Ethos

I think Ethos deserves a lil more love than it currently has here on Unilocal.To find a convenient veggie spot in central London that isn’t teeny or very hippy-​fied isn’t an easy job. Ethos manages to feel a little lux, which is unusual in the healthy food market imho.
The décor is top-​notch, natural but also expensive looking. The food always looks attractive, though I’d steer clear of the fried foods as they don’t hold their crunch after the hit the buffet. If you want 5-​star food, opt for the set menu which is noticeably better — esp the macaroni balls in a luscious mushroom sauce!
This isn’t a cheap option, but it is a classy-​looking spot and so I think the prices reflect it. Would deffo come back if I was in the mood to be healthy, but also looked after well :)

Such a lovely concept!
A bright, very Nordic-​looking restaurant serving plenty of vegetarian dishes, buffet style! A great opportunity to try a bit of everything (my favourite!).
I especially recommend the crispy halloumi bites and the olives, which are wonderful.

Eating at Ethos is the culinary equivalent of putting a down payment on a house. You can’t afford it and you know you shouldn’t be doing it.
I had heard a lot about this place, both that it was amazing and that it was expensive. I’m writing to tell you that only one of these is true. It is fancier than a regular canteen and looks very pretty inside, I agree that for vegans and vegetarians, it must have a powerful draw. The buffet-​style area is well laid out and colourful. I will add that it touts itself as being healthy and different but I didn’t think the food healthy at all. I found it to be stodgy vegetarianism at best. Not vegan. Most of the dishes I saw had some kind of cheese or milk product and the rest were pretty oily. Where’s the health?
They had a number of salads and hot dishes. I went for a cauliflower salad, some rice, what i thought was tofu (was halloumi), potato gratin, mushrooms covered in cheese and a mac and cheese ball. I feel a bit sick now. I made poor choices. Though there wasn’t that much else that looked good and didn’t weigh a ton.
I ended up pay £11.32 for a half full box of vegetables. Outrageous. That mac and cheese ball probably cost at least £2 on its own. And that’s where they make their money. £11 worth of vegetables fills more than a tiny little box in the real world but not at Ethos. Poor vegetarians, they are really getting taken for a ride in this place. I am betting there is no way of getting out of here without spending at least £8. Unless you fill a box with lettuce.
It’s just grossly overpriced and the food is designed to be so. Big chunks of sweet potato, different kinds of swede, deep-​fried balls of this and that. Of course they want you to spend a lot of money. But I guess they don’t care if you come back.
I’d take a pass, if I were you. You don’t need to sacrifice your soul to pay for this place.

This place is heaven for vegetarian people… and others ! There is a large choice of meals, from the classic tomato salad to a comforting paella or mac’n’cheese bites (my favorite).
It’s the perfect place for a lunch or a dinner with friends who never know exactly what to order: at Ethos, they will be able to try everything and nibble on hummus, salads, or sweet potatoes… And you HAVE to try the veggie Scotch Eggs: so delicious and filling !
The only trick is the pay-​by-​weight system. It’s really hard to estimate how much food you’ve taken and if it will weight a lot.
If you have a sweet tooth, do not worry: the desserts are delicious as well. I would highly recommend the brownie !

This is the newest exclusive/​down to earth coffee, brunch place in the west end. The service is 5 stars, Annie and Simone look after us like superstars.
We had the Smashed advacardo and toast with a soya latte and two white chocolate peanut butter protein balls, verdict UNREAL.
We will be coming back here very very often.
Well done guys a level above the rest.

Ich suchte nach einem veganen Dessert und wurde im Ethos fündig. Als Take-​Away nahm ich 1 Bananen-​Schokoladen-​Muffin nachhause und ein Schoko-​Cookie.
Leider war ich von beiden Desserts etwas entäuscht. Der Muffin roch nach nichts, ausser die sehr leckere Erdbeere die als Topping zu Verfügung stand :)
Der 2 Pfund teure Cookie war grenzenlos enttäuschend. Sehr trocken, und einen verbrannten, bitteren, Nachgeschmack.
Das Essen sonst sah wirklich lecker aus und mit der direkten Lage an der Oxford-​Street ein gesunder «Fast-​Food» in einem sehr schönen Ambiente.

It pains me to give this great concept of a restaurant a poor review.
I’m gluten and dairy free — I am not vegan or vegetarian — but I empathised with the owner’s reason for creating this place. Because basically, if you have any kind of very strict diet, eating out sucks.
After following the opening in the media, I had two big (yet reasonable considering the hype) expectations of Ethos:
1. It would be the kind of place you could take people who haven’t a food issue care in the world to show them that eating this way can be totally awesome when done right.
2. That things I normally have to skip like cakes (because of the flour) scotch eggs (because of the breading), asian noodles (because of the soy sauce) would be available to me since the restaurant takes consideration for healthier alternatives to the «norm.»
Sadly, neither of the above happened for me.
I took fellow Unilocaler Rachael E and she was great — asked a lot of questions and really tried to get to know the restaurant and its aim. She is neither veggie or GF or DF but had an adventurous attitude and an open mind. Perfect.
The food is served buffet style, and you load up your plate then pay by weight. There are cards by each dish that describe the food and also indicate if it’s vegan, veggie, GF (no notes for DF but can fall back on vegan I guess).
I ended up eating Eritrean Mango Salad, Puy Lentils & Kohlrabi, Courgette Ribbons and Feta, Butternut Squash with Spinach and Feta, along with some roasted potatoes and some marinated olives.
Because the food is out, it means the hot food isn’t really hot and the cold food isn’t really cold. The potatoes tasted like they had been cooked several hours ago and left in a bowl on a counter … because they had. The olives had a soapy taste to them and the salads were sort of soggy because of the dressings. The Courgette Ribbons ended up being my favourite simply because it tasted the freshest.
I paid £14.50 for my plate (and uploaded a photo to get an idea of what that gets you) and £6 for a glass of malbec. You pay by weight as I mentioned, a concept that came under suspicion after placing my moderately filled plate on the scale and thinking «that plate was actually really heavy … am I paying for that too?»
After paying you find a seat in the beautifully finished dining hall and feast away.
As for my expectations:
1. I felt so bad about our tepid, soggy pay-​by-​weight meal that I tried to buy drinks the rest of the night to make up for it.
2.I still had to stare longingly at all the cakes I couldn’t eat. What I WAS able to eat were the kinds of things I make at home for myself (salads), which felt like a let down. They were meals that are naturally gluten/​dairy free. I guess I wanted to feel like they nailed gluten-​free carrot cake or vegan chilli or dairy-​free ice cream or whatever.
So our experience was sadly unimpressive. Not in concept, I love the concept, but in execution. Keep in mind it was only their second week so there may be some things to iron out yet. And I’m sure the options change weekly if not daily and maybe I missed a glut of GF and DF options in their arsenal.
Also, I am not exactly their target diner, but I hope to be someday as they grow into this niche of serving diners who are much more food conscious.