The Root Cellar - East London

This place is a hidden find! It is not in downtown LondonI was so impressed with this place! It reminds me of Lyfe Kitchen in Chicago.

The Root Cellar needs to get back to the basics and learn about basic service and how to make food taste good. First, the food.

Service- great Staff- friendly and knowledgeable. Ambience- trendy, hipster restaurant Food- Delicious, vegetarian options are available.

Four friends met for lunch at The Root Cellar and all pronounced it fun, with tasty, healthy, attractive presentations. We sampled the London producedlight English ales and bitters available which were both very good. Portions were adequate and well prepared, with a mix of vegetarian and non-vegie selections.I tried the water buffalo burger medium and home made fries. The burger was similar toelk or bison to my taste, moist, not overdone or dry. (I wasn't aware there is a Canadian water buffalo industry) The fries were small but crisp and done perfectly. My companions tried the house special, salads, and the wraps and liked them very much.Plates being carried to other tables looked very attractive and appetizing.The atmosphere is a little noisy with all brick and hard surfaces and a somewhat loudand busy lunch crowd. The Root Cellar is a welcome addition to the growing and improving EOA eatery scene.

I was in London on a business trip, and was brought by colleagues to the Root Cellar for lunch. The place is obviously very popular, and I was glad we had a reservation. The noise in the room made conversation difficult although not impossible. To me, the ambiance was not particularly restful, and maybe people like it that way. The Root Cellar would be an excellent place for vegans and vegetarians--or for that matter, anyone who wants to eat very healthily. Although there are some meat items on the menu, they are a minority. It's great to encounter a restaurant that gives high priority to vegetables, pulses, and grains.Our server was vivacious and helpful, offering her own opinion in response to questions from several people in our group.I had a large salad, labelled on the menu as "organic." Named the Fern Gully Bowl (I don't know why), it was both vegan and gluten-free. I asked for grilled tempeh to be added, for an extra $2.95. The salad was enormous, and I was still chewing away at it when the other three members of our group--who had all ordered wraps--had finished. My salad featured sweet potato chunks, lentils, kale, almonds, and cabbage. The dressing arrived separately in a tiny bowl, a feature that I appreciated, because it meant I could control the amount and the placement of the dressing.This salad was almost aggressively healthy; I felt very virtuous while eating it. It did not have as much flavour as I would have wished, so I was very glad of the tempeh, which was chewy and savoury. In the end I was not able to finish the whole thing--there was just too much. Alas, because I was travelling that day, I could not take the leftovers with me.As a drink, I had black tea with milk. The tea was served in a very tall cup. I always prefer a teapot, but this arrangement seemed to work well.All in all, I wish that there was a restaurant like the Root Cellar in my own home town. It would be great to have the option of such healthy eating closer to home.