At the end of this week and Veganuary, Unity Diner will close its doors on February 1st. Another beloved/hyped vegan eatery bites the dust.
Picture this. It’s Veganuary, the annual challenge from 2014 that encourages people to go vegan in January with restaurants offering discounts on plant-based meals and stores placing more vegan friendly options and sections to choose from. Now, it’s Veganuary 2025, there’s been fewer if close to no restaurant offers and store adverts for new vegan brand products (Aldi’s own, Lidl’s own…) and instead, we’re seeing posts that another plant-based product is being discontinued and another vegan/vegetarian restaurant is closing shop.
Unity Diner in Aldgate, east London is the latest in a series of vegan favourites to announce its closure – and in Veganuary of all times. From being recommended as a top London vegan restaurant in Vogue Magazine, Earthling Ed’s Unity Diner ultimately is ending in early closure after six years of business due to the constant problem: rising rent costs.
When I first moved to London in July 2021, the capital was brimming with hyped vegan and veggie eating places to choose from. It was never a question of where (as chains were in multitude) but when. My friends and I would have weekly catch up dates at the next vegan restaurant on our list to try. In fact, Vurger co. in Shoreditch by the overground was my go to for friends visiting me in London before I did my infamous tours of Brick Lane, Rivington Street, Commercial Street and the best parts of central east. Vegan junk food was on the rise and restaurants exclusively for that purpose were more popular than ever, and this was at the beginning of the post-pandemic era.
In the three years since, countless favourites have dropped off the grid. Vurger co. in Shoreditch and Brighton, Rudy’s Vegan Diner (and store) in Islington then Camden slowly followed, Deliciously Ella’s restaurant in Mayfair, the Croydon and north west London chain of What the Pitta, and the Marylebone chain for Wulf & Lamb, while the Chelsea chain is currently temporarily closed.
While most vegan eateries are closing due to money shortcomings, others went so ghost mode that I had to convince myself it really had existed to begin with.
Rudy’s Dirty Vegan Diner, or Rudy’s Vegan Diner, first closed for renovations in Islington but was never to be seen again. Their socials even vanished, with their Rudy’s Vegan Butcher account left, albeit on private. It took until recent research to find out there was a fallout with the founders and the company itself: see here.
Old haunts such as Mooshie’s in Brick Lane (pictured first) is a good example of a vegan junk food place which was great on the eyes but not so much on the taste – the mixture of sauces were way too overpowering. Of course, this is also now closed, and their socials now focus on human rights politics. Meanwhile, Rudy’s reuben sandwich (pictured second) and Vurger’s burgers, shroom fingers and shakes (pictured third) reigned supreme.
Maya Kokerov, 26, said: “I want vegan places to stay open but I think vegan options in non-vegan restaurants” (Café Rouge, Meat Liquor, Honest Burgers and more from experience) “are starting to be better quality than actual vegan food at vegan restaurants.
“Even though veganism is declining from mainstream popularity, I don’t think it’s becoming a huge problem but rather that vegans are choosing to eat less processed food and also save money.”
It’s true that the booming options a few years ago were solely hinged on vegan junk food – our friend group would note that at the time, so much so that we were thrilled to discover Wulf & Lamb, an all vegan and vegetarian actual restaurant. No junk food, but more cooked meals in smaller portions in true restaurant fashion.
We tried others such as Stem & Glory in the Barbican area, but to no avail as the flavours and portions didn’t hit the same. An exception would be the traditional go to’s: Mildreds, Mallow, and Tendril – a plant kitchen in Oxford Circus which has the best vegan tiramisu I’ve ever had (in deep contrast to Unity Diner’s…). And most prominently, Jam Delish, a black-owned vegan caribbean restaurant in Angel/Islington – they always keep their menu’s fresh and out of this world.
Cecily Grace Morgan, 26, said: “I’m really disappointed to see so many vegan places in London close down, especially Wulf & Lamb in Marylebone and What the Pitta in Camden.
“I think the decrease in popularity of vegan places is probably linked to people’s growing wariness of ultra-processed foods but I hope we’ll see restaurants that focus on plants instead of mock meats, like KIN in Fitzrovia, thrive.”
The growing consciousness certainly seems to have moved towards being healthy within veganism – the plant diet is not solely enough anymore – especially now that we know that veganism is here to stay and it’s not a passing fancy that the mainstream is taking an interest in it.
By this I mean back in 2018-2021 when vegan products and options were slowly being added to restaurants and stores. The transformation in that time alone sent me into disarray, I went from fries as a side as my only option in 2018 Frankie & Benny’s (and even this was fried in animal fat, so it wasn’t an option) to numerous vegan only eating places as well as vegan menus in mainstream chains. Safe to say, no one was thinking about whether the food was processed or not back then, although we were looking at what it was made from (non vegans would hurl this question incessantly).
Now, stepping back into the current climate, it’s important to preserve the good restaurants we still have, to fight against the closures. KIN, Jam Delish, Holy Carrot, Dauns and more listed on Happy Cow need us more than ever.
My Goddess Complex 
Leave a comment