It’s rare to encounter a bistro built entirely around a vegan menu – rarer still for it to feel so instinctively right. The format’s inherent warmth and intimacy lend themselves naturally to plant-forward cooking, yet few have made the pairing stick. In Notting Hill, Holy Carrot proved there is an appetite, evolving from a cult pop-up into a neighbourhood fixture in just five years. Now, it heads east for its next chapter, settling into a quiet corner of Spitalfields Market. Founder Irina Linovich is still very much at the helm, with executive chef Daniel Watkins (also co-founder of Acme Fire Cult) leading the kitchen.
Wallpaper* dines at Holy Carrot Bistro, London
The mood: a dreamscape
Leave it to British designer Faye Toogood to etch out a bistro of dreams through her signature interplay of sculptural forms and raw materiality. ‘I wanted Holy Carrot Bistro Spitalfields to feel grounded in something ancient and elemental,’ she tells Wallpaper*. ‘A place where materials are honest and gestures instinctive – a playful, memorable space shaped by hand, by soil, by time.’
The snug room unfolds in a stripped-back palette of natural tiles, steel, linoleum and canvas, offset by a hand-painted mural in deep pinks. Figures and oversized vegetables emerge across the walls: a surreal ode to soil, sustenance and regeneration, where body and earth blur into one.
Furniture follows a similarly considered mix: antique pieces sit alongside contemporary and custom designs, including powder-coated steel bar stools upholstered in Opio and Orzo. ‘There’s a tension I enjoy between the everyday and the theatrical,’ says Toogood. By day, the space reads as light and utilitarian; by night, it softens: candlelight flickers from textured aluminium holders, white tablecloths begin to gather generous, colourful spreads.
Details reveal themselves gradually: a paper-sculpted candelabra; a downstairs anteroom lined with vivid bespoke tiles. On your way to the restroom, spot Studio Toogood’s Gummy Armchair in Opio Kiwi wool paired with a Cobble Side Table in Bottle green, set against a 1960s Italian floor lamp.
The food: divine vegetables
This is cooking that makes you want to declare: ‘I am what I eat’. Seasonal produce is treated with imagination, shaped by fire, fermentation and spice. Watkins, alongside head chef Maria Criscuolo, works closely with small-scale organic producers, embracing a near-zero-waste approach that honours each ingredient from root to leaf.
Start with coal-roasted beetroot paired with sharp ezme, or flatbreads enriched with fermented koji and silken tofu. For something deeper, the smoked chilli mushroom ragù delivers real depth and richness. The tempeh and smoked tofu schnitzel – finished with celeriac remoulade and a curry-leaning café de Paris butter – is a standout.
Cocktails follow suit: bold, layered, and playful. Heat is the restaurant’s take on the spicy volcán margarita – with pineapple, coriander, poblano chilli and sherbet – and lands with a lingering kick.
Holy Carrot Bistro is located at 61, 63 Brushfield St, London E1 6AA, United Kingdom