Holy Carrot Review 2026: Notting Hill’s Polished Plant-Based Dining Room With The Best Vegan Cocktails In London

This Holy Carrot Review by London Reviews is the most thorough independent assessment available of Irina Linovich’s destination plant-based restaurant — the venue that started life in Knightsbridge’s Urban Retreat in 2021, established itself as the luxury vegan dining-room of west London, and then moved its flagship to a handsome corner site on Portobello Road in Notting Hill. We’ve drawn on TripAdvisor, OpenTable, Google reviews, The Nudge, JustLuxe, Vegconomist, Hot Dinners, HappyCow, the restaurant’s own published menus and direct reporting.

Last updated: 15 May 2026. London Reviews is editorially independent. Holy Carrot did not pay for, sponsor or pre-approve this review.

Looking for an honest Holy Carrot review? This is the most thorough Holy Carrot London review you’ll find anywhere in 2026 — covering Chef Daniel Watkins’s open-fire-and-fermentation cooking philosophy, the seasonal menu and signature dishes (the Sexy Tofu, the Maki Set, the Raw Red Pepper Burrito), exact pricing, the cocktail programme, the Notting Hill flagship plus the East London Spitalfields site, what real diners actually say, how it stacks up against Gauthier Soho and Plates Shoreditch, and whether the £14–£68 spend per head is worth it. Spoiler: largely yes.

Holy Carrot at a Glance

Why Holy Carrot Matters — And Why We’re Reviewing It Now

Holy Carrot started in 2021 as the bold new tenant of Urban Retreat in Knightsbridge — the kind of address where £18 small plates make sense and the diner expects sake pairings as standard. The original site was a statement of intent: plant-based dining could exist in postcodes that had historically been the preserve of foie gras and martini-trolleys. It worked. The room filled. Critics paid attention. The team moved the flagship to a handsome corner site on Portobello Road in 2023, opened a second site in Spitalfields in 2024, and Holy Carrot is now one of the few names that punctuate every “best plant-based London” list alongside Plates Shoreditch, Gauthier Soho and Mildred’s.

We’re reviewing Holy Carrot because the Notting Hill flagship is the most polished operation in the group and because Daniel Watkins’s open-fire and fermentation cooking is what plant-based dining looks like when it stops trying to imitate meat and starts treating vegetables as the main event. The Sexy Tofu is a viral dish. The Maki Set has its own social-media following. The chocolate ganache is rumoured to be the best plant-based dessert outside Plates. And the Holy Bar — a small botanical cocktail bar tucked off the main dining room — is reason enough for a separate visit on its own.

Location and Getting There

The Notting Hill flagship sits at 156 Portobello Road, between the antique-market end of the road and the Westbourne Grove crossing. The site is a substantial double-fronted Victorian shop with floor-to-ceiling windows, set just far enough north of the Notting Hill Gate junction to escape the tourist crush but close enough to be a five-minute walk from the Tube.

By Underground

• Notting Hill Gate (Central, Circle, District lines) — four minutes’ walk north up Pembridge Road. The fastest option from anywhere west or central.
• Ladbroke Grove (Hammersmith & City line) — eight minutes’ walk south. The right station from Paddington or anywhere via the Hammersmith & City.
• Westbourne Park (Hammersmith & City) — ten minutes’ walk. Useful from west London.
• Holland Park (Central) — twelve minutes’ walk west. Worth knowing if your day starts in Shepherd’s Bush or Holland Park.

By Bus

The 23, 28, 31, 52, 70 and 328 all stop on or near Portobello Road within three minutes’ walk. The 23 in particular is the useful Westminster-to-Westbourne Park spine route.

By Car

Notting Hill is inside the ULEZ. Parking on Portobello Road itself is restricted; the nearest paid car park is at Lancaster Gate, fifteen minutes’ walk away. Taxis and Ubers are the only sensible options if you’re not on public transport.

The Neighbourhood

You’re spoiled. The Portobello Road market runs Friday and Saturday and is one of the great London tourist destinations. The Electric Cinema (members’ club, but with a public-bookable bar) is a five-minute walk south. The Cow on Westbourne Park Road is the locals’ favourite gastropub. For post-dinner drinks, Trailer Happiness on Portobello Road does proper tiki cocktails; the bar at Core by Clare Smyth is a fifteen-minute walk if you want to compare a three-star meat dining room.

