Lowri Griffiths visits St Martin’s Lane and finds herself ordering pudding before she has finished the main
Mildreds Covent Garden: The Vegan Restaurant That Converted a Confirmed Meat-Eater
I want to say upfront that I am not the target demographic for a vegan restaurant review. I grew up in Cardiff in a household where the evening meal reliably contained something that had recently been alive and where vegetables were considered a supporting act rather than the headline. I am telling you this so that when I say Mildreds Covent Garden is one of the best restaurants I have eaten at in London this year, you understand the weight of that statement. It is not a statement I am making out of fashionable dietary politics. It is a statement I am making because the food is genuinely excellent.
Mildreds has been a London institution since 1988, when the original Soho location opened and proceeded to be permanently full for the next three and a half decades. The Covent Garden branch on St Martin’s Lane is newer but operating at the same level, with a kitchen that approaches plant-based cooking not as a restriction to be worked around but as a creative opportunity to be exploited.
What Arrived at the Table
The Sri Lankan sweet potato curry is the kind of dish that makes you stop mid-mouthful and recalibrate your assumptions. The sweet potato has absorbed the coconut and spice in a way that makes it feel substantial and deeply flavoured rather than the gentle option that plant-based food is sometimes assumed to be. The heat is present and properly calibrated. The rice is cooked perfectly. The accompanying sambal adds brightness. The whole plate is coherent in a way that suggests a kitchen thinking about flavour rather than simply about dietary categories.
The Korean fried aubergine is another standout. Crisp on the outside, silky within, with a sauce that is sweet and fermented and gently hot, it is the kind of dish where you find yourself eating more quickly than you intended because you are anxious it will disappear before you have had enough. The smashed cucumber salad alongside it is fresh and sharp, the kind of thing that reminds you why good cooking is as much about contrast as it is about any individual element.
The burgers here deserve particular mention. I ordered the mushroom and lentil burger with some scepticism and received something that was genuinely satisfying in the way that a good burger should be: structurally sound, properly seasoned, with a bun that holds together to the last bite. The chips were excellent. Thick, properly cooked, with enough salt. Simple pleasures, done well.
The Room
The room on St Martin’s Lane has a warmth to it that the food deserves. It is not trying to be minimal or austere in the way that some plant-based restaurants use aesthetics to signal virtue. It is welcoming and comfortable and colourful, with enough noise to feel lively without making conversation impossible. The service is attentive and genuine, the kind of staff who are clearly eating the food themselves and have opinions about the menu that go beyond the standard script.
The Honest Assessment
The prices are fair for the quality and the location. The portions are generous without being excessive. The wine list is interesting and the cocktails are well-made. If you are vegan or vegetarian, Mildreds Covent Garden is an obvious answer to the question of where to eat in this part of London. If you are neither, as I am neither, I would suggest going anyway. The food does not need the ethical framework to justify it. It just needs to be eaten. Visit Mildreds Covent Garden and make your own assessment. Mine is: go back as soon as possible.
For more on London life and dining, The London Prat and Bohiney Magazine are where I spend most of my reading time.
