly and welcoming but not overbearing, and they assisted us efficiently.

The restaurant itself has seating on ground level and downstairs. The toilets are also down a flight of stairs, although I am not sure whether there are disabled facilities elsewhere for accessibility, or not. The facilities were basic and clean, and the rest of the restaurant also maintains a simple but clean feel about it. The restaurant was fairly busy for a weeknight and had a nice vibe to it.

For starters, I ordered Aloo Chat, which is a blend of potato and spices, and Liz ordered Vegetable Pepper. Both of these were delicious.

For mains, I had Palani Potatoes, described as ‘fresh cubed pieces of potatoes are cooked with zesty cumin seeds and curry leaves, to provide a distinct, medium flavour, exemplified by a thick mouth-watering sauce’. Liz opted for a daal dish.

Both dishes were full of favour and really tasty. My dish was noticeably milder, whereas the daal had quite a spicy kick to it. Both quite different choices but equally as mouth-watering! The servings were very generous; infact, we were unable to find room to finish our meals. However, this was no reflection of the quality of food, just the amount of it!

We felt it offered good value for money. Our starters cost £3.95 for Aloo Chat and £4.95 for Pepper, our mains were £8.95/ £9.95, plus our side orders of bread and rice were £2.95 each. So in total, including soft drinks and tip, the entire bill was under £45 for two people, which we consider to be reasonable.

Summary

We both really enjoyed our meal, and our evening. It was good quality flavoursome food, with an extensive vegan menu, and nice atmosphere. We would recommend you give this place a try and see for yourselves!

To book a table at City Spice restaurant, or for more information, check out the​ website ​www.city-spice.london

*Disclosure: We enjoyed a complimentary meal for the purpose of this review. All thoughts and opinions are entirely our own.