Finding great, local vegan/vegetarian restaurants is not as easy as you may think considering how many column  inches our health and well being is given in general media these days. Yes, you’re probably more likely to strike gold if you’re in Central London on a daily basis where you can have your pick of new, innovative and trendy vegan café’s. But here, in sleepy South West London? Not so much.

Which is why I was delighted to stumble on Riverside Vegetaria, a vegetarian/vegan restaurant nestled between the river Thames and down town Kingston shopping centre. Who knew? Well it seems lots of people did as it has been in situ for over 25 years and has won numerous awards for vegan and vegetarian cooking over the years – I can certainly see why.

The décor and surroundings are functional but very pleasant – and you are right next to the river, literally. In the summer it must be a bun fight (gluten free) to grab one of the few outside tables. But the food you ask, what about the food? Well, all I can say is that it was delicious, inexpensive, fresh and organic. You make the choice if you want it to be vegan, vegetarian and/or gluten free. My portion of chickpea, squash and sweet potato curry was very generous and came with two side salads and organic brown rice (they only do organic brown rice so if that does not float your boat you will have to look elsewhere). All that for the princely sum of £7.95 and we were stuffed!! No way could we have managed pudding. Just my sort of place.

Another great thing about Riverside Vegetaria is that you can take away frozen ready meals of their best selling menu items (like a Cook but organic and vegan/vegetarian) which makes things easy when you don’t feel like cooking one night but don’t want to compromise on nutrition. They do take away soups too. I can highly recommend it and will certainly be back. Happy Monday all!! x