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Nice but a bit overpriced

3 Posted on 07 / 25 / 2012

Nice food but rather overpriced. The raw options in particular were a bit small and not very exciting. I had better raw food at other places in London. We had the raw pizza and an asparagus crepe. The 'side salad' for both dishes was just lettuce. The atmosphere was also a bit pretentious (and yet food-court-ish at the same time!), it didn't feel like a vegan hangout, more like a posh place for rich people on a diet.

Pros: Fully vegan, Raw options, Well-presented
Cons: Overpriced, Atmosphere

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Worth trying

4 Posted on 07 / 07 / 2012

Saf was inside Whole Foods in London and we happened to be in the area. We went at around noon and it was pretty quiet but the service was still very slow. We shared the vegetable gyozas to starts, slow roasted asparagus farinata and the nyonya laksa. All were very tasty. The portions were fine enough for lunch but it felt expensive for what it was. Of course, this is Kensignton and Whole Foods so you have to expect to pay those prices. The had a great selection of fresh juices, but at about 45 pounds for lunch for 2, it did not feel that worth it. The waitress questioned our choice of juice, as if it was impossible that a man would choose to drink beetroot juice. We would go back but would not rush.

Pros: good food, great fresh juices
Cons: Expensive, small-ish portions, slow service

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Worth a visit, mixed feelings.

4 Posted on 07 / 06 / 2012

I have eaten here a few times. The food is excellent, but not especially exciting and not cheap, and I think it is telling that I have more often chosen to eat stuff from Wholefoods which I visit quite a lot than eat here.

The service has always been good, and the venue is cool, but you can kind of feel like you are eating in a food court (which you kind of are).

Certianly worth visiting though, and I know I'll happily eat there again. Good for gluten free options.

Pros: Good food., Good service.
Cons: Restaurant prices, foodcourt venue.

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Favourite veggie place in London

5 Posted on 07 / 01 / 2012

I eat here with my mum every time we take a trip to London. It is nice to be able to have a glass of bubbly with a vegan meal, and we have tried a range of weird and wonderful dishes that are presented superbly and taste delicious. It is expensive (but this is a pretentious area of London), and you have to be a bit open minded with the menu - e.g. the 'pad thai' is more of an asian salad rather than a 'pad thai'. Our favourites are the chickpea pancake thing and the japanese dish (I've uploaded pics).

Pros: exciting menu, tasty food

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great food

4 Posted on 05 / 21 / 2012

All vegan with many raw items and several gluten-free. Multi-award-winning kitchen, from our dairy-free milk, cheeses, sauces and dressings, all the way to our cakes and ice creams. Juices £5.25 (I had Easy Being Green detoxifier, chlorophyll, vitamins, minerals, enzymes, made with cucumber, celery, spinach, kale, lemon). Teas by the Pot £4; Fairtrade coffee. Six desserts, five of which 5 are raw, £5.50, including white chocolate and jasmine tart - white chocolate and jasmine cream with cacao nib crust, caramelized apricot sauce and espresso syrup; and cinnamon butternut squash cheesecake.
Snacks £4, including curried kale (raw marinated and dehydrated kale crisps flavoured with curried coconut flakes and sunflower seeds) and kimpura (stir-fried carrot buttons marinated in agave and cayenne pepper with arame kelp and black sesame seeds).
Wraps & sandwiches £7.90, including Vietnamese wrap and Saf burger. Soup of the Day. "Cheeses" plate. California Roll: avocado, enokki mushrooms, umeboshi puree and cucumber wrapped in parsnip rice and dusted with beetroot powder, served with orange ponzo dipping sauce and pickled radish. Also pumpkin risotto; and spinach and radish-top "quiche." Several salads, including smoked tofu; kale, avocado and walnut; sea vegetable salad; and a list of super foods you can add to the salads for £1. (I had Thai Red Curry for £14.45: butternut squash, aubergine, okra, spring onion, runner beans, organic Saf tofu cooked in coconut curry soup, served with mixed wild rice.)
Fantastic menu, but it was not a tranquil meal (1 pm Saturday), seated at tables between the juice bar and the noisy, busy food court. Might be less noisy in the restaurant section to the right of the entrance.