First Impressions and Atmosphere

You walk into the Portobello Road site and the first thing you notice is the light. The double-fronted Victorian windows let in proper afternoon sun, the floor is polished concrete, the chairs are mid-century European, the lighting fixtures are oversized glass globes hanging at varied heights. The aesthetic is what design magazines call “considered” — not minimalist exactly, but every object in the room is there on purpose. The room is divided informally between the main dining area and the Holy Bar at the back, where the open kitchen is visible to bar diners.

The lunch crowd is heavy on Notting Hill mothers, freelancer pairs with laptops at the bar, and the occasional industry meeting. From 6pm onwards it shifts to couples, larger date-night tables, and a steady flow of regulars who clearly know the team by name. The atmosphere is calm rather than buzzy — closer to the considered hush of Plates than the buzz of Mildred’s. Music is low, conversation is easy to hold, the tables are well spaced.

The Holy Bar deserves its own mention. Tucked at the back of the room, six high seats at a polished oak counter, a botanical-led cocktail programme run by one of the most thoughtful bartenders in west London, and a small plates menu that overlaps with the main room but adds a few bar-only snacks. It is the seat to want if you are visiting solo or as a pair without a reservation.

The Kitchen: Daniel Watkins and the Open-Fire Philosophy

Daniel Watkins is the chef who has properly shaped Holy Carrot. He arrived during the Knightsbridge era with a reputation for fermentation and open-fire cooking — the two techniques that have come to define the kitchen’s identity. The cooking style sits squarely in the contemporary plant-based-fine-dining camp: small-grower vegetables treated with the precision of a French kitchen, fire as the main heat source, fermentation as the seasoning backbone. There is no fake meat, no soy-mince shortcut, no apologetic substitution. Vegetables are the main event.

Sourcing is the kitchen’s quiet strength. Watkins has cultivated long-term relationships with British growers — small-batch producers, foragers, fermenters — and the menu shifts with what’s coming in from those relationships. The aubergine for the Sexy Tofu, the cauliflower for the fire-grilled main, the heritage tomatoes for the late-summer Maki Set; all named on the menu, all traceable. Plant-based dining at this price point tends to disappoint on sourcing transparency; Holy Carrot doesn’t.

The brigade is small — six cooks across two services on a busy Saturday — and the open kitchen at the back of the room means diners on the Holy Bar can watch every dish leave the pass. The pace is calm rather than frenetic, which is unusual for a Notting Hill kitchen and tells you something about how the rotation is managed.

The Menu: Small Plates, Large Plates, Tasting

The menu format is sensible. Small plates designed to share (£9–£18), a few larger main-course plates (£15–£25), three or four desserts (£8–£12), and a seasonal tasting menu (£60–£75) that runs alongside the à la carte for diners who want the kitchen to drive.

Signature Small Plates

• Sexy Tofu — £15. The viral dish. Crisp organic tofu in a sauce of fire-roasted aubergine, red pepper and peanut, finished with toasted sesame and fresh coriander. Rich, properly spicy, the dish that most reviewers leave thinking about.
• Maki Set — £18. Eight pieces of plant-based maki featuring seasonal fillings — typically smoked aubergine, marinated heritage tomato, cucumber-ginger, and a “spicy not-tuna” of fermented carrot. Beautifully constructed; the dish that converts sushi sceptics.
• Raw Red Pepper Burrito — £9. A whole red pepper hollowed out and filled with quinoa, herbs, cashew cream and a salsa verde. Vegan-fine-dining show-off cooking, properly done.
• Fire-grilled cauliflower. Whole cauliflower charred over the open fire, served with tahini, pomegranate and chilli oil. The dish that anchors most main-course orders.
• Korean fried not-chicken bao. Bar snack. Properly crisp.

