Hi everyone! Today I thought I’d let you know about a brilliant little cafe I discovered a few days ago – Rawligion. It’s a plant based, raw vegan cafe located in Fitzrovia (right next to Goodge Street tube station) that’s completely gluten free and of course dairy free. If you’ve never had raw vegan food before, give it a try, I promise you won’t be disappointed! 🙂

UPDATE: PERMANENTLY CLOSED

Rawligion

Location: Fitzrovia, Central London

Address: 3 Tottenham St, Fitzrovia, London W1T 2AF

Nearest tube station: Goodge Street (1 min walk) + Warren Street (7 mins walk) + Tottenham Court Road (7 mins walk)

Opening times: Monday to Friday – 7:30am to 8pm, Saturday – 10am to 8pm, Sunday – 11am to 5pm

Phone number: 020 7580 8388

Food: healthy, gluten free, dairy free, plant based, raw vegan – cakes, chia pudding, protein bars, juices, smoothies, etc.

Bonus: they even do home deliveries (if you live near enough)

Let me begin by saying that I’m not vegan, let alone raw vegan. And for many reasons too. Perhaps the first and most unsurprising of all is that this diet (or lifestyle) is too limiting for me personally. To say that raw veganism is restrictive is quite an understatement! Not to mention it can be expensive and requires planning and a good knowledge of nutrition to result in an overall balanced diet. It can be done right of course, but I don’t believe the average person is capable of it or willing to give up so much.

I mean, being vegan, sure that’s doable. But living without cooked food? Oh hell no! I couldn’t do it. haha Nor do I believe cooked food is bad anyway. Some foods are better raw, some are actually said to be better and more nutritious when cooked. So me, personally, I prefer to stand somewhere in between. To each their own. And as a Coeliac, my diet already has limits which affect my social life enough as it is when it comes to eating out. So I take my hat off to all the raw vegans out there because, socially speaking, that must be quite a difficult diet to follow!

But having said that, over the years I’ve dabbled into the raw vegan community from time to time while healthy recipe hunting online. And I’m constantly amazed by how delicious and creative raw vegan food can be. I feel like everyone, vegan or not, raw or not, should give it a try at least once!

The cakes and desserts in particular are to die for! You probably wouldn’t even be able to tell that these foods are raw, gluten free, dairy free and vegan. The flavours and textures are perfect!

I mean just look at this “Zillionaire Shortcake”!

Made with cocoa, sprouted buckwheat, coconut oil and almonds, among other things. It has a rich creamy texture and bold chocolaty flavours that I’m willing to bet anyone would enjoy!

The portion may look small, especially for the price (£3.95), but don’t let it fool you. These cakes are so dense, you’ll be full in no time. 😉

My boyfriend opted for a protein bar (made with dates, hemp, sunflower seeds, raisins and coconut) which was also really tasty and so healthy. It wasn’t too sweet, the way some date bars can be, and had a nice mildly earthy flavour to it.

The truth is they have so many nice looking things, it was hard to choose. I’ll have to go back and sample much more. 🙂

Here’s a glimpse:

On top of the desserts and snacks, they also have a selection of freshly made juices, smoothies and hot drinks. There were some samples being handed out, one of which was meant to (sort of) have a coffee vibe (I think) and was really quite delicious. It had mushrooms in it, which may sound a bit weird, along with dates, coconut and other things. But it really worked. It was yummy and didn’t taste like anything I’ve had before.

I also noticed some savoury options on the menu like ‘Brazilian Stew’ and ‘Dahl’. Sadly they didn’t have any at the time (they said they’re in the process of updating their menu), but I’ll be on the lookout for that next time!

All in all, I highly recommend this place to any coeliacs/gluten free people who find themselves in the area, whether vegan or not. It’s a perfect place to grab a bite and drink on the go. It’s delicious, yet healthy, and the cafe itself is really cute and cosy too. Nice atmosphere and great service from very friendly staff.

There was also a dog water bowl by the outside table. As the owner (or mum? I just don’t like the word owner!) of two little dogs, any dog friendly place always wins a few extra brownie points in my books. 🙂

One hundred percent will be going back!

For more info, check out their website {here}.

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