Randomness Guide to London - Differences between Version 18 and Version 9 of Vanilla Black, EC4A 1LB

Version 18 Version 9
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Vanilla Black was a totally vegetarian restaurant near [[Chancery Lane Station]]. It [https://twitter.com/vanillablack1/status/1300028249498685441 closed down] in 2020, with the owners stating that the impact of Covid-19 made it financially unviable to reopen at the existing site.
Totally vegetarian restaurant near [[Chancery Lane Station]], with a fairly experimental menu. Note that even though all the food is vegetarian, they don't consider themselves to particularly specialise in vegan dishes, and vegans are advised to warn them in advance.
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The information below is retained for historical purposes.
[[Kake]], [[doop]], [[bob]], and family visited on a Wednesday evening in July 2009. We'd booked, which was probably a good idea even though the place was half-empty during our visit, since most of the tables seem to be set up for smaller groups than our party of five.
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<div class="old_info">
Totally vegetarian restaurant near [[Chancery Lane Station]]
, with a fairly experimental menu.
The only menu available is a set-price one, with two courses priced at &pound;24 and three at &pound;30. The menu notes that an optional 12.5% service charge will be applied, and that it all goes to the staff. With five people in our party and six choices per course, we got to try a fair selection.
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As well as all the food being vegetarian, several dishes are vegan or can be veganised on request, and they also have a five-course vegan set menu (which must be taken by the entire table).
Tap water arrived swiftly, in a jug with ice, lemon, and lime; this was replenished frequently throughout our meal. Bread was brought round more than once, and we also got an amuse-bouche of decent enough tomato juice.
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We've visited a few times now, most recently on a Tuesday evening in March 2018. On this occasion, [[bob]] and the four others in his party went for the five-course vegan menu (&pound;55/head plus &pound;32/head for matched wines) <small>[https://www.flickr.com/photos/rjw1/albums/72157693863206164/ photos]</small>. Each course was delicous and interesting, but many of us felt the smoked soft "cheese" and the coconut sorbet were the highlights. [[bob]] really enjoyed the shiitake mushroom, which is a surprise because I normally only tolerate them; the way it had been cooked removed some of the things I find odd about its texture. Several of us also enjoyed the wild nettle mojito mocktail. Service was attentive.
[[Kake]] and [[doop]] both started with the candied chilli stuffed black olives served with lemon and avocado cream, basil poached tomatoes, and bread crisps <small>[http://www.flickr.com/photos/kake_pugh/3749827616/ photo]</small>. Kake was a little disappointed to realise that only the chillies were candied, and not the olives &#8212; that could have been quite interesting. The chillies had a decent amount of chilli flavour without too much heat, but were let down by tough skins. The tomatoes weren't particularly basilly, but we were pleased that they'd been peeled. The lemon and avocado cream was basically a very smooth and fairly average guacamole. The bread crisps were a bit too greasy for Kake's taste. Overall, it was a fairly unexciting dish, much less exciting than suggested by the menu description.
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[[Kake]] and Pippa previously visited on a Friday early evening in July 2015. Service was friendly and efficient, and clearly aiming towards the higher end of the market without being stuffy (and without insisting on pouring our wine for us). Background music was playing, not too loud.
It wasn't entirely clear where the deconstruction came into [[bob]]'s deconstructed Puy lentil dhal; perhaps simply the fact that the lentils hadn't been pureed. He thought it was quite good though (and isn't usually a fan of lentils). Mike seemed happy with his spring vegetable terrine <small>[http://www.flickr.com/photos/kake_pugh/3749821180/ photo]</small>. Gaynor's wensleydale cheesecake was quite rich, and she was thankful for the pile of thinly-sliced cornichon that accompanied it.
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We were given an amuse-bouche of mango puree on a mushroom cracker <small>[https://www.flickr.com/photos/kake_pugh/20262702931/ photo]</small>; this was OK, though the cracker was a bit chewy. A complimentary bread basket was great; one seeded bread and one raisin bread, both with excellent crusts.
