It has been exciting over the last few years to see fine dining restaurants slowly warming up to veganism. By the time I learned that this was happening, we were deep into the pandemic with no possibility of travelling to the few restaurants that were starting to lead the way. I went to a couple of fancy restaurants in Hong Kong back in 2011 and even just the vegetarian options were very disheartening: grilled asparagus in one, risotto in another. So, what a treat that the fine dining world is moving on now and us vegans get to share in these culinary wonders! Gauthier Soho in London reinvented itself as an all vegan restaurant in 2021, and we made our first visit the following summer. It was a delight!

You can choose between a 5 course and an 8 course option (well, you can’t really choose – it depends on what time you’ve booked in for). Dr HH and I went for 8 courses, because if you’re going to do something you might as well do it properly. We had no regrets.

There were two canapes, the thin tomato tart ‘BLT’ and the aubergine, celery, and capers. I’m not wild about celery, but the other two flavours made up for it. The tarts were a delight, with some intriguing textures along with the burst of tomato.

Next came the dish of the day, the kouglof brioche which was served with creamy feta and tasty pico de gallo. This was beautiful! At the time, it was the best bread we’d ever tried (since usurped by Eleven Madison Park), a really incredible bake. And the feta and pico de gallo were fresh and flavoursome. It was a perfect combination, and I would have loved another helping.

The roast fennel was next, which included Szechuan pickled blackberry, beans, fennel, and blackcurrant leaf tea. This was a bit of a miss for me. I struggle to eat anything with that long, stringy texture of these leafy bits because I’m always so worried about choking on them, and I think a little fruit goes a long way in a savoury dish, so this was a bit too fruity from the blackberries for my tastes.

You can never get away without being served risotto, can you? This course was called black antipodean melanosporum truffle, and it was good as risotto goes. It was creamy and well seasoned. After being vegetarian in the 1990s though, I’ve long since hit my limit with risottos. You’ve had one, you’ve had them all!

The rather excitingly named barbecued loin of kohlrabi came next, with samphire and sea broth and sake beurre blanc. This was more of a return to form, with some fun textures and tastes. The beurre blanc was decadent.

The next course, simply named peach, was the pre-dessert and consisted of green shiso and lime sorbet. As you would hope from this course, it was refreshing and quite light, paving the way for the main event…

What a dessert! This was the norvegienne brulee, which is one of my all time favourite desserts. The base was a sable biscuit which was really delicious. The strawberry was fresh and full of flavour. The meringue was an absolute delight! I’m not sure I’ve had meringue that good before or after. I usually knock a point off for a pudding if it’s got no chocolate, but this one was absolutely top notch.

We did get some chocolate at the end those, with these dark chocolate petit fours. The cake was nice, and the macaron was excellent. It seems like macarons have gone a bit out of fashion since their 200s heyday, but I still find them impressive.

All in all, it was quite the feast! Service was very good, and the pacing of the courses was just right. We left feeling full, but not uncomfortably so. I always feel a bit concerned about dress codes at places like these, but however casually we dress, we are almost never the most casual – there were other people in shorts and trainers, very obviously arriving after a full day of touristing. We enjoyed the experience so much that we went back in summer 2023 with Mother HH in tow – more on that next time.