Tofu Vegan, Islington, Chinese restaurant review

It always amuses me when I see people ranting about vegan food as though it's a threat to their existence. Spoiler alert, eating a bit less meat, fish or dairy isn’t going to speed up human extinction…

Whilst I enjoy a steak, doner kebab or keema naan as much as the next glutton, I’m fully on board with trying to eat a bit less meat and dairy.

Which brings me to the utterly brilliant Tofu Vegan in London, which serves a menu dedicated to vegan Chinese cookery. As they explain on their menu, it all makes a lot of sense as China has a rich tradition of plant-based cooking with grains, vegetables and tofu forming the core of many people’s diets.

Regional Chinese influences, including Sichuan and Cantonese, can be found across their cooking, with compelling sounding dishes like cloud ear fungus salad with coriander and pickled chilli, Dongbei sweet potato noodle sheets in spicy sesame sauce, hot and fragrant fried cauliflower, and Peking d’ck. 

Okay, I’m not 100% sure about that last one. 

I visited the Islington branch (they also have outlets in Spitalfields and Golders Green) with my good friend Pete, who’s a regular and so could advise on some essential orders. Everything we ate was rammed with flavour and clever texture contrasts.

A bowl of delicately skinned wontons (£7.90) had a minced meat textured, mushroom funked filling. They sat in a deep flavoured and delicately fiery house special sauce.

Sprightly stir-fried water spinach (£8.80) was bathed in a light and savoury dressing with the occasional nugget of potent chilli.

In contrast, crisp battered meaty morsels of oyster mushroom (£13.80), crunchy cashews and fresh spring onions were coated in a comforting sweet and sticky gong bao sauce with a balancing delicate sourness.

Gorgeously crisp-edged and tender morsels of cumin ‘lamm’ (£13.80) were the star of the show. The uncannily meaty tofu pieces were coated in a wonderfully savoury and earthy cumin-based spice mix and flecked with crisp sweet onions and slices of chilli.

It was even better stuffed into a pair of pillowy bao (£3.80).

Finally, a plate of Sichuan stir fry noodles (£8.90) had an addictive smoky savouriness from the wok and were dotted with little pieces of tender pork-esque tofu and crisp beansprouts and onions.

I had a fabulous lunch at Tofu Vegan. If it helps me do my bit for the planet then I'd gladly eat there any day of the week. How selfless of me.

The Details:

Address - Tofu Vegan, 105 Upper St, London N1 1QN

Web - https://tofuvegan.com/

Telephone - 020 7916 3304