Tipped

Bus worth catching at least once

January 09, 2009

Housed in an old Routemaster, this restaurant had beckoned us for nearly a year, only to be booked for private parties, or never reached, due to the distractingly good smelling neighboring restaurants. Our conclusions upon finally arriving:
--fabulous, amazing ambiance. I've always liked sitting in the top of double decker busses. If prone to seasickness, avoid in windy conditions--it was a bit wobbly.
--lovely attention to the vegan details of the food, including vegan mayonnaise on the sandwiches.
--slightly dull menu, though what we ate very nice. We didn't see anything so exciting we *had* to come back to try it next time.
--very decent food, though. Tasty and prompt, accomplished use of swirls of flavored oils. Occasionally vegan food can seem contrived--this wasn't. It all just looked like it would be warm, filling, and flavorful.
--lovely staff, seemingly mostly Yanks?

In conclusion, I would definitely go again if with strict vegans; if with more flexible eaters, I'd probably go somewhere else. I would also take anyone who would enjoy sitting in a bus/diner hybrid, with candles and fresh flowers. It's a very nifty re-use of the space.

Keywords: vegan, architecture, ambiance

Food meh, people hilarious

July 04, 2008

Funniest server in London? Perhaps. Best food, definitely not. Fun place to have a meal. Sho nuff. If you are looking for a great veggie burger, walk a few steps further to cafe 1001. If you are looking for a fun meal or to make an impression on someone special, take them to the bus.

vegan food on a bus!

July 02, 2008

Rootmaster - I'd heard lots of things about this place - none of which were good but also none of which featured the food so I arrived expecting to be served something, who knows what, but most definitely by a really annoying trustafarian (for those not familiar with the term a trustafarian is a kid with a trust fund that becomes a hippy - they usually live in West London, Brixton or Thailand).

Imagine my surprise when I was served by a normal hippy! not posh at all! I was only getting takeout lunch so I opted for a Mexican Bean Wrap with salad. The thing is with getting lunch somewhere is that most of the time you only have 60 minutes so time is of the essence and you've probably wasted a few of them actually getting to the place that serves your food - I had to wait 10 minutes for them to prepare the wrap which in lunch time terms is an eternity.
Frustrated, I grumped off to find my friends in the park bemoaning the fact that I only had about 20 mins of actually sitting down in the sun left before having to go back to work.

The wrap turned out to be delicious, really really nice and the salad that it came with had an amazing dressing on it, so amazing that I scoffed it all before even touching the wrap!

Anyway I guess it was worth the wait, they had tables set up outside so it might be better to go when you're not in such a hurry or maybe even at night when you can sit inside the bus.

Keywords: organic, vegan

I can’t believe it’s not meat!

June 05, 2008

For those of you who think vegan cuisine is boring and want to eliminate vegans, you should think again and try eating at Rootmaster. Not only is the experience cool b/c you’re in a double-decker Routemaster bus (or outside it if you’re lucky and get nice weather like we did), the food is great. The menu is small with a few starters, several mains and desserts – nothing over £6 or £7. My carnivore husband and I both ordered their daily special which was a spicy vegetable and chickpea curry (£5) and we added grilled tofu for another £2. The servings were massive and it came with brown rice so halfway through I was stuffed. But the flavours were wonderful. The guy next to us ordered the grilled vegetable and tofu teriyaki with brown rice and it looked even better than ours. They also had a burrito and veggie burger on the menu served with grilled potato wedges. And of course, they have fresh juices, wine and beer. Who would have thought vegan could be so good.

Keywords: vegan, vegetarian, al fresco dining, cafe