Saf, Kensington

It was vegan Emma's Birthday a few weeks ago, which is always great because it means I get to go and play with Vegan Emma for a while and it almost always involves good vegan food (like most of our play dates). This year we met up after my training day in London, then went to Saf in Kensington. Emma had a voucher so we could only choose a few things on the menu, but I found it hard to chose out of 3 items, so would have definitely struggled with the full menu. The restaurant is based in Kensington above a Wholefoods (I could spend days in this shop), we rushed there after both being stuck on the same train in different carriages! 

I chose the starter before I went otherwise we would have been there all day! Emma already knew which one I was going to go for, but really, how could I resist raw vegan cheese. The dish sounded amazing, Pesto au Poivre: basil pesto between layers of cashew cheese with a pink peppercorn crust, served with rocket salad, dehydrated raw flax seed crackers and drizzled with a balsamic glaze. It was one of those dishes that tasted as good as it sounded, lovely crunchy flax crackers, with salty cheese and a thick layer of pesto. This was definitely the best cheese substitute I've ever tried and to be honest I would rather eat it over dairy. 

Emma had Dolmades: vine leaves filled with cauliflower rice, pine nuts, cumin, lemon juice and dill served with a vegan yoghurt and cucumber dip. I'm a bit afraid of vine leaves, but tried one anyway for the sake of my blog (and because I couldn't resist). I can confirm that they were also delicious. 

For the main I went for the Asparagus Farinata: slow-roasted asparagus tips in a chickpea farinata crêpe served with lemon- tarragon aioli and house salad. I feel a bit sad with myself for choosing this one because although it was really yummy, Emma and I made something similar not too long ago and I feel like I should have ventured out and had the raw pad thai. This can only be a good thing though, as it means that I will have to go back to try it :)

I loved trying the raw dish at Saf and I'd definitely recommend it for a filling, nutritious meal, you can check out the website here. I had a lovely vegan Emma's birthday (I hope she did too) and we finished the evening off by visiting the roof top film club in Hoxton and watching the Big Lebowski :) 

Posted in: Raw, resturants, vegan