You may have noticed by the title of this post that By Chloe wasn’t one of my favorite vegan places we tried while in London (the ones that were say “Must Try” Vegan in London…) We ended up eating there twice though, and I thought I should still do a post about it in case anyone is curious about what we liked/didn’t like.
Let’s start with the best–my favorite of all of the food we tried at By Chloe both times was the kale artichoke dip with almond Parmesan and tortilla chips. It was so good that my non-vegan sister said it was one of her favorite foods from our whole London trip, and I’m getting hungry again just thinking about it. Yum.
Now for the good, or decent–Lucas got the tofish and chips, and he said it was good but not that impressive since essentially it was just a fried block of tofu lined with seaweed to give it a fish flavor. The chips also weren’t as good as some he had at a pub we went to the day before. I got the gluten free classic burger, and it was ok, but again, nothing special (I mean I’m kind of spoiled by Arlo’s, but still.)
Now for the bad and the ugly–the brunch. Lucas got the daily pancake and was disappointed both by how small it was and how not like a pancake it tasted. It wasn’t even gluten free, so I don’t know why it was so lackluster. I ordered the gluten free version of the Mornin’ Glory, which comes with scrambled tofu, a veggie burger patty (instead of sausage), and gluten free toast. The tofu scramble tasted very mustard-y and was my least favorite tofu scramble I’ve ever tried sadly. The only saving grace was the quinoa hash browns, which were pretty good. Overall though it was all very disappointing, especially because it was pricey.
So would I go back to By Chloe? I do think it’s cool that it’s an all vegan place very close to Tower Bridge, and I would consider going again if I was in the area and needed to eat ASAP, but otherwise no, probably not, especially considering how many great vegan food places there are in London. On the plus side, it did make for a great photo of Lucas with tofish and chips in front of Tower Bridge, and it is an instagrammable spot, with its hanging chairs and neons.
One of the main reasons I picked By Chloe was because of the location, and also because they have tofish and chips, but I later saw Luna Lovecow post about Shakey Shakey which has vegan tofish and chips as well (and it’s gluten free!) We weren’t able to try it during this trip because they’re only available on a pop up basis, and it didn’t work out. They’re on the top on my list for our next trip though.
Have you been to By Chloe? Was anything you had good? What are some of your favorite vegan places in London? Let me know in the comments.