Restaurant Review: Veg Out in London, Ontario...

In early September my husband and I took a little road trip through Eastern Canada. From Chicago to Niagra Falls to Toronto, to Ottawa, to Montreal, and then we passed through New York on our way home. I’ll talk more about bits and pieces of the trip in posts to come but for now I wanted to share with you guys a totally awesome restaurant that we discovered in London, Ontario.

It’s about a 9 hour drive between Chicago and Niagara Falls, and so the original plan was to stop in Kalamazoo, Michigan to eat lunch since that was roughly a half-way point. However, when we stopped in Kalamazoo we couldn’t find the vegan-friendly restaurant we were looking for, and rather then waste precious driving time looking for it I made a judgement call to keep going and get some food over the boarder. I can not tell you how happy I am that we did that, because Veg Out in London, Ontario is pretty damn spectacular.

It was well into evening as we rolled into London, the sun was just beginning to set, but lucky for us Veg Out was still open, and there were tables to spare. I felt a little out of place in my sweaty ‘road-trip’ clothes as everyone around us was dressed rather nice, and the restaurant itself is quite classy - but in a cozy way! But what can you do about that? The staff at Veg Out was super friendly, and didn’t make us feel like we didn’t belong there.

We were pretty well starving by the time we got there, and everything on the menu looked so good it was really hard to choose. Still as hungry as we were we know from experience that eyes tend to be bigger then stomachs and so we ordered conservatively. For my meal I got the Bacon Mushroom Melt which has sauteed cremini mushrooms, spinach, tomatoes, caramelized onions, chipotle mayo, melted daiya cheese, and tempeh bacon on toasted bread. - You can get this gluten-free if you need too! - How could I resist that? And trust me when I tell you it tasted as divine as it sounds.  To go with my sandwich I got an order of the soup of the day which was a barley soup. The soup was really spectacular, and since the temperature in London was cooling off it was the perfect thing. I love a big ole bowl of soup, and this one was so packed with flavor, you’d swear it wasn’t vegan. But of course it was!

My husband got the World Famous “Fish” and Chips for dinner, because how can anyone resist that? Especially when we spent so much time looking for vegan “Fish” and chips while we were in London, England last year. The ‘fish’ are beer battered soy fillets, serves with fresh cut fries, tartar sauce, ketchup, lemon and a side of creamy coleslaw. This was a big plate, and very filling, in fact my husband couldn’t eat it all and so I was lucky enough to get a few bites of ‘fish’ fillet. I don’t know how they did it, but texture wise I would say these fish filets were pretty dead on. Certainly the best vegan fish I’ve ever eaten. They even tasted fishy, actually almost a little too fishy for my liking - as I was never a fan of fish to begin with. The fries were also excellent, the coleslaw was fantastic, and the tartar sauce was to die for! Really I think anytime I ever ordered something fishy in my pre-vegan days it was just for the accompanying tartar sauce. So delicious!

I wish we could have eaten more, but I know that next time we’re in Ontario, and passing near London we will most certainly be making a stop for food. Veg Out is really a superb place - I’m envious of the native Londoners! You can tell how much love goes into the food here, you can tell straight off that it’s very fresh, and it’s organic! The staff is great too, so friendly and helpful, in fact one of the ladies even gave us a tip on vegan eats closer to Niagara Falls - for which I’ll be ever grateful! Thank you!  If you live in London, or are passing through it I highly recommend paying Veg Out a visit.

And just as an aside here - if you are passing through London, or going near it on your way to somewhere else you may want to reconsider your itinerary and stay the night. I had no idea that London was such a cool place. There’s a real hip vibe in that city and plenty of interesting things to look around at so I was sad I didn’t know that beforehand. Next time I’ll make a point to stay in London a day or two before heading out.

Veg Out 
646 Richmond St (Oxford)
London, Ontario