As soon as Mildred's announced that they were opening another restaurant in Camden I was really excited to book a table and go to try it out. Mildred's have been on my 'favourite places to eat vegan' list for sometime now and ever since I went to their other Soho restaurant last year. With Valentines Day around the corner there seemed like no better time to make a visit and it was the perfect excuse to book ourselves up a romantic table for two!
This leads me to my first plus point about visiting this restaurant - you can actually book a table. Anyone who has visited the Soho restaurant before will know that they operate on a first come first serve basis which can be tricky as they get extremely busy.
If you didn't already know Mildred's is a purely vegetarian and vegan restaurant and the food is very much of a home cooked and satisfying style with a varying mix of English and worldwide influences.
The first thing that surprised me about the new Camden Mildred's was the overall style of the place. In my opinion the Soho restaurant has a much more rustic and homely feel to it than the new restaurant. The Camden restaurant is quite open and big, although the seating area felt surprisingly cramped and lacking in privacy, particularly for the tables of two. The other thing that really surprised me was the loud hardcore beats which were pumping out. Maybe because it's Camden they've decided to make this branch a little bit more edgy, but for me it was all a bit too much. I'm not sure if it was because it was the weekend or Valentines Day but the restaurant was way too loud for my liking and I literally couldn't hear my husband across our table which was a shame considering we'd ventured out for a romantic meal together.
When we were handed the menu's I was pleased to see that there was a huge amount of choice with the specials menu included too. As you can see from the below images, Mildred's are especially good at labelling their food. Many of the dishes they serve are vegan friendly or have the option of being made suitable for vegans. There's also a lot of choice for anyone following a gluten free diet.
For our starters who chose to share the smashed avocado which is listed as a side dish, and the gyoza dumplings. We were both really happy with the decisions we made as the food was really delicious. I actually can't stop thinking about how good the smashed avocado with tortilla chips were and i'm going to have to re-create this at home soon. The dumplings were also really tasty with the accompanying sweet chilli dip and I really enjoyed how we could sample a mix of different style foods in one place.
I found it really hard choosing a main dish because they all sounded so appealing. The lady to my right was eating the Sri Lankan curry which smelt amazing and the person to my left was enjoying the burrito which looked equally as tempting. Whenever I eat out I like to make the most of it by ordering something different or something which I wouldn't normally have at home. But, and despite all my good intentions, I just couldn't resist the lure of the Polish burger! The last time we went to Mildred's my husband had a burger and I remember feeling like i'd made a big mistake by not ordering the same, so this time I wanted to make sure that I didn't miss out.
The Polish burger is made up from beetroot and white beans and comes with all the usual trimmings you would hope for including some salad, gherkins and vegan mayonnaise. You have to order the fries as an extra side and I really recommend that you do because they really are so good.
I always think photos of burgers never really do them any justice because they all look the same and, if anything, this one looks like a really rare beef burger which I can assure you it was nothing like to eat!
Part of me did feel a bit bad that I didn't pick a different option because I feel like I eat vegan burgers all the time when I eat out because a veggie burger is so often the only choice on a menu I can have. That being said, I really enjoyed my meal and I had no regrets so I think it's best to just go with what you want rather than what you think you should have.
As incredible as the desserts looked in Mildred's, particularly the red velvet oreo cake (oh my god!), we decided to stick to our plans and headed over to the Cookies & Scream stand within Camden market for our take away desserts.
This place has been on my hit list now for well over a year so it really was about time that I got to sample some of their infamous baked vegan treats. When we arrived I could't believe the length of the queue! It's really popular so if you do venture down there at the weekend be prepared to stand in line for a while.
There was a lot on offer at Cookies & Scream and I was desperate to try one of their ice cream cookie sandwiches but we wanted to enjoy our treats back at home so any ice cream options were sadly off the menu for us. Instead we must have picked up one of everything which was on display and made our way home with a variety of donuts, cookies and cake and a big smile on our faces!
Later that night we enjoyed a sample of our Cookies & Scream treats with a cup of tea and I was glad that we made the most of our afternoon in Camden by hitting both of these vegan hot spots! I'd highly recommend doing the same if you are venturing that way but the Mildred's desserts are pretty hard to turn down!
All in all we had a really great Valentines Day in Camden! It made a nice change to get outside of our usual area and revisit somewhere which I was so fond of as a teenager. I have to admit I felt quite old walking around Camden and reminiscing about the good old days of hanging out there and trying my hardest to fit into the goth scene. I never quite did make it! But in any case, it's a great place to visit and even more so since it's become so vegan friendly.
As for Mildred's, the food didn't disappoint at all but I think if we were to go back it would be to the Soho restaurant. Camden was just too loud and cramped for my liking which is shame because it's actually a big space which they just don't seem to be utilising as well as they could be. If they were to space the tables out a bit more and turn the music down then i'd be back (God that makes me sound so old!). You definitely reach a stage in life where you want to go out to eat and feel comfortable, relaxed and able to have a nice chat.
There is also news that Mildred's are now opening up a 3rd restaurant in Kings Cross which they're offering 25% off all food at during their soft launch in February so this could well be worth checking out if you're in the area.
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