Vegetarians walk into restaurants like battle-hardened soldiers who already know the terrain. While their meat-eating companions settle in for an odyssey of options, they brace themselves for the inevitable: a grilled cauliflower, an asparagus risotto if luck is on their side, and the feeling of mild humiliation for not really being wanted there. Give them a semi-plausible reason to go out, though, and they’ll be first out the door.

Holy Carrot Bistro was our reason last week. Founded by Irina Linovich, who started the concept as a plant-based pop-up before making it permanent in Portobello Road in the summer of 2024. She teamed up with chef Daniel Watkins – co-founder of Acme Fire Cult and known for his focus on fire and fermentation – and the rest of history.

Since then, the restaurant has won a Michelin Guide listing for its inventive approach to plant-based cooking and low-waste ethos. The Spitalfields outpost is its second, open since March this year on Brushfield Street, and is helmed day-to-day by head chef Maria Criscuolo, with Watkins’ culinary philosophy at its core.

The vibe check

Contrary to the OG restaurant – which was fully plant-based – this is a more relaxed, care-free version of its older sibling, introducing dairy and eggs to the menu. Freer when it comes to the ingredients used but far from sloppy when it comes to everything else – the space feels intimate and upscale, and the food matches the white tablecloths. All this pearl-whiteness is interrupted by a vast hand-painted murals of mushrooms. Think high-end Parisian bistro on a long weekend in Amsterdam.

What’s on the menu?

The menu is a patchwork of cuisines. Starters include the sexy tofu (which truly is a sexy little dish, so we’ll leave the quotation marks out), charred leeks, burrata with beetroot, and curried tofu. The sexy tofu was covered in a decadent crispy batter and came in a bed of what we instantly thought was chilli oil. Chilli oil it was not, there was no spice kick whatsoever, but it functioned as a much needed nectar to soak the tofu balls in. It’s a dainty work of art, embellished by all those tangy and sharp slivers of pickled veg.

There’s not much room for error with a burrata, but there is a lot of room for improvement, particularly in what concerns their often overused and uninspired accompaniments. In this dish, the dinky bits of almost candy-sweet beetroot were the perfect partner to this gooey love bomb.

The mains

Before you get to the mains, there’s a range of pizzettas and flatbreads on offer. You may be tempted to skip this part of the menu, but we strongly advise against it. There’s something to the doughy, bouncy, rich base of this pizzetta that is unlike anything we’ve ever had before – a world-class super-king mattress topped with fresh sheets of peas, courgettes, wild garlic, and dill.

The schnitzel seems to be a top-billed dish, and it does stand out, not least for the hand-sized patty. Texture-wise, we presumed it would be similar to a real pork schnitzel, more stiff and stringy, less giving, and it actually felt more like a veggie patty with a mushy soft interior and a crispy crust (despite being a mix of tofu and tempeh). Flavour-wise, it was a chart-topper, with the freshness of the celeriac balancing out the umami-forward patty and the richness of the butter.

Last was the vol-au-vent. If you’ve never had one before, the description and the look of it will not impress you. It tends to look drier than the Sahara desert on a sweltering summer afternoon.

We ask you mercifully you not to take this one at face value. The puff pastry is soft, buttery, and slides away as you cut through it. Inside, the main act: a layer of thick king oyster mushrooms that were gloriously meaty and succulent.

The dulse (seaweed) dressing was more acidic than expected, but it did lighten up the deep, woody flavours of the mushrooms, so it’s a job well done here. This dish will make your tastebuds sing.

Desserts

Room for dessert? Not really, but we surrendered and dealt with the food coma later. The tiramisu and lemon posset look like mother and child here but size isn’t always the defining element of a memorable dessert. The tiramisu was excellent – bitterer than most we’ve had, but we can appreciate the confidence of going heavy-handed on the coffee. The lemon posset was a refreshing, welcomed palate cleanse. We absolutely recommend it if you got carried away with the pizzettas earlier.

Verdict

Holy Carrot is a soul-filling journey through all the best mother nature has to offer, and it was such a delightful experience, it got us wishing we were there to celebrate a special occasion. It’s a quirky and romantic little place, but there’s nothing little about the mastery of flavour and texture-matching on display. Every dish is one culinary epiphany after another and crystal clear evidence that you really don’t need meat or fish to have one hell of a truly memorable meal.

Key details

Address: 61, 63 Brushfield St, London E1 6AA

Website: holycarrot.co.uk

Socials: @holycarrotrestaurant

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