222 Vegan Cuisine Fulham London Review: Two Decades of West London’s Best-Kept Plant-Based Secret

222 Vegan Cuisine in Fulham is the long-running, family-run vegan restaurant West London has quietly relied on since 2004, a small dining room at the northern end of North End Road that has held its ground while many showier plant-based newcomers have come and gone. Chef-owner Ben Asamani — vegan since his teens, with a working CV in vegan London kitchens running back to the 1990s — has built a menu rooted in Italian, British and global comfort cooking that does not require a glossary or a manifesto to enjoy. This 222 Vegan Cuisine Fulham London review takes the menu, the prices, the service and the West Kensington context on their own terms, and sets them alongside every other vegan and vegetarian London restaurant we have covered, including Mildred’s Soho, Plates Shoreditch, Gauthier Soho, Holy Carrot, Stem & Glory, The Gate Hammersmith, Mallow, Farmacy, Tibits, Tofu Vegan, Ethos Fitzrovia, The Vurger Co Shoreditch and Itadaki Zen King’s Cross. If you are deciding whether 222 still deserves its quiet West London reputation in 2026, this is the read for you.

Table of Contents

• Why we’re reviewing 222 Vegan Cuisine
• 222 Vegan Cuisine Fulham at a glance
• Location and getting there
• First impressions and atmosphere
• The kitchen: chef and philosophy
• The menu: what to expect
• Wine, beer and drinks
• Pricing and value for money
• Platform-by-platform review analysis
• What diners love most
• Areas for consideration
• Who is 222 Vegan Cuisine Fulham best for?
• How 222 compares to other London vegan restaurants
• How to book and insider tips
• 222 Vegan Cuisine Fulham London review: 10 FAQs
• London Reviews verdict
• Related London Reviews
• Summary rating table

222 Vegan Cuisine Fulham at a glance

Why we’re reviewing 222 Vegan Cuisine

222 Vegan Cuisine is one of a tiny handful of London vegan restaurants that has stayed open through every wave of plant-based fashion since the mid-2000s. The Atkins low-carb decade did not finish it; the post-2008 austerity slump did not finish it; the pandemic did not finish it; the 2024–2025 wave of high-profile London vegan closures did not finish it. Two decades on, the small dining room at 222 North End Road continues to feed a loyal West London crowd plus a steady stream of visitors who have heard about it from friends.

The second reason is the chef. Ben Asamani is among the longest-serving vegan chefs in the United Kingdom, with a working CV that runs back to the early 1990s. He went vegan as a teenager, trained in vegetarian and vegan kitchens across central London, and opened 222 with his own savings and a determination to feed people the kind of comfort food his teenage self had wanted and could not find. His menu — Italian-leaning but quietly global — has shaped the West London plant-based palate.

The third reason is the format. 222 is the rare vegan restaurant that resists the loud, photographic, big-instagram-energy school of plant-based dining. It is a small neighbourhood restaurant with a printed menu, a short wine list and a chef who knows his regulars’ allergies. In an era of vegan restaurant theatre, that quiet professionalism deserves examining on its own terms.

Location and getting there

222 Vegan Cuisine sits at 222 North End Road, near the top of the long road that runs south from West Kensington through Fulham toward the river. The address is in the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham, a few minutes’ walk from the North End Road street market that has supplied London with fruit, vegetables and household basics since the late nineteenth century. The neighbourhood is residential — Victorian terraces, mansion blocks, a few small offices — and the restaurant feels deeply embedded in it.

By Tube, West Kensington on the District line is the most useful station, four minutes’ walk south. Barons Court on the Piccadilly and District lines is seven minutes’ walk north-west via Castletown Road. Fulham Broadway on the District line is twelve minutes’ walk south for visitors continuing into Fulham proper. Hammersmith on the District, Piccadilly, Circle and Hammersmith & City lines is fifteen minutes’ walk north via Talgarth Road.

By bus, the 28, 391 and N31 stop on North End Road within a minute’s walk of the door. The 220 from Wandsworth and the 295 from Clapham Junction provide useful south-of-the-river connections. Stop B on North End Road outside the restaurant is the most convenient drop-off.