Pros: vegan
Cons: noisy location

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Disappointing

2 Posted on 04 / 08 / 2012

After finding this attractive-looking all-vegan place with several raw and gluten-free menu items, our hungry party of six was eager to chow down. We arrived around 2:30PM when they didn't seem super busy, but they'd just served a large party, they said, so had run out of four of their most popular entrees. We ordered around the out items. But then...

They didn't bring us any water. Ever. Despite empty water glasses sitting on the table throughout.

They didn't inform us that the chips and guacamole appetizer we'd ordered for the table came with only three (3) small kale chips. There we were breaking chips in half to share among the six of us. Inexplicably they brought large empty plates and set these in front of us as the three chips and 5 oz. of guacamole swiftly disappeared.

The service was extremely slow, albeit friendly. When our three-year-old made a disgusted face after tasting the pear-cucumber-fennel smoothie, the waitress offered to bring her a plain pear juice instead. The pear juice was frothy, brown, and tasted like pear. At £5.25 a pop, however, the smoothies were disappointing.

Our entrees were pretty to look at, but disappointing. I got the raw gluten-free Saf Bowl and the best thing on the plate was the plain undressed half avocado. The zucchini "noodles" were oily though fresh, the cashew "rice" was salted and unsatisfying (I would've preferred plain steamed brown rice), the marinated shiitake mushrooms were extremely salty (almost indelible), and the kim chee, while fairly authentic in flavor (though not texture--it was too mushy) to my pleasant surprise (I grew up eating Korean food), was also too salty. My husband's pad thai didn't taste anything like real pad thai, he reported.

The bill came to £90 (including our £9 tip) which was exorbitant given what we got in the huge waste of time in which we got it. Sad to say we will likely never eat there again.

One star for being all vegan. Another star for being friendly and trying to be helpful. Half a star for offering raw and gluten-free items that at least sounded and looked good.

Updated from previous review on Friday April 06, 2012
Updated from previous review on Friday April 06, 2012

Pros: All vegan, Nice decor
Cons: Horribly slow, distracted service, No water provided, Food was over-seasoned

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Pleasant and convenient

4 Posted on 03 / 30 / 2012

Saf is an impeccable, slightly posh experience. It's part of the food
court at this very large Whole Foods store, so you can either eat "in"
the restaurant (which really means in a slightly segregated space), or
take your meal to one of the communal tables and combine it with food
from other places.

The food felt substantial and very, very neat ("Saf" is, after all, a
word that means "clean" in several Asian languages). I didn't
discover until later that it's a raw-food place (nothing cooked above
48 degrees C), which means the technique did not outshine the food.
Of course, you'll pay generously for all this.

Given the location, it's naturally easy to combine a meal here with a
shopping run to the Whole Foods.

Pros: tasty, convenient location, can be combined with other places
Cons: not inexpensive

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Stellar. Awesome. Food!

5 Posted on 01 / 10 / 2012

Service is incomparable. Saf in on point. Presentation is beautiful. I love the cheese board. This really is fresh food for a clean palate. I am a spice fiend but you really can taste the goodness and freshness. Mushroom in chickpea crepe was perfect as are the Pad Thai and the curry and everything else. They go to such lengths with in-house produce- their drinks ...oh my....especially their mocktails. I love SAF!

Pros: Everything
Cons: Nada

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Ok

3 Posted on 10 / 29 / 2011

We had a soup, burger, two juices and two desserts. The juices were great. The food was OK but far from impressive. The service was quick which made for an easy meal but it was quite expensive for what you got relative to some other great veg restaurants around (e.g. Mildreds).

Pros: quick service
Cons: expensive

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not what it says on the tin

3 Posted on 08 / 21 / 2011

Service in this restaurant was very good and the staff were friendly. However our meals were disappointing. I had a wrap with onion jam, vegan cheese and quinoa but could barely taste the onion and cheese. The "mixed" salad consisted of one type of lettuce although it did have a tasty dressing. My friend left half her meal and thought it lacked flavour. The "fresh pressed juice" came out of a carton. Overall we felt let down and would not eat here again.

