Last Updated on February 24, 2024

Plant-based dining in Docklands

From the same stable as the once vegetarian and now vegan long-running Mildreds, Mallow serves 100% plant-based food. I’ve been a fan of the original Mallow in Borough Market since it opened in 2021 – it’s one of my go-to spots before or after visits to the Globe or Menier Chocolate Factory. Now I’m pleased to report there’s a second branch in the increasingly foodie Wood Wharf neighbourhood just a few steps from Canary Wharf station. 

I visited the new restaurant with a vegan friend who was going to be trying out Mallow’s brand of plant-based international seasonal cooking for the first time. We turned up on a Monday evening to find the smart new venue alive with loud chatter and laughter – it’s clearly already found a following in this corner of Docklands.

We started our evening at Mallow with cocktails. I chose the Passion fruit yuzu highball – a mix of 135 East Hyogo dry gin, passion fruit and Akashi-tai yuzu sake. This was a long and satisfying slightly sour summery drink. Meanwhile, my companion enjoyed her prettily pink but not too sweet Sakura Spritz – a concoction of Hayman’s dry gin, cherry blossom infusion, artisan lime tonic and bitters. 

Later we explored the wine menu and were pleased to find quite a few “by the glass” options. My friend picked the copper-coloured Cantina Orsogna Pinot Grigio Ramoro Terre de Chieti from the Pink and Orange section – rounded with a welcome touch of sweetness. I tried the well-chilled, fresh and pleasantly smooth house white from Sicily, the Allegri Grillo.

The savoury menu is divided into “before”, small plates and “big plates”. Mallow’s food is influenced by so many different world cuisines that there should be something to please most people.

I started with an Indian-inspired small plate – the spinach dahi puri with lime coconut sambol and blackcurrant tamarind chutney – best described as cool, spicy super-green flavour bombs. I loved these while my companion was reminded of stinging nettles…

She was far keener on her own choice, the Korea-inspired Son dumplings with kimchi and gochujang sesame sauce. The sharp and crunchy kimchi and rich strong sauce were excellent foils to the dumplings.

I’m still thinking about my main on this visit to Mallow – the roast pepper and sweet potato laksa with rice noodles and five-spice tofu. This was a wonderful warming bowl of rich sweet coconut broth with silky noodles, crunchily and spicily coated tofu and lots of veg. It may well displace the Borough branch’s thali as my “usual” Mallow dish. That said I thought the giant sesame rice crackers were a distraction and fairly tasteless. 

This is probably a good place to point out that portions are pretty big here and no one is likely to leave hungry. My companion struggled to finish the huge pulled mushroom biryani. This was served with a spicy plum tomato shorba, cooling cucumber coconut sambol, cardamom raita (sorry, with my omnivore’s hat on, vegan yoghurt can’t compete with the real thing) and plentiful spiced almonds plus a shard of crispy bread. 

Mallow’s take on the Sachertorte is pretty convincing with very good chocolate icing. I have no idea what their chantilly cream is made from but it tastes good and the generous portion of passion fruit coulis is another lovely accompaniment.

My less greedy friend (flagging after the enormous biryani) picked the smallest dessert on the menu – the strawberry soju truffles. Luckily our helpful waiter had shown us pictures of all the desserts on his iPad so we knew what to expect. The truffles were beautiful to look at and rich in strawberry and chocolate flavours. They prompted a discussion about the strawberry cremes in Cadbury’s Roses and Quality Street and if Mallow’s posh variants could compete.

After several years of dining out as a vegan, my companion has been to one too many places where her only option is the plant-based or Beyond Meat burger. She loved the sheer amount of choice on the menu at Mallow. Plus, it’s the sort of place you could bring almost anyone – wherever they are on the plant-dairy-meat spectrum – and they are likely to enjoy themselves. 

Mallow
12 Park Drive
Wood Wharf
London E14 9ZW