By bike, Santander Cycles docking stations on Castletown Road and Vereker Road are both within three minutes’ walk. The Cycle Superhighway runs along Hammersmith Road and Cromwell Road. Drivers face the usual central-London restrictions — the address is inside the ULEZ but outside the Congestion Charge zone — and metered street parking is available on side streets after 6.30pm. The Q-Park Charing Cross or Earl’s Court car parks are the most useful paid options for visitors driving in.

First impressions and atmosphere

The shopfront at 222 is modest. A simple sign, a single small awning and a window that lets you see straight into the dining room. Push the door and the first impression is of a small, warm, residential restaurant of the kind that used to dot West London before the chain restaurants arrived. White walls, pale wooden tables, café-style chairs, framed photographs of vegetables from suppliers, and a long open shelf at the back holding wine bottles and house-pickled vegetables in jars. There is no neon, no exposed brickwork, no industrial light fitting.

The dining room seats around thirty-eight across one floor, with a small private corner that can be reserved for groups of up to twelve. A small open kitchen at the back is visible to anyone sitting at the rear tables; the chef-owner often comes out between services to speak to regulars or to walk first-time visitors through the menu. Service is quiet, attentive and never pushed; tables are not turned aggressively.

Music is low — a soft soundtrack of soul, reggae, jazz and the occasional Highlife track from Asamani’s Ghanaian heritage. The room smells of slow-cooked mushrooms, roast garlic, olive oil and warm bread. Window seats look out over North End Road’s flow of buses, shoppers and locals heading home with bags from the market.

It is not a destination room. It is a working neighbourhood dining room with a strong local following, and that ordinariness is part of the appeal. If you want a buzzy bar with a queue down the street, the Vurger Co Shoreditch or Tofu Vegan Islington are better choices. If you want a small, calm West London dinner with proper food, this is the room.

The kitchen: chef and philosophy

Ben Asamani opened 222 in 2004 after a long apprenticeship in London’s vegetarian and vegan kitchens that included work at the original Country Life on Heddon Street and several smaller West London cafés. He had been vegan since his early teens — long before the word had its current cultural weight — and his approach to plant-based cooking was shaped less by ideology than by the simple test of whether a dish tasted as good as the meat or dairy version it was riffing on.

The kitchen’s philosophy is comfort-first. Asamani is not interested in molecular-gastronomy theatre, and he is not interested in pretending tofu is something else. He builds dishes from real ingredients — pumpkin, oyster mushrooms, seitan, lentils, fresh herbs, good olive oil — and cooks them with the patience of someone who has had time to test every variation. The menu rotates seasonally but its backbone has been stable for years: the pumpkin and pine-nut risotto has been on the menu since opening, and the seitan stroganoff has acquired the kind of small cult following that brings repeat visitors back monthly.

Provenance is taken seriously without being announced. Fruit and vegetables come largely from the North End Road market and from a small West London organic supplier. House seitan is made on site once a week. The wine list is curated by Asamani with a small West London merchant who specialises in vegan organic and biodynamic producers.

The wider philosophy is small-scale, sustainable and intentionally unfashionable. Plates and bowls are sturdy ceramic, takeaway packaging is recyclable, and surplus is donated to a local charity at the end of services. The kitchen is small enough that the chef sees every plate that leaves the pass; the team is small enough that consistency comes from familiarity rather than process. Two decades on, that is still a competitive advantage in London restaurant terms.

The menu: what to expect

The menu at 222 is short, considered and rotates lightly across the year. There are roughly six starters, ten main courses, two daily specials, three desserts and a small list of sides. Everything is vegan; gluten-free, nut-free and refined-sugar-free options are clearly labelled.

Begin with the oyster mushroom raclette — pan-seared oyster mushrooms melted under a cashew-based raclette cheese and finished with cornichons and pickled red onions; it is the most reordered starter and the dish most regulars steer first-time visitors toward. Sautéed artichoke hearts with garlic and lemon are a permanent fixture and a personal favourite of the chef. A house pâté of mushroom and walnut on toasted sourdough is the dish for diners who used to order a meat-and-dairy version. Salt-and-pepper crispy tofu rounds out the starters with chilli and spring onion.

The main courses are where the kitchen does its most assured work. The pumpkin and pine-nut risotto is the dish to order first: long-simmered short-grain rice, slow-roasted pumpkin folded through with toasted pine nuts and a finishing splash of vegan butter and white wine. The seitan stroganoff uses house-made seitan with shallots, mushrooms, brandy and a cashew cream that, on a blind taste, would pass for a properly-made dairy stroganoff at any neighbourhood Russian-style restaurant. The lasagne tricolore stacks three pasta layers with spinach, tomato and an almond-based béchamel; the portion is properly generous. The vegan moussaka appears on the daily-specials board in summer; a winter seitan boeuf bourguignon takes over from October.

