This cheerful, frills-free, neighbourhood restaurant and takeaway has built a great reputation and won many accolades since opening in November 2004, and it’s easy to see why: its hearty portions of delicious vegan fare would satisfy any committed carnivore, while its modest prices are sure to delight even the most cost-conscious of diners.

The Venue
Situated among the cut-price bed stores and laundrettes of this deeply unlovely stretch where police sirens provide a frequent aural backdrop, 222 has a homely cafe feel. Its modest dimensions provide about 40 covers. Pale wood floors, tables and simple chairs are contemporised by white walls and ceiling spotlights. A small cactus to match the green paper napkins in a shiny red pot on each table injects a touch of fun and personality.

The Atmosphere
Expectations are raised when almost every seat is taken on a Monday night. The patrons appear to be relaxed locals, though probably not from the area’s monolithic council estates. The waiting staff are casual, eager to please and efficient. This is the kind of place you pop into on the spur of the moment without worrying overmuch about your hair or what you’re wearing – if you can get a table, that is.

The Food
A simple, printed A5 sheet offers five starters, five salads, five sides and nine mains. Soup of the day changes daily but can include options such as cream of mushroom or tomato (£4.50). The generous bowl of mushroom arrives piping hot but is rather too creamy, despite the generous fungi chunks it contains. It would benefit from a good grind of salt and black pepper, but no condiments are provided. The accompanying organic wholemeal bread is hot and delicious, although the bowl of olive oil for dipping it in is so tiny, the oil lasts only a couple of mouthfuls. Roasted courgette and aubergine salad (£4.45) is spot-on. The vegetables are gloriously squidgy and the roasting has concentrated their flavours. Radish slices, cress and lollo rosso complete the salad, the yummy soy dressing of which is herby with a subtle kick of heat.

Onto the mains: Ben Asamani is 222’s genial chef and owner (and one of its three committed vegetarian and vegan founders), and Ben’s Special is a vegetable stir-fry with brown basmati rice and either seitan (wheat gluten) or tofu cubes, marinated and lightly spiced (£8.95). The seitan really only provides a spongy texture but the veg are terrific: baby corn, mange tout, broccoli, red and green pepper, courgette and red onion are all cooked to perfection – not an easy thing to get right – and have a good soy flavour. Completed by nicely nutty rice, this is a large, neatly presented portion of honest, healthy, comfort grub. Chick pea curry (£8.95) is almost a winner, too. Again, its vegetables and rice are spot-on, and there’s no faulting its creamy, tomato-y, mildly spicy sauce, but the chick peas are slightly too soft: al dente pulses would have made it perfect.

Puddings must be the most challenging menu section for vegan kitchens: can you really forsake milk and cream without sacrificing taste or compromising texture? At 222, the answer is a resounding yes. Hot dessert of the day, apple crumble with non-dairy custard, is thoughtfully offered either made with wheat or wheat-free (£3.95). Astonishingly, the wheat-less version is indistinguishable from what granny used to turn out long before anyone had heard of gluten-free diets, and the custard is equally authentic. A huge slab of chocolate fudge cake (£3.95) has depth of flavour but is a tad dry: it needs its accompanying (and again, utterly convincing) scoop of non-diary chocolate ice cream. Also popular is the cheesecake, made with tofu.

The Drink
The booze list is perhaps the shortest you’ll ever see with one organic white wine and one red (both £2.50 a glass, £10.50 a bottle), and two lagers, Freedom, Britain’s first micro-brewed (£2.50 for 33 cl) and Samuel Smiths organic (£3.50 for 55 cl). The Bordeaux Blanc is unremarkable but refreshing and does the job. Still or sparkling water is £1.50 for a 33 cl bottle or £3 for a litre, and you don’t feel awkward requesting a jug of London’s finest tap. There’s a good range of less obvious fizzy soft drinks like ginger and ginseng or root beer, organic and freshly made fruit juices, and smoothies. You can round off dinner with a range of teas at £1.50 including Redbush and a detox option, or with coffee or hot chocolate (£1.90). Here, dairy makes its one and only appearance: you are offered organic semi-skimmed cows’ milk with your hot drinks if soya or rice milk is a taste too far.

The Last Word
There has never been a better time for the capital’s vegetarian and vegan epicureans: cafes and restaurants continue to spring up to meet their needs but few offer better value than 222 with its big plates of skilfully executed food at modest prices. It must be something of a Holy Grail for lactose- and gluten-intolerant restaurant-goers, too. And, importantly, it doubles as a great neighbourhood restaurant for veggies and carnivores alike.

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