Rainbow Cafe

It’s nice to have a place to bring vegetarian visitors (just remember they’re closed on Monday). Every now and then I get a craving for Rainbow Café’s Latvian Potato Bakes (my favourite dish) — there’s a lot of comfort food options here.
I also like the bonus of it being ‘hidden’ down an alleyway — it’s like a vegetarian speakeasy.

Vegan food can be absolutely delicious. Unfortunately, one wouldn’t know that by eating at this restaurant. The vegan selection was extremely limited, and what they did have tasted like boiled grass. We had soup, starters, and three main courses, and the one was more disappointing than the next. Their menu consists of African, Indian, and British dishes, but there is absolutely no inspiration from countries where vegan food has been a staple for ages, and therefore perfected. Mediterranean countries, Slavic countries, etc. It was focused too much on the hippie aspect to actually bother with the food. I would skip this place altogether. Won’t be eating here again. There are simply far better places to spend one’s money.

The dishes are mostly British/​central European, that is to say suitably calorie-​rich for cold climates. We visited in October, but even in the cold weather, the meal felt heavy. If you’re not keen on cheese, stick to the vegan options (helpfully marked on the menu) which lean more towards nutritional yeast.
We had a spicy soup, which was very reminiscient of an Indian Rasam and taste-​wise served as the highlight. The mains were good, but not extraordinary. The quality was good, but I just lean more towards lighter fare. Prices were about average for a casual restaurant.
With all that said, it’s nice to have a place where you don’t have to ask if there’s meat in a particular dish. Meateaters can pick any of the cheesy dishes and probably will feel OK.

Very nice artisan café/​restaurant, reminiscent of Tibetan restaurants hidden away in some nook in the Himalayan mountains.

Good variety! I’m not a vegetarian, but I really enjoy the creativity of the menu. I always find something new and delicious to try.