Kalifornia Kitchen: The Pink Vegan Restaurant Where Looks Are The Priority

January 2020: Kalifornia Kitchen has closed permanently.

There are two types of vegans out there. There are the hardcore types who've been shunning dairy long before it was cool. And then there are the types who've been converted with the rise and rise of veganism in mainstream culture in the past few years. For this second group, the ethics of veganism do still matter, but so does looking good for the 'gram.

Kalifornia Kitchen is a café-cum-restaurant that caters to the latter group. Not that there's anything wrong with that, just know that aesthetics are prioritised here. That's obvious from the burningly pink frontage outside, drawing in passers by on Tottenham Court Road. And it's obvious from the just-as-pink interior — excepting the not one, but two, lush green flower walls.

But what about the food? It's decent enough, but it fails to overload the senses the way the design does. We begin by nibbling on kale chips covered in some form of vegan cheese, and the moreishness strikes. If they could magic up an infinite amount of these, there's no doubt that we'd still be sat in KK right now slowly clawing them out of the bowl.

Mains start with the Jackfruit and Guac Tacos. Pretty good, although the guac overpowers the taste and texture of the jackfruit. It's tasty guac, so this isn't a disaster, but we'd have preferred it a bit 'meatier'.

Similarly, the Klassic Kalifornia Burger doesn't disappoint, but nor does it blow us away. This is at least substantially meaty, and it's always a good sign when juices spurt out from the bun, but there are better vegan burgers out there. The fries that accompany it — usually the simplest part of any menu to get right — are too paprika heavy. They look and taste as though whoever prepared them doesn't know their own strength when shaking a spice jar over them, and as a result we're constantly reaching for our glass of wine after each one, to replenish moisture.

For dessert we opt for the Matcha Cheesecake — doesn't taste as off-puttingly healthy as it sounds, and acquits itself very well — and the Sticky Toffee Pudding — another item that lives in the comfort zone of enjoyable without knocking our socks off.

Kalifornia Kitchen is beautiful, and has a friendly vibe created by the extremely genuine staff. The food isn't amazing, but for the most part it won't let you down. However, for the people coming predominantly so they can pose in front of the flower wall, the taste of the food won't be important anyway.

Kalifornia Kitchen, 19 Percy Street, W1T 1DY.