Whether it’s a new year’s resolution or just a concerted effort to try and shield your arteries from the hoards of burger joints around London, going out to restaurants can be perilous when you’re trying to eat healthily.
Save avoiding all social eating situations or trying to sneak in a Tupperware box with you (don’t even try this one – it’s weird), you could instead just target the places around the city that are serving healthy dishes.
One such place is Grill Market – which now has two outposts, its flagship restaurant in Holborn and one in the same home as Lomax Chelsea. Specialising in superfood salads, grills, pre and post-training meals and protein smoothies.
Kindly inviting me to go along to have a taste (the selfless things I do for this blog, honestly), I asked if they could recommend a particular dish. The answer? ‘You have to try the protein pancakes’ (£8.40 eat in/£7 takeaway). So I did.
Oh. My. God. What you can’t see here is that there’s a hidden layer of peanut butter sprinkled with blueberries in the middle, along with the whipped Greek yoghurt, fruit compote and fresh berries. I probably count eating as one of my favourite things to do, and this stack beat my stomach into submission. It was incredible. Do try them. And if you’re wondering what’s going on with the jug of water on the table – that’s a big slab of charcoal, which removes impurities and is a nice touch to free tap water.
Want more? Here are five other healthy London restaurants worth checking out:
The Detox Kitchen (Fitzroy Place and Kingly Street Deli) – You can get deliveries to make sure you never have to think about what to eat again, but if you’re just after the one meal these delis go big on plant-based foods with lean protein, and offer a menu of fresh juice and salads, grab + go fridges for food on-the-go and eat-in options such as miso aubergine and griddled sweet potato.
Wild Food Cafe (14 Neal’s Yard) – This vegetarian cafe/restaurant describes itself as ‘raw-centric’ – more than one member of my family would balk ‘how can it be a restaurant if they’re not even going to cook anything for you?’, but it’s supposedly healthier. And the food is anything but boring – think olive, shiitake and quinoa burgers, squash curry and wild mushroom ceviche. If you love it, they also do courses.
The Good Life Eatery (59 Sloane Avenue) – Just being seen sipping on one of their shakes is a bit of a status symbol, but the food’s pretty great as well – there’s acai breakfast bowls, superfood salads, warm bowls of veg and meat and chia puddings. Oh, and as there’s a no WiFi rule in the hope that you speak to each other, you might – heaven forbid – have to eat your food without taking a picture of it first.
The Mae Deli (21 Seymour Place) – If you’re a fan of Deliciously Ella’s recipes, you’ll be please to know they’ve all come to life at her Marylebone deli – lots of fresh, tasty dishes that are all dairy, gluten and meat-free. It’s so new, there’s no website yet. But you can salivate over the Instagram account instead.
Roots & Bulbs (various locations) – Don’t worry, the number of bulbs you’re expected to eat is minimal. There’s an extensive choice of juices and smoothies to choose from, as well as dishes such as a peanut butter and banana on rye bread (YES), London eggs – poached eggs on English muffin with honey glazed ham and mustard maple sauce, plus snacks such as an R&B green tea bar and an R&B fireball – fruit and nuts with a smattering of chilli flakes. Menus vary at each outlet.
Now, go forth and eat.
Take The Lunge 