Tell Your Friends' Vegan Food Just Outpaces The Gimmick-y Name

Tell Your Friends ★★★☆☆

Harry Rosehill
By Harry Rosehill Last edited 67 months ago
Tell Your Friends' Vegan Food Just Outpaces The Gimmick-y Name Tell Your Friends 3

We're sure a lot of people start rolling their eyes when they hear about a new vegan restaurant in Parsons Green, launched by two Made In Chelsea alums. Then there's the name, Tell Your Friends, a gimmick that fits with the Instagram-ready personality of the place. However, if you get past that, you'll discover somewhere that serves some tasty, if pricey, vegan food, that has a lot going for it.

Tell Your Friends tries to capture a lot of the vegan hype that's blanketing London right now, both in terms of the stylish pastel coloured interiors, and what's on the menu. It covers both the healthy and junk food sides of veganism.

We kick things off with some small plates: a big Arancini ball and 'Tuna' Tartare. The Arancini better resembles it's non-vegan original — thick and deep fried — whereas the Tartare has very little in common with actual tuna. That's not to say it isn't tasty, but the chopped tomato and cucumber salad feels mislabeled.

Onto the mains, where we opt for a Buddha bowl, fish & chips, and the dauntingly named Moving Mountains burger. The Buddha bowl is presented beautifully and tastes just as good, with the sticky tofu in soya sauce a particular highlight.

The burger, doesn't match it for presentation, but again delivers on the taste front. This is the meatiest vegan burger we've ever sunk our teeth into, the kind that had us considering sneaking into the kitchen just to make sure it's actually plant-based. The other fillings work well, and although the aubergine bacon, is definitely not bacon, it complements the patty solidly.

Unfortunately the fish & chips doesn't live up to the quality of those other two dishes at all. It's a breaded aubergine fillet, nothing like fish, and not a very good one at that. It misses the seaweed flavour and crispy texture that other vegan alternatives go for, and doesn't even look appetising, and is served with a rather measly bowl of peas. If you're looking for vegan fish and chips, the city has so much more to offer.

For dessert we opt for the peanut butter blondie with 'nice cream'. The blondie delights, though the 'nice cream' fails to live up to its plain adjective — too much banana. We also try the hater-bating chocolate & avocado mousse. Tasty, but also a bit heavy, and there's not a hint of avocado flavour in there (although perhaps that's for the best).

There are some excellent dishes at Tell Your Friends, but as an overall restaurant it isn't quite there. Yet. A more focused menu (and lower prices), could make this a vegan hotspot in the future, but for now it's a mixed bag.

Tell Your Friends, 175 New King's Road, SW6 4SW.

Last Updated 20 August 2018