Moving on to main courses [[Kake]] made the over-optimistic mistake of choosing an Asian-influenced dish; pea, lettuce, and tarragon "dim sum" served with pak choi, ginger cream, and sesame croutons <small>[http://www.flickr.com/photos/kake_pugh/3749047053/ photo]</small>. The dim sum wrappers weren't up to the task of holding in the filling, which fell out of the bottom as soon as I lifted them. The peas in the filling were overcooked, and the pak choi was tough. The sesame in the croutons was not very apparent, and they felt like quite an incongruous addition to the dish, but they did at least provide the crunchiness and textural contrast that should have come from the pak choi. If I hadn't been hungry, I'd probably have given up on this dish halfway through (and indeed I left most of the pak choi).
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[[Kake]]'s starter of whipped jacket potato with tomato syrup and crispy onion <small>[https://www.flickr.com/photos/kake_pugh/20070249169/ photo]</small> was pretty good. The whipped potato had a lovely light texture with just the right amount of richness and no glueiness at all, and the tomato syrup was a pleasing contrast (and not too sweet). The crispy onion had a rather stodgy batter. The cubes of Wensleydale cheese in the very bottom of the dish were a bit much for me; I'd have enjoyed the dish a little more without them, but this is just personal taste. Pippa's starter of dried yeast icecream <small>[https://www.flickr.com/photos/kake_pugh/20230602416/ photo]</small> was also good, with the yeast flavour really coming through.
Others fared better. Mike enjoyed his poached duck egg and ribbesdale pudding. Gaynor was very pleased with her choice of truffled potato "bubble and squeak", mainly because of the excellent portobello mushrooms and deeply-savoury caramelised carrot puree that came with it ([[Kake]] nabbed some of the carrot puree and was similarly impressed).
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[[Kake]]'s main course of seared seaweed and cabbage with pickled potatoes <small>[https://www.flickr.com/photos/kake_pugh/20256839645/ photo]</small> was less successful. Although the individual components were all fine in isolation, and the pickled potatoes gave the whole thing a rather nice "salt and vinegar" tang, overall it was just too salty. Everything on the plate was salty except for the rather bland soda bread sauce, and it all added up to the point where I couldn't finish it due to salt overload.
Only three of us had room for desserts. [[doop]] was very happy with his peanut butter and chocolate parfait; it was slightly salty as well as sweet, which worked well. [[bob]] seemed to enjoy his lemon meringue pie <small>[http://www.flickr.com/photos/kake_pugh/3749049495/ photo]</small>. [[Kake]], not being a fan of sweet things, instead went for the cheese option; marinated capricorn goats cheese served with green olive puree and pecan bread sticks <small>[http://www.flickr.com/photos/kake_pugh/3749056009/ photo]</small>, which was fine if again less exciting than I'd been expecting; the marinade seemed to consist mainly of (decent enough) olive oil, while I'd been hoping for something a bit herby and perhaps a bit lemony.
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Pippa's main course was better; double-baked Ribblesdale pudding with a smoked potato croquette, poached egg, and pineapple pickle <small>[https://www.flickr.com/photos/kake_pugh/19635886823/ photo]</small>. The pineapple pickle was deeply pineappley without being too sweet, and the potato croquette had an intensely smoky flavour.
Service was both friendly and efficient, and clearly aiming towards the higher end of the market without being stuffy (and without insisting on pouring our wine for us). Background music was playing throughout our visit, an unusual selection for a restaurant (including the Smiths, the Pixies, and the Rolling Stones), but it was fairly quiet and didn't impede conversation at all.
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We skipped dessert, but did have some after-dinner chocolates <small>[https://www.flickr.com/photos/kake_pugh/20256838575/ photo]</small>; three little truffles and a very soft fudge. The violet truffle was particularly good, with a light sprinkle of salt to bring out the flavour. There was quite a lot of the fudge, more than we really wanted given how intensely sweet it was.
[[Kake]]'s verdict: Normally I like the more experimental kind of food, but I felt that although the chef was clearly trying very hard, too many of the results missed the mark. Although the prices aren't unreasonable given the location and ambience, they're a little too high for me to want to risk another visit any time soon. If you're vegetarian, though, it's probably worth a try.
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[[Kake]]'s verdict: Overall, things seem to have improved substantially since I first visited in 2009 (see <a href="https://london.randomness.org.uk/wiki.cgi?id=Vanilla_Black%2C_EC4A_1LB&version=10">older version of this page</a> for details). I would certainly now recommend this place to vegetarians, though perhaps not to meat eaters who aren't short of places to visit for fine dining.