Mains

Mains rotate seasonally but reliable stalwarts include the wild mushroom risotto with truffle oil, the smoked aubergine “shawarma” wrap with house pickles, the celeriac steak with seasonal greens, and a rotating pasta course that tends to be the kitchen’s most polarising main — diners either love the squid-ink linguine made with seaweed-stained pasta or find it odd. The mains are sized to share or to follow two or three small plates; portions are honest rather than huge.

Desserts

The chocolate ganache is the signature dessert — bitter dark chocolate, sea salt, olive oil, served at room temperature. Reviewers consistently call it one of the best vegan chocolate desserts in London. The seasonal pavlova (with whipped aquafaba and macerated berries in summer; with poached pear in autumn) is the alternative. The vegan basque cheesecake is the late-night order — sticky, properly burnt on top, served with a small glass of dessert wine.

Tasting Menu — £60–£75

Seven to nine courses, driven by the kitchen, rotates seasonally. £75 includes the wine pairing. Less ambitious than Gauthier Soho’s Grand Dîner; less expensive than Plates’ Signature; the right option for diners who want the kitchen to choose.

Dietary

Everything is vegan and almost everything is gluten-free by default. Refined sugar absent throughout. Tree nut allergies require 24 hours’ notice. The team is genuinely informed on allergens — the menu carries a clear allergen index.

The Holy Bar: Cocktails and Drinks

The cocktail programme is the quiet strength of the venue. Botanical-led, herbal in tone, with a small selection of low-intervention spirits (mezcal, gin, vodka, vermouth) and a properly considered non-alcoholic list. Cocktails run £13–£15; non-alcoholic cocktails £8–£10. The “Holy Negroni” (mezcal, vegan-friendly vermouth, sweet bitter) is the bar’s signature; the “Green Goddess” (gin, cucumber, dill, lime) is the summer alternative.

The wine list is small (about 40 bottles) but well-judged, with a Loire-leaning natural wine focus and most options certified vegan. Bottles run £35–£85. By-the-glass options are particularly strong. The sommelier service is light-touch — the bar team and floor team share responsibility — but knowledgeable.

Pricing and Value for Money

Holy Carrot sits between the casual end of plant-based London (Mildred’s at £42 per head) and the fine-dining tier (Plates at £196 per head with wine pairing). The honest assessment: it’s slightly pricier than the casual middle of the market, but it’s properly competitive with Notting Hill omnivore peers and noticeably cheaper than the Mayfair plant-based equivalent.

Our assessment: Holy Carrot is fairly priced for the cooking, the room, the sourcing and the postcode. The small plates are the smart way in — pick three or four for a couple and share. The tasting menu at £75 with wine pairing is one of the better-value tasting experiences in west London. The cocktail mark-up is competitive for Notting Hill.

What Diners Actually Say

TripAdvisor (4.2/5)

The TripAdvisor score is the lowest of the three platforms because TripAdvisor tends to capture more first-time tourists who arrive with mixed expectations. The five-star reviews skew British, repeat-visit, dish-specific (the Sexy Tofu, the chocolate ganache, the cocktails). The lower-star reviews cluster around two themes: pricing-vs-portion expectations, and a handful of diners who didn’t realise the kitchen has no à la carte alternative if you don’t like the small-plates format.

OpenTable (4.7/5)

The most reliable single number. OpenTable diners book, turn up, and rate. Food consistently sits at 4.7; service at 4.8; atmosphere at 4.6. The room scores are dragged slightly by a small thread of complaints about noise on Friday and Saturday nights — but it’s mild buzz, not industrial noise.

Google Reviews (4.6/5, 700+ reviews)

Common five-star phrases: “didn’t realise it was vegan”, “best cocktails in Notting Hill”, “service made the evening”, “the tofu is unreal”. Negative reviews are vanishingly rare and usually about expectations rather than execution.

Professional Critics

The Nudge calls Holy Carrot one of the best refined vegan dining rooms in London. JustLuxe ran a long feature on the Knightsbridge opening calling it “London’s best new vegan restaurant” of 2021. Hot Dinners has tracked every site opening. Vegconomist covered the launch as a sign that plant-based fine dining had arrived in postcode-led London. Time Out and Square Meal list it in their plant-based round-ups consistently.

