This family-run local favourite on the Surrey borders has won favour for the inventive style of head chef and former Roux Scholarship winner Kenneth Culhane. His deft hand at blending classic European cooking with Japanese cuisine extends to the vegetarian fare, available both a la carte and as a tasting menu for £70. There you'll find vibrant Tokyo turnip salad with seaweed dressing, Nishiki rice risotto with girolles and salsa verde, and a dessert of burnt apple granita and damson and blackberry vodka sorbet served with a sesame tuile.
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135 Petersham Road, Surrey TW10 7AA; thedysartpetersham.co.uk
The Art School, Liverpool
Paul Askew's The Art School Restaurant opened in Liverpool in 2014 with the aim of showcasing the very best local ingredients Merseyside has to offer. This extends to the abundance of fresh produce, inspiring several dedicated vegetarian and vegan menus to choose from depending on how big your budget or appetite may be. Lunchtime and early diners can take advantage of the prix fixe, priced at £23.50 for two courses and £29.50 for three, or alternatively go all-out with the more comprehensive Menu Excellence or tasting menus, at £69 and £89 respectively. Meat-free dishes include a hearty pithivier of Savoy cabbage, pistachios, wild mushrooms and butternut squash and a flavoursome marinated tofu served with spaghetti vegetables and greens.
1 Sugnall Street, Liverpool L7 7EB; theartschoolrestaurant.co.uk
Pascere, Brighton
Nestled within Brighton's bustling The Lanes, this latest addition to the city's fine-dining scene opened to critical acclaim last year. Given its proximity to the beach, seafood is well represented, but the restaurant also excels when it turns its attention elsewhere. Its 10-course vegetarian tasting menu, available at £65, places vegetables front and centre, delicately paired with innovative flavours that bring a twist to the classic cuisine. Salsify is cooked in nutty, burnt butter before being plated up with red cabbage and tangy, pickled turnips. Barbecued radicchio is paired with thyme and caramelised chicory, while dessert sees pistachio cake accompanied by a refreshing lemongrass mousse and passionfruit sorbet.
8 Duke Street, Brighton BN1 1AH; pascere.co.uk
Pollen Street Social, London
In terms of Michelin-starred, meat-free dining, Jason Atherton's Pollen Street Social has long been one of the leaders of the pack. The restaurant was the first of its kind in the capital to launch a solely vegan tasting menu, a continuation of its core principle of making the most of seasonal, British-grown produce (ask and they can probably tell you the amount of miles the ingredients have travelled to your plate). It currently offers eight-course options for both vegans and vegetarians at £75 and £80 respectively.
8-10 Pollen Street, London W1S 1NQ; pollenstreetsocial.com
Restaurant Martin Wishart, Edinburgh
Martin Wishart trained under some of the culinary greats including Albert Roux, Michel Roux Jr and Marco Pierre White before returning to his native Scotland to pursue his own venture. This has since grown into a three-restaurant mini-empire, including the Michelin-starred Restaurant Martin Wishart in Edinburgh's historic port of Leith. Beyond showcasing Scotland's unparalleled seafood, the country's abundance of other natural produce is brought to the fore in the vegetarian tasting menus, available in six (£75) and eight (£95) courses, featuring dishes from light-as-air emmental souffles to a decadently rich dark chocolate mousse complemented with sea buckthorn, caramel delice and an orange granita.
54 Shore, Edinburgh EH6 6RA; restaurantmartinwishart.co.uk
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