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* [https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2010/aug/07/vanilla-black-london-restaurant-review The Guardian review] (by Simon Hattenstone)
* [https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/reviews/vanilla-black-17-18-tooks-court-london-ec4-969481.html The Independent review]
* [https://www.timeout.com/london/restaurants/vanilla-black Time Out review]
* [http://cheesenbiscuits.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/vanilla-black-chancery-lane.html Cheese And Biscuits review]
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* [https://forums.egullet.org/topic/125702-vanilla-black/ eGullet thread]
* [http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=125702 eGullet thread]
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* [http://fussyveggie.blogspot.co.uk/2009/03/vanilla-black-city-of-london.html Fussy Veggie review]
* [http://gaztronomy.blogspot.co.uk/2008/07/vanilla-black-london.html Gaztronomy review]
* [http:
//agirlhastoeat.com/vanilla-black-vegetarian-restaurant-review-london/ A Girl Has To Eat review]
* [http://web.archive.org/web/20130103180827/http://www.grumblinggourmet.com:80/2010/06/review
-of-vanilla-black-june-2010.html Grumbling Gourmet review]
* [http://gaztronomy.blogspot.com/2008/07/vanilla-black-london.html Gaztronomy review]
* [http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/reviews/vanilla-black-1718-tooks-court-london-ec4-969481.html The Independent review]
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* [https://nanaya.dreamwidth.org/284000.html Nanaya's review]
* [https://owlfish.livejournal.com/892711.html Owlfish's review]
* [http://richardelliot.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/restaurant-review-vanilla-black-holborn.html Richard Elliot's review]
* [http://www.london-eating.co.uk/34162.htm London Eating comments]
* [http://owlfish.livejournal.com/892711.html?style=mine owlfish's review]
* [http://www.timeout.com/london/restaurants/reviews/12550.html Time Out review]
* [http://www.veggieheaven.com/uk/england/Vanilla+Black_91/ Veggie Heaven review]
* [http://agirlhastoeat.com/vanilla-black-vegetarian-restaurant-review-london A Girl Has To Eat review]
* [http://fussyveggie.blogspot.com/2009/03/vanilla-black-city-of-london.html Fussy Veggie review]
* [http://
nanaya.dreamwidth.org/284000.html Nanaya's review]
* [http://www.grumblinggourmet.com/2010/06/review-of-vanilla-black-june-2010.html Grumbling Gourmet review]
* [http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/aug/07/vanilla-black-london-restaurant-review The Guardian review] (by Simon Hattenstone)
* [http://cheesenbiscuits.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/
vanilla-black-chancery-lane.html Cheese And Biscuits review]
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<div class="last_verified">Last visited by [[bob]] and others, March 2018.</div>
</div>
address='17-18 Took's Court, EC4A 1LB'
category='Featured Article,Now Closed'
<div class="last_verified">Last visited by [[Kake]], [[doop]], [[bob]], and family, 22 July 2009. Opening hours taken from the Vanilla Black website, December 2009.</div>

address='17-18 Took's Court'
category='British Food,European Food,Restaurants,Totally Vegetarian,Vegetarian Friendly'
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formatted_website_text=''
formatted_website_text='http://www.vanillabl...'
== Line 52 == == Line 50 ==
hours_text=''
hours_text='closed Mon; noon-2:30pm, 6pm-10pm Tue-Fri; 6pm-10pm Sat; closed Sun'
latitude='51.516229'
locale='EC4,Holborn'
longitude='-0.109662
'
== Line 59 == == Line 60 ==
opening_hours_text=''
phone=''
postcode=''
summary='Now closed; was a totally vegetarian restaurant near Chancery Lane Station, with a fairly experimental menu.'
website='' website='http://www.vanillablack.co.uk/'
opening_hours_text='closed Mon; noon-2:30pm, 6pm-10pm Tue-Fri; 6pm-10pm Sat; closed Sun'
os_x='531149'
os_y='181448'
phone='020 7242 2622'
postcode='EC4A 1LB'
website='' summary='Totally vegetarian restaurant near Chancery Lane Station, with a fairly experimental menu.'
website='http://www.vanillablack.co.uk/'

Totally vegetarian restaurant near Chancery Lane Station, with a fairly experimental menu. Note that even though all the food is vegetarian, they don't consider themselves to particularly specialise in vegan dishes, and vegans are advised to warn them in advance.