What Diners Love Most

1. The Sexy Tofu. The single most-mentioned dish in reviews. Crisp, properly spicy, viral on social.
2. Daniel Watkins’s open-fire cooking. The fire-grilled cauliflower in particular picks up steady mentions.
3. The chocolate ganache. One of the strongest plant-based desserts in west London.
4. The Holy Bar cocktails. Botanical, careful, properly priced.
5. The light-filled room. Reviewers love the Portobello Road windows.
6. The sourcing. Named growers, traceable ingredients, gluten-free by default.
7. The non-alcoholic programme. Strong enough that confirmed wine drinkers sometimes order it.
8. The service. Warm, well-informed, unhurried.

Areas for Consideration

1. Pricing-for-portions perception. Small plates are not enormous. Order three to four for two people.
2. The risotto and the squid-ink pasta are polarising. First-time diners should stick to the Sexy Tofu, the Maki Set and the fire-grilled cauliflower.
3. The Friday/Saturday noise. The room is generally calm but peaks on weekends.
4. Cocktail wait times at peak. The bar team is small; cocktails can take 10–12 minutes during the 7–9pm rush.
5. Limited bottle list. 40 bottles is fine for the format but wine-led diners may prefer the deeper lists at Gauthier or Plates.

Who Is Holy Carrot Best For?

✅ Strongly recommended for:

• Date nights in Notting Hill that want food without compromise but a relaxed room.
• Vegan and vegetarian diners who don’t want a tasting-menu commitment.
• Sceptical meat-eating partners — the Sexy Tofu and the fire-grilled cauliflower win them over.
• Cocktail enthusiasts — the Holy Bar is the destination.
• Brunch and lunch in west London.
• Small groups of 4–6 sharing small plates.
• Diners with gluten-free or allergen-sensitive requirements.

⚠️ Less suitable for:

• Diners expecting a fully-formed tasting-menu experience at Plates pricing.
• Large groups over 10 — fits, but the small-plates format gets logistically tricky.
• Diners who hate Notting Hill traffic on Saturdays (visit Sunday instead).
• Late-night sittings after 10pm — kitchen closes earlier than the bar.

How Holy Carrot Compares

Verdict: Holy Carrot occupies its own niche. Less formal than Gauthier, less expensive than Plates, more polished than Mildred’s. The right choice for a Notting Hill or Spitalfields dinner where you want serious cooking, serious cocktails and a serious room — without the fixed-menu commitment of the Michelin tier.

How to Book Holy Carrot and Insider Tips

1. Direct via holycarrot.co.uk — the most reliable option.
2. OpenTable — useful if you collect points.
3. Phone for groups over 8 or for the Holy Bar (counter seats not always bookable).

Insider Tips

• Sit at the Holy Bar if you’re a pair without a reservation — you’ll get the kitchen view and the cocktail-bar attention.
• Order three small plates per person — that’s the right calibration.
• The Sexy Tofu, the Maki Set and the chocolate ganache are non-negotiable on a first visit.
• Sunday lunch is the most relaxed sitting.
• The non-alcoholic cocktails are properly worth ordering — even confirmed drinkers should try one.
• Tell the kitchen if it’s a special occasion — they do a small dessert flourish.
• Reservations open four weeks in advance for the flagship; the Spitalfields site is generally easier to book.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Holy Carrot in London 100% vegan?

Yes — Holy Carrot in Notting Hill and Spitalfields is fully plant-based. Every dish, sauce, dressing, dessert, wine and cocktail on the menu is vegan, and most dishes are also gluten-free, refined-sugar-free and free of preservatives.

How much does dinner at Holy Carrot in London cost?

Dinner at Holy Carrot typically costs £55–£70 per person for two small plates, a main and a cocktail; £75–£90 with three plates, dessert and two cocktails. The tasting menu is £60 alone or £75 with wine pairing. Small plates are £9–£18, mains £15–£25, desserts £8–£12. Service charge is 12.5%.

Where is Holy Carrot Notting Hill in London?

The Holy Carrot Notting Hill flagship is at 156 Portobello Road, London W11 2EB. The nearest Tube is Notting Hill Gate (Central, Circle, District — four minutes), with Ladbroke Grove and Westbourne Park (both Hammersmith & City) also within a ten-minute walk.

