News flash; a new vegan restaurant has opened up in London! In other words, just another day in this big city. Every other day it feels as if a new vegan restaurant or cafe has popped up on the London food scene, and we're definitely not complaining! Although, it's getting quite hard to find time to taste all these exciting new menus! Eat Genesis is one of these much talked about new eateries, and after having seen many pictures of their amazing food on Instagram, we knew we had to try it out for ourselves!

Situated in Shoreditch, 2 minutes from Shoreditch High Street Station is this beautiful new restaurant. It's 100% vegan & organic with a focus on healthy food, although when reading the menu your first conclusion wouldn't be that they serve stereotypically 'healthy' food. On their menu, you'll find burgers, hot dogs, mac and cheese, tacos, nachos, noodles, you name it, but all made using ingredients that are high quality and naturally good for you. They're also apparently the only restaurant in the UK that only use avocado oil to cook with, and we all know how good avocados are for you.

We headed down to Eat Genesis on a Tuesday afternoon at around 3.30ish, as we were hoping it wouldn't be too busy then. There was always a steady stream of people coming in and out, sometimes just to try one of their famous chocolate milkshakes, but it never felt crowded. On the first floor, they have a range of cosy booths by the window, bar-style seating and a long dining table for larger parties. They also have another room downstairs filled with plenty more seating for you to choose from. From the decor alone, you get a sense of the thought that's gone into creating this place. From the pink diner-style booths to the specially designed lightbox posters; every detail has been carefully chosen to create a modern, fresh and fun environment. In terms of the outdated stereotype of veganism being for weird 'hippies', this place flips that concept on its head...and this is before we tried any of the food!

We started as we usually do by ordering some drinks. Charlie had a black coffee which he said was pretty good. He mentioned it was more watery than he likes it but that it had a really nice flavour, and he would get it again for sure. For some reason, I was feeling a bit fancy and was in the mood for a cocktail...at 3 pm on a Tuesday?! I went with it though and ordered their turmeric margarita, and oh boy I did not regret it! Apart from it looking really pretty (everyone likes their drinks to look pretty right?) it was super delicious. I loved the bright yellow colour from the turmeric, and the addition of chilli mixed with the salt on the rim of the glass was a great touch. A classic cocktail with a superfood twist! I did think they were a little pricey though, costing £9 each, which is what you'd pay at a high-end cocktail bar...but this is London after all! Despite this, I'd probably still order one again for a special occasion.

Onto the food! The menu is broken down into dishes from around the world, tacos, noodles soups & salads, burgers & hotdogs, sides and desserts. We really wanted to try a little bit of everything, and with some of these dishes, that's the whole point! The main dishes are really the burgers, hot dogs, noodles, soups & salads, with the other things being more sharing dishes. As we've reviewed a burger at basically every other cafe we've been to, we thought we'd give it a miss this time! Although I have to say when I saw one of them being brought out to a table next to us I was a little envious, it looked incredible!

We started with a traditional Mexican dish called Chilaquiles Rojos, which are very similar to nachos. For £7.50 you get a big plate of organic tortillas, spicy tomato salsa, avocado, refried beans, chipotle mayo and mango. The whole dish was super creamy from the refried beans and also had the perfect amount of spice for us. The tortilla chips were also really delicious, definitely not your average bag of crisps. These had that real aromatic yet earthy flavour you only get from proper authentic corn tortillas. The only thing I'd say to improve it would be to add in some more crunchy textures. The dish was all quite soft, as the tortillas had lost their crunch from all the lovely toppings on top!

We decided to mix things up by ordering a Thai papaya and mango salad, priced at £6. Now, you may not think this would go with Mexican flavours, but it really did! When this beautiful bowl of food arrived at the table I couldn't wait to dig in! It was filled with papaya, mango, carrot, sweet caramelised cashews, tomato and a chilli & lime dressing. It was such a fresh and almost palate cleansing dish, even though it had a lot of spice in it. We thought all the flavours and textures were perfectly balanced and especially loved the sweet cashews as they really helped to cut through the spiciness of the dish. This was definitely a highlight for us, as it was such an unusual plate of food. Even though classic Thai ingredients were used they were presented in an interesting and exciting way.

Our next dish takes us back to Mexico with the famous taco. We ordered the Smoked Chorizo Taco with smoked chorizo, tomatillo salsa, potatoes, pico de gallo on a soft corn tortilla, which was only £4. The vegan chorizo had the most amazing flavour; it was sweet, smokey and spicy, with a very realistic meaty texture. As with the Chilaquiles Rojos, the taste of the tortilla really shone through, whilst still complimenting the other flavours in the dish.

This next dish we'd seen pictures of online, so had already decided we'd definitely be ordering it. As you can see from the picture the Turmeric Cauliflower with green tahini sauce, flaked almonds, pomegranate seeds and sultans is an absolutely stunning plate of food. The pop of pink from the little seeds against the green sauce and yellow cauliflower really gives it the wow factor when it's placed down in front of you. It's not often you get to see a huge piece of cauliflower as the star of the show, but we loved it! The tahini sauce married perfectly with the nutty flavour of the cauliflower, and the sweet sultanas helped to balance out the flavours of the dish. I only wished there were more of them on the plate, as we felt this dish did lack a little bit of extra sweetness. For £7.75 this was a lovely plate of food to look at, but we didn't think it was as punchy in flavour as some of the other dishes.

Now for the dish of the night! When we sat down we were told we had to try the kamut mac and cheese for £5.50, as it was "the best mac and cheese in London". It's a pretty bold statement to make, so we had to find out for ourselves if this was true. Lo and behold it really is the best mac and cheese in London! Every spoonful was pure heaven and I didn't want it to end. I literally could've eaten vats of it! The pasta is made from kamut, an ancient grain with a rich and creamy taste. When made into pasta shapes and loaded with vegan cheese it's a match made in heaven! It was so incredibly creamy, with one of the best cheese flavours I've tried since I've been vegan. On top was a crispy crumb that added that all needed crunch to the dish. I'd come back again just to have this mac and cheese!

We thoroughly enjoyed our experience at Eat Genesis and would highly recommend it to anyone. They've created a menu full of vibrant, creative dishes that make me feel excited about vegan food. Not only this, but they've designed one of the most aesthetically pleasing restaurant spaces that I've seen in a long time. This is somewhere I'd be happy to take family and friends and be proud to show off how amazing vegan food can be.



Eat Genesis is open 11:30am–11:00pm Monday to Sunday. Last order is taken at 10:30pm.

WHO’S IT FOR:

People who enjoy food from all over the world

Small or large parties, they have large sharing tables and intimate booths

Anyone who appreciates beautiful interiors

Eat Genesis

144 Commercial St, London E1 6NU

https://eatgenesis.com/

020 7059 0138

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