Kake, doop, bob, and family visited on a Wednesday evening in July 2009. We'd booked, which was probably a good idea even though the place was half-empty during our visit, since most of the tables seem to be set up for smaller groups than our party of five.

The only menu available is a set-price one, with two courses priced at £24 and three at £30. The menu notes that an optional 12.5% service charge will be applied, and that it all goes to the staff. With five people in our party and six choices per course, we got to try a fair selection.

Tap water arrived swiftly, in a jug with ice, lemon, and lime; this was replenished frequently throughout our meal. Bread was brought round more than once, and we also got an amuse-bouche of decent enough tomato juice.

Kake and doop both started with the candied chilli stuffed black olives served with lemon and avocado cream, basil poached tomatoes, and bread crisps photo. Kake was a little disappointed to realise that only the chillies were candied, and not the olives — that could have been quite interesting. The chillies had a decent amount of chilli flavour without too much heat, but were let down by tough skins. The tomatoes weren't particularly basilly, but we were pleased that they'd been peeled. The lemon and avocado cream was basically a very smooth and fairly average guacamole. The bread crisps were a bit too greasy for Kake's taste. Overall, it was a fairly unexciting dish, much less exciting than suggested by the menu description.

It wasn't entirely clear where the deconstruction came into bob's deconstructed Puy lentil dhal; perhaps simply the fact that the lentils hadn't been pureed. He thought it was quite good though (and isn't usually a fan of lentils). Mike seemed happy with his spring vegetable terrine photo. Gaynor's wensleydale cheesecake was quite rich, and she was thankful for the pile of thinly-sliced cornichon that accompanied it.

Moving on to main courses Kake made the over-optimistic mistake of choosing an Asian-influenced dish; pea, lettuce, and tarragon "dim sum" served with pak choi, ginger cream, and sesame croutons photo. The dim sum wrappers weren't up to the task of holding in the filling, which fell out of the bottom as soon as I lifted them. The peas in the filling were overcooked, and the pak choi was tough. The sesame in the croutons was not very apparent, and they felt like quite an incongruous addition to the dish, but they did at least provide the crunchiness and textural contrast that should have come from the pak choi. If I hadn't been hungry, I'd probably have given up on this dish halfway through (and indeed I left most of the pak choi).

Others fared better. Mike enjoyed his poached duck egg and ribbesdale pudding. Gaynor was very pleased with her choice of truffled potato "bubble and squeak", mainly because of the excellent portobello mushrooms and deeply-savoury caramelised carrot puree that came with it (Kake nabbed some of the carrot puree and was similarly impressed).

Only three of us had room for desserts. doop was very happy with his peanut butter and chocolate parfait; it was slightly salty as well as sweet, which worked well. bob seemed to enjoy his lemon meringue pie photo. Kake, not being a fan of sweet things, instead went for the cheese option; marinated capricorn goats cheese served with green olive puree and pecan bread sticks photo, which was fine if again less exciting than I'd been expecting; the marinade seemed to consist mainly of (decent enough) olive oil, while I'd been hoping for something a bit herby and perhaps a bit lemony.

Service was both friendly and efficient, and clearly aiming towards the higher end of the market without being stuffy (and without insisting on pouring our wine for us). Background music was playing throughout our visit, an unusual selection for a restaurant (including the Smiths, the Pixies, and the Rolling Stones), but it was fairly quiet and didn't impede conversation at all.

Kake's verdict: Normally I like the more experimental kind of food, but I felt that although the chef was clearly trying very hard, too many of the results missed the mark. Although the prices aren't unreasonable given the location and ambience, they're a little too high for me to want to risk another visit any time soon. If you're vegetarian, though, it's probably worth a try.

Accessibility: One fairly high step up to get in, another step to get to the back part of the seating area, and the toilets are down a flight of stairs with a bend in the middle and a handrail only part of the way down.

See also:

Last visited by Kake, doop, bob, and family, 22 July 2009. Opening hours taken from the Vanilla Black website, December 2009.

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