Vegan in London: Five off-the-beaten track attractions to visit - and where to eat great vegan food nearby

I love travel. If I won the lottery, I'd give up work, pack a rucksack, and head off around the world. One of the ways I like to wring out every last drop of travel enjoyment is to spend ages planning out my trip - when to visit, what to see, where to stay, and most importantly, where to get the best vegan food. 

I lived in London for 20 years and I've spent a lot of time exploring the city and its plant-based restaurants. So, if you're a vegan heading to London any time soon, here are my recommendations for what to do and where to eat - my five favourite off-the-beaten-track attractions in London, and places to get the best vegan food nearby. 

Leighton House

The Leighton House is the former home of the Victorian artist Frederic Lord Leighton, who seemed to have built and remodelled the house for a good chunk of his life. His trips to the Middle East left him with an appreciation of the region's art and architecture, which he brought back to his Holland Park home. Check this out:

Image: Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea

It's such a serene, breathtakingly beautiful place to walk around, taking in Leighton's art and the beautiful house itself - look at those tiles! - that takes inspiration from across the globe. 

I can't think of anywhere even similar in the capital - it's a rare treasure. 

Sadly, Holland Park isn't a hotspot for vegan food, but luckily Mali Vegan Thai is a 15-20 minute walk, or 10 minute bus ride, away. It offers all your classic Thai favourites made vegan, with mock meats taking centre stage. 

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The Old Operating Theatre

The Old Operating Theatre, as the name suggests, was an actual operating theatre back in the 19th century. Before modern medical ideas around hygiene and antimicrobial stewardship were a thing, surgeons would operate with students looking on.

Image: The Old Operating Theatre

For a spot of medical time travel, you can visit the perfectly preserved operating theatre as it would have been, as well as explore exhibits of medical and surgical tools and ephemera. 

Another thing to love about the Old Operating Theatre is there's always interesting events on: in the day time, there are exhibitions - the latest one includes the stories of the people whose cadavers would have been used for dissection in the theatre - and at night, the theatre turns into a venue for magic, comedy and more. 

The Old Operating Theatre is a few minutes from London Bridge station so it's easy to get to and it's just a hop, skip and a jump from Borough Market, which is crammed with stalls offering all sorts of foodie treats. Horn OK Please, for example, does some cracking veggie and vegan Indian food.

If you want an all-vegan meal, though, I'd recommend Mallow, about 5 minutes away. It's a mildly posh place for a fancy lunch, and a menu that gallops across the globe, stopping by way of India, Japan and Italy. The brunch menu is particularly good - I recommend the meze - and, if you're feeling spendy, then treat yourself to one of the cocktails. 

Image: Mallow

Postman's Park

If you've watched the film Closer, you'll know Postman's Park. If you haven't, it's a beautiful, quiet oasis in the heart of London and an incredibly moving one too. The park features the monument to heroic self sacrifice, in the form of tiles describing the heartbreaking stories of Londoners that gave their lives trying to protect others. Each of the tiles sums up a life and death in just a handful of sentences, and it's a fascinating and moving way to spent a hour or so.

Postman's Park was named after the workers who would eat their lunch here, so why not join them and grab some food to go? Falafel merchant Pilpel is popular with the local office workers, and just five minutes walk away from Postman's Park, so you can grab a pita or bowl crammed with falafel and salads (it's a veggie place rather than vegan, but it's just boiled egg and feta you'll need to dodge) and while away a bit of time in the park.

Dennis Severs' House

Dennis Severs' House is one of my absolute favourite things to do in London - it's somewhere between a time capsule and a living art work. Either way, it's a feast for your imagination and guaranteed to transport you. 

Image: Dennis Severs House

The house was created by artist Dennis Severs as a faithful reconstruction of a Huguenot silk weaver's family home. It tells the story of the rise and fall of the weaver's family's fortunes over the 17th and 18th centuries. 

The rooms are set up as though the family's have just left them - you can see the card game they've put down, the meal abandoned on the tablet, and the half heard conversations from another room. There are no photos allowed and you're meant to walk around in silence so you can soak up the whole experience. It's a truly unique place.

Dennis Severs House is in a great area for vegan food, so you'll be spoiled for choice if you stop for lunch or dinner nearby.

I've got two recommendations for you though: Cook Daily and Daun's.

Cook Daily has been a staple of London's vegan scene for years - and I mean years - so if you want to immerse yourself in the capital's vegan food culture, this is the place to do it. Cook Daily dishes out hearty bowls of South East Asian and Jamaican inspired goodness. 

Daun's meanwhile is the capital's only vegan Scandinavian-inspired deli, and it's well worth stopping by for some Scandi treats, including Swedish meatballs and Danish open sandwiches known as smørrebrød (get the tofish!) 

Image: Daun's

Midnight Apothecary at the Brunel Museum

The Brunel Museum in Rotherhithe is dedicated to the eponymous engineer, Isambard Kingdom Brunel, who's responsible for some of the Victorian era's greatest engineering marvels and who left his mark on London in the form of the Thames tunnel, the world's oldest underwater tunnel, the start of which forms part of the museum.

The museum's garden plays host to Midnight Apothecary, a pop-up cocktail bar featuring cocktails made from the garden's herbs, and fire pits where you can toast marshmallows (including vegan ones!) in the cosy outdoor space.

Sadly, there's not a lot of good vegan places in walking distance, but you can usually get vegan food at the Midnight Apothecary events. If you're of a mood to wander further afield, you can hop on the bus to Maltby Street, where there's a street market every weekend. There are a couple of vegan options to check out - Kergarmo, a vegan bakery, and Amen Ethiopian has a menu with lots of vegan dishes, or there are vegan empanadas and hot dogs available too.