Pros: service
Cons: not what it says on the tin

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Simply excellent

5 Posted on 07 / 18 / 2011

Just like the Shoreditch location, the Saf restaurant in Kensington is one of the best culinary experiences London has to offer. With a menu sharing some dishes in common with the Shoreditch location (such as the unmissable gyoza) the Saf at the Kensington Whole Foods also boasts some dishes of its own, equally delicious and satisfying. With its diverse menu of food and drinks, and whether it is a raw meal or one of the cooked options, Saf never disappoints me and always makes me wish they would open locations in other countries too!

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Absolutely fabolous food

5 Posted on 07 / 09 / 2011

We spent our last money in this place and didn't regret a single penny waving goodbye to us. Indeed, the prices really are on the expensive side - our raw lasagna nearly cost 15 pounds and the burger, the cheapest main dish, was 9.80, but the food was at an incredibly high standard, very filling, very well served in an enjoyable ambiance so that I let them have five happy cows for that.
Unfortunately, we didn't have enough money left to try one of their raw superfood shakes - next time!

Pros: delicious!, healthy food, freshly prepared

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Good

4 Posted on 05 / 10 / 2011

We tried this place again to see if it had improved. Yes it has, The food was just lovely, and they did have some cheaper options as well which is great. We had a chickpea Crepe which was divine (main course) and we also had a red pepper cashew cheese wrap which was very tasty. For desert we had the chocolate torte just lovely. Really glad we decided to try again.

Updated from previous review on Wednesday June 16, 2010
We went this restaurant when it first opened and then again this week. The one in Shoreditch curtain street is much better than this one. The food is a little expensive for its setting in the middle of the wholefoods market. The first time we went we enjoyed the food, the second time the food was not wonderful, quite boring, and very expensive for a lunch time. It is good that everything is vegan but I think they could do better.

Pros: all vegan, good staff

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One of the best

5 Posted on 04 / 24 / 2011

Besides the California experiences this is one of the most inspiring places to visit for a raww food enthusiast.

The place has some fine dining components that I personally prefer, and the staff are gently, and not to fast. Wich adds to the fine dining experience. The food was OK, but the desserts outstanding and worth it all. And I liked the opportunity to have a glass of wine.

Pros: nice desserts, wine, Fine dining atmosphere
Cons: price?

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Tasty, but pricey!

4 Posted on 07 / 26 / 2010

We were shopping in Whole Foods and I was starving, so we decided to try out the recently opened Saf. Being vegan, it really appealed to me that I could eat everything on the menu. We both opted for wraps: mine, homous and bulgar wheat - very tasty, good herbs; his, Pad Thai (although nothing I would have recognised from the original Thai classic) it was really tasty and had a cook chilli kick! The fresh juice I ordered was warm, and so wasn't so much of a fan and very over-priced. My lunch companion had a vegan beer which he really rated.

Service was friendly, but a little slow considering how quiet the place was at 4pm on a Sunday!!!

They had run out of both the puddings we fancied, so can't comment on them other than to say, you should get there early!!

Pros: Tasty, Vegan-tastic, friedly
Cons: pricey, Bit slow

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Great experience, but a little pricey

4 Posted on 07 / 22 / 2010

We went for the first time and thought the food and service were excellent. My wife and I ordered the Thai Green Curry (superb re taste and large curry portion, but would have just wanted double the rice portion) and the sandwich with tofu, herbs, aubergine, ginger (also very good). Our daughter had the kid's penne pasta which she seemed to enjoy. The service was fine considering that had just opened on a sunday around noon and the staff friendly. We ordered some water and fresh apple juice and our bill totaled a little over £30. A bit pricey for us, but we'd plan to go again just for the curry.

Would recommend giving it atleast a try.

Pros: excellent food, friendly staff, good portions
Cons: a little pricey