Hey there MoFo'ers, I visited London back in March and have been blogging (intermittently) about it ever since. Catch up if you like!
After a long, cold, snowy day at the Tower Bridge and the Tower of London, we were once again looking forward to sitting down to a delicious, vegan meal.
On this night, we chose Amico Bio, a vegetarian Italian restaurant with two locations in London (I think we were in Holborn).
Fair enough:
While there was a predominance of dairy cheese and even yogurt on the menu, there were many dishes available with a vegan option.
The restaurant was quaint with a European feel. As it was a Monday evening, it was not particularly busy.
My friend and I make good sharers; we started with the Bruschetta al pomodoro: tomatoes bruschetta. Don't let the simplicity fool you; it was flavorful, fresh, and hardy.
Also, Tagliere con focaccia, olive di Gaeta e oiio extra vergine organico: "Homemade focaccia bread, breadsticks, gatea olives and organic extra vergine olive oil." Upon consumption, it became abundantly clear that the reason I don't like focaccia is because mine doesn't taste like this. Each element was as beautifully presented as it was delicious.
I should note that the menu does not showcase your typical spaghetti and meatballs Italian food. Although they had a few choices that erred on the traditional side, we found them to be without a vegan option available. So, for an entree I chose Arancini di potate, peperoncini: "Potato croquette with braised onions, sweet peppers, and Romaine." A potato croquette!! Who doesn't love a potato croquette? Again: simple, but extremely well-prepared. It looks oily in this photograph, but it wasn't.
For my friend: Polenta arrosto con pomodoro: "Pan fried polenta with roasted tomato." Another fresh, tasty dish where not a bite went to waste.
Everything about our experience at Amico Bio was understated yet flavorful. It was a nice change of pace- especially in the throes of winter (yes, winter; it's taking me a long time to blog the trip!) and our marathon vegan tour of London.
After a long, cold, snowy day at the Tower Bridge and the Tower of London, we were once again looking forward to sitting down to a delicious, vegan meal.
On this night, we chose Amico Bio, a vegetarian Italian restaurant with two locations in London (I think we were in Holborn).
Fair enough:
While there was a predominance of dairy cheese and even yogurt on the menu, there were many dishes available with a vegan option.
The restaurant was quaint with a European feel. As it was a Monday evening, it was not particularly busy.
My friend and I make good sharers; we started with the Bruschetta al pomodoro: tomatoes bruschetta. Don't let the simplicity fool you; it was flavorful, fresh, and hardy.
Also, Tagliere con focaccia, olive di Gaeta e oiio extra vergine organico: "Homemade focaccia bread, breadsticks, gatea olives and organic extra vergine olive oil." Upon consumption, it became abundantly clear that the reason I don't like focaccia is because mine doesn't taste like this. Each element was as beautifully presented as it was delicious.
I should note that the menu does not showcase your typical spaghetti and meatballs Italian food. Although they had a few choices that erred on the traditional side, we found them to be without a vegan option available. So, for an entree I chose Arancini di potate, peperoncini: "Potato croquette with braised onions, sweet peppers, and Romaine." A potato croquette!! Who doesn't love a potato croquette? Again: simple, but extremely well-prepared. It looks oily in this photograph, but it wasn't.
For my friend: Polenta arrosto con pomodoro: "Pan fried polenta with roasted tomato." Another fresh, tasty dish where not a bite went to waste.
Everything about our experience at Amico Bio was understated yet flavorful. It was a nice change of pace- especially in the throes of winter (yes, winter; it's taking me a long time to blog the trip!) and our marathon vegan tour of London.
this place looks great! I would love to try that polenta!
ReplyDeleteI had a dubious first visit to Amico Bio but the second was much, much better. The focaccia is darned delicious too!
ReplyDeleteI can't believe how much veg dining in London has changed since I was there — so many more (and better) places to eat. Did you try any of the Indian restaurants? They really came through for us all over England. In the smallest of towns, there was always an Indian restaurant, and it was usually really good.
ReplyDeleteps I don't want to jinx my blog by saying this, but blogger has caught every single spam comment so far. I hate spam.
I miss London!! Looks like a fantastic meal!
ReplyDeleteLooks great, I'll try to go next time I'm in London. The foccacia really does look gorgeous!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.parisvegan.com/
jinxed.
ReplyDeleteThis looks awesome - my daughter will be in London next month and I'm keeping a list of vegetarian places for her...
ReplyDeleteBYOL- it was really low-key too, which I liked.
ReplyDeletevegan.in.brighton- I'm beginning to see that the menu at the other location (courtesy Laziest Vegans) is much different. I think I'd return for the starters alone, but I wish they'd go all vegan already.
Andrea, unfortunately we did NOT try any Indian restaurants while we were there; we had a limited amount of days and so many other restaurants on our radar. Although, we'd have been happy to have traded one experience in particular: coming soon.
Kylie, It was definitely not as veganlicious as NY, but we had some terrific meals.
Helen Bird, check out some of my other London reviews for other great experiences.
Tofu Mom, ^ you too!
Abby,
ReplyDeleteI'll never forget our experience having dinner here.
Amico Bio in London is were I fell in love with black olives. Thank you.
I've had some kind of hit and miss experiences at Amico Bio - really glad yours was a hit. That croquette in particular looks great.
ReplyDeleteMy Vegan Gut, I thought they were gaeta?
ReplyDeleteJoey, I can see that happening, but I can always fill up on bread ;-)