Who is the chef at Holy Carrot in London?

Chef Daniel Watkins leads the kitchen at Holy Carrot. He specialises in open-fire cooking and fermentation, and has built long-standing relationships with British growers and small-batch producers. The menu rotates seasonally around what’s coming in from those sourcing relationships.

What are the signature dishes to order at Holy Carrot in London?

The signature dishes are the Sexy Tofu (£15 — aubergine, red pepper, peanut sauce), the Maki Set (£18 — seasonal plant-based maki), the Raw Red Pepper Burrito (£9), the fire-grilled whole cauliflower, and the chocolate ganache. These dishes anchor every five-star review.

Does Holy Carrot in London have a cocktail bar?

Yes — the Holy Bar is a small botanical cocktail bar tucked at the back of the Notting Hill flagship, with six counter seats and a view of the open kitchen. Cocktails are £13–£15; non-alcoholic options £8–£10. The “Holy Negroni” (mezcal, vegan-friendly vermouth) is the bar’s signature drink.

Is Holy Carrot in London wheelchair accessible?

The Notting Hill flagship has step-free ground-floor entry and an accessible WC. The Spitalfields site is fully step-free throughout. Wheelchair users should request a ground-floor table at the time of booking.

How does Holy Carrot compare to Gauthier Soho and Plates Shoreditch in London?

Holy Carrot is à la carte and tasting (£55–£90 per head); Gauthier Soho is classical French plant-based tasting only (Michelin Green Star, £75–£195); Plates Shoreditch is modern plant-based tasting only (UK’s first plant-based Michelin Star, £196–£242 with wine). Holy Carrot is the more flexible and slightly cheaper option for a casual dinner; the Michelin venues are special-occasion bookings.

Does Holy Carrot in London offer a vegan tasting menu?

Yes — Holy Carrot offers a seasonal tasting menu at £60 alone or £75 with wine pairing. The tasting runs alongside the à la carte and rotates with the season. Seven to nine courses driven by the kitchen.

Is Holy Carrot in London suitable for gluten-free diners?

Yes — most dishes at Holy Carrot are naturally gluten-free by design (the kitchen avoids refined sugar and excess gluten). Specific gluten-free menus can be prepared with 24 hours’ notice. The allergen index is printed on every menu.

London Reviews Verdict on Holy Carrot

Holy Carrot is the polished, postcode-confident face of London’s plant-based scene. Irina Linovich’s bet — that vegan dining could exist in the same conversation as Notting Hill’s omnivore institutions — was the right bet, and Daniel Watkins’s fire-and-fermentation kitchen has delivered the goods. The Sexy Tofu is properly viral. The chocolate ganache is properly excellent. The Holy Bar cocktail programme would justify a visit on its own.

The room is right. The pricing is fair. The service is warm. The sourcing is transparent. None of these things is the cheapest version of itself, but every one of them is the better version. If you’re a Notting Hill local looking for a relaxed Friday-night dinner, Holy Carrot is the answer. If you’re a Spitalfields local, the East London site is the answer. If you’re a tourist with one plant-based meal planned and you don’t want the Plates Michelin commitment, Holy Carrot is the answer.

Our recommendation: book a table for two at the Holy Bar counter, order the Sexy Tofu, the Maki Set, the fire-grilled cauliflower, the chocolate ganache, and a Holy Negroni each. That’s the calibration. £75 per head. Two and a half hours. The most enjoyable plant-based dinner in west London for the money.

Related London Reviews

• Mildred’s Soho Review
• Plates Shoreditch Review
• Gauthier Soho Review
• Donia London Review
• Core by Clare Smyth Review
• The Ledbury Review
• Sketch Lecture Room and Library Review
• All Hotels and Restaurants Reviews

Summary: Our Holy Carrot Review

Disclaimer: This Holy Carrot review is editorially independent. Sources: TripAdvisor, OpenTable, Google Reviews, The Nudge, JustLuxe, Vegconomist, Hot Dinners, HappyCow and the restaurant’s official menus. Prices and opening hours accurate to the best of our knowledge at publication.

Have you eaten at Holy Carrot? Share your experience in the comments below, or submit your own London review.