On Sunday my husband and I organised a little day out to Notting Hill in London as we had tickets to see Louis Theroux's 'My Scientology Movie' at the
Electric Cinema. This isn't really an area of London I visit very often so I did a little research online to see where we could get some lunch.
One place which really stood out to me was the plant based restaurant
Farmacy. I soon recalled that this is somewhere i've heard people talking about in the past, along with top vegan vlogger
Niomi Smart. I read some mixed reviews with some saying it was home to incredible vegan offerings and others saying it's a bit pretentious, pricey and full of beautiful people.
The Guardian even went as far as to call the food "bullshit'!
I have to say that curiosity got the better of me and I wanted to find out for myself what all the fuss is about! Thankfully on Sunday morning at around 11am we didn't have to wait for a table for two but larger groups were less fortunate. FYI Farmacy do not take bookings and works on a first come first served basis.
My first impressions were pretty good. I really like the concept of the restaurant and that it actually looks like a pharmacy from the outside. I mean seriously I had to look at the outside a couple of times before confirming to myself that it was indeed the restaurant I was looking for and not an actual pharmacy.
The ethos behind the restaurant is one of 'clean indulgence'. They believe that certain 'clean eating' and a particular diet can act as a medicine for the body. I have read countless articles which support the idea that natural food and plants in particular can have healing properties for our bodies so I don't really need any convincing on this, as a vegan I am already on board with these ideas. But just to clarify, Farmacy cater for vegetarians, vegans, the dairy free and their food doesn't contain any nasties like refined sugars, additives and chemicals.
Once inside I found the overall atmosphere and appearance of the restaurant really elegant and classy. There was certainly an air of clean living about the place. The staff were also super friendly and attentive. So far so good.
Due to the time of our arrival we were presented with the brunch menu which I had already eyed up online and narrowed down my options to either the vegan friendly 'House Pancakes' (which really did sound great with their accompanying coconut yoghurt, fresh fruit and chia berry jam) or the 'English Breakfast' minus the eggs. I generally always have the battle of sweet vs savoury when it comes to breakfast and brunch but on this occasion savoury won the battle and I settled for a 'London Sunset' smoothie to give me my sweet fix.
When our English breakfasts arrived (yes my husband chose exactly the same as me and we also added on a side of fries!) my first thought was 'oh, is that it?'. I mean it looked very appetising, but there just wasn't enough of it. And I guess for the £14.00 price tag I was expecting a little more.
Once I got stuck into the brunch I found myself continually picking up the salt and pepper as it really seemed to lack any flavour. The homemade baked beans looked like the Heinz ones I am more used to but they tasted really bland in comparison. This does make me wonder what's included in my usual baked beans to make them taste so good but I don't think i'll be swapping them for this kind any time soon. They were quite unappetising.
The other disappointing factor was that the avocado wasn't ripe and ready to be eaten. It was still quite firm and lacked it's usual appealing flavour and texture.
Would it make me a bad vegan to say the best thing about this meal were the chips!? Considering how bland and 'clean' everything else was I am surprised that they even serve chips, let alone tasty ones like these.
When our £44 bill arrived at our table I wasn't surprised by the figure but I knew that what we had just ate wasn't worth even half of that. I've had significantly better breakfasts before for a quarter of the price of this so I couldn't help but feel disappointed.
Vegan and plant based food can be extremely tasty, delicious and filling so I can't help but feel that Farmacy is giving my diet a bad name. Let's just say I definitely wouldn't consider taking any friends and family there to try to convince them that vegan food is good. If anything I feel that they are feeding into the stereotype that all meat free food is unsatisfying.
Aside from the ambience and decor, I felt let down by our overall experience, but again, i'm not surprised!
Have you visited Farmacy before? What did you think?
