2 years ago
Here to serve the most incredible plant based Indian inspired food… and doing so much more. Community, sauce, events. En Root does it all.
En Root is a vibe. Pure and simple. Creating their own take on Indian cuisine, the completely plant-based restaurant may be small in space, but it is huge in character. It also really challenged that stereotype of vegan eating. We left full and extremely satisfied.
To eat we got several starters. The Baba Ganesh was their take on the smokey aubergine dip. This one quickly became one of our favourite dishes- it was impossible to stop dunking in the naan that came with it. The cassava chips were a delicious alternative to their potatoey cousins, and the pani puri was a really fun sharer too- a true mouthful of flavour! For the main, we went for the sharing platter and were blown away by both the quality of the seasonal flavours and the beautiful presentation. You get such a mix of bites; a curry, the daily dhal, saag aloo, a salad and paratha. Plus free refills?! If you can manage to get through it still hungry then it would be impossible not to take them up on this one.
En Root are also the brains behind the Raja Bonnet Sauce- an institution of its own within the community. Luckily we were able to free pour from the bottle because that stuff is good. Extremely spicy and extremely delicious, we couldn’t help but keep adding a little more. Looks like we will be stocking up…
Much like a Michelined star restaurant, there is a bit of table-side theatre if you order the fresh coconut to drink. Opened with a machete right next to you; it can’t get much more dramatic (or fresher) than that. The juice of the week was watermelon, which was the perfect cooling accompaniment to all that hot sauce. And, though we don’t often talk about price, we have to say that this menu is incredibly well priced. It really is a lot of bang for your buck.
What really stood out to us was Nish, the owner of En Root who also served us. Not only is he skilled with a machete, but he also really embodied the personality of his restaurant. So personable, friendly and clearly very invested in his community; the amount of energy and love he pours into the place is immense. This ethos has overflowed into other community projects- thousands of meals have been given to the homeless community through their suspended meals initiative, they’ve risen money for local food banks and they host loads of events too. It really is a lot more than a plant-based Indian restaurant.
En Root is really thinking on its feet. It moves with the time and is always looking for ways to freshen its menu or help out its community. And for that (and the sharing platter) we will be back.