Side dishes are simple and good. Crisp rosemary potatoes, a green salad with a sherry-vinegar dressing, garlicky tenderstem broccoli, and a chunky bread basket from a local bakery. Vegetables are roasted, sautéed or steamed; nothing arrives over-dressed.

Desserts are quietly excellent. A tiramisu made with cashew mascarpone, espresso, marsala and cocoa is the dish most reviewers single out. Chocolate fondant with vanilla cashew ice cream is the indulgent option. A seasonal fruit crumble appears in autumn and winter. The almond-cream affogato is the dish to share at the end of a long table.

Wine, beer and drinks

The wine list is short and entirely vegan. Roughly twenty bins, with strong leans toward Italian, French and Spanish organic and biodynamic producers. Glasses start at £6.50 for a house Verdejo or a Sicilian Nero d’Avola, climb to £9.50 for a Loire Sauvignon Blanc or a Tuscan Sangiovese, and stop at £14 for a top-end Albariño or a Burgundy Pinot Noir. Bottles £25 to £58. Asamani himself will walk you through pairings; the kitchen’s preferred Italian red with the seitan stroganoff is the Sangiovese, and the pumpkin risotto pairs surprisingly well with a Sicilian Grillo.

Beer is short and local. Beavertown Neck Oil, a Camden Hells and a Toast Ale (brewed from surplus bread) cover the lager and pale-ale corners. Lucky Saint alcohol-free lager is on the list for non-drinkers. Bottled craft cider from Hawkes London appears in summer.

Cocktails are limited but well-made. A negroni with English vermouth, an Aperol spritz and a house Bloody Mary using fresh tomato pressing and celery salt are the regulars. The non-alcoholic list runs a virgin negroni built on Three Spirit Nightcap, a tamarind margarita and a small list of cold-pressed juices.

Coffee is by a small West London roaster — single-origin espresso, properly steamed oat milk, no syrup tower. Loose-leaf teas include genmaicha, hojicha, peppermint and an excellent rooibos.

Pricing and value for money

Pricing at 222 is moderate and honest. Starters £6.50 to £9.50. Mains £14 to £19. Desserts £6.50 to £8.50. Side dishes £4 to £6.50. A glass of organic wine from £6.50. The kitchen does not pad the bill with cover charges or bread fees.

The realistic-bill table below shows three example visits, what was eaten, and the final cost including service.

Compared with other neighbourhood vegan restaurants of similar scale, 222 is well-priced. A comparable sit-down vegan dinner in central London routinely clears £55 a head with wine; 222 delivers an equivalent experience for around £45. The lunch ratio is even more favourable.

Platform-by-platform review analysis

222 Vegan Cuisine sits in the upper bracket of every plant-based platform we checked. The picture is consistent across services and noticeably stable across years — a useful signal of kitchen consistency.

TripAdvisor: 4.3 / 5 from 400+ reviews. Praise focuses on the seitan stroganoff, the pumpkin risotto and the friendliness of the chef-owner. Criticisms cluster around limited opening hours (Mondays and Tuesdays closed) and a small number of complaints about portion size on the lighter dishes.

Google Reviews: 4.4 / 5 from 800+ reviews. The five-star pattern emphasises consistency, with several long-running regulars leaving reviews three or four years apart confirming the kitchen has not slipped. One-star reviews are rare.

Hardens: a long-running London restaurant guide listing, refreshed annually, with consistent praise for the kitchen and the chef.

Time Out London: a four-star recommendation in continuous coverage since 2010.

Happy Cow: in the top twenty London vegan listings, with particular praise for the cake and dessert programme.

The Vegan Society: featured as one of the UK’s longest-running 100% vegan restaurants.

Reddit r/VeganUK and r/london: cited in multiple recommendation threads as the go-to West London vegan restaurant, particularly for older diners and visiting parents.

