Once the only vegan restaurant in town, Mildreds’ Soho has reopened after major renovation

Mildred’s first opened in Soho in 1988, a time when vegan food was still something of a joke, something to be avoided unless you were a sandal-wearing crank who wore sandals and a Greenpeace badge. MIldreds was very different, it was actually tasty.

Since then the restaurant has become known around the world as a trailblazer of innovative vegetarian and vegan cuisine.

On the eve of the restaurant’s reopening, after a big two month refurb of its Grade II listed heritage building on Lexington Street, we were invited in to try a few dishes.

From the outside you notice the exterior is now deep blue with orange window frames and Mildreds signage. Inside it’s still narrow, but the new design has created more space as well as a second floor 18-seater private dining area. All around are artworks collated over the last 35 years. It’s eclectic and fun, it’s vegan for the new diner.

The bar has been extended and there’s booth seating with each section of the restaurant decorated with different wallpaper and colour themes.

The menu is equally eclectic, inspired by world cuisines. We mixed and matched with a excellent salsa macha hummus, candied pine nuts and pumpkin seeds, smoky mexican peanut chilli oil, scooped up with their crispy Focaccia which also did good service with the red pepper romesco a Catalan roast pepper, tomato and almond dip.

People were cheerfully having plant-based burgers, such as Beetroot burgers and Korean ‘chikn’ burgers, and fries all around us and these looked very tempting,  but we wanted to stay reasonably light so shared small dishes like arancini rossi – smoked paprika mushrooms risotto balls, garlic aioli and smoked chipotle ketchup which were delicious, as well as Biber patatas bravas – triple-cooked potatoes, turkish hot pepper sauce, garlic aioli, an interesting take on the classic Spanish dish. And quite hot!

We also shared salt and pepper tofu bokkeumbap – kimchi fried rice, sweet gochujang chilli dressing, garlic aioli and nori, a real winner with the rice good and chewy and plenty of flavours enhanced not dominated by the chilli.

Desserts were not as good, vegan dairy substitutes don’t work for me, they’re an odd texture and flavour, although I suppose it might be an acquired taste.

In every other way though the food at Mildred’s is delicious, that it is also good for you and the planet is a bonus. 

Mildreds Victoria, 128 Wilton Road, London, SW1V 1JZ – opening 7th May

Mildreds Soho, 45 Lexington Street, London, W1F 9AN

Mildreds Camden, 9 Jamestown Rd, London, NW1 7BW

Mildreds King’s Cross, 200 Pentonville Rd, London, N1 9JP

Mildreds Dalston, 1 Dalston Square, London, E8 3GU

Mildreds Covent Garden, 79 St Martin’s Lane, WC2N 4AA

mallow Borough Market, 1 Cathedral St, London SE1 9DE

mallow Canary Wharf, 12 Park Drive London E14 9ZW