The Gate Hammersmith

"What would London’s vegetarian dining scene be like if it had been the Indian-Iraqi Jewish brothers Adrian and Michael Daniel who had landed the Guardian vegetarian column? After all, the founders of The Gate — now a three-strong chain — had been serving zhug and tagine, and scattering pomegranate seeds and crumbled feta on their dishes for decades before Yotam Ottolenghi came along. The chain is famous for fungi dishes such as wild mushroom risotto cake in creamy cep sauce, dense and earthy as the forest floor; and there are now more Asian influences on the menu. Try delicate, tempura-like courgette flower if it’s available: stuffed with own-made ricotta and perched on a hillock of beluga lentils, it is exquisite." - Sejal Sukhadwala