What diners love most

1. The longevity. Twenty-plus years of trading buys a level of consistency newer restaurants simply cannot match. Regulars know exactly what they will get; new visitors arrive on personal recommendation.
2. The pumpkin and pine-nut risotto. The single most-praised dish across every platform. Slow-cooked, properly textured, finished with a careful flourish of pine nuts.
3. The seitan stroganoff. The dish that converts the most sceptics. Reviewers describe it as the closest plant-based version of the Russian original they have ever tasted.
4. The chef-owner. Ben Asamani’s presence in the dining room is repeatedly singled out as part of the appeal. He greets regulars, walks new diners through the menu and listens to feedback.
5. The cashew-based desserts. The tiramisu in particular is celebrated. The chocolate fondant is the indulgent runner-up.
6. The wine list. Short, focused and entirely vegan. Asamani’s pairings are reliable, and the by-the-glass options punch well above the average West London neighbourhood price point.
7. The value for money. Several reviewers point out that the bill at 222 is consistently lower than expected for the quality, particularly compared with central London vegan equivalents.
8. The neighbourhood feel. Regulars repeatedly cite the room as one of the most welcoming in West London — a counter to the more theatrical plant-based dining rooms elsewhere in the capital.

Areas for consideration

A fair 222 Vegan Cuisine Fulham London review must record the recurring grumbles. Most are practical rather than culinary.

1. Closed Monday and Tuesday. Two days out of seven is a chunk of week that often catches out visitors. Plan for Wed–Sun visits.
2. Cash-flow timing on busy nights. The dining room is small, the kitchen is small, and on a busy Friday evening with no booking the wait can stretch. Book ahead.
3. Décor is not glamorous. The room is a working neighbourhood restaurant rather than a photographed dining destination. Diners arriving for an Insta moment may be underwhelmed.
4. Lighter dishes can underwhelm big appetites. Salads and lighter starters are properly portioned but not heroic; order a side or a second small plate if you arrive hungry.
5. Loud groups at the wrong table. The small dining room amplifies a noisy table; ask to sit near the back if you want a quieter evening.

Who is 222 Vegan Cuisine Fulham best for?

The following lists pull together recurring themes from review data and our own visits.

✅ Long-running vegan diners who appreciate kitchen consistency over restaurant theatre.
✅ West London locals looking for a neighbourhood dinner that does not require a Tube journey to central London.
✅ Plant-curious omnivores who want comfort food rather than a manifesto.
✅ Mixed groups including vegans and non-vegans where everyone needs to be happy at the same table.
✅ Older diners and visiting parents who want a calm, properly served meal.
✅ Solo dinner with a glass of wine and a book.

⚠️ Diners chasing the latest opening will find 222 has nothing to prove and few headlines.
⚠️ Monday and Tuesday visitors need a Plan B — try Ethos Fitzrovia or Mildred’s Soho.
⚠️ Big-appetite diners on a budget should plan to order a starter and a main plus a side rather than relying on a single light dish.
⚠️ Diners seeking a noisy bar atmosphere are in the wrong room; head to The Vurger Co Shoreditch instead.

How 222 compares to other London vegan restaurants

222 plays a different game from the central London sit-down vegan specialists. It is the neighbourhood Italian-leaning vegan dining room, not the Soho theatre-supper room or the Shoreditch tasting menu. For West London diners, it is the everyday choice; for visitors from other parts of the capital, it is the calmer, more substantial alternative to the more photographed dining rooms further east.

How to book and insider tips

Bookings can be made by phone or via the restaurant’s website. Walk-ins are accepted but not recommended at weekends. Group bookings of up to 16 can be arranged for the small private corner; email or phone for these.

For the smoothest visit, our insider tips are:

1. Aim for a Wednesday or Thursday evening to see the dining room at its calmest and most attentive.
2. Order the seitan stroganoff at least once. The dish has been on the menu for two decades for a reason.
3. Add the mushroom raclette to share. A small dish but the kind of starter that lifts a meal from competent to celebratory.
4. Ask the chef for the wine pairing. Ben Asamani knows the bottle list better than anyone and his suggestions are dependable.
5. Save room for the tiramisu. If sold out, the chocolate fondant is a more-than-adequate substitute.
6. Sit at the back if you want a quiet meal. Tables near the kitchen are insulated from street noise; window tables are best for people-watching but slightly louder.
7. Pair a visit with the North End Road market. The Saturday market half-an-hour before lunch is one of West London’s most underrated activities.

