Mexican and veg restaurants?

[email removed] (Damon) put digits to keyboard and typed:

>Can anyone recommend a good Mexican restaurant?  Or, how about a good
>vegetarian restaurant?
>
>I've been to Tux Junction in West Hampstead recently, quite nice food
>but quite homogenised Mexican, not very authentic and ... hey the atmosphere
>was awful; and they played what sounded like 'The Greatest Love album in the
>world ever' cliche CDs.
>
>I live in NW London but am prepared to travel a bit ... not too far, centre,
>Soho, West; not too far off the beaten tube track.

If you can get to a train station served by the North London Line, there are two restaurants in Richmond which might be of interest.  The main vegetarian one is called 'Harvest' and is five minutes from the station.  The other is a Mexican about 200 yds from the station, but I'm buggered if I can remember the name (and it's not listed on the site mentioned below).  Just about every cuisine is represented in the many restaurants in Richmond, so as you walk down the main drag, you can take your pick.

I think some (but far from all) are listed:

http://www.guidetorichmond.co.uk/restaurants.html

Unfortunately, Rani, one of the vegetarian places listed, has closed down.

I hope you have a nice time on your 'special' night out.  :)

ANNA

Someone wrote:
>Damon wrote:
>> Can anyone recommend a good Mexican restaurant?  Or, how about a good
>> vegetarian restaurant?

There are no good Mexican restaurants in London.

If you accept that and want OK-ish food with a Mexican theme, The Camden Cantina in Camden (Chalk Farm Road opposite the Stables market) isn't too bad (although it's gone downhill a bit the last few years.  Si Senor (St Annes Court, Soho) is somewhat overpriced but not too bad (less veggie choice than Camden Cantina though). There's the added bonus of being able to laugh at people learning to dance some evenings.

The Nachos "chain" used to do a good deal on jugs of marguritas (and that's about the only reason you might want to go there).

>There's a good Vege Indian restaurant called Chutneys in Drummond
>Street, near Euston Station, it's roughly 1/2 way along on the north
>side. I think that there are several others in the same short road.

Diwana[*] and Ravi Shankar's are both pretty good options in Drummond Street.

And just for something different: Veggie Chinese at the Vegetarian Cottage on Haverstock Hill is well worth checking out. Also the New World in Gerrard Street has a reasonable veggie selection.

Pete.
[*] Or some close variant of that name, I have a mental block.

Someone wrote:
Someone wrote:
: >Damon wrote:
: >> Can anyone recommend a good Mexican restaurant?  Or, how about a good : >> vegetarian restaurant?

: There are no good Mexican restaurants in London.

That's my experience as well. A shame really.

Turkish restaurants are always a good bet for veggies. Although not vegetarian, they usually have a good range tasty non-meat mezes. You could try Greek too, although they tend to have a smaller range. Avoid the Sofra chain like the plague however; the food is execrable.

Indian veggies are to be highly recommended, as others have indicated. They're a revelation to anyone who's used to tired, heavy tandooris - a completely different style of cooking altogether.