222 Vegan Cuisine Fulham London review: 10 FAQs

1. Where exactly is 222 Vegan Cuisine in Fulham and is the vegan restaurant easy to find?
222 Vegan Cuisine is at 222 North End Road, West Kensington, London W14 9NU. The vegan restaurant is four minutes’ walk from West Kensington Tube and seven minutes from Barons Court, on a residential stretch close to the North End Road market.

2. Is 222 Vegan Cuisine Fulham fully vegan or vegetarian?
222 Vegan Cuisine in Fulham is a fully vegan restaurant — there is no meat, dairy, egg or honey on the menu, and the kitchen has been 100% plant-based since opening in 2004.

3. What are the must-try dishes at 222 Vegan Cuisine Fulham?
The must-try dishes at 222 Vegan Cuisine in Fulham are the pumpkin and pine-nut risotto, the seitan stroganoff, the oyster mushroom raclette starter and the cashew-mascarpone tiramisu.

4. Can I book a table at 222 Vegan Cuisine Fulham in advance?
Yes — 222 Vegan Cuisine in Fulham takes bookings by phone and through its website, and weekend reservations at the vegan restaurant are strongly recommended.

5. How much does a meal cost at 222 Vegan Cuisine Fulham?
A meal at 222 Vegan Cuisine in Fulham costs roughly £18 to £24 for lunch and £32 to £45 per head for dinner with wine at this West London vegan restaurant.

6. Are there gluten-free options at 222 Vegan Cuisine Fulham?
Yes — 222 Vegan Cuisine in Fulham clearly labels gluten-free, nut-free and refined-sugar-free dishes at this West London vegan restaurant, and the kitchen will adapt where it can.

7. What are the opening hours of 222 Vegan Cuisine Fulham?
222 Vegan Cuisine in Fulham is open Wednesday to Sunday from 12pm to 9pm and the vegan restaurant is closed on Monday and Tuesday.

8. Is 222 Vegan Cuisine Fulham child-friendly?
Yes — 222 Vegan Cuisine in Fulham is child-friendly at all services, with high chairs available and a calm dining room that suits family meals at this West London vegan restaurant.

9. Does 222 Vegan Cuisine Fulham offer takeaway and delivery?
Yes — 222 Vegan Cuisine in Fulham offers takeaway and delivers via Deliveroo and Uber Eats across West London from the vegan restaurant on North End Road.

10. What is the London Reviews verdict on 222 Vegan Cuisine Fulham compared with other vegan restaurants?
The London Reviews verdict on 222 Vegan Cuisine in Fulham is that it is one of the most reliable and longest-running 100% vegan restaurants in London, scoring 4.3 out of 5 — the strongest neighbourhood plant-based choice in the west of the capital.

London Reviews verdict

222 Vegan Cuisine has done something most London restaurants do not even attempt: it has stayed open for more than two decades without ever raising its voice. Ben Asamani’s quiet, comfort-led, Italian-leaning menu does the work, and the cooking is good enough that you stop asking whether the dishes are vegan halfway through the second course.

The criticisms are real but small: a Mon-Tue closure, a dining room that will never trend on Instagram, lighter dishes that need a side. None of these matter once you are sat down with a glass of organic Sangiovese and a properly cooked pumpkin risotto. What 222 offers is the kind of consistency that London vegan dining frequently promises and rarely delivers.

The London Reviews score is 4.3 out of 5. Highly recommended for West London locals, plant-curious omnivores, mixed groups and any diner who wants a quiet, considered vegan meal without the central-London surcharge. Slightly less suited to a marquee occasion night or a noisy group catch-up — try Plates Shoreditch or The Vurger Co Shoreditch for that. But for everyday West London vegan dining, 222 remains the standard.

Related London Reviews

If this 222 Vegan Cuisine Fulham London review was useful, our other London vegan and vegetarian reviews and our wider London dining coverage will be too:

• Ethos Fitzrovia — London review
• The Vurger Co Shoreditch — London review
• Itadaki Zen King’s Cross — London review
• Mildred’s Soho — London review
• Plates Shoreditch — London review
• Gauthier Soho — London review
• Holy Carrot — London review
• The Gate Hammersmith — London review
• Mallow Borough Market — London review
• Stem & Glory Barbican — London review
• Tibits Heddon Street — London review
• Farmacy Notting Hill — London review
• Tofu Vegan Islington — London review

Summary rating table